Mustafa Khattab – Control Your Anger
AI: Summary ©
The speaker discusses the concept of anger and how it can lead to negative behavior, including cutting off a cat's ears and causing it to take a hit. They give advice on how to handle anger in a positive way, including respecting others, teaching others to pray on time, and channeling it into positive thinking. He gives personal stories about experiences with a cab driver who was tortured by a cat and a Muslim, and gives practical advice on how to handle anger in a positive way, including channeling it into positive thinking.
AI: Summary ©
Pay attention in the way of Tarah. So
today we'll talk about anger.
Anger.
I know some of us have anger issues,
you know. I hear a story as people
come to me for counseling,
someone steps on your foot,
World War 3. I'm
gonna kill you and your family, and
Come on, man. So anger.
What is the problem with anger?
Anger will get you in trouble.
Sometimes I go to jail and
visit people,
some of them are young,
they did something foolish
when they were young.
17, 18, 19.
They shot someone, they got into a fight,
they spent their entire lives in jail. Or
at least 25 or
years of their lives in jail because of
one angry moment
and they decided to,
to act violently
and they ruined their lives.
Whereas if they control their anger they would
have been in a bitter place.
There's a hadith, an authentic hadith,
someone was brought to the Prophet salallahu alayhi
wa sallam, he killed another sahabi, a sahabi
killed another sahabi.
So what happened? The Prophet
told him, what happened?
They were shepherds,
ra'a.
They had their own animals and stuff, so
they were taking care of the animals,
and they were collecting food for the animals.
They got into a hated argument.
One thing led to another, so he hit
him with the ax and he killed him.
So he said, the reason I killed him
is because he insulted my mother. He said
something about my mother so I killed him.
So the the Prophet
said, Why didn't you
say,
or leave or go somewhere else? You killed
him?
You know, because one thing led to another?
When you read in the Quran you see
some people getting in trouble because of anger.
The best example,
we love Yunus alaihis salam, we all say
peace be upon him, we love him and
respect him, but in Surah Yunus, sorry in
Surah and Bia because he was angry his
people were not responsive
and Allah told them they are getting
punished.
So what did he do?
Because, you know, he has been giving dua
for a long time,
very few people believed in him or maybe
no one believed in him, so he was
he was very angry, and he left without
the permission of Allah.
Because he was very angry, very mad because
people were not responsive,
and the punishment was coming anyway, so he
left without the permission of Allah
So what happened to him?
Allah
put him in the belly of the whale.
Doesn't mean that Allah did not have power
over him.
Means
He made it very tight for him. He
restrained him. He put him in the belly
of the whale.
Why? Because he was angry.
Right? But again, the prophet said,
don't say, the prophet
said, don't say I'm better than Yunus.
Respect him as much as you respect me.
So this is why when you say Yunus
alayhi salaam, you say, alayhi salaam.
Also,
I'll give you another good example.
Those of you who love soccer, raise your
hand.
Almost all boys and half of the girls.
Okay. That's good.
So what happened back in 2,008?
No. No. No. The final
World Cup final.
I got this set on stage 1.
2008.
Okay. You remember the final game? Okay. You
got my points anyway.
Okay. Listen guys. Don't
get me angry. Okay?
Okay.
I believe it was 2,008. It could be
2,006, but I think it's 2,008, the final
World Cup game between Italy and France.
France was that close to winning the cup
as they did in 1998.
But they lost because of one thing.
Anger. Because of anger.
A guy from the Italian team said something
about Zainiden Zidane's mother. Zainiden Zidane got very
angry and he, you know,
he headbutted him.
And of course the morale of the French
team went down and they lost
because of one angry moment.
So this could happen to you. So what
do you need to do basically
when you feel angry?
Say,
And this is the advice of the Prophet
Go make wudu.
The Prophet
said, If you are angry and you are
standing up, sit down.
If you feel that one thing will lead
to another and you will do something that
you will regret for the rest of your
life, just leave leave the place, go somewhere
else.
Right? If you are in one room in
the house, go to another room. Right? If
someone is bothering you so much and you
feel like you will do something to them,
you'll break their neck, give them a black
eye, do something, just leave.
If you can't stand the heat,
leave the kitchen. This is what they say
in English. Right? Go somewhere else.
My advice also,
sometimes you need to be angry.
This is the fact, sometimes you have to
be angry. Say for example, I am going
home and there is this guy and he
or she,
they are torturing a cat.
There is a video on YouTube. This guy
is cutting off the ears of a cat
and they are taking video of
him. You need to be angry. Right?
If say for example,
my kids are like 18 or 25 and
they don't pray on time. Yes. I need
to get angry. But how should I channel
my anger into a positive way?
Yes. I should be angry but how do
I react? How do I respond? In a
positive way.
Right? By teaching them about salah, by, you
know, asking them to pray on time, or
telling the guy who was torturing a cat,
this is not nice.
A bad thing done to an animal is
as bad as something terrible, you know, being
done to a human being. They have feelings,
they have ruach, they have a soul, you
shouldn't do this. Try to give them try
to give them naseehah. Try to channel your
anger in a positive way.
I'll conclude with this story, it's a personal
story that happened with me,
about 4 years ago,
close to 4 years ago.
August 2013,
I was in Toronto,
and I was visiting the Imam there for
1 month so one day I was going
to,
my house
I didn't have a car back then because
it was just 1 month and it is
very hard to find parking in
you know around the place where I was
working
Dundas, downtown.
So I was coming back from the Masjid
after Salatul Jumaa and I was dressed up
like Masha Allah with a turban and something
like this. I think it was white or
and the sword, you know, like very
like a prince, you know, from the old
days, you know 1000 years ago. But anyway
the cab driver that day was not Muslim.
So he knew that I was Muslim. Most
of the time my cab drivers during that
time were Muslim. He called the company
is you know a Muslim comes.
But that day the cab driver was not
Muslim. So he said,
Muslims are good people but Islam is evil.
Islam sucks. These were his words.
I could have, you know, gotten into a
heated argument with him.
You know, Muhammad Ali
You know I'm gonna you know fight you
and your entire family. Let's go. You know.
No. I you know I channeled this into
a positive thing
and as a result of this
I translated the whole Quran because he said
that the Quran you know called him an
animal and I said no it doesn't say
this in the ayah and I realized
that his translation said so. So instead of
fighting him and breaking his jaw or you
know, get to a into a fight,
I realized there was a problem and I
tried to solve it by doing a translation
of the Quran. Alhamdulillah,
the clear Quran is the number one Amazon
Canada bestseller.
You know? So we make sure that it
is available for Dawah to send them a
clear Quran to all public libraries.
Next step would be to send the clear
Quran to all hotel rooms, to all airports,
to make them available to the public, they
are already in the in the jail system,
inmates receive the clear Quran.
Why? Because I use this moment, this angry
moment to do something positive. You can do
the same thing. So instead of getting into
a heated argument or a fight with someone,
try to see what is the most practical
and positive way to channel your anger. Maybe
we'll continue tomorrow Insha Allah. We ask Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala to give you the best
in this life and the best in the
life to come. Questions tomorrow, Insha'Allah.
Questions tomorrow.