arrogance. He has shown the beginning and the middle of his condition. If his end had appeared to him—and we seek refuge from God—perhaps he would have chosen to be a dog or a pig in order to become dust with the animals rather than a hearing, speaking man, and meet with punishment (if he deserves the Fire). When he is in the presence of God then even the pig is nobler than him since it reverts to dust and it is spared from the Reckoning and the punishment. Someone with this state at the Rising can only hope for pardon, and he cannot be at all certain about it. How then can he be arrogant? How can he see himself as anything to which excellence is attached? This is the knowledge-cure.
As far as the action-cure is concerned, it is to humble yourself to people in a constrained unnatural manner until it becomes natural for you.
The purification of the heart from false hope (amal)
False hope is one of the blameworthy qualities which it is forbidden to have. God Most High said, “Leave them eating and enjoying themselves. False hope diverts them from the outrage which they do” (Q 15:3).
Its reality is that your life-energy is directed to the moment, and you let things slide.
Its cure is to know that throughout your life, false hope will prevent you from hastening to repentance (tawba). You say, “I will yet turn in tawba. There are still many days ahead.” It also prevents you from hastening to obedience. You say, “I will act later. I still have many days left.” That continues to harden your heart because you do not remember death and the grave.
The purification of the heart from anger (ghadab) without grounds
Anger is one of the blameworthy qualities which it is forbidden to have. God Most High said, “When He put rage into the hearts of those who reject” (Q 48:26). The rage of the Jahiliya (Age of rash ignorance, before Islam) was from anger without grounds. He praised the believers since He bestowed some of the sakina (tranquillity) on them.
The reality of anger is the boiling of the blood of the heart to seek revenge. If a man is angry at someone below him, the blood expands and rises to his face and makes it red. If he is angry with someone above him, the blood contracts from his outer skin to his heart, and it becomes sorrow. For that reason, he becomes pale. If he is uncertain, the blood is between contraction and expansion.
There are three degrees of anger: Insufficient (tafrit); Excessive (ifrat); and Moderate (i‘tidal). Insufficient anger is blameworthy because you are not angry enough to protest in defense of that which is sacred (haram): with respect to your wife or mother, for example, or if you should have no jealous protectionism at all. Jealousy was created as a protection for man. Part of this failing is to be silent when you see objectionable actions. Part of it is also to be incapable of self-discipline, since self-discipline is made effective by bringing anger to bear on the appetite, even to the extent of being angry at yourself when it inclines to base appetites. Lack of anger is therefore blameworthy.
Excessive anger is also blameworthy. It is to be overcome by anger so that cool water goes out of the management of the intellect and the religion (din), and you no longer have insight, consideration, reflection, or choice. Whenever the fire of anger is intense, it will blind the one who is angry, and it will make you deaf to every warning. It may increase until anger invades the roots of the senses to the extent that you cannot even see with your eye. The entire world may become dark for you. Indeed, the fire of anger may become so intense that it burns up the moisture which gives life to the heart. The angry person then dies of rage.
Among the outward effects of excessive anger are: Change of colour, intense shaking in the extremities, confused speech, foam appearing at the corners of the mouth, redness, and an ugly mien. This is the effect of anger on the body.
As far as its effects on the tongue are concerned, it is that you speak with insulting language, obscenity, and ugly words which rational people are ashamed to use. Someone who utters them in anger is ashamed of them after his anger has abated. These are the effects of excessive anger on the tongue.
Its effect on the limbs is that you strike, tear, kill, and wound if you are in a position to do so, without any consideration. If the object of your anger flies from you, your own anger turns against you yourself, so you tear your own garments and slap your own face. You may hit your hand on the ground and completely go beyond the overwhelmed drunkard. You may fall down quickly and not be able to run or stand up through the intensity of your anger. It may come upon you like a fainting spell. You may hit animals and smash a bowl to the ground, and act like a madman. You verbally abuse the beast and speak to it, saying, “How long can I endure this from you?” as if you were addressing a rational being. These are the effects of excessive anger on the limbs.
Its effect on the heart is resentment, envy, concealing evil, resolving to divulge secrets, and other ugly things. This is the effect of excessive anger on the heart.
Praiseworthy anger is in moderation. It is the anger which waits for the indication of the intellect and the religion. It arises when it is praised by the shari‘a, and it stops when it is criticized by the shari‘a. It is the middle way which the Messenger of God—may God bless him and grant him peace—described when he said, “The best of affairs is their middle.”
Whoever has insufficient anger must treat himself until his anger becomes stronger. Whoever lets his anger go to excess must treat himself until both of them return to the middle way between the two extremes. That is the Straight Path.
The cure of anger consists of six things: The first is to reflect on the virtues of restraining rancour, and to desire the reward for doing that. The second is to frighten yourself with the punishment of God, saying “The power of God over me is greater than my power over this man. If I carry out my anger against him, then what security will I have against the anger of God on the Day of Rising?” The third is to reflect and make yourself fear the results of anger in this world if you have no fear of the next world. The fourth is to reflect on the ugliness of your form when you are angry. Then you will remember someone else’s form during his anger. Reflect as well on how much you resemble the mad dog when you abandon self-restraint, and how much you resemble the saints (awliya’) when you abandon your anger. The fifth is to reflect on the cause which summons you to revenge. It must be the words of shaytan to you, “This is incapacity and humiliation for you in the eyes of people.” You must reflect since you are more insignificant with God, the angels, and the Prophets. Why then are you concerned with people? The sixth is to know that your anger arises from your amazement at something which is acting in conformity with the will of God. It is almost as if God’s anger with you is greater than your own anger.
This ends the knowledge-cure.
As far as the action-cure is concerned, it is to say when you are angry, “I seek refuge with God from the accursed shaytan.” If you are standing, then sit down. If you are sitting, then lie down, and make the lesser or the full ablution (wudu or ghusl).
The purification of the heart from envy (hasad)
Envy is one of the blameworthy qualities which it is forbidden to have. God Most High said, “Do they then envy people for what God has given them?” (Q 4:54).
As for its reality, you should know that there is only envy for a blessing. When God bestows a blessing on your brother, it can lead to one of two states in you. One is that you hate that blessing and want it to leave him. This state is called envy. The definition of envy is hating blessing and wanting it to depart from the one who has received it. The second state is that you do not want it to leave him and do not dislike the fact that it exists and remains with him, but you desire the like of it for yourself. This is called thinking someone enviable. Envy is anger
