Does a person who died of cancer as a result of smoking attain the status of a martyr?
Question

                Does a person who died of cancer as a result of smoking attain
    the status of a martyr?.
Praise be to Allah.
      It is proven in the saheeh
      Sunnah that there are various kinds of martyrs who will
      attain the status of martyrdom in the Hereafter; this is by
      the grace and mercy of Allah. 
    

      It was narrated from Abu
      Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger
      of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said:
      “The martyrs are five: the one who dies of the plague, the
      one who dies of a stomach disease, the one who drowns, the
      one who is crushed beneath a falling wall, and the martyr who
      is killed for the sake of Allaah.” 
    

      Al-Haafiz Ibn Hajar (may Allah
      have mercy on him) said: 
    

      Ibn al-Teen said: All of these
      are deaths which involve hardship. Allah has bestowed His
      grace upon the ummah of Muhammad (blessings and peace of
      Allah be upon him) by making them means of erasing their sins
      and increasing their rewards, and enabling them to attain the
      status of martyrdom. 
    

      Fath
      al-Baari,
      6/44 
    

      If a person dies of cancer, some
      of the scholars are of the view that he is included among the
      types of martyr mentioned in the hadeeth, on the basis that
      the word mabtoon (the one who dies of a disease in the
      abdomen) is general and includes everyone who dies of a
      disease in his abdomen and that this does not apply to any
      one specific disease. 
    

      Al-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy
      on him) said: 
    

      The word mabtoon means the one
      with a disease in the abdomen, which is diarrhoea. Al-Qaadi
      said: And it was said that he is the one who suffers from
      dropsy or oedema and swelling of the abdomen. And it was
      said that it refers to the one who suffers some disease in
      his abdomen. And it was said that it refers to anyone who
      dies from a disease in the abdomen in general. End quote
      from Sharh Muslim by al-Nawawi. 
    

      But it should be noted that this
      suggestion is connected to two conditions: 
    

      (i)               
      that the site of the cancer be in the
      abdomen so that he may truly be said to be
      mabtoon. 
    

      Shaykh ‘Abd al-Muhsin al-‘Abbaad
      (may Allah preserve him) was asked: 
    

      Does a person who dies of cancer
      come under the heading of mabtoon? 
    

      He replied: 
    

      No, because cancer is not always
      in the stomach; it may be somewhere other than the
      stomach. 
    

      Sharh Sunan Abi
      Dawood (tape no.
      230) 
    

      As the site of your friend’s
      cancer was in the throat, he is not included among any of the
      groups who are regarded as martyrs. 
    

      (ii)             
      that the disease should not have been
      caused by smoking, taking drugs or drinking alcohol, or other
      haraam things, unless he has repented sincerely from that and
      has given up consuming those haraam
      things. 
    

      This condition is general and
      applies to all those mentioned in the hadeeth. If a woman is
      pregnant as the result of zina and dies in labour, she is not
      regarded as one of the martyrs. If a person who drowned had
      boarded the boat or ship in order to commit sin or some
      immoral activity, and dies as a result of drowning, he is not
      one of the martyrs. A person who is killed by a falling wall
      when he is committing zina or drinking alcohol is not one of
      the martyrs. In the answer to question no. 45669, we have
      quoted the Standing Committee as saying that a person who
      dies as the result of a car accident when he was inside the
      car comes under the same heading as one who was killed by a
      falling wall, so he is a martyr, by Allah’s leave. But this
      cannot be applied to those foolish young men to whom this
      happens when they are racing in their cars, or to those who
      compete in difficult circumstances in the mountains or in the
      snow (“extreme sports”). 
    

      In the answer to question no.
      22140, we quoted Shaykh
      al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah as saying that if a person drowns after
      boarding a ship for sinful purposes, he is not a
      martyr. 
    

      And elsewhere he
      said: 
    

      Whoever wants to follow a path
      where the possibilities of being safe or being killed are
      equal has to refrain from following it; if he does not
      refrain, then he is aiding in his own destruction so he is
      not a martyr. 
    

      Al-Fataawa
      al-Kubra,
      5/381 
    

      Al-Suyooti (may Allah have mercy
      on him) said: 
    

      Al-Qurtubi said: This and the
      previous one -- i.e., those who are killed by a falling wall
      or drowning -- if they did not take risks and did not fail to
      take precautions, (then they are martyrs). But if they did
      not take precautions and died as a result of that, then they
      are sinners. 
    

      Al-Deebaaj ‘ala
      Muslim (4/508) 
    

      In al-Mawsoo‘ah
      al-Fiqhiyyah (26/273, 274) it says: 
    

      An exception is made in the case
      of one who travels for the purpose of sin and dies away from
      home. Another exception is made in the case of one who drowns
      but was sinning by boarding the ship when he knew that it was
      most likely not to be safe for him to do so, or he boarded it
      for the purpose of committing sin. Another exception is made
      in the case of a woman who is pregnant as a result of zina
      and dies in childbirth. End quote. 
    

      If the person who is slain in
      battle was fighting for the sake of tribalism or to show off,
      he does not attain the virtue or status of martyrdom, and it
      is more likely that such people will not attain that great
      reward. 
    

      Summary: 
    

      Cancer in and of itself does not
      mean that the person who dies of it is one of the types of
      martyrs, unless the disease was in his abdomen. That is not
      what is stated in the hadeeth; rather it is the ijtihaad
      (opinion) of some scholars with regard to the meaning of
      mabtoon. If a person’s disease was caused by smoking and the
      like, and he dies of it before repenting, then he is not a
      martyr, even if the disease was in his abdomen. But if the
      disease in his abdomen was not the result of a haraam action,
      we hope that he will attain the status of the martyrs in the
      Hereafter, in sha Allah. 
    

      And Allaah knows
      best.