Prophet Muhammad pbuh recommends taking action to calm your anger, when you feel so.
How can this recommendation shed light on our topic? What does it mean to sit down, for example, in case of anger towards God? Remember that anger narrows our focus and initiates actions that will remove the source of anger, not through the wisest but, through the shortest and quickest path. This kind of reaction, though, is detrimental in the case of faith. So, sitting or lying down when you are angry with God could mean, first, not to speak or act as if you are an unbeliever. That, however, doesn't mean suppressing your thoughts and feelings. Inside, you must discuss your matters with God, and when you are done making your point clear, you should listen to Him through all possible "ears". What are those ears? They are any language through which God can convey you a message. This can be His revealed book, serendipitous life events, natural events or nature itself, inspirations...
At this point, you may remember from the previous episode that a wisdom behind your situation could be that you were expected to "attack" your faith, but you failed to do so, hence your current situation. However cruel and outrageous it may sound, the real meaning hidden here is that, as a believer, you are not supposed to be a blind imitator; not according to Islam, at least. That's why God does not leave you on your own, sufficing with your confession of your belief in Him (29/2-3). Rather, He wants you to keep going and live adventures so that you can experience different manifestations of His names. This kind of life is going to increase your knowledge of God, make your faith in Him more authentic. Failing to do so, however, is going to leave your faith as a dry imitation, waiting to be crunched under the weight of life events. In short, as a human being, you are meant to make experiments with your faith, which may seem as attacking your faith, but which actually is a transformation of yourself to "faith in flesh and bone".
In the story of Moses pbuh, we read many of such experiments. Although told by God to do certain things, from a purely human perspective, it is a suicidal idea for Moses to go to pharaoh both because he is accused of a murder and because he is going to dare to ask the unacceptable from the pharaoh. But Moses does it. Later on in his story, we see that at some point, after seeing the persistance of the pharaoh in disbelief and in oppressing the children of Israel, he goes really angry with the situation, because Moses does know that it is God who gave the pharaoh that wealth and power, by which he is exercising all kinds of evil acts, and that it is God who keeps the pharaoh in that highly capable position despite those evil acts. And yet, it is the same God who sends Moses to dare the impossible and risk everything. Seeing the inertia of the events and people, the mental constructs of Moses shake and he raises a reproach to God, followed by an angry prayer against the evildoers (10/88). Still, he wilfully goes on with submitting to God and with his God-given mission.
A similar occasion of reproach takes place following the visit of prophet Muhammad to Taif. After he invites the inhabitants of Taif to Islam, or at least to give him protection so that he can go on with his mission, not only they reject him but also they stone him and chase out of the city. Covered in blood, Muhammad takes a rest near an orchard and talk to his Lord:
Having seen the examples of the messengers of God, let's get back to us today. We had mentioned earlier that if you feel anger towards God, among other factors, three major candidates underlying this situation are:
"When one of you becomes angry while standing, he should sit down. If the anger leaves him, well and good; otherwise he should lie down." (Abu Dawud, 4782, Grade: sahih)
“Anger comes from the devil, the devil was created of fire, and fire is extinguished only by water; so when one of you becomes angry, he should perform ablution.” (Abu Dawud, 4784, Grade: weak)
How can this recommendation shed light on our topic? What does it mean to sit down, for example, in case of anger towards God? Remember that anger narrows our focus and initiates actions that will remove the source of anger, not through the wisest but, through the shortest and quickest path. This kind of reaction, though, is detrimental in the case of faith. So, sitting or lying down when you are angry with God could mean, first, not to speak or act as if you are an unbeliever. That, however, doesn't mean suppressing your thoughts and feelings. Inside, you must discuss your matters with God, and when you are done making your point clear, you should listen to Him through all possible "ears". What are those ears? They are any language through which God can convey you a message. This can be His revealed book, serendipitous life events, natural events or nature itself, inspirations...
At this point, you may remember from the previous episode that a wisdom behind your situation could be that you were expected to "attack" your faith, but you failed to do so, hence your current situation. However cruel and outrageous it may sound, the real meaning hidden here is that, as a believer, you are not supposed to be a blind imitator; not according to Islam, at least. That's why God does not leave you on your own, sufficing with your confession of your belief in Him (29/2-3). Rather, He wants you to keep going and live adventures so that you can experience different manifestations of His names. This kind of life is going to increase your knowledge of God, make your faith in Him more authentic. Failing to do so, however, is going to leave your faith as a dry imitation, waiting to be crunched under the weight of life events. In short, as a human being, you are meant to make experiments with your faith, which may seem as attacking your faith, but which actually is a transformation of yourself to "faith in flesh and bone".
In the story of Moses pbuh, we read many of such experiments. Although told by God to do certain things, from a purely human perspective, it is a suicidal idea for Moses to go to pharaoh both because he is accused of a murder and because he is going to dare to ask the unacceptable from the pharaoh. But Moses does it. Later on in his story, we see that at some point, after seeing the persistance of the pharaoh in disbelief and in oppressing the children of Israel, he goes really angry with the situation, because Moses does know that it is God who gave the pharaoh that wealth and power, by which he is exercising all kinds of evil acts, and that it is God who keeps the pharaoh in that highly capable position despite those evil acts. And yet, it is the same God who sends Moses to dare the impossible and risk everything. Seeing the inertia of the events and people, the mental constructs of Moses shake and he raises a reproach to God, followed by an angry prayer against the evildoers (10/88). Still, he wilfully goes on with submitting to God and with his God-given mission.
A similar occasion of reproach takes place following the visit of prophet Muhammad to Taif. After he invites the inhabitants of Taif to Islam, or at least to give him protection so that he can go on with his mission, not only they reject him but also they stone him and chase out of the city. Covered in blood, Muhammad takes a rest near an orchard and talk to his Lord:
"Into whose hands will You entrust me? Unto some far off stranger who will ill-treat me? Or unto a foe whom You have empowered against me? "Yet, he does not let his resentment take over himself, and wilfully chooses to proceed with his submission to God and God-given mission, and says "I don't care as long as You are not angry with me."
Having seen the examples of the messengers of God, let's get back to us today. We had mentioned earlier that if you feel anger towards God, among other factors, three major candidates underlying this situation are:
- your knowledge of God is incomplete and/or contains errors.
- your perception of the events is incomplete and/or contains errors.
- your knowledge yourself is incomplete and/or contains errors.
The discussion so far expounds on the first. Before proceeding to others, though, I would like to highlight the importance of reading the book of God as a means of talking to God directly, without any intermediaries (i.e. translators, interpreters,.scholars). Remember, anything that stands between you and God are to be cleared. This is the essence of Islam.
The second item in the above list actually is linked to the topic of patience. In this life, we may not know what is going to happen as a result of what (31/34). That inherent uncertainty brings about a state of stress and anger. However, if one can try to direct that power of anger towards contemplation-based actions, rather than towards reactionary bursts, one can survive these times and can, actually, come out refreshed and renewed. Remember:
The second item in the above list actually is linked to the topic of patience. In this life, we may not know what is going to happen as a result of what (31/34). That inherent uncertainty brings about a state of stress and anger. However, if one can try to direct that power of anger towards contemplation-based actions, rather than towards reactionary bursts, one can survive these times and can, actually, come out refreshed and renewed. Remember:
God changes not what is in a people, until they change what is in themselves. (13/11)Finally, discovering what potentials God has sown in you is a duty on each and every individual, because God does not like wasting (7/31), and leaving those potentials idle is a clear act of wasting. Therefore, if you are assuming a life style in which everything is going into a routine and you are boiling yourself down to a mechanical servant, even if you are not neglecting the obligatory acts of worship, you can be forced by God to move. Even the stones move in remembrance and reverence of God (2/74)!
Has not the time yet come for those who believe that their hearts should be humble for the remembrance of Allah and what has come down of the truth? And that they should not be like those who were given the Book before, but the time became prolonged to them, so their hearts hardened, and most of them are transgressors. (57/16)
