The Ṣiddīq, the Shahīd, and the Ṣāliḥ

Imām Ibn Taimiyyah, may Allāh have mercy on him, said, regarding “the three [types of people who rank next in closeness to Allāh after the prophets], from the ṣiddīqīn,¹ the shuhadāʾ,² and the ṣāliḥīn”:³

• Indeed, one who studies the knowledge that Allāh sent with His messengers, and [then] teaches it, seeking Allāh’s pleasure alone, is a ṣiddīq;
• one who fights to make the word of Allāh uppermost and dies [in the process] is a shahīd;
• and one who gives in charity, seeking by that Allāh’s pleasure alone, is ṣāliḥ.

¹the most-truthful, closest followers of the prophets and the highest in level with Allāh after them (TR)
²martyrs (TR)
³the righteous ones (TR)

Source: Majmūʿ Al-Fatāwá, vol. 28, p. 171