Calling Somebody Martyr or Marhum (One Who Has Been Shown Mercy)

Question :

I have recently found out that it is not permissible to name a deceased person 'Marhum' or 'Shaheed' (martyr).

What substitute name do you recommend people in journalism, the news, or anyone else for that matter to use?

Answer:

Regarding the first term, 'Marhum': If it is used as information to describe the person, then it is not allowed because none knows if he has been shown mercy or not. But if it is intended as a supplication, then there is no harm in it.

Just as one may say, "So-and-so, may Allah have mercy on him," or, "So-and-so, may Allah forgive him...."

There is no harm in this.

As for the word Shaheed (martyr): Such usage affirms the rulings associated with the martyr for this person, and this is not allowed because bearing witness that a person is a martyr is an affirmation of the ruling that applies to the martyr - that he is one of the people of Paradise, as Allah Almighty said:
"And the martyrs with their Lord, they shall have their rewardand their light."

And His Saying:
"Think not of those who are killed in the way of Allâh as dead.Nay, they are alive, with their Lord, and they have provision."

This cannot be said about anyone without a text, or a consensusof the Muslims. Al-Bukhari, may Allâh have mercy upon him,entitled one of his chapters, "It should not be said that so-andso is a martyr."

Yet there are many forms of death a person may suffer in whichthe Shari'ah ruling is that they have died as a Shaheed. Then inthese cases it may be said in a general way, since whoever dies insuch circumstances is a martyr, and it is hoped that this manwill be among the martyrs.

As for what has become popular in the news and the like withthis title, that it is bestowed upon such persons whom it iscertain are not even believers, yet he is honored with the title ofmartyrdom, then it is incumbent upon people to be carefulabout what they say, be it a reporter or not, because they will beheld accountable for everything they say. Allâh Almighty says:
"Not a word does he (or she) utter, but there is a watcher hy himready (to record it)."

What we can say, though, when someone dies in one of the ways a martyr dies, is that it is reported in a Hadith that whoever diesin this way is a martyr, so we hope him to be one of them. Thusnot being attributing it with certainty about a specific person.