← Quranic WisdomQuranic Wisdom
Anger Management
English · 2 min read
Why does God Almighty say that killing a person is like killing all mankind, and giving life to a person is like giving life to all mankind? This question underlines the importance of tradition.
As the saying goes, ‘It requires a lot of history to make a little tradition’. This means that if you want to establish a good tradition in society, you need several precedents to make it a social norm; moreover, if you have established a wrong tradition in society, it again needs a long process of change to abolish this wrong tradition and replace it with a healthy tradition.
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A society does not abide by laws but by traditions. Laws have a very limited role in social reform. The same is true of the family. Both behave strictly according to traditions and not in obedience to any kind of laws. Therefore, in the case of the family and also in the case of a society—even in the case of a nation, one must be very prudent in this regard.
One example of the lack of prudence is the fostering of the present concept of freedom. In present times, people generally take freedom as the summum bonum, or the greatest good. This modern concept of freedom has broken all those traditions that have been a part of every society for the past thousands and thousands of years.
For example, whereas the ancient societies were based on the concept of human duties, the present concept of freedom has wiped out the former concept of human duties, replacing it with an overemphasis on human rights. For this reason, we see that everywhere people are rights-conscious rather than duty-conscious. The entire fabric of society has been upset by this change.
Be very cautious, therefore, about tampering with those traditions which relate both to the family and to society.
Social problems are the constant concern of the Quran and it sets about addressing them. One of these kinds of problems is anger—a phenomenon which is in evidence in every society. In fact, wherever there are two persons, there must also be provocation and anger. On this subject, the Quran gives a piece of guidance in the chapter Al-‘Imran (The Family of Imran). Its translation is as follows:
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For those who spend, both in prosperity and adversity, who restrain their anger and are forgiving towards their fellow men—God loves those who do good works. (3:134)
Qur'anQuotes the Qur'an
In this verse the Quran does not say that a true believer is devoid of anger; it says instead that a true believer is one who is able to restrain his anger. So, the definition of a true believer is not one who is free of anger, but one whose faith is so powerful that he is able to control his temper whenever the fire of anger begins to smoulder in his heart.