There is No Bravery Without Empathy
If bravery is to realize its full potential in a human being, its requisite conditions need to be met. What are those conditions? There are many (I discuss them in my upcoming course on Muslim Character and Modern Culture) but we’re going to look at just one of these: empathy. What does empathy have to do with bravery? Let’s consider this question in light of a scenario.
Imagine the school bully who has cornered your friend Zayd. At this point, there are three emotions that a person may experience, two of which are manifestations of imbalance. A person who does not have empathy may find themselves on the spectrum of apathy, choosing to remain distant and to turn a blind eye to the situation at hand. Such a person is selfish and may be afraid of the consequences of some harm befalling them due to their involvement. On the other end of the spectrum, someone may care only about themselves, but have a selfish desire to put the bully down so they can put themselves up, or to take some form of revenge for undermining their authority, perhaps because they are also a bully! An empathetic person of balance will feel the pain and suffering of the person but without any accompanying selfish interests. This is the empathy that every brave person must have. It takes courage to step out of one’s own shoes, to put yourself in another’s shoes, and to feel the hurt they are experiencing.
Generally, someone who is self-centered cannot have empathy and hence cannot be brave. When someone is in danger, people who are self-centered are too concerned about themselves to help them. When they do help them, it will be for some selfish motive, never genuinely to help them. Self-centeredness can become ingrained in someone because of childhood trauma. When it becomes ingrained, it can turn into a mental illness such as narcissism or sociopathy. Both of these kinds of people are too self-centered to have any empathy for anyone else. When they do what appears to be an act of bravery, they are really doing it for themselves so that they can be high in the eyes of other people.
The Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) reminded us of the empathetic duty of the believers in a tradition recorded by Imam Muslim: “The similitude of the believers with respect to their mutual love, affection and empathy is that of one body; when any of its limbs ache, the whole body aches in sleeplessness and fever.” So true believers are moved and hurt by the suffering, pain and hardships of others.
In order to take empathy to another level, the person needs to display compassion and mercy. Compassion is the desire to remove difficulties from another, and hence a desire to lift the difficulty, wrong, abuse or oppression. This is why the scholars of Islam deem it to be an offshoot of justice. Justice is upheld when the object of pain is lifted from the person in need. But to be truly just, you have to exhibit bravery, and to be truly brave, you have to have empathy.
If you liked this blog, you might be interested in our new course Muslim Character and Modern Culture. The course is highly recommended for teens, parents and educators.
