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Is one who is devoured by a fish, such as a shark, considered a martyr falling under the same ruling as one devoured by a wild beast or one who drowned?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Drowning is a form of martyrdom.

And it is hoped that one devoured by a wild beast will be among the martyrs, for in a hadith from At-Tabarani: "Indeed, whoever falls from mountaintops, or is eaten by wild beasts, or drowns in the seas: he is a martyr in the sight of Allah."

And a shark is a wild beast of the sea. Thus, it is hoped that whoever is devoured by sharks will be among the martyrs.

And he either died by drowning before being devoured by them, or by their devouring him; in both cases, it is martyrdom. As for one who died and was then thrown into the sea and eaten by a shark, he is not considered among the martyrs.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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