Imaam Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah stated:
Good character is established upon four
pillars; it cannot be attained except based on them. They are: patience,
chastity, courage and justice.
Patience will make one to endure, suppress
anger, abstain from harming others, and have forbearance, tolerance, and
kindness and not be thoughtless and hasty.
Chastity will cause one to abstain from
despicable and vile things of speech and action; and it will make one to have
modesty, which is the head of every good and prevent one from illegal sexual
intercourse, miserliness, lying, backbiting and slandering.
Courage will make one to have sense of honor,
give preference to high standard of characters and traits, to give generously,
which is the courage of the soul and its strength to give out what is beloved
and separate from it. It will also make one to suppress anger and have
forbearance, because through the strength of one’s soul and its courage, one
will withhold its trouble and restrain it from incitement to evil and violence
as stated by the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): “The strong is not the
one who overcomes the people by his strength, but the strong is the one who
controls himself while in anger.”[1] That is the reality of courage. It is the
special ability with which a person defeats his opponent.
Justice will make one’s character to be upright
and balanced between the two extremes of immoderation and negligence. It will
spur one towards the character of selflessness and generosity, which is the
middle cause between humbleness and brazenness, and the character of courage,
which is the middle cause between cowardice and rashness; and towards the
character of patience which is the middle cause between anger and humiliation.
The origin of all these virtuous characters is from these four things.
Source: Madaarij as-Saalikeen Bayna Manaazil (Iyyaaka
Na‘bud wa Iyyaaka Nasta‘een) by Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah
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