173 / WHAT IS SAID WHEN ANGRY

Anger is a blameworthy trait and a disgraceful quality that Islam has prohibited and most emphatically warned against. It is the boiling up of the blood in the heart and the quickening of its beat, prompted either by the desire to repel anticipated harm or by the desire to take revenge upon someone after harm has occurred. This gives rise to many forbidden acts, such as killing, striking, and various forms of injustice and aggression, as well as many forbidden words, such as slanderous accusations, insults, obscenity, and foul speech. It may also lead to oaths by which one may not lawfully bind oneself, the divorcing of one’s wife, and similar actions that result in nothing but regret. All of this demonstrates most clearly that anger encompasses every evil and opens the doors leading to it.

Al-Bukhārī narrated in his Sahīh from Abū Hurayra, may Allah be pleased with him: “A man said to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, ‘Advise me.’ He replied, ‘Do not become angry.’ The man repeated his request several times, and each time he replied, ‘Do not become angry.’”1

This man asked the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, to give him concise and comprehensive advice encompassing the qualities of goodness, so that he might retain it and act upon it. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, advised him not to become angry. The man repeated his request several times, and the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, continued to answer, “Do not become angry.” This indicates that anger encompasses every evil and opens the way to it, while guarding oneself against anger encompasses every good.

In the Musnad of Imam Ahmad, al-Zuhrī narrated from Humayd ibn Abd al-Rahmān, from a man among the Companions of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, who said: I said, “O Messenger of Allah, advise me.” He replied, “Do not become angry.” The man said, “When I reflected upon what the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, had said, I realized that