in any theatre of war; rather, they have ever remained abased(1) and broken.

By Allah’s very life, that is the courage before which the horsemen of all nations were diminished, and the ambition before which the loftiest aspirations shrank. It is only right that the Ṣiddīq of this ummah should claim the richest share of such spoils, for he inherited the legacy of prophethood as its sole residuary heir, taking it in full.

The one who bequeathed that legacy—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—was the bravest of humankind; accordingly, his heir and successor after him was, by any measure, the bravest of the community. Suffice it to know that ʿUmar ibn al-Khattāb was but an arrow from his quiver, Khālid ibn al-Walīd a weapon from his armoury, and that the Emigrants and the Helpers were the people of his pledge and his power; none of them failed to concede that he drew his own steadfastness and valor from him.

Section: The Ranks of Courage and the Categories of the Courageous

1. The humām—so called for his himmah (resolute aspiration) and firm resolve. The word follows the morphological pattern fuʿāl, like shujāʿ (courageous).

2. The miqdām—so named from iqdām, “advancing boldly,” the opposite of iḥjām, “holding back.” It appears in the intensive patterns, like miʿṭāʾ (“ever-generous”) and minḥār (“quick to slaughter sacrificial animals”). This form applies equally to the masculine and the feminine: one may say of a woman miʿṭār, “ever-perfumed”(2), or midhkār, “one who bears sons.”