A lot of my generation struggles heavily with anger management, and can anyone really blame us? We’re bombarded by news and disasters that leave us feeling powerless against far more powerful individuals and companies; however, for many, this anger leads us down a dark, isolating path. Instead of empowering us to come together to make a change, we end up in our corners, batting at others like feral cats. Does it have to be like this? Are there better ways to handle our anger so it doesn’t destroy us and leads us to accomplish our true purpose: serving Allah?

The first thing to unpack when answering this question is: what purpose does our anger have? Allah is Al-Muṣawwir (the fashioner); he designed us precisely with every part having a use; your first instinct might be to say, “Well, our anger is a test; there are so many hadiths urging us to control it.” While this statement isn’t wrong, these hadiths exist and should be implemented, but what if we explored a little deeper? Muhammad SAW, while known as The Prophet of Mercy, did experience anger just like everyone else. Exploring these examples is crucial for understanding the purpose of rage.

The first incident is when someone insulted Bilal by calling him “oh son of a black woman.” When the prophet heard about this, he was mad enough to turn away from the man when he saw him again, stating that he had traits of pre-Islamic ignorance in him; he then returned to Bilal to beg for his forgiveness. The second incident would be when the Prophet SAW heard about a man who said the talaq (proclamation of divorce) to his wife three times. In his anger, he admonished him for playing games with the Quran. In the first story, the prophet was angry out of a sense of justice and brotherhood toward a major companion. In the second, it was out of protectiveness of the deen. Thus, we can see the deeper purpose of our anger: protection- to spur us into action to do what’s right for our deen and society.