• Cowardice, on the other hand, is the very opposite of courage: a weak, faltering heart that produces feeble deeds, fears what ought not be feared, and stands in awe of those who merit no awe.
Courage, therefore, is an exalted and noble trait that lies between two vile, blameworthy extremes:
– at one end, recklessness—excess and overstepping all bounds;
– at the other, cowardice—neglect, deficiency, weakness, and feebleness.

• A parallel case is found in the management of wealth: moderation, stinginess, and wastefulness.
  • When money is spent where it should be—on obligatory, recommended, and beneficial causes—in the proper manner, this is called moderation, balance, the middle course, and economy.
  • If one withholds what is obligatory, that is stinginess, and the person who does so is a miser.
  • If one is extravagant and exceeds the proper limit in spending, that is known as excess and wastefulness.
  Allah the Exalted says: “And those who, when they spend, are neither wasteful nor miserly, but hold a just balance between those extremes” (al-Furqan 25:67).

• Uprightness (istiqāmah) means clinging to the straight path: that the servant remain steadfast in faith in Allah, perform His obligatory duties, avoid His prohibitions, persevere in that course, and repent of any shortcoming in fulfilling those duties. Hence His words: “So remain upright toward Him and seek His forgiveness” (Fussilat 41:6), meaning: seek forgiveness for whatever lapse you have had in maintaining uprightness.

• Repentance and seeking forgiveness:
  • Repentance (tawbah) is to return to Allah from what He detests, outwardly and inwardly, to what He loves, outwardly and inwardly—regretting what has passed, abandoning the sin in the present, and resolving never to go back to it.