ANGER

(When a bolt suddenly pops out from the Head)

Mankind by nature has been created with emotions, and as far as I know, these emotions of his appear to be the most difficult thing for him to control.

His lack of strength over his emotions sometimes proves to be the reason behind his emotional collapse – which he may later live to regret.

One of those core aspects of man’s emotional state is RAGE – which is an expression of anger.

It drives a Man from mild irritation to intense fury – his body mobilizes to fight, leaving his hands and lips trembling, with some sprinkle of sweat on his forehead, his heart beats 3* faster and the muscles in his face is locked in a scowl.

This is ANGER in a summarized paragraph……..

We all have limits to our emotional endurance which varies at different proportion – I may not feel bogged at what gets you ANGRY. And what gets me angry may not sound worth it to your ears.

But the gist of it all is that we all get ANGRY.......

The most devastating part of this emotional state is the manner in which we express it most times, and the most common approach we all adopt is to burst out in an extremely harsh manner at the one who provoked us, not minding the consequences attached to our emotions. We therefore become unforgiving and beyond being reasoned with.

Sometimes, at that critical emotional state, the only thoughts that hovers around our head is to abuse, loathe, curse, despise, ruin, demolish, damage, fight, annihilating everything good around us and sometimes it could lead us to commit murder.

There is always a cost for every ANGER  that is negatively expressed – No doubt, expressing our anger could be a relief for the concealed rage in us, but we need to realize that it also has a price tag.

This can be vividly illustrated in the case of a father who angrily blurted out harsh words at his children on account of them making mischief in the home.

This emotional outburst by the father led to a strained relationship in the home. The kids became suddenly isolated, and they would always tremble before they can do anything in the presence of their Dad, because they could not afford to see his RAGE again.

Also, in the case of a friend who became extremely hostile at his best friend because he wore his shoes to a party without his consent. This attitude led their friendship to deteriorate to the point of break up.

It also reminds me of the story of a brother I heard sometimes ago. He just got a Job at a company, and on the day he was to resume office, a car accidentally splashed dirty water on his neatly starched iron shirt and trousers.

Out of fury, he grabbed the driver and got into a physical combat with him. Unknowingly to the brother, the driver was the CEO of the company he just got employed.

In summary, this brother lost his Job on account of his negative expression of his anger.

All these are only a handpicked example of the price tag attached to Anger, and it’s so pathetic that the angry fellow is left with the least sense of care and affectionate concern for those around him, and he feels very much comfortable being isolated at that state of emotional outburst.

Hey there! Listen up…I make bold to say that we are all found guilty of this irrational attitude of negative expression of our anger.

Yes! I know I mentioned earlier that we all have our various endurance limit, but it’s really important for us to realize that if someone provokes us, it is best for us to justifiably express that anger in a way that it won’t affect our relationship with such person.

Or sometimes, it could be best for us to conceal that anger. I know this may be tough especially in a situation where someone does wrong to you. But it is equally the best time for you display the strength of your faith by being patient.

It is no wonder why Prophet Muhammad (SAW) said;

“The strong man is not the one who wrestle, the strong man is the one who conceals his Anger in a state of Rage”

One negative phenomenon attached to Anger is that whatever one says at the moment of that emotional outburst, could be granted by Allah.

“Imagine a mother angrily cursing her child “may you not be successful” simply because the child delayed in responding to her call”.

If such words should collide with the time of acceptance of prayer, it would only take the divine grace for such child to be rescued from the grip, and when the time comes for the mother to reap the fruit of her labor, she would also share a taste of the anguish. She would then start to lament - "someone must have cast a spell on my child" not realizing it was her own handwork.

So as a preventive measure, the Prophet (SAW) advised thus;

“Do not curse yourselves,, but ask for something good; for the Angels say Amin to what you say”

And finally, the best way to evade any of these calamities attached to anger is to “avoid getting angry”.

When you find yourself in a situation where your patience is being tampered with, it’s best for you to leave that place.

Scrutinize yourself and figure out what gets you angry easily, then device every possible means to ensure you don’t get entangled in its web.

That is why the Prophet (SAW) was reported to have advised a companion that sought him out on different occasions and each time this companion came, the Prophet (SAW) would say to him;

“DO NOT GET ANGRY”

The Prophet (SAW) must have said this because he knew the best way to be safe from the calamities of Anger is to avoid it completely.

This advice is still very much relevant to everyone today, that we should avoid getting angry completely because we just might not be able to bear the consequence that is to come afterwards.

SANNI WAHAB OLANREWAJU