Tending God’s Verdant Garden – Abdur Rahman’s Corner
Peace, one and all…
In a recent post, we were blessed to walk in the verdant gardens of God’s forgiveness. I wanted to share a couple of beautiful sayings of the Prophet (as), that help us to really become God’s khalifa, or the divinely-appointed caretaker of that garden (see Quran 2:30).
In Tafsir al-Tabari (3:134), we find the following report:
Abu Huraira reported: The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Whoever suppresses his rage although he is capable of unleashing it, then Allah will fill him with assurance and faith.” And the Prophet recited the verse, “They are those who suppress their rage and forgive people, for Allah loves those who do good.” (3:134)
Source: Daily Hadith Online (a beautiful hadith resource)
The ability to control our anger, to be able to suppress it at will, is an integral part of attaining divine grace. The ability to put aside anger at offences against our own selves is important, allowing us to separate nafs-driven, egoistic anger, from anger fi sabil Allah, anger for the sake of God when the rights of others are transgressed. The word used in the Quranic text is al-Kazimin, which means ‘one who suppresses, one who tightly controls’ (Dictionary of Quranic Usage, p.808). It also calls to heart the great figure of Imam Musa al-Kazim (as), the 7th Imam of Twelver reckoning.
The second hadith is a very famous saying of the Prophet (as), taken from Sahih al-Bukhari:
Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) said, “The strong is not the one who overcomes the people by his strength, but the strong is the one who controls himself while in anger.” (Source)
Strength is about self-control, about focusing our responses appropriately (with proper adab). Strength is not, therefore, about throwing our weight around carelessly, without considering adab, which more often than not leads to harm.
I ask forgiveness from God for my every shortcoming. I ask for God’s aid.
Al hamdu lillahi ala al-tawfiq wa astagfirullaha ala al-taqsir.
Taken from the Mevlevi wird
