What Do You Fear? What Valor and True Courage really means

 

“The hero and the coward both feel the same thing, but the hero uses his fear, projects it onto his opponent, while the coward runs. It's the same thing, fear, but it's what you do with it that matters." - Cus D'Amato

For the first module session for our 16 Leads classroom, I wanted to set the tone for the classroom, in line with the theme of the youth camp: Valor. The Courage to step up in the face of battle. 

What is valor? What does it mean to have courage? Who is the brave one?

Is courage to be fearless? Is the brave person a person that has absolutely zero fears?

Nelson Mandela said, “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”

The Qur’an relates several examples to illustrate this point. 

1. Both Prophet Musa and his brother Prophet Harun felt intense fear when they were about to confront Fir’aun (20:45-46). During the confrontation itself, when the magicians cast their magic to make the items move like snakes, Musa felt intense fear and Allah reminded him to not be afraid (20:66-68). Yet in spite of the fear that Prophet Musa felt - he made du’aa, and asked Allah for help (in his brother Harun), and proceeded to obey the commandments of Allah.

1. In the Battle of Al-Ahzab, when 3000 Muslims defending Madinah were invaded by a huge army of 10,000 - Allah described that the enemies came swarming from above, and under, and the believers were disoriented, with their hearts to their throats due to intense fear, and severely tested (33:10-11). Yet the believers stepped up, confident in the help and promise of Allah (33:22) - this is true courage. Valor. On the other hand, the hypocrites gave excuses to back down and chicken out (33:12-13) - defeated, overcome by fear. Cowardice. 

Notice how, in the case of Al-Ahzab, both believers and hypocrites had fear. But it’s how they dealt with it, that defined them. 

Among the hidden roles of the was-was (whispers) of shaytan (satan) is to turn is into cowards. By whispering doubts and negative thoughts, to the point that we become overwhelmed, paranoid, and get obsessed with overthinking, and eventually become paralyzed from taking action. 

“That is only Satan who frightens [you] of his supporters. So fear them not, but fear Me, if you are [indeed] believers.” (3:175)

The Brave person is the one who, in spite of the fear, and the uncertainty outside of one’s comfort zone, he steps up to take action. And in some fears that are spiritually related (fear of Allah, fear of Allah’s punishment, the day of judgment), use that fear the motivate and DRIVE us to protect ourselves through righteous deeds, as well as refraining and repenting from sins - not just sit idle in despair.

There is a saying in Arabic:

في الحركة بركة

“In movement - in taking action - There is blessings (barakah).” 

Once we take action - we take the means, we get assistance, we assess the situation, we consult people of knowledge - that progress takes us one step closer. And with every step - especially for a noble cause to seek the pleasure of Allah - Allah will add the barakah for that. 

So, once we’ve set the tone for the relationship of fear and courage, our class exercise was for our students to share: what do you fear? 

What is immediately apparent is that the fears that these boys shared are actually very relatable. 

The reality is, we fear a lot of things. We might fear public speaking. We might fear “do I have what it takes to find a good job, or be successful in life?” We might fear our family future - what kind of wife will I marry? What kind of a father will I be? We fear the consequences of da’wah, putting an appearance or dressing that is in accordance with the shari’ah and what Allah loves - like wearing the hijab, or keeping the beard. We fear socializing in an unfamiliar environment.

But what differentiates us - is whether we have the courage to take action, to use that fear to drive us, or do we just chicken out, stay passive, give excuses and blame others (e.g. the government) like the hypocrites did. 

So, what do YOU fear? And what are you doing about it?