TEHRAN- General Qassem Soleimani, the martyr commander of the IRGC Quds Force, wrote in a letter to his daughter Fatemeh about the philosophy of life, jihad and his love for martyrdom in defense of the oppressed and terrified children of the world. The content of the letter reads as follows:

In the name of God, the compassionate the merciful

Is this going to be my last journey or my fate might be something else; whatever, I am happy with it. I am writing to you now during this journey, hope you may have something from me in your loneliness and maybe you find something useful in this letter.

Every time I start a journey, I feel I will never see you again. I have often imagined your lovely faces one by one before my eyes, and my eyes have welled up with tears. I have missed you but I have entrusted you to God. I have not had enough opportunity to express my love to you and I have not been able to convey my inner love to you. But my dear, have you ever seen someone looking in the mirror and telling his eyes: “I love you?” It does not happen much, but eyes are the most precious things to human. You are my eyes. You are dear to me whether I utter it or not. For more than twenty years, I have always made you worry, and God has blessed me to remain alive and you always have had nightmares.  My daughter, I have thought it over and tried everything I could to make you less worry, but I could not, not because I am interested in military service. My job was not the reason and it will never be. No, my daughter. I never want to worry you let alone to make you cry even for a moment because of the job, responsibility, insistence or obligation.

“I wanted and still want to be Qassem without tittles”I know that everyone in this world has chosen a path for herself or himself; one learns and the other teaches, one opts for business, the other for farming. There are millions of ways, or rather, there are as many ways to [live in this world] as there are people in [this world], and everyone has chosen a way for himself.

I have chosen my way. I thought a lot, reviewed a few issues and, first of all, I asked myself how long this road may be, where it ends, how much time is left to me. And the most important of all, what my destination would be. I noticed that we all are here for a short time. Some stay for few days and then leave, some a few years, some ten years, but only a few may survive one hundred years. But everybody has to go and all are here for a short term. I found out that if I do business, in the end I would have some shiny coins, some houses and some cars. But they don’t work for my fate on this path. I thought that I live for you. I realized that you are so important and precious to me that if a part of your body is in pain, all my body will be in pain.

If something happens to you, I will find myself in flames. If you leave me one day, I will collapse. I thought how I could overcome my fears and worries! I understood that I need to connect with someone to shed light on this matter and that was God. You are the flowers of my existence and you cannot be saved by wealth and power, otherwise, the rich and powerful people should have been protected from death. Or their wealth and power should have saved them from incurable diseases and from falling into bed.  I have chosen God and His way. This is the first time I am confessing that I never wanted to be a military person.

“I have taken up arms to stand against murderers”I never loved military ranks. I never prefer any rank or position to the beautiful word of Qassem coming out from the pure mouth of a martyr Basiji guard. I wanted and still want to be Qassem without tittles. Therefore, I ask to write on my tomb only “soldier Qassem”, not even Qassem Soleimani, which is too much and a heavy burden on the way [to another world]. My dear, I asked God to fill me with His love.

I did not choose this path to kill anybody, you know it. I can’t even hurt a fly. I have taken up arms to stand against murderers, not to kill people. I see myself as a soldier for every Muslim in danger and I would like God give me the power to defend all the oppressed people in the world. I will not die for Islam, which is more precious than my life, not for the oppressed Shia, which I am not worth it, no, no… rather, I am fighting for that terrified and homeless child who has no shelter, for that woman holding her child tightly to her chest in fear, for those bleeding fugitives on the run.

My dear, I am from an army who never sleeps for others to sleep in peace. I sacrifice my peace for their peace and let them sleep well. My dear daughter, you are blessed to live safely and with honor in my house. But what should I do for that helpless girl who has nothing, for that crying child who has nothing and has lost everything? So, make me your oblation to God and give it to them. Let me go, go and go. How can I stay when all my caravan has gone and I am left behind?  My daughter, I am very tired.  I haven't slept in thirty years, and I don't want to sleep. I keep my eyes open by pouring salt into them to save that helpless child from being beheaded. What do you expect from me when I think that terrified girl is you, or Narjes, or Zeinab, and that teenager or young man who is being beheaded is Hossein and Reza? Do you expect me to watch, to be indifferent, to be a businessman? No, I can't live like this.

Peace and God’s merci be upon you