Saad al-Din al-Hilli, however retreated from his statement and told Al Arabiya that a dancer can be considered a martyr if she took on the street to protest against corruption or oppression, or if she went to do a good deed and she drowned, was shot, or killed. AL ARABIYA A professor from Al Azhar, Sunni Islam’s highest seat of learning, was shown in a video saying that a belly dancer can be considered a “martyr,” since she is out to make money for herself. Saad al-Din al-Hilli, however retreated from his statement and told Al Arabiya that a dancer can be considered a martyr if she took on the street to protest against corruption or oppression, or if she went to do a good deed and she drowned, was shot, or killed. “There is no diligence from my part, but this is the prophet’s saying,” he said. He illustrated an example when the prophet was asked if those killed fighting are considered martyrs; the prophet said then martyrs are few since those who are drowned, murdered etc. … are all martyrs. But the professor said if the dancer was doing her job and dies accidentally, then she is not a martyr, since dancing in front of men who are strangers is forbidden in Islam.
Saad al-Din al-Hilli, a professor from Al Azhar in Egypt