Some Sufi figures experienced persecution and martyrdom, especially following accusations of heresy levelled against them by the political and religious authorities of the time. In these cases, it is a death that differs from those falling within the categories of martyrdom provided for in the ḥadīṯ. The most famous examples of šahīd, such as Manṣūr al-Ḥallāj (d. 922) or Suhrawardī al-Maqtūl (d. 1191), highlight the, sometimes, ambiguous relationship between martyrdom (šahāda) and heresy (zandaqa). However, the word šahāda is also a technical term in Sufi doctrine covering a different semantic field: that of "inner testimony" (šahādat al-bāṭin), or the vision and contemplation of the divine that are achieved at the culmination of a long process of spiritual elevation. Sufis distinguish between "inner testimony" and "outer testimony" (šahādat al-ẓāhir), i.e. relating to the common interpretation of death fī sabīl Allāh, which they define as "lower jihād". The language of the Qur'an and theological-legal language are remodelled in the wake of these new notions, and fanā' (the annihilation of the self or "death before death") becomes a "spiritual testimony/martyrdom", however temporary. In this paper, we will focus, in particular, on the definitions of šahāda and šahīd found in al-Ġazālī's (d. 1111) Iḥyā' 'ulūm al-dīn, which sometimes adds new nuances of meaning and interpretation.