the accursed Satan, what he feels would leave him.’ They then told him, ‘The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “Seek refuge with Allah from the accursed Satan.”’ (Agreed upon)

[Explanation]

These two ḥadiths that the author has cited deal with anger. Anger is a live ember that Satan hurls into the heart of the son of Adam: he flares up, his body grows hot, the veins of his neck swell, his face reddens, and he sometimes speaks words he does not even understand and behaves in ways he likewise does not comprehend.

For this reason a man once came to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and said, ‘Advise me.’ He replied, ‘Do not become angry.’

In the ḥadith of Abū Hurayrah just mentioned, the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—clarified that the strong man is not the one who overpowers others in ṣurʿa (wrestling). He said, ‘The strong man is not the champion wrestler,’ meaning that the person who repeatedly throws people down and defeats them in physical combat is not, in reality, the strong one, even though people may call him powerful. Rather, the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, teaches that such a man is not truly strong: ‘Rather, the strong man is the one who controls himself when he is angry.’ In other words, genuine power belongs to the person who wrestles with his own soul; when anger confronts him, he masters and restrains it. That is true strength—an inner strength.