The power of anger is one of the most impulsive instincts that controls human beings. Anger is an intense emotional reaction towards an undesired action, saying or feeling. It is also known as wrath or rage. People’s reactions are influenced by their emotions. It is a change that occurs when the blood boils, the eyes and the face get red, which leads the person to choose some actions that he would never try if he is relaxed or quiet. Anger can represent the most constructive power or the most demolishing one. Therefore, the prophetic Sunnah paid attention to providing some ways to reform, direct, and guide Muslims to the way of its management. The Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) described anger and said ”Anger is an ember in the heart of the son of Adam, as you see it in the redness of his eyes and the bulge of his jugular veins. So whoever senses something from that, then let him cling to the ground.” At the same time, the Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) did not order us not to experience anger, but he gave us spiritual and religious guidelines to deal with its effects. Modern psychology tends to manage emotions not to control them. All human emotions are tested by Allah, so Anger is also a test by Allah, to see whether a Muslim will respond to his anger or he gets the upper hand in this test.
The Islamic approach to anger
The prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) described types of people when they get angry and defined the best type among them all, he said ”Among them is the slow to get angry, the quick to calm. Among them is the quick anger and the quick to calm, so this is with that. Behold! Among them is the quick get angry and slow to calm, and indeed the best of them is the slow to get angry and the quick to calm, and the worst of them is the quick get angry and the slow to calm.” Hence, the best person is the one who is easily reconciled and approached. Allah created the self and it opened to taming. When the person feels anger, he needs to remember Allah, decide the motives of his anger and the best way to express this anger, otherwise, it turns back against him. The prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) is an excellent pattern for anyone whose hope is in Allah and the last day. It was narrated that the prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) never took revenge for himself unless the limits of Allah were violated. He never got angry unless for the sake of Allah and the sake of right. Man needs to remember that this life is not worth the wing of a mosquito. Thus, before this anger turns into a harmful mean, an important question must be answered, is it worth it?
Abu Hurairah (RAA) narrated, ‘A man said, “O Messenger of Allah, advise me.” The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: “Do not get angry.” The man repeated that several times and he replied, “Do not get angry.” Also, in the Holy Quran, Surah Al-Imran:134, Allah praises the people who have high self-control, and says ”Who spend [in the cause of Allah] during ease and hardship and who restrain anger and who pardon the people – and Allah loves the doers of good.” (الَّذِينَ يُنفِقُونَ فِي السَّرَّاءِ وَالضَّرَّاءِ وَالْكَاظِمِينَ الْغَيْظَ وَالْعَافِينَ عَنِ النَّاسِ ۗ وَاللَّهُ يُحِبُّ الْمُحْسِنِينَ). In addition, from a more general perspective, Islam highlights the core strength of a Muslim does not only lie within his physical power but with his amount of self-control. The prophet Muhammad said (ﷺ) ”The strong man is not the good wrestler; but the strong man is he who controls himself when he is angry.”
the prophetic treatment for anger
The prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) never prohibited something unless he recommended a cure for it. He recommended Muslims on how to deal with anger:
1-Seeking refuge in Allah against Shitaan. Sulaiman b. Surad said: Two men reviled one another in the Prophet’s presence when we were sitting near him, and when one of them who had become red in the face reviled the other angrily the Prophet said that he knew a phrase by repeating which the man could get rid of his angry feelings: “I seek refuge in God from that accursed devil.”
2-Changing the position of his state. Narrated AbuDharr: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said to us: When one of you becomes angry while standing, he should sit down. If the anger leaves him, well and good; otherwise he should lie down. It is recommended that changing the position from standing to lying down would ease the anger, as the person is closer to revenge or react when he is standing.
3-Silence. Training the self not to get too indulged in feelings is one of the best ways to treatment. And training the self to stay quiet is a salvation from many inevitable harms. Ibn ‘Abbas reported that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “Teach and make things easy and not difficult. When one of you is angry, he should be silent.”
4-Wudu (ablution) or taking a shower. Abu Wa’il al-Qass said: We entered upon Urwah ibn Muhammad ibn as-Sa’di. A man spoke to him and made him angry. So he stood and performed ablution; he then returned and performed ablution, and said: My father told me on the authority of my grandfather Atiyyah who reported the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) as saying: Anger comes from the devil, the devil was created of fire, and fire is extinguished only with water; so when one of you becomes angry, he should perform ablution.
