Understanding The Prophet's Life
From Issue: 810 [Read full issue]
Keeping Calm
A man might look calm and composed on the outside, but be a raging volcano within. If you can keep calm when you are angry, then you have genuine self-control.
We should always be just and balanced in what we choose to say, whether we are happy or upset, whether we like what is happening or detest it. Calm manifests itself in our tone of voice, in the words we choose, in our gestures, our facial expressions, and our deportment.
We should keep in mind that our worship is not restricted to prayer, fasting, and the pilgrimage. Life itself is worship. We need to conduct ourselves accordingly.
Abu Hurayrah relates that a man approached the Prophet (peace be upon him) and said: “O Messenger of Allah! There is a woman who is well-known for how much she prays, fasts, and gives in charity, but she abuses her neighbours with her tongue.”
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “She is in Hell.” [Musnad Ahmad and Sah?h Ibn Hibb?n]
Self-control means to refrain from responding recklessly to what goes on around us. It means to condition ourselves to respond appropriately according to our personal past experience and what we learn from the experience of others.
Composure resides in the fraction of a second between the provocation itself and the gut reaction to it. This is why the prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Patience needs to be exercised when calamity first strikes.” [Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahi? Muslim]
We need to deal with every provocation in our lives as if it is being monitored by a hidden camera waiting to record our reaction to it and broadcast that reaction to the world. This will make us react more judiciously and help us learn to control ourselves. This is because we know that composure and self-control are praiseworthy qualities, while reacting recklessly is a sign of feeblemindedness and weakness of character.
Compiled From:
"Keeping Calm is a Skill" - Salman al-Oadah