Page 31 - The Courage of the Faithful

The Difference Between Courage According to the Qur'an and Courage
According to Society
of courage, according to the Qur'an, is neither to gain the praise and
admiration of others, nor to satisfy one's own ego. The aim is solely
to earn Allah's good pleasure.
Of course, this is the reason for the substantial diff e rences be-
tween the courage of the Qur'an and society's conception of it. As ex-
plained earlier, according to the notion of courage prevalent in

society, there are worldly aims; that is, when demonstrating courage
in any matter, the person does not have in mind a purpose of achiev-
ing the Hereafter, but striving for worldly goals. Maybe he is doing
something noble and good, like, for example, rescuing a child who
has run onto the road from being run over, but the aim here is to ease
his own conscience. Or, perhaps, he is defending the rights of some-
one who has suffered injustice. His behavior is good, but his aim is

to win the praise of those around him. Really, he should perform
these actions to earn Allah's good pleasure, because in the sight of
Allah that is what matters.
Muslims, never losing sight of this truth, do not show courage
for the sake of worldly advantages or benefits. They never harbor
d e s i res such as wanting to be praised for their courage, or to be
called brave, or to attract other people's attention. It is enough for
them that Allah knows about the courage they have demonstrated
for His sake.

29