40 Hadiths on Social Justice
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Hadith #17: Righteous Anger
What is righteous anger and how can we find and channel it justly?
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. The pursuit of strength, this idea of Izzah, this idea of pursuit of strength. And the halaqa tonight is building off of that same concept. It's about the concept of righteous anger. And I'm going to read the whole hadith and then we'll focus on the bottom part of the hadith. What hadith number are we on by the way? 17? 18? No, it's not 16. 17. Okay. This is the hadith of A'ishah radiallahu ta'ala Anha where she describes the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam. She says, She says, So the first part of the hadith, A'ishah radiallahu anha says, Meaning two choices in an affair, Meaning two things were not presented to the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam. Two choices, except that he always took the easier one. So long as there was no sin in taking that easier choice. She said, That part of the hadith is not what we're going to cover tonight but you'll see the connection between the two inshallah. A'ishah is describing the balance of the character of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam. So that's how it's going to tie into the second part. But the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam was not someone who liked to make things difficult. And the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam was someone who liked to make things easy. And the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam was someone who liked to make things difficult. And that's the second part. But the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam was not someone who liked to make things difficult. And the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, if two things were presented to him, he did not go for the one with more difficulty in some show of piety. The Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam chose the easier option as long as it was not a sinful option.
And if it was sinful, the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam stayed the farthest away from it. Some of the ways that that hadith is misapplied is that people say that, if you see two fatwas, take the easy fatwa all the time. Because the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam always took the easier choice. That's a misapplication of this hadith. So find a way to frame your zabiha, halal discussions outside of this hadith. Because the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam here is not talking about an option of halal and doubtful. The Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam is being, or Aisha rather, is describing the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam in a situation of halal and halal. And no, I did not just pronounce a verdict on meat. I was just saying that this is not the hadith to argue about fatwa. It's the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam being presented with two clearly halal choices. Okay? On anything. And he always took the easier one, alayhi salatu wa salam, as long as there was no sin in it. And then she says about him, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, wa man taqama rasool Allah salallahu alayhi wa sallam li nafsihi illa thun tahaka hurmatullahi azza wa jal. Another narration, wa man taqama li nafsihi qat. The hadith says that the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam never took revenge from anyone because of a personal grievance unless what Allah had made inviolable was violated. I'm going to say that again. wa man taqama rasool Allah salallahu alayhi wa sallam li nafsihi illa thun tahaka hurmatullahi azza wa jal. Or in the narration, wa man taqama li nafsihi qat. So the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam never took revenge for a personal grievance of his own unless that which Allah had made inviolable was violated. Then the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam demonstrated a sense of anger. A sense of anger. What's the connection between the two things? And that's why I read the first part again.
The balance of the character of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam. He was not a difficult person. He was not a mean person. He was not someone that demonstrated perpetual anger. And here we're going to focus on the second part. The Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam never got angry because of his nafs. Because of his self. What's so powerful about this hadith, and by the way the hadith is narrated in similar language from Anas radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu, who was sent to the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam to serve him as a servant boy. The Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, what's so powerful about this is that Aisha radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu, his wife is the one who's saying this about him. That I never saw him get angry because of a personal grievance. When do you usually get angry because you're offended? Usually it's in an argument that likely would happen in a marriage. I know that mashaAllah here, because we have Shaykh Yasir Brijas teaching us all the time about the fiqh of marriage, no one argues with their spouses in Valley Ranch, alhamdulillah. But those who do argue with their spouses, those who are watching online, usually when you're arguing, usually when you're arguing, that's when you always want to score that extra point. You want to have the upper hand in an argument. And Aisha is admiring the character of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam. He never let a silly argument push him over salallahu alayhi wa sallam. That wasn't what would make him angry alayhi salatu was salam, rather he was composed, but if what Allah made inviolable was violated, then you saw the anger of the Prophet alayhi salatu was salam. So that's the hadith we're going to cover. I'm going to mention a supplemental hadith to this hadith inshaAllah, then we'll break it down. I couldn't figure out which one will be the hadith that we frame the discussion around. This hadith is from Abu Hurairah radhiallahu ta'ala anhu, that the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam said, inna allaha yugharu, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has ghira. Ghira is protective honor.
Ghira can mean self-respect or it can mean like a protective honor, a dignity where you feel protective over someone or something, usually other than you. So inna allaha yugharu, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has ghira. wa inna almu'min yugharu, and verily the believer, every believer has this quality of ghira. And he said salallahu alayhi wasalam, waghiratullah an ya'ti almu'min ma harrama alayhi. And the ghira of Allah, is that a believer, or what would offend the ghira of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, is that a believer would approach that which Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala made sacred. Meaning a believer would violate what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala commanded them not to violate. Another hadith is, you know, the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam said, at'ajabuna bi ghirati sa'ad, are you amazed by the ghira, this protective honor of Sa'ad radhiallahu ta'ala anhu. And the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam said, wallahi la'ana aghiaru minhu, wallahu aghiaru minni. He said, I have more ghira than Sa'ad, and Allah has more ghira than me. This is a very difficult concept to break down. This halaqa is not about ghira, but ghira comes from a sense of protective, I'm sorry, comes from a sense of righteous anger as well. Ghira comes from a sense of righteous anger as well. So how do we merge this all together? We can take from the first hadith that the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam is showing, that Aisha is saying that the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam did get mad, he did get angry, but he didn't get angry over petty things or because he was offended salallahu alayhi wasalam. He got mad for things that were worth getting mad about. Imam al-Bayhaqi rahimahu allah ta'ala, he comments on this hadith, and he says, if we were to say that all anger is bad,
then that leaves no room for zeal and ghira. It leaves no room for zeal and honor and ghira. Again, ghira is a very hard word to translate. So those are positive qualities that come from a sense of righteous anger. And in fact, Imam al-Nawawi rahimahu allah talked about this. He said part of the human perfection is that we have ghira, and ghira comes from taghayyur alqalb, a change of heart. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, the most frequent dua of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam was what? The most frequent dua of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam was what? Does anyone know? Ya muqallibal qulub, thabbit qalbi ala deenik. O turner of hearts, make my heart firm on your path. But here, taghayyur alqalb, the heart changing, and Imam al-Nawawi rahimahu allah ta'ala says that when your heart moves, when you feel emotion for things that you should feel emotion about, passion, courage, honor, when your heart, you know, it's not a bad thing to be an emotional person. It's about how you deal with those emotions. But he said that if we did not have those emotions, then we're just like inanimate objects. It's part of our humanity that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala put these things inside of us. And as human beings, we are not supposed to negate human emotions. We're supposed to channel them properly. Every human quality that Allah gave us, He gave it to us to channel it, not to negate it. Okay? Shahwa, desire. Are we supposed to negate desire in Islam? I'm actually very surprised that you guys haven't answered that question. Are we supposed to negate desire? No. You're supposed to channel it properly. So anger as well is a human emotion.
You are not supposed to negate it. You're supposed to channel it properly. That's why Imam al-Ghazali rahimahu allah said, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala did not say, wa al-faqidina al-ghayth, Allah azza wa jalla said, wa al-ka'zimin al-ghayth. Allah did not say those who don't have anger when describing the believers. Allah said those who, I'm sorry, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said those who swallow their anger. Okay? Because when you swallow it, you swallow it because you're supposed to swallow it, but you don't negate the emotion. The emotion is supposed to be there. So righteous anger is a quality of the believers. It is a quality of the messenger, salallahu alayhi wa sallam. And ghira is one of the things that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala attributes to himself. We can't praise ghadab, anger, in isolation or in general. Because the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, we know the very famous hadith, a man came to him and said, awsani, give me advice, he said, la thaghdab, do not become angry. And he said it three times, salallahu alayhi wa sallam. So obviously ghadab, in general, is not a positive thing unless a person is able to channel it properly. Ghira is to be angry over something that is worth, to be angry from a sense of protection, out of a sense of protection. That is ghira. And the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, praised the person that has ghira. And the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, said that the one who doesn't have any sense of ghira is disgraceful. So it's a positive quality for a person to have. Now where does that righteous anger start? The ulama say it starts with anger against yourself, anger with yourself when you violate,
when you violate boundaries that Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, commanded you not to violate. You know, everyone always, when people start getting really mad and they get into their enforcer mentality, they try to claim that they're being like Umar ibn al-Khattab, radhiyaAllahu ta'ala, but there is no person that Umar, radhiyaAllahu ta'ala, used to get more mad at than himself. Umar took himself to task far more than he took any member of the ummah to task. He chastised himself, he admonished himself. If he felt like he wronged someone, he didn't wait for someone to tell him, you committed an injustice. Umar, radhiyaAllahu ta'ala, we spoke about, not last week, but the week before last week, Umar, radhiyaAllahu ta'ala, had that quality, right? He wasn't just this person that was doing this with everyone else. He himself, when he committed an act that he thought was not befitting, he became angry with himself, radhiyaAllahu ta'ala, and that anger that Umar showed with himself kept him humble. Because if you're only doing that with other people, you'll be an arrogant person. But if you start off always by looking inward and taking yourself to task, then that keeps you in check, keeps you humble. So despite Umar, radhiyaAllahu ta'ala, strong, firm personality, in setting things right amongst people, in calling out injustice, and rectifying situations, as soon as he saw it, Umar, radhiyaAllahu ta'ala, did not think he was better than anybody else. So he never had that sense of arrogance or self-righteousness. And Umar, radhiyaAllahu ta'ala, was tougher on himself than he was on anyone else. So the first form of anger is to be angry with oneself if you find yourself transgressing. I'm starting off with the general concepts here. I haven't really brought it particularly to zulmiya, to injustice yet.
But we're talking about when you commit a haram, are you as angry with yourself as you are with everybody else? SubhanAllah, you have the right to call out other people, to chastise other people. Do you take yourself to account? حاسبوا أنفسكم قبل أن تحاسبوا It was Umar, radhiyaAllahu ta'ala, who said, Hold yourself accountable before you are held accountable. The believer doesn't wait to be held accountable. The believer holds himself accountable. So when people are, especially in the online world, just, whoosh, that was my best whip sound, right? But angry and just chastising and admonishing and calling people out and whatever it is, hypocrisy and this. First you've got to start with yourself. Do you take yourself to task before you take other people to task? And that was the quality of Umar, radhiyaAllahu ta'ala, anhum. And there's a hadith where the Prophet, salAllahu alaihi wa sallam, mentions, a hadith from Abu Umama, radhiyaAllahu ta'ala, anhum. قال صلى الله عليه وسلم إذا سرتك حسناتك وساءتك سيئاتك فأنت مؤمن If your good deeds make you happy and your bad deeds make you sad or angry, they make you upset, then that means you're a believer. So your emotions, you look at your own deeds, and that's how you really see your emotions, whether you're happy or whether you're going to be sad. So what is righteous anger? This is where we start off now. The general concept that there is such a thing as righteous anger. There are two things to keep in mind with this subject. There are two determining factors as to whether or not it's righteous anger. Number one is why you are angry. Number two is how you show that anger. Why and how.
Why are you angry? And number two is how are you angry? Okay? And the two are often indicative of the other. What does that mean? If in my anger I violate the boundaries of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, I cannot claim that I'm angry for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Because the way that I'm showing that anger shows that it came from an ugly place. If it came from a place of beauty, it would manifest itself in a beautiful way. But if it manifests itself in an ugly way, that means its origin is ugly as well. So I can't come in and start screaming at people and cursing and becoming foul. The Prophet ﷺ said, the believer is not someone who curses and who uses foul language and who abuses people with their tongue and say, this is for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Right? I can't claim that that's from a place of righteous anger. That's from nafs. That's from a place of ego. But I'm using, perhaps I'm using a righteous cause to disguise my nafs, my egotistical rant. Alright? You know what they're called on, I heard this term before, I don't remember, but they're called outrage trolls. Alright? Online outrage trolls. So you take something that's a legitimate cause and you scream about it, not because you really care about the cause, but because you want to be screaming and you found the cause that justifies your screaming. And so it's laced with nafs. It's laced with ego and with yourself, but you are claiming to be doing it for a righteous reason. Very dangerous. And that's how shaitan tricks us. Right? That's how shaitan tricks us and deceives us. You might be arguing the right thing, but the way you're arguing it shows that you're not arguing it for the right reason.
So you have to ask yourself, if the how is bad, maybe the why is not as good as I thought it was. Maybe I need to review my intention. I need to go back to my intention. And that's why the Prophet ﷺ, for example, in the how, he described the hypocrite. وَإِذَا خَاصَمَ فَجَلْ When the hypocrite argues or when the hypocrite gets into it, then he transgresses all bounds. That's a sign of hypocrisy. It doesn't matter what the argument was about. What matters is that the way that the hypocrite, the way that that person acted during that argument is a sign of nifaq, is a sign of hypocrisy. Some of the scholars, they tied that to the other, you know, إِذَا حَدَثَ كَذَبٌ When he speaks, he lies. وَإِذَا وَعَدَ أَخْلَفٌ When he makes a promise, he breaks his promise. وَإِذَا تُمِنَ خَانٌ He's given a trust and he betrays that trust. Some of the scholars said that is وَإِذَا خَاصَمَ فَجَلْ That is transgressing the bounds in those things as well. So when he speaks, he lies. That's a transgression. When he makes a promise, he breaks a promise. That's a transgression. When he's given a trust, he breaks that trust. Or he violates that trust. That's a transgression. So Islam is describing to us unhealthy characteristic. Unhealthy quality. If that's how you're acting in your anger, don't claim it to be from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Show me once where Omar radiyallahu ta'ala anhu, after Islam, after Islam, in his anger, because some people, and I'll be very honest with you, some people even make a mockery of Omar radiyallahu ta'ala anhu. Like, yeah, he's always the one that's getting riled up in all of these, you know, seerah incidents. And that's su adab ma'a sahaba, ma'a sahabi Rasulullah salallahu alaihi wasalam.
It's bad manners with the companions of the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam. Show me once where Omar radiyallahu ta'ala anhu got up and started to, you know, break bottles on people's heads or start slapping people. No, he always, as angry as he was, as angry as he was, did he ever transgress this big strong man. Yeah, you know. In the middle of his anger, did he just, you know, he could literally pick up a person and just throw them across the room. In the middle of his anger, he just picked someone up and throw them across the room or curse, no. All right. No, he did not. And that's a sign of his sincerity. So his anger always came from a beautiful place. It came from a place of being angry for the truth. And he channeled it first within, towards himself, before channeling it towards others. So the how often tells about the why. So we look at the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam first and foremost as an example. So again, who narrated the hadith in the very beginning? Aisha radiyallahu anhu. Aisha has seen the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam in all of his emotions. All right. I think that's special. She's seen him sad. She's seen him happy. She's seen him angry. She's seen him, you know, relaxed. She's seen him anxious. She has seen the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam in all of his emotions. And the way she describes him alaihi wasalam in all of those emotions is in perfection. Right. That he mastered all of those emotions salallahu alaihi wasalam. She saw the very human side. Those very raw moments of the Messenger salallahu alaihi wasalam and gives us insight into them. And the way she describes him alaihi wasalam. Beautiful. Beautiful description. Right. You know, it makes you love him more. So for example, she describes most of his angry situation in his personal life alaihi wasalam.
So let's look at, you know, for example, Aisha radiyallahu anhu and the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam are walking in the streets of Medina. And some people say, assalamu alaikum. All right. Which means, may death be upon you. Assalam instead of salam. May death be upon you. And the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam says, wa alaikum and upon you. Composed, dignified, not, you know, riled up, just complete composure, unfazed. Aisha radiyallahu anhu says, wa alaikum assam wa la'inatullah wa ghadabi. And upon you is death and the curse of Allah and his wrath. The Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam says to Aisha radiyallahu anhu, you don't need to do that. He said, did you hear what they said to you? He said, did you hear what I said back? He said, inna Allah yuhibbu alrifqa fil amri kulli. Oh, Aisha, Allah loves gentleness in all of his affairs. So it's okay. If they said salam, they got salam. If they said sam, they got sam. All right. Whatever they said, they got alaikum. They got the same upon them. That's good enough. All right. Aisha radiyallahu anhu, when she describes the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam in her house, and the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam sitting with the sahaba, and, you know, there's one of the wives of the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam sends a plate of food in Aisha's house. And it's the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam gets it. It's right in between the sahaba and Aisha radiyallahu anhu comes out. She picks up the plate and she breaks it right in front of everybody. That's pretty, like, offensive. All right. You know, the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam in front of the companions. It's really interesting here with the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam. The sahaba were looking at the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam like, whoa, like, should we leave? You know, this is really, this is really extreme. What did the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam say? He smiled and he said, agharat ummukum. Look, your mom got a little jealous. It came from a good place, subhanallah.
He actually said it came from ghira. She got a little, she got jealous. She had some ghira. He didn't, you know, all he did was he told Aisha radiyallahu anhu to send the plate back to her instead of, you know, yelling at her and screaming at her and you embarrassed me and this and this and this and that. Because that would have been from ego. Like, you made me look bad, so I'm going to have to make you look bad now in front of everybody so that, you know, no one questions, you know, who's calling the shots in this household, right? The Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam doesn't act like that. That's petty. That's petty. Instead, the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam diffuses the situation. He recognizes that, look, she got, you know, there was some ghira there. It got the best of her and she acted out not the best way. So, just replace the dish, okay? Now, that's the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam not getting, you know, showing just this exemplary composure, right? But when did the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam get mad at Aisha radiyallahu anhu? When did he really, really, really get mad at her? When she said about Khadija, when she heard the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam praising Khadija all the time, radiyallahu anhu, and Aisha radiyallahu anhu said, didn't Allah replace that old toothless woman of Quraysh with someone better than her? Aisha radiyallahu anhu saying, look, Allah gave you someone better than Khadija radiyallahu anhu. You got to stop mentioning her every single day and talking about her every day. That was the angriest she ever saw the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam. Alright? Now if you think about it, and the Prophet, she said that the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam's face turned red, his hair stood on his butt like, it was like, oh my God, I really crossed the line here. What did he say? I swear by Allah that Allah did not give me better than her. She believed in me when others disbelieved in me. She considered me to be truthful when others belied me. She friends on me when others deprived me.
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala blessed me with her children. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala did not bless me with anyone else's children. So Allah did not give me better than her. Beautiful. He praised Khadija. He didn't insult Aisha radiyallahu anhu. He was angry for Allah and for Khadija radiyallahu anhu. That's not fair to Khadija radiyallahu anhu with all that she did for me. That's the angriest salawi salam. And if you think about, compare the two incidents here. Compare the incident of the dish and this incident with Khadija radiyallahu anhu. In the incident with the dish, there are people around. That's when, you know, if a person lets their ego, that's when the nafs will really get the best of you. Like, how dare you make me look bad in front of other people. This is in the privacy of their home. And Aisha radiyallahu anhu is talking about a woman that passed away radiyallahu anhu. Meaning if the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam didn't defend Khadija radiyallahu anhu, nothing is going to happen there. In the case of the other incident, you know, there's a living woman and a living woman. The Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam showed anger in the case of Khadija radiyallahu anhu because it was an injustice. It was a wrong, it was an injustice. And the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam felt compelled by that righteous anger to stand for Khadija radiyallahu anhu and mention the goodness that Khadija radiyallahu anhu did for him. Salallahu alaihi wasalam. He did the same thing with Abu Bakr and Umar, may Allah be pleased with them. Umar radiyallahu anhu is only number two, he's only second to one person from the companions, it's Abu Bakr radiyallahu anhu. One time Abu Bakr and Umar, may Allah be pleased with them, they got into an argument. Umar radiyallahu anhu was upset. And Abu Bakr went to complain to the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam, not to complain about Umar, but to ask the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam, what should I do because Umar is angry with me. When Abu Bakr went to the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam,
Umar also went looking for Abu Bakr, he found him with the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam, the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam stood up and he was so angry, so angry with Umar. Abu Bakr said, Ya Rasulallah, I was the one that transgressed, meaning we had an argument and Umar did not forgive me and I was worried. Ya Rasulallah, it was me, not him. The Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam looked at Umar radiyallahu anhu and he said, when I began calling people to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, all of you, all of you initially gave me a hard time, except for Abu Bakr. So will you leave my companion alone? Subhanallah. He stood up for Abu Bakr radiyallahu ta'ala anhu in this situation. Like no, not here, someone can direct the brother inshallah. Not here, not here Ya Rasulallah, not here O Umar. In this situation, he's going to side with Abu Bakr al-Siddiq radiyallahu ta'ala anhu. So it's important for us to understand the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam, he knew when to do these things, he knew when to show this type of anger. We also see in the situation of Mu'adh ibn Jabal radiyallahu ta'ala anhu, the hadith is narrated by Abu Mas'ud radiyallahu anhu, who came to the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam and complained that Mu'adh radiyallahu anhu was taking too long in the recitation, in the prayer. And so he was complaining to the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam that his Salat al-Isha was too long. And when he complained to Mu'adh, Mu'adh called him a hypocrite. And when he came to the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam, when that man came to the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam, he said, I never saw the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam so upset. And he said, O people, inna minkum munaffireen, there are those of you who run people away from the religion of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. People who deflate, people who run people away, some people fleeing from Allah. When you lead the prayer, you have old people and weak people,
and you have people behind you that cannot take the long recitation. Afatanun anta ya Mu'adh, are you going to be a fitna for the people of Mu'adh? Are you going to be a tribulation for the people? Subhanallah, the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam stood up for that man. Right? He was upset about that, salallahu alaihi wasalam. We see in the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam, with his enemies in the battlefield, the same man, the same man, who when he was being struck, and his teeth were being knocked out in the battle of Uhud, the same, and what was he saying? Allahumma khfirli qawmi fa'innahum la ya'lamun. O Allah, forgive my people, they don't know any better. The same man, salallahu alaihi wasalam, Ibn Sa'ud radhiallahu anhu says, he saw a woman that was killed in the battlefield from the opposing side. How an enemy combatants, you know, maybe she herself was fighting, or she was accompanying the enemy, and the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam was so angry, demanding to know who killed this woman, who killed this woman. This is the same man who was forgiving the people knocking out his teeth, salallahu alaihi wasalam. And, you know, the examples go on and on. The Messenger, alaihi wasalam, when he saw, and we have a whole halaqa on animals, you know, the companions that took the eggs of a bird, and the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam was upset. You know, he felt like it was an injustice to that bird when they took the eggs of that mother. The Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam, always, always, when you study his anger, alaihi wasalam, it was never petty. It was never for some personal grievance. That he had, salallahu alaihi wasalam. Okay? It was usually because someone else was harmed. Spiritually, physically, I mean, the most severe dua of the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam that I can think of against people within the community, was when this man came to the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam,
and he wanted to ask the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam a question about wudu, because he had wounds. And he found the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam, he had to do ghusl, he had to take a shower, a ritual bath, and the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam was praying. So two companions jumped in, and they answered the man's question instead of waiting for the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam. And the man ended up suffering because they didn't give him an easy option. He ended up passing away, and the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam said, qataloo qatalahumullah, they killed him, may Allah kill them. That's severe. Because the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam was angry for that man. It was an injustice that the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam saw, and the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam was moved by that. It is a sense of righteous anger. However, the Messenger salallahu alaihi wasalam, and this is the why and the how now, he never threw a tantrum. Okay? Meaning even in his anger, he was very composed, he was calculated, he knew what he was saying salallahu alaihi wasalam, he knew what he was doing. He never lost his mind. And that's something that when you see someone snap, you don't see that. Like the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam never snapped on someone. The people had to carry him back to his house and say, ya Rasulullah, calm down, even for a righteous cause. Think about that. Did the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam ever have to be pulled off of somebody? Even though he dealt with the adha, the harm of the people, and the things people said to him, and the things people did. The Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam never had to be pulled back from somebody. Because even in his most severe anger, he was composed, he was intentional about what he was saying and what he was doing. So it's shameful when someone loses themselves to the point that someone else has to come, another person with their own nufoos has to come and move that person away. The Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam never, even for a righteous cause, went that way. So he was angry for Allah, and he was angry in a manner that would be fit being angry for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Okay? So it was why he was angry,
how he was angry. And of course this is something we find from all of the anbiya, all of the prophets of Allah. You know, if you look at ulul azmi min ar-rusul, the greatest of the messengers of Allah. Look at Musa alaihi wasalam. When Musa came down and found his people worshipping the golden calf, what did he do? He broke the tablets. He grabbed Aaron alaihi wasalam. He was angry. It wasn't because he was offended for himself. But you people just got delivered by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Allah just saved you and you're going and you're doing this now. It's anger for Allah. I'm bringing you the scrolls from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and this is what you're doing? It was a righteous anger. Isa alaihi wasalam, you know, the prophet of al-musamaha, forgiveness and mercy. The very famous scene of Isa alaihi wasalam. And it's in the athar and the narrations that we find as well within our own books that Isa encountered, we talked about tatfif, al-mutaffifin. Remember we had a whole halaq on mutaffifin, those who shortchange. So the temple at the time, what did they used to do? You could only, first of all, I have to be very careful not to get myself banned from a country. But think about Hajj and think about some of the processes now that just keep robbing the people over and over again. So your sacrificial animal, when they used to bring the sacrifice, for example, to the temple, it had to be certified by them. So you had the priests in the temple and they had their own little, their own guys in the market. So they certified certain animals for sacrifice. And it was based on some backdoor deal that the priest in the temple had with this particular guy who sells khorfan or sells baqar, sells sheep or sells cows. And then, you know, I'm going to certify your animals that you got to make sure you throw in 100 something in my pocket.
And then taftif, they used to also, because they lived under Roman occupation, they used to only do, their currency was Roman currency. But no, in the temple, it's got to be the Hebrew currency. It can't be Roman currency. So you got to exchange. You got to do an exchange. And in that, it always shortchanged. There was always taftif in the currency exchange, right? And just cheating the people over and over and over again, holding them hostage with these sacrifices. What did Isa alaihi salam do when he got in the temple? Flipped the tables, freed the animals, and he had a whip in his hand. And he yelled at them and chastised them. I mean, sent people running from the temple, right? Did Isa throw a tantrum alaihi salam? No, ma'adhu Allah. We would never say. Isa alaihi salam knew exactly what he was doing. He knew exactly what he was doing. He didn't lose his mind. Isa was making a statement with what he was doing. And what did he say? Ibn al-Qayyim rahimallah, those of you that take the seminary class, mentioned the statement from Ibn al-Qayyim. Ibn al-Qayyim says that Isa said to the rabbis of Bani Israel, the Pharisees, ya'ulamaa al-suwa, ja'altum al-dunya fawqa ra'oosikum wal-akhirata tahta akdamikum, qawlukum shifa wa'amalukum da'a. He said that, oh, evil scholars, you put the dunya, the world, the material world on top of your heads, and you have put the hereafter under your feet. The words that you say may be a cure, but your actions are nothing but disease. Powerful words. You can call them hypocrites. You're abusing theology. And he showed anger, alayhi salam. Anger because not only, and subhanAllah, the ulama mentioned that the worst type of manipulation is manipulation using the deen of Allah, to violate what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala made inviolable,
using the deen of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. That's the worst violation. That anger is the most deserving of righteous anger. When people disguise injustice with religious language, that's the worst type of justification. And that is the most deserving of a person to show their righteous anger. I have too many examples. I'll go through them inshaAllah ta'ala, just some of these things outside of the prophets, the anbiya. Some of the things that we find from the companions. Sometimes, within the same incident, you find that the companions were angry for just causes, even if they were on opposing ends of the discussion. So righteous anger could even be showed sometimes. And there could be different perspectives. This is a hadith. It's narrated in Sahih Muslim. That Salman, Suhaib, and Bilal, may Allah be pleased with them all. Salman al-Farisi, the Persian, Suhaib al-Rumi, Suhaib the Roman, Bilal al-Habashi, Bilal the Abyssinian, all people who suffered immensely, lived in slavery, and were empowered by Islam. And they are walking by Abu Sufyan. Abu Sufyan, the noble man who accepted Islam, of course, after Fatah, Mecca, but at this time, after the conquest of Mecca, at this time, he was not. And when they walked by, they said to Abu Sufyan, these three men that were suddenly empowered by the religion, they said that by Allah, the swords of Allah did not reach the neck of the enemy of Allah. Meaning, you're lucky we didn't get you. They're talking to Abu Sufyan like you dodged one. From these three men that were humiliated before Islam, right? I mean, these three men that were foreigners in Islam, and you dodged one. Like the swords of Allah did not meet the neck of the enemy of Allah. You're lucky we didn't get you. This is before he became Muslim.
Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, he saw that and he was afraid that this would disturb the treaty of Hudaibiyah. So Abu Bakr, he admonished Bilal, Salman, and Suhaib. May Allah be pleased with them all. This is a really interesting incident, okay? Then he felt bad about it. He didn't know, like, so he was angry for the right reason. Like this is not worth disturbing the peace, right? Hudaibiyah is a very sensitive treaty. It's not worth it just to say some words to Abu Sufyan, you know, even though it's a powerful incident, but it wasn't worth it. Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, he was angry for the right reason. Abu Bakr was angry for the right reasons, but he felt bad. Like, I just said that to Suhaib, Bilal, and Salman. So he went to the Prophet ﷺ. And he said to the Prophet ﷺ what he did. And the Prophet ﷺ said, Ya Abu Bakr, la'allaka aghdabtahum la'in kunta aghdabtahum laqad aghdabta rabbak. Powerful. He said, O Abu Bakr, it might be that you made them angry. And if you made them angry, then you would have made Allah angry as well. Abu Bakr, rabbi allahu anhu, what just happened, remember? But hey, here, it may be that you made... Now the Prophet ﷺ did not tell Abu Bakr, rabbi allahu anhu, he was wrong. He just said, look, Bilal, Suhaib, Salman, I mean, these are the best of the companions. You can't, you shouldn't have done that with them. And if you made them angry, then you may have made Allah angry as well. So what did Abu Bakr, rabbi allahu anhu, do? He rushed back to them, begging them for forgiveness. And he said, laa laa, ya Abu Bakr, no, no, Abu Bakr, ghafarallahu laak. May Allah forgive you, don't worry about it, we understand. This incident is beautiful because, I mean, there are many things we can draw from this. Honestly, it could be a class in and of itself. But the anger of Abu Bakr was praiseworthy.
And the anger of Bilal, Suhaib, and Salman towards Abu Sufyan was also praiseworthy. They both showed some emotion and some anger here. But they never transgressed. Okay? They both were very impassioned as a group and as an individual about what they said. But they never transgressed. I mean, it's not like Salman, Suhaib, and Bilal snuck Abu Sufyan, put him in a sleeper hold, and punched him a few times, and then said, if you tell anyone, like... They were still composed. They didn't curse him. But, you know, they gave him a few words. They were showing him the Izzah of Islam, the honor of Islam. Of course, Abu Sufyan became Muslim, and that's a beautiful part of this. They ended up praying next to each other at some point, right? Abu Bakr, may Allah forgive him, also, it's not like he was angry because his Arab brother... And this is how you disguise, right? Sometimes, you know, Abu Bakr, may Allah forgive him, was not angry because this was his brother, his Arab brother, and he was insulted by non-Arab brothers. You know when fitna breaks out sometimes, and it's racial, you don't want to say it's racial. So you use another cause, so that you don't say it's a... You know, it used to be Arab-Desi, but now it's like intra-Desi, intra-Arab, right? The Indians and the Pakistanis, the Palestinians and the Egyptians, everyone... SubhanAllah, you don't want to say it's race, but it is race. Abu Bakr, may Allah forgive him, didn't have an ounce of that. Abu Bakr was worried about the treaty. So he was angry for the right reason, he admonished them for the right reason, but it's not like he insulted them or cursed them. They showed a righteous sense of anger, a praiseworthy sense of anger in this situation. Three things inshallah, then I'll end. Number one, the dua of the Prophet ﷺ. He used to ask Allah, and this is a beautiful dua.
Allahumma inni as'aluka kalimatul haqqifir rida'i wal ghadab. O Allah, I ask you for the ability to speak the truth when I'm pleased and when I'm angry. That what comes out of my mouth will be kalimatul haqq, will be a word of truth, no matter what my state of emotion is. Because at the end of the day it's that. So this is a dua that we make, which shows sometimes we're going to be angry for the right reasons, and we should try to make sure that we are angry for the right reasons, our intentions are right, and that it manifests itself in a way that's pleasing to Allah. Secondly, the Prophet ﷺ, he said, this is a hadith from Abdur Rahman ibn Abi Bakr, that the Prophet ﷺ, he said, la yaqdiyan hakamun bayna thnayni wa huwa ghadban. Let not one of you make a judgment between two people when he's in a state of anger. So try not to do things in your state of anger that will sway things in a way that's not the right way. So a judge should dismiss himself or take time to really analyze things, as opposed to saying something or doing something in a state of anger. The last thing I'll mention, and this is back to the beautiful character of the Prophet ﷺ, it's a poem that one of the companions who came in the year of the delegation, he said about the Prophet ﷺ, just observing the way the Prophet ﷺ carried himself, qala la khayra fee hilmin iza lam yakun lahu bawadiru tahmi safwahu an yukaddara wa la khayra fee jahlin iza lam yakun lahu halimun iza maa urid al-amra asdara.
La khayra fee hilmin, there is no good in hilm, in forbearance, in patience, iza lam yakun lahu bawadiru, if there are not controls or checks, tahmi safwahu an yukaddara, that would stop that person from being taken advantage of. So there is no good in being a forgiving and gentle person, if that means that it will be naivete and you will accept it.
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