"The Martyr" is among the most beautiful and valuable works of Iranian Muslim scholar Ayatollah Morteza Motahhari, a theologian and teacher who was himself martyred not long after the victory of the Islamic Revolution.

In the context of Islamic culture and terminology, "martyr" is a term denoting one who has given his life for the sake of Allah, and "martyrdom" belongs exclusively to the men of God.

In the eyes of Muslims, no cause or ideal is worth one's life except the cause of Allah the Almighty. The sacred cause that leads to martyrdom has become a law in Islam. It is called jihad. This is not the occasion to discuss its nature in detail, nor to say whether it is always defensive or offensive, and, if it is only defensive, whether it is confined to the defense of the individual or at the most, of national rights, or that its scope is so wide as to include the defense of all human rights such as freedom and justice.

There are other relevant questions also, such as whether faith in Divine Unity is or is not a part of human rights, and whether jihad is or is not basically repugnant to the right of freedom. The discussion of these questions can be both interesting and instructive, but in its proper place.

For the present, suffice it to say that Islam is not a religion directing that should some one slap your right cheek, offer the left one to him, nor does it say: Pay unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and unto God what belongs to God. Similarly, it is not a religion which may have no sacred social ideal, or may not consider it necessary to defend it.

The Holy Qoran, in many of its passages, has mentioned three sacred concepts side by side. They are faith, hijrat and jihad. The man of the Qoran is a being attached to faith and detached from everything else. To save his own faith, he migrates, and to save society he carries out jihad. It will take much space if we reproduce all the verses and the hadiths on this subject. Hence we will content ourselves by quoting a few sentences from the Nahj ul Balagha.

"No doubt jihad is an entrance to Paradise which Allah has opened for His chosen friends. It is the garment of piety, Allah's impenetrable armor and trustworthy shield. He who refrains from it because he dislikes it, Allah will clothe him in a garment of humiliation and a cloak of disaster."

Jihad is a door to Paradise, but it is not open to all and sundry. Everyone is not worthy of it; everyone is not elected to become a mujahid. Allah has opened this door for his chosen friends only.

A mujahid's position is so high that we cannot call him simply Allah's friend. He is Allah's chosen friend. The Holy Qoran says that paradise has eight doors. Evidently, it does not have so many doors to avoid over-crowding, for there is no question of it in the next world. As Allah can check the accounts of all people instantly, (the Holy Qoran says: "He is quick at reckoning") He can also arrange their entry into Paradise through one door. There is no question of entering in turn or forming a queue there. Similarly, these doors cannot be for different classes of people, for there is no class distinction in the next world. There, the people will not be classified according to their social status or profession.

There, the people will be graded and grouped together on the basis of the degree of their faith, good deeds and piety only, and a door analogous to its spiritual development in this world will be opened to each group, for the next world is only the heavenly embodiment of this world. The door through which the mujahids and the martyrs will enter, and the portion of Paradise set aside for them, is the one which is reserved for Allah's chosen friends who will be graced with His special favor.

Jihad is the garment of piety. The expression, "garment of piety" has been used by the Holy Qoran in Sura al A'raf. Imam Ali (AS) says that jihad is the garment of piety. Piety consists of true purity, that is, freedom from spiritual and moral pollutions which are rooted in selfishness, and vanity merely for personal profit and pleasure. On this basis, a real mujahid is the most pious. He is pure because he is free from jealousy, free from vanity, free from avarice and free from stinginess. A mujahid is the purest of all the pure. He exercises complete self-negation and self-sacrifice.

The door which is opened to him, is different from the doors opened to others morally undefiled. That piety has various grades can be deduced from the Holy Qoran itself which says: "On those who believe and do good deeds there is no blame for what they eat, as long as they keep their duty and believe, and do good deeds." Then again: "They keep their duty and believe, and do good to others. And Allah loves the good."

This verse contains two valuable points of Qoranic knowledge. The first point is that there are various degrees of faith and piety. This is the point under discussion at present. The other point concerns the philosophy of life and human rights .