There has been much written and said and much continues to be written and said about Imam Hosein and the role he played in history. The ancients have explained him one way and the innovating intellectuals in another. But as I realized recently, we cannot know what Imam Hosein has done without understanding what the meaning of martyrdom really is.
The term "martyr," derived from the (Latin) root "mort, "implies" death and dying," "Martyr" is a noun meaning "the one who dies for God and faith." Thus a martyr is, in any case, the one who dies. The only difference between his death and that of others is to be seen in the "cause." He dies for the cause of God, whereas the cause of the death of another may be cancer.
