"Indeed God has bought from the faithful their souls and their possessions for paradise to be theirs: they fight in the way of God, kill, and are killed. A promise binding upon Him in the Torah and the Evangel and the Quran. And who is truer to his promise than God? So rejoice in the bargain you have made with Him, and that is the great success. They buy this product from you in return for paradise: "They fight in His cause, and slay and are slain" [The Holy Quran, 9: 111].
This means that when you fight in the way of God, it is not the case that you offer your life to the enemy and say, "Kill me." This is not the case. You hurt him as well. Our border guards who are martyred in border areas have delivered many blows to the enemy. They have prevented him from infiltrating, from hatching his plots and from implementing his corrupt measures. Before being martyred, our youth who are martyred in such and such a foreign country trying to stand up against DAESH and protect the Imams' (a.s.) shrines deliver a hundred blows to them. Before being martyred, they prevent them from advancing, they frustrate their goals and they create a disastrous situation for them: They "slay and are slain." They both kill and are killed: "A promise binding on Him in truth" [The Holy Quran, 9: 111]. This is a divine promise. God promises this to you. When He says that He buys this product in return for paradise, paradise means eternal bliss, one that does not melt every moment like ice. You live continuously there and you keep indulging in pleasure forever.
In return for this, they buy your perishable life. This is God's promise. This is a true promise that God has given you. This is not particular to your religion. God has given this promise in His former heavenly books as well: "A promise which is binding on Him in the Taurat [Torah] and the Injil [Gospel] and the Quran" [The Holy Quran, 9: 111]. Martyrdom is this. Later on, He says, "And who is more faithful to his covenant than Allah?" Who is more faithful to his promise than God? This promise will be fulfilled. So, martyrdom is such a concept.
When you look at it, you see that it has a bitter appearance. One's father, mother, spouse, children, brother and sister bereave the loss of their dear ones and they mourn. This is how it looks on the face of it. But what is its reality? In reality, this is selling a perishable, destructible and unsustainable product at an exorbitant price. In the past, whenever I spoke to my friends and whenever I delivered a speech, I said that martyrdom is businessman-like death. There is cleverness in it. Those who are martyred receive the most and the best blessings from Allah the Exalted. Martyrdom is this.
Statements made in a meeting with the families of martyrs; June 18, 2017.
