Is anger a bad thing? Or is it bad that I am unable to control my anger?
We face these questions often. My question is that do we control anger for the sake of Allah?
How do we manage our anger every day? Why do we control it? The answer will be crystal clear with a few examples.
Suppose a husband is angry with his wife, and while he was telling his wife off, suddenly his father-in-law arrived. What will his likely reaction be?
He will quickly control himself, his fiery face will change to a smiley face, and his voice will be gentle to greet his father-in-law in order to show himself as a worthy son-in-law
Once in my youth I was angrily talking to a friend in our guest house, and my voice became loud. Suddenly, I heard my father speak from behind asking, “Are you angry Farid!”
I turned back, and in a moment my voice changed from high to low. With a smile I said, “Don’t worry dad, we are friends.”
I could control my anger, but my intention was not to please Allah but to save my face and reputation with my father.
Every day, people are controlling their anger for different reasons. Such as, to keep their customers happy, to keep their boss happy, to keep their jobs, to save themselves from tyrant leaders, to keep their popularity intact and so on.
No one can argue that anger control is impossible. It is possible, and for our survival, safety, peace, and prosperity we can control our anger.
But how many of us, as believers, control our anger for the pleasure of Allah. We must ask ourselves this question frequently.
Why is anger control for the pleasure of Allah so important for believers?
The Prophet (s) has taught us “Innamal A’maalu binniyyah – the reward from Allah for a good deed depends on the intention.” [Hadith: Bukhari/Muslim]
We can control anger in obedience to Allah and in love for Him. “And who controls anger and pardon (all) man, Verily, Allah loves those who do good.” [Quran 3:134].
If we control our anger for the sake of Allah, then Allah will remove His anger on the Day of Judgment from us.
Anas (a) reported Prophet Mohammad (s) saying, “Whoever controls his/her anger, Allah will remove His anger from him/her on the Day of Judgment.” [Hadith: Bayhaki]
The moral is that let us train our minds in order to control anger with the intention to please Allah only.
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