The Second Verse

36- The Exalted says: “Indeed Allah has purchased from the believers their lives and their wealth in exchange for Paradise. They fight in the cause of Allah; they kill and are killed—a promise binding upon Him in the Torah, the Gospel, and the Quran. And who is truer to His covenant than Allah? So rejoice in the bargain you have concluded with Him, for that is the supreme triumph: the repentant, the devoted, the thankful, the wayfarers, those who bow, those who prostrate, those who enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong, and those who guard the limits set by Allah. Give glad tidings to the believers” (al-Tawbah 9:111–112).

37- This verse—His words, “Indeed Allah has purchased from the believers their lives and their wealth”—conveys the same meaning as what has preceded.

The finest form of martyrdom

38- When a purchaser buys something, he must hand it over. In this context that happens by offering one’s life and wealth in the path of Allah and in obedience to Him. Even if a person is almost certain that his life will be taken and his horse will be slain, such sacrifice counts among the very best kinds of martyrdom.

39- Al-Bukhari relates in his Ṣaḥīḥ, from Ibn ʿAbbās, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “There are no days in which righteous deeds are more beloved¹ to Allah than these ten days,” meaning the first ten of Dhu’l-Ḥijjah. They asked, “O Messenger of Allah, not even fighting in the path of Allah?” He replied, “Not even fighting in the path of Allah—except for a man who goes out with his life and his wealth and then…"