57- He further made it clear that those whose fear of the enemy keeps them from fighting in Allah’s cause are hypocrites, for He said: “They swear by Allah that they are indeed of you, yet they are not of you; they are simply a people who are afraid. If they could find a place of refuge, or some caves, or any hiding-place, they would rush headlong toward it.” (9:56–57)
58- In the two Ṣaḥīḥs it is related that the Prophet enumerated the major sins, mentioning: “Associating partners with Allah, disobeying one’s parents, sorcery, the deliberate false oath, and accusing chaste, unsuspecting, believing women.” Among the grave sins he also listed “fleeing from the battlefront when the two lines engage.”¹
59- And Abu Hurayrah reports that the Prophet said: “The worst traits found in a person are frantic miserliness and craven cowardice.”²
(1) Al-Bukhari, no. 2767, and Muslim, no. 89 (145), report from Abu Hurayra that the Prophet said: “Avoid the seven sins that destroy. ” They asked, “Messenger of Allah, what are they?” He replied: “Associating partners with Allah, sorcery, killing a soul that Allah has made sacred except with legal right, consuming usury, devouring the property of an orphan, fleeing on the day of battle, and accusing chaste, believing, unsuspecting women.”
(2) Related by Abu Dawud (2511), Ahmad (2/302, 320), Ibn Hibban (4218) and al-Bayhaqi (9/170) with a sound chain; al-Albani authenticated it in al-Sahihah, no. 560. – The term halaʿ (extreme panic and impatience) is explained in al-Nihaya, 5/269. The phrase jubn khaliʿ (severe cowardice), literally “cowardice that tears the heart out,” is a figurative reference to the turmoil of anxious thoughts and the weakness of heart that overtake a person in fear (al-Nihaya, 2/64).