An enormous anger that could appear at any moment; a multidirectional, overflowing, consuming, irrepressible, unstoppable and sometimes unsubstantiated anger…
One never knows when it will appear or when it will break out; moreover, sometimes anger might come to such a point that it could make people attack one another. A person consumed by his anger might commit an offense in a moment’s time that he would eternally regret. He either kills someone, or burns down his house and damages his properties, or commits suicide and throws himself into the depths of the Hell with his own hands. It is all too possible to see examples of such anger in the newspapers or on television.
Some people are very much inclined to get angry, to get tense and raise their voices, to argue and even fight about ordinary, daily events. Such people get angry when they are stuck in traffic for a while, when something they bought is defective, when they are not able to go to lunch at the planned hour and asked to do something on top of that, when they are criticized, when they have to walk somewhere on a very hot day, when someone accidentally damages something they have; in short, they are inclined to get angry about the great majority of the things they come across throughout the day. They consider those incidents to be unwanted, uncalled for incidents that disrupt the natural course of their daily life. The tension and the facial expressions we see on such people give the impression that they could start quarreling at any moment. In fact, rage and anger are feelings that greatly harm those who experience these emotions because they are against human nature.
Anger is not compatible with human nature
Human nature is created in a way that savors friendship, love, affection, sharing one’s happiness with others and being surrounded with trusted people. Rage and anger prevents one from enjoying a sincere friendship, love and mutual understanding. Such people are always left alone, without friends; consequently, it would not be possible for them to be happy and enjoy the blessings they’ve been bestowed.
Since loneliness is against our nature, it overwhelms people and causes distress. Even though some people often claim that they enjoy being alone, that they do not love anyone, that they only love themselves and that they can only be comfortable when they are on their own; one can safely say that they are not genuine in this claim. Everyone enjoys love, everyone likes establishing friendship and being loved. This search for love is actually the reason why some people who are left alone because of their anger befriend their cats, dogs or birds and become so fond of them, they talk to them as if they are talking to a human being.
Rage and anger drags people into loneliness, unhappiness and desperation. It draws both them and those around them away from beauties and makes the world an unbearable place for them.
Anger harms
There is a prevalent misconception in many societies which states that a humble person who refrains from arguments would be oppressed. People who internalize an aggressive attitude believe that they would be debasing themselves or be defeated if they assume a humble attitude. Yielding to these negative thoughts, instead of calming down their rage and anger is a very dangerous state of mind which harms the concerned person the most and prevents him from seeing the beauties in the world.
There are many people who keep away from those they love the most simply because they cannot forgive each other and fail to overcome those feelings of rage and anger. Those people, because they fail to forgive, lead a life devoid of love, forfeiting intimacy, confidence, loyalty, fidelity and the respect and trustworthy friendships they could have established with one another.
Rage and anger prevents one from forgiving, showing humility, acting justly and approaching another with trust, acting on good assumptions, looking at things with goodness and acting with love and compassion. Being forgiving, keeping one’s temper and assuming a humble attitude is much easier and more natural than bearing a grudge they are far more productive and beautiful feelings. Living by this moral code every second could only be possible with faith and fear of Allah.
The zest of overcoming anger
Allah says, Muslims are “… those who control their rage and pardon other people.” (Qur’an, 3:134) What is important is to control rage even if one feels it inside. A faithful person would refrain from being consumed in that anger no matter what, even if they suffer a loss. One who is mature enough to forgive — even when he is 100 percent right — would feel a profound relief, joy, happiness and contentment inside. Allah is the One Who makes him live those beauties.
As a blessing from His Sight, Allah enables His servants who show this moral virtue to feel this contentment and peace.
While a person who doesn’t know how to forgive and assume a humble tone experiences the pain, suffering and distress of that rage and anger he feels inside, and feels consumed by the torment and remorse of thinking “should I have forgiven?,” those who can forgive enjoy the beauty of love, respect and friendship they attained with the moral virtue they’ve displayed.
The attitude and the tone of those who believe should always be calming. Having a quick temper and holding a grudge is unseemly for a Muslim. A Muslim doesn’t allow himself to be consumed by events; he watches them play their course and follows his destiny. He would be fully aware of the fact that even the falling of a single leaf has been determined in destiny. Consequently, he knows that everything that happens in the trial of the life of this world is not for him to be sad, to be distressed or to become angry — but rather to endure, to show patience and submission; for him to ask for Allah’s forgiveness.
He knows that everything is created to make him to turn toward Allah. All these incidents are created for us to show our determination in living by the moral values of the Qur’an.
Responding to everything, to every attitude with kindness and compassion and thinking that Allah surely creates everything for a good reason is a necessity of good morality. In the Qur’an, Allah says; “They should rather pardon and overlook. Would you not love Allah to forgive you? Allah is Ever-Forgiving, Most Merciful.” (Surat An-Nur; 22) We should not forget that other Muslims want a compassionate and forgiving attitude from us as much as we want Allah to forgive us.
Adnan Oktar's piece on Arab News:
http://www.arabnews.com/news/islam-perspective/619021
