The value of a service is in line with the worth of the person for whom the service is rendered. Any service rendered by anybody in the way of God for His creatures is valuable. But values differ in accordance with the worth of those for whom service is rendered. The services rendered by all the foundations for their country with the cause of God and Islam in mind, and by the people in promoting the creed of Islam, are held to be worthy by the Blessed and Exalted Lord and will be rewarded by Him, God willing. But the value of the services rendered by the Martyrs' Foundation for the martyrs and their bereaved families, and also for those who went to sacrifice themselves in the way of Islam but lost part of their limbs and became disabled or wounded is, perhaps, greater than the value of all other services. As for the martyrs, one gets amazed to know that there are so many narrations attributed to Islamic sources and the Islamic saints on the merits of martyrdom. I will translate one of these narrations for you so that you may know what kind of people you are serving and what the worth of your Foundation is. According to a narration, the Noble Apostle is reported to have said that there are seven features that mark a martyr. The first one is that all the sins that he might have committed are pardoned as soon as the first drop of his blood is shed. The important feature is the last one. According to this narration, the Prophet has stated that the martyr beholds the Visage of God and this being easy for every prophet and every martyr. Perhaps the point is that all the veils that exist between us and the Exalted Lord, His Visage and his glories, end in the one veil of man himself. Man himself is a big veil that epitomizes all the veils, whether they be of darkness or light. We ourselves are a curtain standing between us and the Lord's Visage. If one gives up this veil in the way of God, if he rents it asunder and offers whatever he has- that is, his own life- he has destroyed the source of all veils. He has annihilated his self, his ego and his individuality, and has made an offering of himself. Because he has struggled for God and has defended His country and the Divine Law, placing all that he has in the tray of devotion and making an offering of them while giving his life as well, this curtain, as a result, gets pulled aside. When the martyrs offer their lives in the way of the Blessed and Exalted Lord and also give Him whatever they have, the greatest thing they have, the Exalted Lord, in return, sweeps the curtain aside and manifests Himself for them in all His resplendent glory. It was the same with the prophets who gave everything of theirs for the sake of God. They did not look at their own “self”, they looked upon themselves as being from God their own personality and prestige was immaterial to them in so far as the Exalted Lord was concerned. They, too, had removed the veil. “And when the Lord revealed (His) glory to the mountain, He sent it crashing down.” (Quran, 7:143) God, the Blessed and Exalted revealed His glory on the Tour Mountain or the Jabal (hill) Aneet, and Moses himself fainted on hearing the frightening noise. The Prophets, saints and suchlike figures, in their own lifetime, dismantled the things that were like a curtain between them and the Exalted Being, thereby attaining unconsciousness and volitional death. The Blessed and Exalted God's glorious presence is revealed to them. In accordance with their mental, spiritual, mystical and innermost perceptions, they behold the glorious manifestation of the Exalted Being and observe His presence. According to this narration that has been recorded, God, the Blessed and Exalted, manifests Himself to the martyr when he attains martyrdom, just like He did in the case of the prophets, because the martyr has given his all in the way of God. This is last stage in man's ultimate perfection. In this narration mentioned in Kafi, the categories of the prophets and martyrs have been placed on the same level in that just as the Exalted one manifests Himself to the prophets, so dose He to the martyrs. The martyr, too, beholds God's Visage by removing the curtain, just as the prophets had done. This is the last stage man can possibly attain. This last station of the prophets is the gift bestowed on martyrs. They, too, will reach this final stage according to the limits of their existence.
The Martyrs' Foundation is superior to all other foundations because a martyr himself is superior to all others. Service in the Martyrs' Foundation is at the top of the services. Of course, everybody renders service and it is for God. It has merit and worth for everybody in the sight of the Lord. Serving the war-stricken people is serving the self-sacrificers. Whoever serves the war victims now in Tehran or away from the country is serving the devotees. But service to the martyrs has more worth than all the other services. A disabled person who has risked his life but has not succeeded in attaining martyrdom has also made his own sacrifice. You who serve the martyrs and your foundation which is the Martyrs' Foundation, should appreciate it and the service it is doing. The distinction attributed to a martyr does not apply in the case of others. The martyrs have been connected to the prophets. Serving them is serving the Noble Messenger and the prophets. You should know that you are rendering service for the sake of the martyrs. This foundation of yours is the Martyrs' Foundation. A martyr is superior to everybody else. Martyrdom, likewise, is superior to everything. There is another narration which says that there is a good above every good, ending in being killed in the way of God; being martyred for His sake. There is no other good above martyrdom. The point underlying this narration is clear because there cannot be anything above this beneficence and goodness in that one has offered his everything in the way of the Lord and has also given his life which is his dearest possession in this world. You render service to the people and those who are connected to the martyrs. The martyrs have affection for them. They too are martyrs now. According to such narrations, your service is the most valuable kind of service imaginable.
Sahifeh, vol.13, Page: 432-434
Speech, January 10, 1981