Anger Engine - 3

Prophet Muhammad pbuh recommends taking action to calm your anger, when you feel so.

"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:

1. your knowledge of God is incomplete and/or contains errors.
2. your perception of the events is incomplete and/or contains errors.
3. 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:

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)

Why do Original People Have Strong Ego?

Ego has a negative connotation in the daily jargon. Especially in the recent years in the aftermath of the age of ego, people are praising all kinds of  sources of pleasure and are condemning ego due to its push for selfish and self-centered moves. This reactionary attitude, as is typical of all reactionary moves, brings about a blindness towards certain aspects of the human nature. In this atmosphere, scholars, thinkers, artists and leaders are destined to suffer the most due to their innate, strong ego.

Whether you like it or not, ego is part of our basic nature. If you admit it and tame it, you can put it to good use for yourself and for others; but the opposite is true, too. If you disregard it or shun it, then it is going to develop according to its untamed nature, and when the time comes, your ego is going to manifest itself in ways you may or may not like.

The group of people I mentioned above happen to have a stronger ego among others, and their individual and social lives suffer the most from this subtle issue. Why? Let's see the story from its beginning.

In the schooling systems, at best, the talents of the students are fostered, but their ego stays untamed, mostly because it is shunned: "Ego is something bad, so, better not to talk about it at all...". Later in life, we see, for example, a thinker who doesn't know how to conduct their ideas to other people and lead a civilized discussion; an artist who dislikes and harshly criticizes others' art; a scientist who crushes the students. It takes several years and trial-and-errors for them to get over this, of course if they can! And when they finally emerge from this ego trap, they are already old and outcast. Their family lives, too, suffer the same attitudes and, the original people find themselves in a social cemetery.

Now, is this all there is about ego? Did the Creator give ego to make us suffer? Is ego merely a tool of devil to create conflict and misery? And why are the most influential and valuable ones among the humans the unlucky ones for having a larger share of ego than the rest?

Said Nursi, an Islamic scholar of the early 20th century and author of the Risale-i Nur Collection, suggests the ego as a versatile tool given by God to humans to feel, measure and understand His attributes. That is, for example, an artist is the one to better appreciate the art on colors and shapes in the nature and universe, a physicist is the one to better see the invisible but omnipresent order at all levels of existence from micro to macro universe. This notion highlights the essential role of ego in fulfilling the requirements of being a servant of God, and it encompasses not only the talented people but also the ordinary.

In fact, if you dig deeper into the Eastern teachings on education of the self, you will discover that, instead of disregarding or shunning the ego, they are also pointing at a crux for ego where wisdom, trustworthiness, mercy and will power unite into one spirit. So, can we use this same perspective to have an idea of why original people are given strong egos? We sure can!

Let's see some examples throughout the history. Imagine yourself witnessing Galileo Galilei defying the dogmatic attitude of the Middle Age inquisition courts and speaking in the face of the oppression they have been exercising on the minds. What is the force that he has to do such a brave objection and to stay firm on his word?

Imagine Isaac Newton, the greatest scientist of all history according to many. How did he manage to survive despite his antisocial attitudes, and how did he go on to use mathematics as a tool to study the universe? Today, we take this for granted, but why in the world should numbers and symbols on a piece of paper explain the "future" of the existence? And with what force did he preserve his motivation and continue his studies despite a body of religious elite questioning his intentions?

Imagine Said Nursi standing against a global body of atheist scientists and philosophers who embarked on annihilating the idea of a creator. How did he persist on his teachings and commitments in the face of exiles, tortures and how did he speak so bravely in favor of the Islamic practices at a time when the opposite was the norm?

Imagine Abraham Lincoln, the father of the USA. How did he manage to stand against his own political failures for so many years until eventually seeding the union of the states?

How did Albert Einstein insist on not accepting the hegemony of the Newtonian understanding of the universe and developed a relativistic understanding that shook the minds? And ironically, how did the same Albert Einstein fail to accept the quantum behavior at the micro scale that was going against his own baby, the relativity?

This list can be extended. An original person in any field of life, before receiving the proper acceptance among the people, faces dire resistance socially, intellectually, but they manage to stand against all those thanks to some force within. When the same happens for the sake of a personal issue in private life, we call such people egoistic, but in the above-mentioned cases, these people see a light of truth that empowers them. The instrument that receives this light of truth and converts it into useful deeds is ego.

With a tamed ego, a scholar can work on a new theory and defend it in the face of entire humanity, because and if the same ego is receiving the light of truth. With a tamed ego, an artist can consistently exercise a style and interpretation in their art even if it goes against the accepted public opinion, because and if their ego is shining like the moon due to the light falling on it from the Light of all existence.

And with a tamed ego, ordinary people can do extraordinary actions in the face of the status-quo, because and if they are clinging on to a rope descending from the heavens conveying timeless truths.