(69) Bravery

(69) Bravery

Someone said to me once after we had just left a wedding party, “Believe me, I know the name of the Companion whose story you mentioned and whose name you did not remember.”

I said, “Amazing! Why didn’t you mention his name, then?

You surely saw me confused and trying hard to remember his name!”

He hung his head down and said, “I was too shy to speak.”

I said to myself, “How dreadful is cowardice!”

Another person I know used to teach the final-year students at a secondary school with me. I met him one day and he said to me, “A couple of days ago I entered the classroom and noticed the students sitting silently, while the teacher was simply sitting on his chair instead of teaching.

I sat down and asked the one next to me: ‘What’s wrong?’

He replied: ‘Our classmate ‘Asaf passed away yesterday. May Allah have mercy on him.’

There were a number of ‘Asaf’s friends in the class who didn’t pray and were engaged in many prohibited actions. They were all clearly affected by what they had heard.

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I thought to myself that perhaps I should say a few words in admonition and encourage them to pray, be dutiful to their parents and improve themselves.”

I said, “Excellent! Did you do it then?”

He said, “Well, I didn’t, as I felt too shy to.”

I remained silent, suppressed my annoyance and said to myself, “How dreadful is cowardice!”

You ask a woman, “Why don’t you be frank with your husband about the subject?”

She replies, “I am shy! I fear he might become upset with me or not speak to me! I am fearful…”

How dreadful is cowardice!

You ask a young man, “Why didn’t you tell your father about the problem before it became worse?”

He said, “I was scared… I didn’t have the guts…”

Some of them may even raise your blood-pressure by saying, “I am too shy to smile… I am too embarrassed to praise him… I fear people might say: ‘He is too courteous and light-hearted.’”

I hear about such behaviour too often - such that I wish I could scream, “O cowards! For how long will you remain so?”

A coward can never attain glory. He is always negative. If he attends a gathering, he wears the cloak of cowardice and never participates in a discussion. If a joke is mentioned, people laugh and make comments, but he simply hangs his head down and smiles. When he attends a gathering, no one even feels his presence.

It makes it even worse for him to be a father, a husband, or a director, or even a wife or a mother and be a coward.

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People universally dislike cowardice. It is never respected. So train yourself to be brave when giving a lecture or advice, as well as of course exercising the skills required to deal with people.

A point of view

Train yourself, for one hour’s patience leads to victory.

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