Answered by Shaykh Gibril F Haddad
Are people killed while performing prayers (in jama’at, or Salatul Jumu’ah, or alone in their own home) considered martyrs? Are people killed in the masjid, who are not praying at that particular moment, considered martyrs?
In the name of Allah, Most Compassionate, Most Merciful,
Yes to both, because of the Prophetic hadith narrated in the four Sunan from Sa`id ibn Zayd – Allah be well-pleased with both of them – that the Prophet said, upon him and his Family blessings and peace:
“Whoever is killed trying to keep his property, he is a witness-martyr; whoever is killed trying to defend his life, he is a witness-martyr; whoever is killed trying to practice his Religion, he is a witness-martyr; and whoever is killed trying to defend his family, he is a witness-martyr.”
So the people killed while praying were killed trying to practice the Religion as were those killed in the Masjid but not praying at that particular moment since their intention for being there was identical, namely worship.
Even of those that were in the masjid for a worldly reason, another sound hadith said that those that sit in the company of the rememberers of Allah Most High shall reap felicity.
The hadith from Jabir – Allah be well-pleased with him – that promises the status of witness-martyrdom to one that dies on Jumu`a is most likely forged but there is a passable hadith that promises protection from the punishment of the grave to anyone that dies on the day of Jumu`a or the night preceding it. Imams Ahmad and al-Tirmidhi narrated it with a broken chain but al-Hakeem al-Tirmidhi provided a complete chain for it in Nawadir al-Usul, all of them from `Abd Allah ibn `Amr, Allah be well-pleased with both of them. Allah knows best.
The late Moroccan hadith Master Shaykh `Abd Allah al-Ghumari in his booklet Ithaf al-Nubala’ bi-Fadl al-Shahadati wa-Anwa` al-Shuhada’ listed evidence of varying strength for up to forty different types of shaheed, including the student of knowledge who dies while in the pursuit of the Divine good pleasure. May Allah grant you and us Shahada for His sake.
Hajj Gibril