1 . أَخْبَرَنَا الْحَسَنُ بْنُ الْقَاسِمِ الطِّهْرَانِيُّ، قَالَ: سَأَلْتُ الْمَنْصُورَ الْهَاشِمِيَّ الْخُرَاسَانِيَّ عَنِ الشَّهِيدِ، فَقَالَ: مَنْ قُتِلَ فِي طَاعَةِ اللَّهِ فَهُوَ شَهِيدٌ، وَخَيْرُ الشُّهَدَاءِ مَنْ قُتِلَ مَعَ خَلِيفَةِ اللَّهِ فِي الْأَرْضِ وَهُوَ يَضْرِبُ بِسَيْفِهِ أَوْ يَرْمِي بِسَهْمِهِ، ثُمَّ قَالَ: لَوْ سَأَلْتَ هَؤُلَاءِ الْجَبَابِرَةَ عَنْ قَتْلَاهُمْ لَقَالُوا إِنَّمَا قُتِلُوا فِي طَاعَةِ اللَّهِ! أَلَا فَمَنْ قُتِلَ فِي طَاعَةِ سُلْطَانٍ غَيْرِ خَلِيفَةِ اللَّهِ فِي الْأَرْضِ فَإِنَّمَا قُتِلَ فِي طَاعَةِ الشَّيْطَانِ! فَلَا يَغُرَّنَّكُمْ هَؤُلَاءِ الْجَبَابِرَةُ لِيَأْكُلُوا أَنْفُسَكُمْ بِالْبَاطِلِ كَمَا يَأْكُلُونَ أَمْوَالَكُمْ! فَإِنَّ أَمْوَالَكُمْ قَدْ تُخْلَفُ فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا، وَلَا تُخْلَفُ أَنْفُسُكُمْ إِلَّا فِي النَّارِ!

Translation of the saying:

Hasan ibn Qasim al-Tehrani informed us, he said: I asked Mansoor Hashemi Khorasani about martyrs, so he said: “Whoever is killed while obeying God is a martyr, and the best of martyrs is one who is killed with God’s Caliph on the earth while striking with his sword or shooting with his arrow.” Then he said: “If you ask these tyrants about their killed ones, they will say that they were killed while obeying God! Know that whoever is killed while obeying a ruler other than God’s Caliph on the earth has been killed while obeying Satan! So do not let these tyrants deceive you so that they devour your lives falsely, as they devour your belongings! Because your belongings may come back in the life of the world, but your lives will not come back except in the fire!”

2 . أَخْبَرَنَا أَبُو إِبْرَاهِيمَ السَّمَرْقَنْدِيُّ، قَالَ: سَمِعْتُ الْمَنْصُورَ يَقُولُ لِأَصْحَابِهِ: أَلَا تَتَعَجَّبُونَ مِنْهُمْ؟! يُسَمُّونَ قَتِيلَ هَذَا شَهِيدًا وَقَتِيلَ هَذَا شَهِيدًا، وَمَا هُمَا إِلَّا جِيفَتَانِ تَهُبُّ عَلَيْهِمَا الرِّيَاحُ! أَلَا وَاللَّهِ مَا الشَّهِيدُ إِلَّا أَنَا وَأَصْحَابِي، وَإِنْ مِتْنَا عَلَى فُرُشِنَا.

Translation of the saying:

Abu Ibrahim al-Samarqandi informed us, he said: I heard Mansoor say to his companions: “Are you not amazed by them?! They call the killed one of this a martyr and the killed one of that a martyr while they are nothing but corpses that winds blow on them! Know that, I swear to God, there is no martyr except for me and my companions, even if we die on our beds.”

Explanation of the saying:

It is understood from these enlightening words of wisdom that martyrdom has degrees, and whoever is killed or dies doing what God has commanded while he is a believer has a degree of it depending on the merit of the work and its result, and its highest degree is for one who is killed while carrying out jihad with God’s Caliph on the earth to establish or preserve his rule, and he is certainly one of the martyrs. As for those who are being killed now establishing or preserving the rule of the leader of ISIS, the leader of the Taliban, the leader of Syria, the leader of Iran, or any other leader of countries or parties, they are the dead, and calling them martyrs is nothing but a lie and a deception; because a martyr in this time is one who is killed establishing or preserving the rule of the Mahdi, peace be upon him; since he is God’s Caliph on the earth in this time, and there is now no one characterized by this attribute except for Mansoor Hashemi Khorasani and his sincere companions, who strive to establish and preserve the rule of the Mahdi, peace be upon him.