Allah, the Exalted said:
(وَالَّذِينَ يَجْتَنِبُونَ كَبَـــآئِرَ الْإِثْمِ وَالْفَوَاحِشَ وَإِذَا مَا غَضِبُوا هُمْ يَغْفِرُونَ)
This Ayah means: [And those who avoid the enormous sins and immoral acts and when they are angry they forgive].
Also, from the route of Abu Hurayrah, may Allah accept his deeds, a man said to the Prophet ﷺ, “Advise me”, to which the Prophet replied, “Don’t get angry. He said it repeatedly, “Don’t get angry”. Narrated by Al-Bukhariyy.
Brothers in faith, there is no question that anger is a main reason leading to horrible consequences that sometimes reaches the point of murder or destruction. So, anger is a spark that burns in the hearts, eating at its owner. Its flame may even extend to others causing conflict that leads to animosity between people, as may become the case between siblings or cousins. The flame of such anger may even remain alit for years and may burn its way into the next generation, damaging relationships of one’s children and grandchildren.
The Prophet ﷺ in this hadith urged mankind to avoid anger. He meant by that the dispraised type of anger that leads one to behave unwisely.
Only a minority of people can control their anger and conceal its traces. In fact, it is observed from the majority that when they become angry, their blood will boil to an extent where they will become violent and aggressive. This is because their anger is motivated by the devil such that they exceed the boundaries of justice and fairness. Hence, you will see such people threaten and terrorise others for silly reasons and materialistic matters. As a result, relations are severed and jeopardized by retaliations; all for the sake of worldly matters. it is mentioned that the Prophet of Allah ^Issa, peace be upon him, said: The love of Dunya is the cause of all sins.
O my brothers in Islam, how much are we in need of following the footsteps of our dear Prophet Muhammad ﷺ to safe-guard our belief and our worldly life. Not just that, but also to help preserve our well-being, because how many diseases are said to be brought on by anger.
Also, it is said about the Prophet ﷺ that: “He is not angered by worldly matters or anything related to it; but if the line of justice is trespassed, his anger will not be calmed until he gives victory to the inflicted, and he ﷺ never became angry for his personal reasons nor did he ever retaliate to gain victory for himself”.
If this is in fact the state of the best of creation ﷺ then let us all look inwards to consider how far we are from such high morals. It is about time that our fury gets directed only for reasons commended by Allah and if one is pleased, let one be pleased only for reasons commended by Allah in order to seek the reward of Allah, and as an imitation to the Prophet of Allah ﷺ.
It is mentioned that one day a man of the idolists sneaked into a place where the Prophet ﷺ was resting and took him by surprise. The Prophet ﷺ became aware of him only when he saw him standing over his head with his sword drawn, saying: “Who is able to prevent me from [killing] you now? To which the Prophet ﷺ said: “Allah, the Exalted”. To that, the sword immediately dropped from his grip. The Prophet then picked up the sword and said to the man: “Who is able to prevent me from killing you now?”. The man said: “No one”. The Prophet then said, “Get up and be on your way”. As he got up and left, he said to the Prophet, “You are better than I am”, and embraced Islam shortly after.
It is confirmed that the Prophet ﷺ said: “The one who contains his rage while being able to exert it will be called upon on the Day of judgement to choose the huril^in he desires”. Narrated by Abu Dawud. Also, Ahmad narrated from the route of Abu Hurayrah may Allah raise his rank that the Prophet ﷺ said, “The strong man is not strong due to his ability to knock-down others, rather his strength lies in his ability to exercise self-retain when angry.
Al-Bayhaqiyy narrated from the route of Abu Al-Bujayr may Allah reward him greatly, that the Prophet ﷺ said, “One would do a deed by which one believes one is honoring oneself; when in fact one would be degrading it”. This means one would commit a deed that one thinks is a favour to oneself, like being furious and taking revenge for oneself to please one’s ego. One might see this deed as heroic when in fact it is a defiance of the rules of the religion. Hence one would have disgraced oneself by disobeying Allah and exposed oneself to the punishment of Allah, without being aware.
Let us sincerely follow the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, and adhere to his honourable teachings to be successful in this life and the next; and Allah knows best.
