The Human Creation: A combination of the vivid and the unseen (Including some tips of controlling anger)

In times like these when 'evil' whims and desires are not only fulfilled but they are valued and practiced to such an extent that they can be easily termed as being 'worshiped', there is one feeling that is not only disastrous for the Hereafter but can cause widespread calamities in this world too. The feeling is known as Anger.

ALLAH (swt) created us with a body and a soul. Although the body, as it is apparent is a unique but balanced blend of flesh and bones and serves to maintain our bodies' composure; our soul has a much greater purpose and has been created to serve man with the most significant of his needs.

A Buzurg once defined the soul and body with a simple yet comprehensive analogy. He said "Our soul is like the man who rides a horse and the body is like the horse that is being ridden by the man". What we understand from this analogy is an undeniable fact the our soul is arguably the most important of features that Man has been created with. And thus it is the soul that either takes the body to the highest of Paradise or the deepest ebbs of Hell.

Likewise, we also understand that just as the body needs to be nurtured and taken care of, so does the soul. But as we understood from the above analogy that the soul is much important than the body. Thus we can rightly conclude that the needs of the soul are much more important than the needs of the body. For example,body requires food and exercise to remain healthy so does the soul needs food and exercise but perhaps not in the form of the food/exercise that body needs.

All this may seem philosophical for some but for a moment ponder upon the Ayah's and Hadith that talk about the creation of man and one will soon verify the above stated argument.

Furthermore, here it may be important to mention that just as the body the soul consists of parts. Perhaps, the most important part that acts just like the heart acts for the body is the Nafs (the inner self) for a soul. This is in fact the part that governs upon the soul, it harbors and instills man with all kinds of desires.

This Nafs is the very part that overpowers our brain with Anger. Anger is not undesirable. It is in fact a characteristic of our soul but as its outcomes our undesirable it needs to be controlled and never allowed to overpower our mind and numb our senses. It can be said that this is one of the reasons that ALLAH made it unlawful. And it is the very reason that ALLAH states that the controlling of Anger is from the acts of the righteous and pious.

The following list contains some tips and procedures to cure the ill usage of anger that has been compiled from the Quran and Hadis:

1) Fight with the Nafs (inner self) when one feels angry, fight it until anger leaves. Prevent one's body (tongue, hands and face) from reacting in anyway harmful to others.
2) A better way is to divert our attention.
3) If one is standing when he feels angry, he should sit down, and if he is sitting he should lie down to oppose the Nafs from making the body to react.
4) Drink a glass of cold water.
5) Perform ablution (Wuzu) until one feels himself back to his own senses as anger is from the fire lighted by the nafs and shaitan (devil) and the Wuzu will extinguish this fire. (hopefully!)
6) As Anger is from Satan, recite Ta'awwuz (i.e Pray for refuge from the evil of Shaitan (Devil)).

May ALLAH (swt) give us the power to defeat our nafs from its evil desires. Ameen!

P.S: Whatever good has been written above is from ALLAH and whatever error made above is from me. May ALLAH accept this minute effort and forgive me for the errors.

And ALLAH knows best!