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Anger: Causes and
Remedy*
Anger
is a flame of fire, and when man is angry he has some relation to
the accursed Satan who said, as the Qur’an tells, [… Thou didst
create Me from fire, and him from clay.] (Al-A`raf: 12)
Anger
is condemned in Islam because it produces malevolence and envy. Once
a man said to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him),
“Advise me!” and the Prophet said, “Do not become angry.”
The man asked (the same) again and again, and the Prophet said each
time, “Do not become angry.” (Reported by Al-Bukhari)
Causes
and Remedy of Anger
The
remedy of any defect mainly depends on the elimination of its
causes. Self-admiration, joking, argumentation, and betrayal are
among the primary causes of anger. Undoubtedly, these are ill morals
that the Shari`ah condemns, and in order to get rid of them, people
should treat each of them with its opposite.
To
remedy the habitual anger, the Muslim, male or female, should do
certain things, as follows:
First:
He should become well acquainted with the virtues of
forgiveness, forbearance, endurance, and restraining anger.
Second:
He should frighten himself with the punishment of Allah the Almighty
by saying to himself, “Allah’s might over me is much greater
than my might over that person (who has enraged me), so if I punish
him now, I cannot be sure I will be safe from Allah’s punishment
on the Day of Resurrection, and I am much more in need of His
forgiveness (than His punishment)!”
Third:
He should warn himself against the consequences of enmity, revenge,
and glee at the misfortune of his disputants, for, like them, he is
not free from calamities that may afflict him at any time.
Fourth:
He should meditate on how ugly his image seems when he is angry and
on that he should not lead himself to such a terrible image.
Fifth:
He should think over the cause that invites him to take revenge. For
example, the cause of his anger may be because Satan says to him,
“You should not stand still after hearing such humiliating words
(that he may have just heard from someone), otherwise you will
become humble in the sight of people.” At that moment, he should
say to himself, “Do you fear that you should become humble in the
sight of people and do not fear of being humble in the sight of
Allah, the angels, and prophets?” In this way, he may restrain his
anger and escape from the destructive traps of Satan.
Sixth:
He should remember that his anger has been caused by something that
happened according to Allah’s will and not his own will, so how
can he comply with his own will other than the will of Allah the
Almighty?
This
is how the Muslim should act when he has the flaw of anger so that
he may avoid its ruinous and baleful consequences.
You
can also read:
*
Based on Ibn Qudamah
Al-Maqdisi’s Mukhtasar Minhaj Al-Qasidin, (Mansourah,
Egypt: Dar al-Manarah, 2002)
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