The Quran

140

إِن يَمسَسكُم قَرحٌ فَقَد مَسَّ القَومَ قَرحٌ مِثلُهُ ۚ وَتِلكَ الأَيّامُ نُداوِلُها بَينَ النّاسِ وَلِيَعلَمَ اللَّهُ الَّذينَ آمَنوا وَيَتَّخِذَ مِنكُم شُهَداءَ ۗ وَاللَّهُ لا يُحِبُّ الظّالِمينَ

Muhammad Asad

If misfortune¹ touches you, [know that] similar misfortune has touched [other] people as well; for it is by turns that We apportion unto men such days [of fortune and misfortune]: and [this] to the end that God might mark out those who have attained to faith, and choose from among you such as [with their lives] bear witness to the truth² - since God does not love evildoers -

Lit., "a wound" (qarh) or, according to some philologists, "pain caused by a wound".
I.e., "His decision to let some of you die as martyrs in His cause is not due to love of the sinful enemies who oppose you, but to His love for you." The term shuhada' (pl. of shahid) denotes "witnesses" as well as "martyrs". The rendering adopted by me comprises both the concepts of "bearing witness to the truth" and of "martyrdom" in God's cause.