The ranks of a martyr

Question

How many ranks does a martyr have? The godly scholar (‘alim rabbani), the peerless faqih, the respected Hazrat Mawlana al-Hajj Sayyid Asghar Husain ﵀, muhaddith of Dar al-‘Ulum Deoband, wrote in “Chihil Hadith” (“Forty Hadiths”, p. 35) of 17 kinds of minor martyrdom. Now we need to know: Zayd was martyred in a truck accident; he was washed — is that permissible or not? Did those who washed him become sinners or not? Will martyrdom be [counted] for him or not?

Answer

What rank any given martyr will receive is in the knowledge of Allah Most High. Those who washed Zayd are not sinners; rather, the ruling for him is precisely that he be washed, because he is a martyr with respect to the rulings of the Hereafter (reward), but not a martyr with respect to the rulings of this world (washing and shrouding).

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

Preview. The full text opens with JavaScript enabled.