Anger is one of the great blessings of God within us which helps us remove the adversities of life and defend the boundary of our family and country. Nevertheless if anger is used incorrectly and constantly and turned into a temper, it will be the worst characteristic in human beings which will lead them to Hell. The worst manifestation of the sins in the Hereafter belongs to rage and anger. Imam Ali (peace be upon him) stated: avoid anger because it starts with madness and ends with regret.
The inner causes of anger
1. Selfishness: there is a fake love within each human being that will be aroused by everything that threats its nature and leads him toward anger and quarrel. Even if the anger is not apparent in the face of a person or does not involve another person, it will disturb human's conscience.
2. The love for world: the love for world is the root of every sin and offence and involves every human being so much that will arouse anger against everything that disturb his world.
3. Pride and self-centeredness: looking down on other people and being self-centered cause every man to become angry so soon and make wrong decisions. In our religious rules, the highest respect belongs to the believers (faithful men) even higher than Kaaba. So every oppression and despotism against them will arouse the anger of God, because He is the advocate of His people and defend them.
Similarity to the Innocents Imams
Imam Ali (peace be upon him) stated: if a person cannot control his anger does not belong to us. The less we can control our anger, the farther we are from our innocent Imams. Our soul will be aroused by every unimportant thing, while if a person has a great soul, he will not yield devil and with patience and endurance avoids devil and anger.
Controlling anger
The first steps for controlling anger:
1. Accept that it is a bad temper.
2. Believe that this temper is within us.
3. Be sad for having such a temper.
4. Decide seriously to avoid it.
Controlling anger needs lots of effort and may last for a long time, but what is important is to try. We should lessen our tensions and get away from everything that cause tension. This will make controlling anger easier. Studying will also help us find the causes of anger. By exercising what we learned we will turn into a patient person.
Imam Baqir (peace be upon him) stated:
There is no power like the power of controlling anger.
Remember that regretting and apologizing after getting angry can hinder pride and lessen the anger; otherwise the anger will get worse and lead to a person's abjection after death.
Anger, an obstacle in the way of perfection
Imam Ali (peace be upon him) stated: the most precious possession is the power to control anger. We know that spiritual possessions are more valuable than worldly possessions. Some people have precious possessions but their soul are poor, therefore they do not live peacefully. The road of our eternal life passes through the Hell and by the Hell we mean pressures, enemies, tensions and calamity which threat our worldly life. What helps people pass this road safely is their spiritual possessions which hinder his fall in to the Hell. So if we think clearly we will understand that we were born in the Hell and to achieve eternity we must not stay in the Hell. The more we have spiritual possessions, the more we can avoids worldly calamities and get close to God.
The flames of anger are so dangerous and avoiding them is the best way to get out of the Hell. Imam Ali (peace be upon him) stated: the worst enemies of human being is his anger and lust. Everyone who can overcome them will get close to perfection, overcoming them means getting out of the Hell and entering the Heaven. The interior of an angry person is on flame and he will disturb others by his flames, so he must exercise to avoid anger.
While you are angry, avoid any communications with others
In this case we won't hurt others and then we should extinguish our flames. The more we increase our religious possessions, the more we will be successful. Since when we are angry our logic will change, all of our decisions will be based on this change and they may have dangerous effects that cannot be changed.
Therefore our innocent Imams recommended while you are angry:
1. Do not command.
2. Do not punish.
3. Do not make decision.
Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) sated: one who cannot control his anger, does not use his reason. So anger is against reason.
The relation of pressures and tensions with purification of the soul
You may think about the relation between the purification of the soul and enduring tensions and pressures. In fact enduring the pressures of life is a fight against our nature and empowering our human essence. Fighting against a sickness will save us from death and vaccinate us. Avoiding anger for several times will make us powerful and help us control our anger for the next time. Our prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) stated: the most important and precious action of a human being is suppressing his anger for the satisfaction of God. Enduring pressures will make us so powerful and get us out of the Hell and close to God. Holy prophet Jesus 9peace be upon him) asked god: what do you take satisfaction in? God answered: I am satisfied when you are enduring pressures. This outlook toward the world will prevent us from any stress, despair, depression and complaint and help us fight against them bravely. Sometimes we can create the situation for enduring pressure. Religious ascetics such as fast, staying awake during the night, controlling what we see or say, etc. are so effective in the purification of the soul.
The pressures that God sends us to empower us are so precious and important. Our prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) stated: two actions are important in getting close to God: one is to suppress anger with forbearance and the other is enduring calamity with patience.
The rewards of avoiding anger
1. Feeling safe in the world and in the Hereafter
Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) stated:
Everyone who avoids anger while he is capable of getting angry will feel safe in the Resurrection.
This feeling will be in our heart exactly at the moment that we avoid anger and God will make us happy for our try. But this statement relates to the reward of avoiding anger in the Hereafter. So when every body's heart if full of fear, the person who avoids anger will feel safe. In fact the reward of our action will be given to us in the world and lead us in our life.
2. Being safe from God's anger
God told Jesus (peace be upon him): Jesus, suppress your anger for those who are your servant so that I suppress my anger for you. So if we want to be safe from God's anger, we should suppress our anger for others. Doing this action needs patience and exercise.
Holy angers
Sometimes our right is being violated by an oppressor and we are not able to take it back, in this case we can get angry. This anger relates to our believes and religious ideas, but getting angry makes us sad. To avoid this sadness, we should think and plan to take back our right. For example when we listen to the Ashura prayer, the true mourner is the one who gets angry, but shows his anger in a logical way. He tries to improve himself as a true believer so that the Yazid of his time (oppressor) cannot endure him and attempts to save others from the threats of the devil.
Last word
Patience and forbearance are like the wings which help us fly away from anger. How can we achieve this characteristic? To find the answer of this question please help us in the issues that are related to patience.