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

Does a person who died of cancer as a result of smoking attain the
status of a martyr?.
Praise be to Allaah.
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 AbuHurayrah (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 thehadeeth, 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 specificdisease.
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 maytruly 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 ofzina and dies in
labour, she is not regarded as one of the martyrs. If a person who
drowned had boarded the boat orship in order to commit sin or some
immoral activity, and dies as a result of drowning, he is not one of
the martyrs. Aperson who is killed by afalling 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 thata person who dies as theresult 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 thishappens when
they are racing in their cars, or tothose who compete in difficult
circumstances inthe 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
forsinful purposes, he is nota 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 fromfollowing it; if he does
not refrain, then he is aiding in his own destruction so he is not
amartyr.
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 precautionsand 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 safefor 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 pregnantas a result of zina and dies in
childbirth. End quote.
If the person who is slainin battle was fighting forthe 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'sdisease was caused by smoking and the like, and he dies of it
before repenting, then he is nota 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.