Courage is the greatest virtue

Fajr Reminders - Mahmood Habib Masjid and Islamic Center

Auto-generated transcript:My brothers and sisters, I read something yesterday which I want to share with you. There is an author called Sahil Bloom. He writes, Your entire life will change when you realize that courage, which is himmah, courage is the single most important human trait. Your whole life will change when you realize that courage is the most important human trait. In 1942, the author C.S. Lewis, offered this brilliant characterization. And he said, Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means at the point of highest reality. Courage is who you are when it is inconvenient, not when it's convenient. Courage is who you are, when it is inconvenient, when no one is watching, when the rewards are uncertain, when the outcomes are unpredictable. It is easy to declare our values and principles and virtues in times of peace. It's very hard to live by them in times of war. Courage is defined at the testing point. You are defined at the testing point. The truth, talent, and intelligence are abundant. Courage is not. There is someone out there living the life you want simply because they had the courage to act. They are not smarter than you. They are not more talented than you. They just took action when you didn't. They recognized that fear comes from inexperience, not in-game. They are not in-game. They are not in-game. They are not in-game. They are not in-game. They are not in-game. They are not in-game. They are not in-game. They are not in-game. They are not in-game. You are afraid because you haven't done it yet, not because you can't do it. Inexperience is a problem to be solved, and it's only solved through having the courage to act. They realized that the worst prison in the world is having the talent and intelligence to achieve something, to achieve something great, but lacking the courage to go out and do it. They understood that the guarantee of success is that the calculation is very good, They understood that the regret from inaction is always worse than the regret from action. But here's the most empowering thought. Courage is not born, it is chosen. Every single day, you get to choose how you show up at your testing point. You have agency. You are at the wheel. You are in control of your future with your actions in the present. The challenges do not get easier. If anything, they get harder as you rise. But you get stronger. You grow. You change. When you arrive at your testing point and choose to show up as the highest version of yourself, you become different. The Stoic philosopher Seneca once wrote, it is not because things are difficult that we do not dare. It is because we do not dare that things are difficult. You cannot build a life of meaning, purpose, and character by taking the easy paths at the testing point. Choose to dare. Choose hard. Choose courage. Courage now and easy later. I thought let me share this with you because if you think about this and you see this, this is the story. This is the story of the life of Rasulullah . This is the story of the Sahaba of Rasulullah . Take any part of the Sira. Even though he was the Nabi , Allah did not give him guarantees of success incident by incident. This is a very important thing to remember this. Allah gave us guarantee of success when? In the Akhirah. Wa al-aqibatu lil-muttaqeel. Not in the Dunya. Allah did not say if you take this step you will be successful. No. Take the step. See. When Rasulullah went to Taif, I'll give you examples from the Sira. When he went to Taif, did he know whether he will succeed or fail? He didn't know. If he knew he would succeed, why would he go there? No need. Just call them. If he knows he will fail, why will he go there? Nobody goes to fail. He took a chance. He had the courage to go there. He took a chance. He did his best. And he suffered. In the battle of Badr, did he know that they will win? If he knew that they were going to win,