1291 – Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “The strong man is not the one who overpowers others in wrestling; rather, the strong man is the one who masters himself when anger strikes.” Agreed upon (1).
Vocabulary of the ḥadīth:
• al-shadīd (the strong): here the term denotes moral strength—the struggle to restrain one’s own soul from evil.
• al-suraʿah (the wrestler): with a ḍammah on the ṣād and a fatḥah on the rā’, it is the physically powerful person who often throws others down because of his might.
Points derived from the ḥadīth:
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The narration shows that true strength is not muscular or bodily power; genuine strength is moral power. The strong man is therefore not the one who is always able to topple his opponents, but the one who strives against his own soul and subdues it when anger intensifies, keeping its reins so that he does not commit a forbidden act of aggression, and restraining his tongue so that he does not utter anything unlawful—insults, curses, slander, or the like.
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Anger is an inborn impulse. When something provokes it, the soul surges from within toward outward action, seeking revenge. The truly strong person is the one who wrestles with this surge, overcomes it, and bars it from carrying out the vengeance it desires.
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As for the wording found in the narration recorded by al-Bukhārī (6116) on the authority of Abu Hurayrah: