Virtues of the Righteous

CHAPTER 4

Anger

The cause of anger

Know, Oh Muslims, that what arouses anger is a misunderstanding of the essence of the universe: there is only one Almighty, the Creator of everything that happens in the universe, but people suppose, mistakenly, that their every act is done by themselves.

A person’s nafs has two qualities which exist in him from birth: the first is desire, the second is anger. Desire gives rise to harassment, lust, greed, long term aspirations, love of worldly life and other similar qualities. And anger gives rise to arrogance, selfishness, enmity, envy, hatred and other such infamous qualities.

However, it is precisely desire and anger that protect a person. This is because desire makes one strive for what brings one benefit, and anger protects one from surrounding dangers. Therefore, the complete riddance from the nafs of these characteristic features will not lead one to perfection; on the contrary, it will induce inferiority.

However, if these two qualities predominate in the soul they will certainly do it harm by inducing inferiority in one’s mind and faith (iman). Therefore, it is necessary to train the human nafs in such a way as to achieve proportionality balance between these two extremes this is the main methodology and essence of the Sufi path that comes from the Blessed Ahmad (one of the names of the Prophet Muhammad ).

By following this path, you see, the human nafs replaces its reproachable qualities with those that are praiseworthy: instead of desire, love for Allah appears, piety replaces lust, and anger develops into zeal regarding the prescriptions of the Almighty. This occurs with all the reproachable qualities of nafs.

Refl ection of deeds in various visions

All a person’s deeds and spiritual states are concentrated in his nafs and heart and constitute the essence of his inner world. They appear in al Barzakh [1] in the form of various images that can emanate from the Divine Nur (light) or from darkness. One must be able to distinguish their origin. There are several ways to recognize these images.

Thus, if a person is dominated by a strong love for Almighty Allah and a desire for His contentment, this manifests itself in dreams as glorification (tasbih), remembrance of the Almighty (dhikr), worship, obedience to the Creator, justice, sincerity and the fear of God and maybe as images of fruits pleasant to the taste (apple, grapes, pumpkin) or precious stones, heavenly maidens, servants that is, in the form of beautiful and sublime representations.

However, if lust or the power of anger prevail in a person, then he sees in his dreams images of animals such as a pig, a snake, a bull, etc. If a person is overcome with pride, this is reflected in dreams in the form of animals such as lions, tigers, cheetahs and other predators. And when a person is possessed by greed and miserliness, this is reflected in his dreams in the form of scorpions, spiders and other such creatures. A person may see all these images both in dreams and in reality.

A person who has embarked on the path of self betterment (salik), and when in the early stages of the struggle with his nafs, sees himself in a dream as opposing beasts, animals and insects of enormous size. But as a person works on himself, these decrease in scale and become insignificant, like flies and mosquitoes. From this it follows that it is necessary to fight your nafs, suppress it by constant self education first destroying its most destructive aspects, and only then proceeding with the elimination of its less destructive aspects.

How to behave if consumed with anger

When a slave of Almighty Allah is overcome by a state of anger, he should never transgress the bounds of truth and justice. On the contrary, it is necessary to follow the instruction of the Prophet , «If one of you begins to be angry, let him remain silent.» An angry person needs to make a small ablution, for anger is like fire, and water is capable of extinguishing it, as the Messenger of Allah also indicated.

A person who begins to overcome with rage must guard against this state pushing him to doing that which is reproachable. After all, this can lead to grievous consequences, to violation of the boundaries of truth and justice.

And let him remember the words of the Prophet , “There are three qualities that save a person, and the same number of qualities that entail destruction. The saving qualities are: fear of God both manifest and hidden (i.e., whilst among people and when alone); following the word of truth both in states of peace and anger; and also moderation whether one is wealthy or poor. The destructive qualities are: surrender to avarice; pursuit of desires and admiration of one’s own opinion” (according to another version “admiration of oneself”).

In summing up the above, we note that it is necessary for servants of Allah to conform their moral disposition in accordance with that of the Almighty. This was also stated by the Messenger of Allah , «Assume the moral disposition of Allah.» Just as Almighty Allah does not get angry for His own sake, so a person should not be angry and take revenge for his own sake. If the Supreme Creator were angry for His own sake, He could destroy all His creations in an instant.

CHAPTER 5

Blasphemy and gossip: the essence of blasphemy and gossip

Know, may Allah grant you His assistance, that the Prophet said, «Blasphemy is your referring to a person using words that he does not like.» When the Prophet Muhammad was asked, “Oh Messenger of Allah, and what if what I say is really an aspect of the person?” he answered, “If what you say is innate in him, then you have blasphemed, and if it is absent in him then you have slandered him [2].”

As for talebearing (namima), this is the spreading among people of information that causes disturbance and discord. The Sharia strictly forbade gossip, for the Prophet said, «The most hated of you to the Almighty Allah, are those who spread gossip, thereby fomenting discord and disturbance (fitna) among people.»

The danger of blasphemy and gossip

Truly, blasphemy and gossip are reproachable qualities. This is spiritual filth, the presence of which makes it impossible for a person to approach the Almighty Allah, just as it is impossible to approach Him in the presence of physical uncleanliness in worship. And in order for a murid who has embarked on the path of knowing the Lord to be accorded the salvation and contentment of Allah, it is imperative to rid oneself of reproachable qualities. Almighty Allah said this (meaning), «He whom Almighty Allah has cleansed has found great happiness.» Truly, blasphemy and gossip are among the most dangerous obstacles inhibiting the murid from attaining the satisfaction of Almighty Allah.

Theological scholars pay special attention to blasphemy, to commenting on others’ shortcomings and the demeaning of their dignity, as this invokes the Creator’s anger at a murid, thus causing all the actions of the slave to be in vain. That is why the spiritual mentors of the tariqat (murshid) warn against spreading rumors about the misconduct of one’s brothers. After all, it is possible that the condemned conduct of a murid was predetermined by Almighty Allah as a redemption in order to fill a gap in the religion of this slave arising from neglectfulness or arrogance.

And, perhaps, thanks to sincere repentance of this behaviour, the murid will achieve perfection. The words of Ibn Ataillah also confirm this, «Disobedience which has led to humility and a state of breakdown of one’s nafs, is better than worship which causes a person to feel pride and arrogance.»

• [1] Al-Barzakh is an otherworldly, invisible world where, after death, the souls of people remain until the Day of Judgment. Ed.
• [2] Slander, backbiting and false accusation (buhtan) are great sins, which are even worse than backbiting (ghiba) in severity.

FROM THE BOOK “VIRTUES OF THE RIGHTEOUS” BY SHEIKH AHMAD-AFANDI MUFTI DAGESTAN