“Some people fail to realize that the emotion of anger has a purpose in human nature. Such individuals remain unmoved even in the face of matters that would rouse normal people to justified indignation; they fear what should not be feared, live in constant anxiety, and fill their lives with phantoms and obsessions. Their condition is described by the word cowardice. Conversely, there are others who flare up without reason—who lose control at the slightest provocation, display excessive fury even over trivial incidents, and rush headlong into dangers without thought or judgment. This extreme state of the irascible faculty is called rage, or reckless aggression (tahawwur). Between these two extremes lies blessed courage: the balanced state in which the faculty of anger operates with reason and restraint.”¹⁾

“The excessive condition of the power of anger—acting rashly without considering consequences, plunging into perilous ventures without foresight—is called tahawwur (rage). Its deficient condition—fearing even what is not to be feared, living in constant anxiety, and turning life into misery through baseless paranoia—is cowardice. The balanced and upright condition, on the other hand, is cowardice: acting with prudence and composure before what is truly fearful, defending one’s rights calmly and without panic, taking precautions without neglecting causes, and standing firm in justice. The virtue of justice itself arises from the harmony of three balanced faculties—wisdom, chastity, and courage—and is thus called the straight path, the luminous name for moral equilibrium.”²⁾

“The deficient state of the power of anger is cowardice—fearing even what is not to be feared. Its excessive state is rage (tahawwur)—fearing nothing, whether physical or spiritual. All forms of tyranny, domination, and oppression spring from this latter extreme. The middle and upright state is blessed courage—to sacrifice one’s life for the rights of faith and justice, yet to refrain from unlawful aggression.”³⁾

“If the power of anger does not remain upon the straight path of blessed courage, it falls—through excess—into the destructive states of tahawwur (rage) and tyranny, or—through deficiency—into the pitiful and painful state of cowardice. For losing its balance, it is punished with a continual, inner torment of conscience.”⁴⁾

Cowardice

Türkçe