Islam As It Is
Islamic Character
~ 138 ~
The advice which the Prophet gave to his
companions is advice which we need to follow
today: “When one of you becomes angry, he should
keep quiet.”
But, truly, there is only one thing in this world
which can prevent an irate person from going
beyond the bounds of decency, and that is
the fear of
God.
When an awareness of God’s greatness is truly
lodged in an individual’s heart, this enables him to
rein himself in so that he does not stray beyond the
limits laid down for him by the Almighty. His
consciousness of the fact that God will call him to
account for each and every one of his actions
exercises a powerful restraint upon the anger
surging within him. Such is the character of one
who fears God, that when he is made angry by a
human being, it is God who looms up before him,
effectively quelling his anger.
The Quran makes it clear that any such strong, ad-
verse, emotional reaction such as anger does not
befit the true believer, and instead cites as a mark of
excellence the quality of forgivingness: “When they
become angry, they are forgiving” (42:37). The true
