ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Islamic Ethics Lecture 7: Anger is Both Merciful and Satanic In the last lecture we discussed anger. Anger can bring man to such a state that his angelic face will be turned into the face of a predatory animal. The Qurān says: “Indeed the worst of beasts in the sight of Allah are the deaf and the dumb- those who understand not.” ^1 The end of one who continues to walk the path of anger will be worse than a predatory animal.

Today we must make clear which part of anger is animalistic and which part is humane. If a person uses anger in the animalistic way he will lose his angelic shape and turn into a predatory animal, but if he uses anger in the humane way he will become a perfect man, an example of good and full of blessings. Anger is when one's blood boils when confronted with a difficulty or with something unwanted. If one does not control himself in these situations he will seek revenge.

The Existence of Anger In Man Is Necessary Of course, man would not be able to live without anger. Anger must be used in the correct way. Man cannot live without anger or lust ( shahawat ). Man must have lust in him so he will go after food and marriage. Considering all the obstacles in life, how would man be able to live without anger? But, if man uses his anger in the animalistic way it will cause him to fall down from the state of humanity. What is humane anger and what is animalistic anger?

Animalistic Anger Animalistic anger is anger which is unlawful, rationally and religiously. Anger and revenge, whenever it is against the intellect or against a religious law, is animalistic. Anger must be used in the correct way. Anger should occur when there is a barrier between him and improvement or perfection. One must become angry when another person wants to oppress him. What is meant by this is that he must not allow the other person to oppress him.

I will give an example to make it clear. Suppose a person unintentionally hurt you, suppose he fell on you. If you get angry at him, curse him out and try to get revenge, you have used anger in the animalistic way. The person unintentionally hurt you, not intentionally. An animal does not understand intentional and unintentional, whenever something occurs that he does not like, he gets angry. But a human can understand if the other person hit him intentionally or unintentionally.