Lessons after Witnessing a Road Rage Incident

So interesting story. Yesterday, during morning traffic,

I happen to witness this heated situation unfold between two drivers. And it's this cacophony of honking and swear words.

I headed to work, I reached office and I thought to myself, and I was putting down a few thoughts, and I decided to touch on it for my Friday Sermon by deducing a lesson or two from that particular life experience.

And today, I was thinking, you know, why not make a video out of it as well, because the content is important, and the lessons are pertinent, especially in today's time and era when our religion Islam is being hijacked, left, right and center.

I think we all need to work hard to become true ambassadors of Islam, portraying the beauty of our religion, the beauty of Islam. So without any further ado, let's get into the lessons. Lesson number one.

honking, honking is a good way to alert other drivers in a dangerous situation. But honking simply to register your anger can make the other driver just as angry and also escalate the situation. So don't do it.

And the other side of things, environmental pollution is one of the biggest problems in modern society. And we are all aware of the need to reduce our waste. But what about the pollution that we can't see.

And having said that, the fight against noise seems to be more important than it seems the two drivers were honking and tooting so loudly. And today, traffic construction work industrial activity. Noise generated by human activity is the main source of noise pollution, and it's everywhere. It's not just unpleasant sounds that annoy us, but also excessively loud ones. There is this decibel limit that's been established by

you know, medical agencies and the limit is 55. decibels. multiple reports indicate that rising decibel levels are amongst the top environmental risks to help. Perhaps it's because the source of the pollution, the noise has some specific characteristics. And the first is somewhat subjective people have different thresholds for tolerance. And we only perceive it with our ears, it doesn't leave any waste behind and it doesn't accumulate in the environment, which means we underestimate its effects. But these effects accumulate in the human body. And these reports go on to establish that, you know, these high levels of noise contribute to sleep disorders contribute to so it's just

not the environmental impact. It's also

having a negative impact on our health, sleep disorders, insomnia, a lot of people these days are having issues with sleep.

And then you have heart related issues, you have hypertension, stress related issues, all of which the main factor, or the main contributor is noise. So it's something that we really need to work towards.

As as believers as ambassadors of Islam, because this environment, this planet, this body, the health, the good health, that we have these all huge blessings of Allah subhanho wa Taala that we should never ever take for granted. We should thank the almighty for these blessings and ensure that we use them the right way without abusing them. Moving on lesson number two, and these lessons are all deduced from that experience. punctuality See, tardiness has become a common thing in our communities. Unfortunately, so much of the extent that people joke about the concept of quote unquote Muslim Standard Time.

But despite how prevalent this habit has become, it's a habit that every believer wanting to emulate the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam should remove from his or her life. The messenger sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is reputed to have said Indeed Allah has prescribed a son in all things had his record on the book of Mr Muslim Bahama Hola. So as an as an excellence. So it is upon us to strive for excellence.

in everything that we do, and part of striving for Exxon is being punctual, it shows that you are disciplined. It shows that you are a man of integrity. The messengers that allow highly valuable Selim, he described one of the characteristics of a monofin. of a hypocrite is that is why the luffa if he promises he breaks his promise, this is in Bukhari, and Muslim. So when you tell someone that you will be somewhere at a certain time, showing a plate is breaking that promise, if you can't be dependent, if you can be depended on,

you know, keeping a promise, as simple as this, people will wander What else can you be dependent on for? Or where else will you fail? when you need it? Of course. I mean, it's a work in progress, we are all working on it.

And if there's this unavoidable circumstance that crops up, or there is a valid

excuse that's in place, a legitimate excuse that is in place, then yes, I mean, getting late, You are excused, but one must take to ensure that this does not become a habit. May Allah help us to be punctual.

being punctual also shows humility. Why, because being late shows that you consider your time more valuable than the other person's time. You see, at the end of the day, if you're you are headed for a meeting, you don't know what the other person had to do to arrive on time to meet you. They might have woken up earlier than usual. They might have done all kinds of things to ensure that they make it on time. But but by you waltzing in late,

by you showing up late, you make it crystal clear that you don't care about any of that you don't care about that person, you don't care about that person's time, you only care about you. So it's a very self centered, egoistic

attitude.

But you are only concerned about your convenience. Basically, you only concerned about yourself.

By being punctual. It shows that you value your time. And the other person's time. It keeps you calm, as well. See, being late causes complications. And that's what I kind of observed. I mean, it's

the argument that was taking place between between those two individuals, and you ran late, everything becomes more stressful, you get frustrated, let's say you at a red light, there is this urge to break. Rules break the law to drive recklessly, and you even neglect little little things like being kind and being polite because you are in this mighty big rush because of the fact that you

overslept,

or because you just didn't budget enough time to arrive early. On the other hand, if you had done that, you stay calm. You act true to your own nature.

And you don't have to be worried that by being late, there are complications that are going to arise. Remember tardiness breeds problems, it might lead like I said to speeding, it might lead to you getting a ticket, or Allah forbid, may Allah protect us even an accident. I can also cause you to lie. Why to cover up your tracks. It can lead to you missing key information or not being prepared for let's say, a presentation or a meeting. So by being on time you simplify your life so let's work towards being punctual. The final lesson for this video, anger,

anger management, anger is a completely normal usually held the human emotion but when it gets out of control, it can destroy you, and everything you love. A man comes to the messenger sallallahu alayhi wasallam. And he says, advise me the prophets that alone while earlier Selim did not go on to give him a 30 minute lecture, rather the the eloquent prophet

very concisely and very beautifully advises him a lot of Bob, do not give into your anger. Do not give into your anger. The man repeats his request for counsel for advice and he says they are a sort of lie advise me and he does so several times and each time the prophets response to the man was law, Bob law, Bob do not give into your anger. Do not give into your anger. HUD is recording the book of Imam Al Bukhari to hammer home law. So what more can I add to the advice of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam apart from reminding you all about this interesting narration of the Prophet and reminding you all lot of Bob do not give into your anger, one last Hadith and I hope to

conclude the video

There's another narration by the prophets lie Selim witness two men were calling and he sees the face of one of them turning red and the veins of his neck was swollen, because of anger because of rage. And the Messenger of Allah sallallahu Sallam at that point, he says, I know of a statement I know of a word. If this individual were to utter this word, his rage, his anger would vanish. And that word is to be let him initiate Vanya Rajim I seek refuge with ALLAH, I seek protection in a lot from the devil, the cursed. So from this Hadith, and this had his record on the book of Mohammed Bukhari and Muslim Rahim Allah from this hadith we understand that anger uncontrollable anger is

from the devil it is from Chapin, and Shelton you know seizes the opportunity to push you into a pit of regret when you lose your anger. So take care

and take precautionary measures to avoid letting your anger go on a rampage out of control.

With that, I conclude this video I hope it was of benefit. Do share the video around so that others can benefit as well. I look forward to talking to you all soon inshallah Allah. This is Maurice Bihari signing off Salaam Alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.