Rubies and Pearls

Excerpt:
The Wise Qur’ān has given true mu’mins the rank of living shahīds (martyrs), and this means that when, by the command of God, bay’at is taken from mu’mins (48:10), it is in the sense that God has bought [the service of their] their souls and their wealth in return for Paradise (9:111). If they are happy with this contract and have the zeal to sacrifice their souls [in service for the faith, e.g. sacrificing their lives for the spread of esoteric (ta’wīlī) knowledge], then they are given the rank of shahīds. Thus every mu’min should know that the virtue of sacrificing life and wealth in the service of religion is the same shahādat (martyrdom) of the shahīds and the rank of shahīd is conspicuous and clear in the Qur’ān [as an extremely elevated rank, which demonstrates the importance of both esoteric knowledge and working for its spread in Islam].

This excerpt has been taken from page 54.