Ghadab (anger)

Anger is the agitation of the soul at an offence or a violation. In Jami al-ulum wal-hikam, Ibn Rajab presents the hadith of the man who asked the Prophet for advice, and was told: "Do not become angry." It belongs to good manners. ¹

A man came to the Prophet and said, "Advise me," and he said, "Do not become angry." The man repeated the question several times, and the answer was always the same. In another version he said, "Teach me something and do not make it too much for me," and in another, "Show me a deed that will enter me into Paradise." ¹

Ibn Rajab draws from the repetition of the answer that anger is the sum of evil and that guarding against it is the sum of good. ¹

He relates from Abu Amr ibn al-Salah, from Abu Muhammad ibn Abi Zayd, that "do not become angry" is one of four hadiths from which the branches of good manners spring. ¹

Among the definitions of good character according to Ahmad is "that you do not become angry and do not become harsh," and according to Ishaq ibn Rahawayh, "openness of countenance and not becoming angry." ²

He says a person must master himself when desiring and when afraid, and fear only the One who created him. ³ He says anger comes from Satan, and Satan was created from fire. ⁴ He recounts the man who asked the Prophet for counsel and was told, "do not become angry", and urges imitating the forbearance of the Prophet, the Companions and the scholars. ⁵

The Sheikh says that anger comes from Satan and Satan from fire, and that the fire of anger is put out only by gentleness; the transcript here reads "al-na'im" (needs_source: the word is unclear in the transcript and is likely "gentleness", to be verified) ⁶.

The Sheikh says that the fire of revenge comes from the fire of anger, so anger is its source ⁷.