Pride Leads One To Anger

Another important point is that an angry person thinks himself to be very great. Pride is hidden in the folds of his anger. When he is angry at someone, his intention is to degrade that person and prove his own greatness. When anger arises in him, look at his face or put a mirror in front of him and tell him to see for himself, or record his angered voice on a tape and let him listen to it. A human being never realizes his own illnesses, he may say that his anger is for the sake of Allah, but this assumption of his can never be reliable. He should have it tested by a spiritual guide who has far sightedness, and will tell him if his anger is right, but the one who says he is always right, is in fact the wrong one.

One who tells his spiritual guide that he does not know anything and that the one who is the target of his anger is such and such, then know that he thinks his spiritual guide to be a fool. Chase such a disciple out of the khanqah (institution of spiritual guidance and reformation) holding him by his ear. In anger, if you have oppressed someone, never be ashamed to ask forgiveness of him. Please him in this world, otherwise you will be sorry on the day of Qiyamah! Now, listen to what status that person will get who makes amends and has his anger treated. Once Hadhrat Phulpoori (RA) got extremely angry at a person, for though he was a great friend of Allah, he was after all human and it is only human to make mistakes. The person with whom Hadhrat got angry was a villager who was a little backward. His village was about one and a half miles away from Phulpoor to which he returned. After the villager had left, Hadhrat regretted having become so angry at him. He therefore set out for that village after Asr, to ask forgiveness from the villager.

Hadhrat relates that he was so upset over what he had done that he could not think straight and even lost his way. Somehow he searched for the way through the fields and finally reached the village quite late. Hadhrat asked the man to forgive him for the sake of Allah, as he had wronged him. The villager would not agree saying: “You are a great Moulana, and I am an ignorant one. You are like my father and a father has rights upon his son.” Hadhrat said to him: “I don’t know what will happen on the day of Qiyamah, only then will it be known who is small and who is great. Until you do not tell me that you have forgiven me, I will not move from here.” The person then said: “All right, only because you are commanding me, in order to please you, I will say that I have forgiven you, but otherwise you have great rights over me.” Then only did Hadhrat return. On the same night, Hadhrat saw in his dream that Rasulullah Sallallahu alaihi wasallam and Hadhrat Ali (RA) were sitting in a boat, and at a little distance from them, he was sitting alone in another boat. Rasulullah Sallallahu alaihi wasallam commanded Hadhrat Ali (RA) to join Hadhrat’s boat to his Sallallahu alaihi wasallam’s own boat.

When Hadhrat Ali (RA) joined them, it made such a beautiful sound, the enjoyment of which Hadhrat was still feeling right upto the time he narrated the dream. Look! What an immense reward was given for humbling oneself and being regretful!