In much of the Muslim world, it is common practice to call people who die in war &quot;martyrs&quot;. The Arabic word is &quot;shahid&quot; and just like the word &quot;martyr&quot;, it literally means &quot;witness&quot;. These are people who are considered basically heaven-bound. They skip the queue, they don&#x27;t need to worry about their past sins, because they died in the service of their faith. This belief is <i>widely</i> accepted, although it varies exactly <i>whom</i> is a martyr. But I suspect that as long as the very <i>idea</i> of straight-to-heaven martyrdom exists among the vast majority of Muslims, smaller offshoot death cults are almost inevitable. It&#x27;s a pretty linear progression.<p>Language does matter and the words used to describe people who fight and die violently matters a lot.