The author best reveals that Iqbal was courageous by describing his actions. The author tells us that Iqbal took the knife that they used to cut the ends of the knots, raised it above his head, and seemed to look at each of them in the eye. Afterwards, he calmly turned and cut the carpet from top to bottom, right through the middle. By describing these actions, the author characterized Iqbal as brave and courageous.