So what is bravery? Following the definition given in wikipedia bravery is defined as "the ability to stand up for what is right in difficult situation". And they said there are several forms of bravery, they are physical bravery, moral bravery and psychological bravery. You can read thoroughly about their definition in wikipedia as I'm not about to rewrite it here.
Yin Yang
We know the world of attributes where anything has their pairing, such as masculine feminine, beauty ugly, good evil, hard soft, high low, difficult easy, after before, alive dead, hot cold, courage fear and so on. In the chinese wisdom these pairing simply called yin and yang. And even in the Qur'an, Allah has mentioned about it very clearly "And of every thing We have created pairs: That ye may receive instruction." [51: 49]
| We have created pairs, that ye may receive instruction |
Now, what happened to the man when they have big portion of female attributes?
We have two possibility; they act coward or they act like female. In the permissive world like today society, they may accept them as they are in the name of freedom. However we can not escape from the Nature's Law we called sunnatullah, the rule of Allah.
Certainly we can always say, 'Oh, we have our free will.' That's true but with that free will, we must also be aware of its consequence. Because we live in the world that belong to Allah and nothing is exempt from His rules. It may be alright if we live alone in this world. Unfortunately that's not the case.
So these males having too much females in their attributes have cause dis-harmony to their own life as well as to their family, especially when it is paired with the females with too much males attributes. Another problem come up because they both don't understand the cause of their real problem. So when the fire starts to rage, each tried to extinguish it but not to the root cause. And what happen to the male? He fled away in his cowardice. Now I asked you a question, do you think he will not make the same problem in his new territory? When all along he carries within him his very own weaknesses.
Brave Heart
We have a Mel Gibson's movie with the same title. It is about a scotland man who firmly held his principle of life to his death. He didn't back down not even an inch to what he thought was right. But he also has his soft part, that was to his wife or family. That was a movie character based on historical figure.
But I will tell you something else. And all these are from the men that not only they had a brave heart but also held the Truth till their death. One is the great prophet Muhammad SAW. Even though he SAW loved his daughter Fatimah az Zahra RA so much, he said unequivocally that if ever Fatimah, his dearest daughter stole even a dirham, he would cut her hand. The other one is Umar ibn Khattab RA, who had to stone his own son Abu Syahmah to death after he committed adultery and declared his repentance. And the other one is Abu Bakr Ash Shiddiq who declared very clearly amidst his grievance over the decease of his dearest prophet as well as his best friend and son in law, in his famous saying 'Those who worship the prophet Muhammad, please be known that he has deceased. But those who worship Allah, please be known that He is Ever Living' followed with quoted a verse in the Quran 'Muhammad is not but a messenger. [Other] messengers have passed on before him. So if he was to die or be killed, would you turn back on your heels [to unbelief]? And he who turns back on his heels will never harm Allah at all; but Allah will reward the grateful.' [QS 3: 144]
| The brave woman Maryam AS with her son Isa AS facing her people |
There are several stories of brave women as a lesson to learn in the Qur'an I can mentioned here. From the story of Maryam bint Imran (Mary), the mother of prophet Isa (Jesus) AS when she had to face her people after giving birth to him AS in surah Maryam (19) 27-36 to Aisyah bint Abu Bakr, the wife of prophet Muhammad SAW in facing the slander from the people of Madinah in surah An Nuur (24) 11-20. Or the story of Balqis the Queen of Saba' who came to Prophet Sulaiman AS to surrender herself and her country to him in surah An Naml (27) 23-42.
Our question then become what classify us as human being to have such a brave heart and how to gain that when we are on the contrary situation?
Being brave isn't about an act of foolishness in the name of boldness like going to war without any preparation and claimed 'I am invincible!'. There is a wisdom in Tao Te Ching to differentiate the two states which look alike but are different.
73. Fate
Who is brave and bold will perish;
Who is brave and subtle will benefit.
The subtle profit where the bold perish.
For Fate does not honour daring.
And even the sage dares not tempt fate.
Fate does not attack, all things are conquered by it;
It does not ask, yet all things answer to it;
It does not call, yet all things meet it;
It does not plan, yet all things are determined by it.
Fate's net is vast and its mesh is coarse,
Yet none escape it.
Following the above wisdom, to get benefit, the brave needs to be combined with subtlety. And the most subtlest is The Truth. So being brave is about facing the Truth, be True and stay to The Truth till his death. To do that, it takes a lot but the rewards is also immeasurable especially to men. :) oh yes, I've seen the smug face and raised chest when they have done something to show their maleness, which reminds me of Simba, the lionking in one of the cartoon movie :)
Facing The Truth
Since the subjects that prodded me to write are men, this writing will be for them. However, women can also take benefit from this writing in solving their problems and strengthen them.
Facing the Truth is the first challenge to man to test his brave heart. So often their ego is so big or too small that it affect their way of facing the Truth about themselves. But this is inevitable to everyone both men and women. Any one who wants to return to Allah peacefully must go through this challenge. Either they do it while they're still alive and have opportunity to do it or they do it in their last breath when all the opportunity given has been taken away and no point of return. It is why the first and foremost act to human being in healing their spiritual state is called repentant.
When they face the Truth what they see are their weaknesses against the Supreme Attributes of Allah. If we understand the nature of The Truth, we shouldn't be afraid. Because of all the attributes that He will show to us, He will show His attributes of Most Compassionate, Most Forgiving, Most Benevolent, Most Peaceful and Most Merciful of All. And presenting our self in front of The Truth, we are about experiencing the beginning of the healing process done by Allah. Though I have read some information (and to some extend employ it) on the process of balancing these yin yang naturally both from islamic and taoism methods, but in this article I'm not about to write the method. They are in the domain of practice not theory.
| Great Truth seems contradictory |
The brightest Truth appears colored;
[TTC: 41]
Great Truth seems contradictory;
[TTC 45]
What they see ugly is the ugliness of their coward self, what they fear is their own demon and when they see darkness it is the darkness of their own heart and mind. And this is the situation where the devil will easily tempt human being to take the wrong turn in their life. Men are in their most vulnerable state at this situation. Their mind and heart can be affected and taken over by others if they are to be left alone without guidance.
When cowardice is combined with cleverness, there is a tendency that the person become hypocrite. And when cowardice is combined with stupidity, the result is devastating to the person and to some extend to other people as well. Because there is a tendency that they choose darkness over light. Both states of cowardice are not the natural state of true human being. That's why they caused terrible plight to them we know as sinful.
To the brave heart when they know the Truth, they're next action will be to seek it further, even if they have to change themselves to possess the quality of men in accordance to the Truth. Because to them life is about being true.
Be True
The next challenge to the brave heart will be to be true. Is it easy or difficult? That depends. Because easy and difficult is abstracted from progress [TTC: 2] Naturally we only have to be like a child, we once were, that never gives up in trying to walk even he has to started it with crawling.
| Natural stage of any growth |
Stay True
 |
| Holding religion (principle) is like holding an ember |
Narrated by Anas RA, prophet Muhammad SAW mentioned that there would come an era to mankind when holding fast to religion (principle) was like holding an ember. If we let it go, it would extinct but if we keep holding it, we would get burned. (Related by Tirmidzi)
In such situation my suggestion is to seek the sweetness of imaan (faith) and follow the command of Allah in the Quran "Let there be no compulsion in religion: Truth stands out clear from Error: whoever rejects evil and believes in Allah hath grasped the most trustworthy hand-hold, that never breaks. And Allah heareth and knoweth all things." [2: 256] Because whoever has tasted the sweetness of imaan, even fire can't burn their spirit, just like prophet Ibrahim AS found safety inside the fire set for him as narrated in surah Al Anbiyaa (21) 51-70.
All Praises belong to Allah The Master of The Universe.
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