Hadith: The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, 'Do not get angry.
Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported,
"A man said to the Prophet (peace be upon him), 'Advise me.' The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, 'Do not get angry.' The man asked again and again, and the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, 'Do not get angry.'" (Recorded by Al-Bukhari Kitab Al-Adab no.6116)
Explanation of the Hadith
This concerns a man who asked the Prophet (peace be upon him) to advise him with an all-comprehensive saying so that he might remember it. The Prophet (peace be upon him) advised him not to get angry. The man asked again and again and the Prophet (peace be upon him) repeated his very same reply. This indicates that anger is the root of all evil and that avoiding it is the key to all goodness.
When the companion heard this hadith from the Prophet (peace be upon him), he said, "I reconsidered what the Prophet (peace be upon him) said and I reached the conclusion that anger is the root of all evil."
J'afar bin Muhammad said, "Anger is the key to all evil." It was said to bin Al-Mubarak, "In a nutshell, what is the best behavior?: He said, "Avoiding anger. " The saying of the Prophet (peace be upon him), "Do not get angry" indicates two things:
First: the Prophet (peace be upon him) commanded the companion to adhere to good morals and manners, such as generosity, forbearance, modesty, humbleness, bearing hardships, abstention from harming others, forgiving, suppression of one's anger, decency and like manners. If a person adhers to these manners and becomes habituated to them, he will avoid anger even if there are channels leading to it.
Second: the Prophet (peace be upon him) may mean that a person should not act in response to angry irritations. One should try hard to abandon any actions when he is in an angry state. Once dominating man, anger will control him, as Allah says:
………which means, ( And when the anger of Musa (Moses) was appeased. ) (Al-A'raf, 7:154)
If man does not act according to his angry state and does his best to control it, the evil arising from such anger will be driven away. His anger may be appeased, as if he had not gotten angry at all as Allah says,
which means, ( And when they are angry, they forgive. ) (Ash-Shura 42:37)
Allah also says,
which means, ( Who repress anger, and who pardon men; verily, Allah loves the Al-Muhsinun (the good doers) ) (Al-'Imran 134)
How to repress anger?
The Prophet (peace be upon him) used to command the angry Muslim to stick to a behavior that will divert his anger. The Prophet (peace be upon him) also commanded the person who controls himself when he is angry. On the authority of Sulaiman bin Surah who said, "While I was sitting in the company of the Prophet, two men abused each other and the face of one became red with anger, and his jugular vein swelled (i.e., he became furious)." On that the Prophet said, "I know a word, the saying of which will cause him to relax, if he will say it. If he says: 'I seek refuge with Allah from Satan,' then all his anger will go away.
Somebody said to the angry man, the Prophet (peace be upon him) has said, "Seek refuge with Allah from Satan." The angry man said, "Am I insane?"
On the authority of Abu Dharr who reported that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "When any one of you gets angry whil he is standing, he should sit down. If his anger is not repressed, he should lie down."
The hadith indicates that the person who is standing is ready to take revenge, while the person who is sitting down is less liable to such behavior. When he lies down, he is farther away from such behavior. Thus, the Prophet (peace be upon him) commanded us to keep away from the behavior of taking revenge.
For this very same reason, the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "There will soon be a period of turmoil in which the one who sits will be better than the one who stands and the one who stands will be better than one who walks and the one who walks will be better than one who runs."
This is an example given about rushing to participate in turmoil. The meaning of the Hadith is that the person who rushes to participate in turmoil is worse than the one who keeps himself away from it.
Ibn 'Abbas recorded that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said "When anyone of you is angry, he should keep silent. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said it thrice."
This is a great cure for anger as an angry person almost always utters words that he regrets after his anger is appeased. He may insult people or cause harm to them. If he keeps silent, all such harmful words will not be said.
A man talked to 'Urwah bin Muhammad As-S'ady which led to being angry. 'Urwah stood up, performed ablution and said, "My father told me on the authority of my grandfather 'Atiyyah that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "Anger is (caused by) Satan. Satan is created from fire. Fire is extinguished by water. When anyone of you gets angry, he should perform ablution."
Abu Hurayrah reported that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "The strong is not the one who overcomes people by his strength, but the strong is the one who controls himself while in anger."
Ibn Mas'ud recorded that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "Whom do you count as a wrestler amongst you?" We said, "He who wrestles with persons." He said, "No, it is not he, but one who controls himself when in a fit of rage."
The Advice of the Pious Predecessors in Case of Getting Angry
Maymun bin Mahran said, "A man came to Salman and said, 'O Abu 'Abdullah, advise me.' Salman said, 'Do not get angry.' The man said, 'You advised me not to get angry, but sometimes I can not control myself.' Salman said, 'Once you get angry, control your tongue and hands.'"
Controlling one's tongue and hands is the very same aim mentioned in the Prophet's (peace be upon him) advice to the angry man to sit down, lie down or keep silent.
Al-Hassan also said, "If a person adopts four characteristics, Allah will protect him from Satan and never allow him to enter Hellfire. Such characteristics are controlling oneself in cases of desire, fear, lust and anger.
Definition of Anger
Anger is a strong feeling of displeasure or hostility in order to prevent the occurrence of harm or seeking revenge against a person who harmed you. Anger leads to many prohibited acts such as murder, causing physical harm, oppression and transgression. It also leads to many prohibited utterances, such as defamation, insulting, and uttering obscene words.
Commendable Anger
A believer's anger should be directed towards preventing any bad effect on religion and punishing those who disobey Allah and His Messenger as Allah says
which means, (Fight against them so that Allah will punish them by your hands and disgrace them and give you victory over them and heal the breasts of a believing people, and remove the anger of the (believers') hearts.) (At-Tawbah 9:14-15)
This was the behavior of the Prophet (peace be upon him) who never took revenge for himself. When religious sanctuaries were violated, he became furious. He never beat a servant or woman except when he fought in the way of Allah.
Out of his modesty and humbleness, the Prophet (peace be upon him) never encountered a person over something which he detested. Abu Sa'id Al-Khudry reported that said, "The Prophet (peace be upon him) was more bashful than a veiled virgin in her seperate room. And if he saw a thing which he disliked, we would recognize that (feeling) on his face."
The Prophet (peace be upon him) once divided and distributed something as he used to do. A man from the Ansar said, "By Allah, in this division the pleasure of Allah has not been intended." Ibn Mas'ud told him secretly that this had been said. That was hard upon the Prophet (peace be upon him) and the color of his face changed, and he became so angry that I wished I had not told him. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "Moses was harmed by more than this, yet he remained patient."
Whenever the Prophet (peace be upon him) would see or hear a thing which causes the Wrath of Allah, he became very angry. Once he entered into the house of 'Aishah where he saw a curtain is containing pictures. His face changed and he tore it into pieces and said, "The people who receive the severest punishment from Allah will be the picture makers."
Once the Prophet saw some sputum in the direction of the Qiblah (on the wall of the mosque) and he disliked that and the sign of disgust was apparent from his face. So he got up and scraped it off with his hand and said, "Whenever anyone of you stands for the prayer, he is speaking in private to his Lord or his Lord is between him and his Qiblah. So, none of should spit in the direction of the Qiblah."
The Supplication of the Angry
Jabir said, "We marched with the Prophet (peace be upon him) in an invasion. An Ansari man was riding a camel which was somewhat stubborn. The man said to the camel, May Allah damn you. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, 'Get down. Do not accompany us with a damned (camel). Do not supplicate for yourselves, children, or money lest this should happen in an hour in which Allah will accept any supplications."
This indicates that the supplication of the angry may be accepted if it is said in an hour in which supplications are accepted. It is not permissible to supplicate against oneself, children, or money when one is angry.
The Oath of the Angry
Mujahid reported that a man said to Ibn 'Abbas, "I have divorced my wife thrice when I was angry." Ibn Abbas ssid, "Ibn Abbas can not legalize what Allah has made illegal. You have disobeyed your Lord and your wife is divorced." Many Companions have stated that the oath of the angry is valid and that he should expiate for it.
As for the hadith, "No divorce (is valid) in case of unmitigated anger." it is not an authentic hadith, or it may be interpreted in a different way.
The Prophet's (peace be upon him) saying, "When anyone of you is angry, he should keep silent." indicates that an angry man is commanded to keep silent. Thus if he talk, he will be responsible for what is said. It has been recorded that the Prophet (peace be upon him) ordered the angry person to avoid such anger through certain sayings or deeds that appease it. Thus how can a person not be held responsible for what he says when he is angry?
The Prophet (peace be upon him) used to supplicate Allah, saying, "I ask You to (guide me to) the word of truth in cases of anger or content."
This is very valuable direction which commands a person to say nothing but the truth in cases of anger or contentment. When angry, most people pay little attention to what they say.
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