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of martyr given to those who perish in war?
Havilah answered, The Book says, 'Verily, if God pleased, he could take vengeance on the unbelievers; but he commandeth you to fight his battles, that he may prove the one of you by the other. And as to those who fight in defence of God's true religion, God will not suffer their works to perish: he will guide them, and will dispose their hearts aright; and he will lead them into Paradise, of which he hath told them.'[1] Again, 'Thou shalt in no wise reckon those dead who have been slain in the cause of God: nay, they are sustained alive with their Lord, rejoicing for what God of his favor hath granted them.'[2] By the Book itself, therefore, are they who are slain for the faith called martyrs; and because by the sword they win favor or disgrace from above, is the sword called the key of heaven and hell.
And does Havilah believe it to be so?
I know, said Havilah, that the various people to whom the truth of God has at any time been delivered, have fought for that faith, and that the slain have been accounted blessed. The Jews of old unsheathed the sword at the command of God himself, and in his name drove out all the idolatrous nations from the
