Angry Aaishah

Ask our children:

1. What should a Muslim do when he becomes angry?
2. What is the reward for controlling our anger?
3. Can a Muslim use bad language and insult people?
4. Can a Muslim hit or hurt another person unjustly?
5. What happens to a person who always loses their temper with people?

Now tell them the story:

There was once a little girl named Aaishah who was very generous. She liked to feed people, and so she always brought some food to madrasah to share with others after class. However, Aaishah had a fierce temper. If anyone upset her, she would become so furious that she would begin to shout and yell at them. In fact, sometimes, she would become so angry that she would even push or hit the person!

One day, Aaishah’s mother baked cupcakes. As soon as Aaishah heard the oven timer ring, and smelt the delicious cupcakes, she said to her mother, “Mummy! Please pack some cupcakes for me to take to madrasah! Insha Allah, I will share them with the other children after class is finished.”

Aaishah’s mother agreed, and even packed a small flask with tea for Aaishah and her friends to share. Aaishah was very happy, took the basket from her mother, and thanked her saying jazakallah. Then, she got into the car with her father, and off they went to madrasah.

Later that afternoon, when madrasah was finished, Aaishah and the other children went into the madrasah yard to have a small picnic while they waited for their fathers to fetch them. Aaishah took out the fresh cupcakes and gave one to each of the children. Then, she took out the flask and cups and poured the tea.

After giving each child a cup of tea, Aaishah got ready to enjoy her cupcake. However, as she was picking up her cupcake, Sumayya bumped her by mistake, causing her to drop the cupcake. Aaishah was horrified, as the cupcake fell in such a way that all the icing was on the ground. The cupcake was spoiled!

Aaishah lost her temper and began to shout at Sumayya saying, “You are so clumsy! What is wrong with you! You spoiled my cupcake!” Poor Sumayya tried her best to apologize, and told Aaishah that she was sorry, but Aaishah was too angry to listen to her and forgive her, and carried on shouting at her.

Another girl, Ruwaidah, saw what was going on, and tried to calm Aaishah down. She said to her, “Aaishah! I’m so sorry about your cupcake! Never mind! You can eat my cupcake!” But Aaishah did not want to calm down. She was overcome with anger and could not stop. She said, “No! I don’t want your cup cake, Ruwaidah, because you aren’t the one who spoiled my cake. Sumayya must give me her cake!”

However, poor Sumayya had already eaten her cake and could not give it to Aaishah. She apologized again and said, “Aaishah! I will bring you a cake tomorrow if you want, but please don’t be angry! Please forgive me and let’s be friends!”

Aaishah still continued to shout, and then, it became even worse. Aaliyah was walking past with her tea in her hand, and when she heard Aaishah shout, she got such a shock that she spilled her tea onto Aaishah’s madrasah bag!

Now Aaishah was so angry that her face was as red as a tomato, and it seemed as though steam would come out from her ears! “First clumsy Sumayya makes me drop my cake, and now you spill tea on my bag?” she shouted. Aaliyah apologized, and explained that it was an accident. She even told Aaishah that she would take Aaishah’s bag home and wash it for her. However, Aaishah was now so angry that she pushed Aaliyah, causing her to fall onto the ground.

When the children saw this, they all moved away. Ruwaidah said to Aaishah, “Aaishah, jazaakallah for the cake and tea and for sharing with us. However, better than sharing with us is for you to stop taking out your temper on us. I think it would be better if we are not friends anymore, as you become upset too easily.” Having said this, the children left, as their fathers had arrived to take them home.

Aaishah watched as the children walked away, and then realized that because of her temper, she had spoiled her friendship with the other girls. She had hurt them by speaking to them badly and pushing them. She realized that more important than giving them cakes and tea was to behave with good character and control her temper.

A few minutes later, when Aaishah arrived at home, her mother saw her long, sad face and asked her what was wrong. She told her mother what had happened, and after listening to the entire story, her mother said, “Aaishah! A temper is a very dangerous thing. It can destroy a person’s whole life and cause him to go to Jahannum. When a person gets angry for the wrong reasons and does not control his temper, he will hurt other people and do things or say things that he will regret for the rest of his life.

“In the Qur’aan Majeed, Allah Ta‘ala tells us that the people who have taqwa and piety will be entered into Jannah, and this Jannah is so big that it is equal in size to the heavens and the whole earth put together. One of the signs of taqwa and piety is that a person controls his temper.

“On the other hand, in the Mubaarak Hadith, Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) warned us that if we hurt people in this world, by speaking to them badly or hitting them, then on the Day of Qiyaamah, they will be given our good deeds to make up for the hurt that we caused them. Also, when a person always loses his temper, he will lose all his friends as well.”

Aaishah heard her mother’s words and realized that her temper problem was a very big problem. If she did not fix this problem, she would become sinful and fall into many problems in her life. She asked her mother, “Mummy! How can I control my temper?”

Her mother said, “As soon as you become angry, you must read ta‘awwuz (أعوذ بالله من الشيطان الرجيم), asking Allah Ta‘ala to protect you from Shaitaan who wants you to become angry so that you will do wrong things. Then, if you are standing, you must sit down, and if you are sitting, you must lie down. Also, you should make wudhu.

“Finally, always remember that if you treat people kindly, then Allah Ta‘ala will treat you kindly in this world and the next. If you want Allah Ta‘ala to forgive your mistakes, then you must forgive and overlook the mistakes of others.”

Aaishah took her mother’s golden words of advice to heart. She went to all the people whom she had hurt, told them that she was sorry and asked them to forgive her. Aaishah also made an effort to control her temper. Every morning, when she woke up, she made dua to Allah Ta‘ala to help her to control her temper, and whenever she became angry, she recited ta‘awwuz (أعوذ بالله من الشيطان الرجيم), made wudhu and sat down or lay down. If she felt like shouting at someone or hitting someone for irritating her, then she immediately reminded herself that if she wanted Allah Ta‘ala to forgive her mistakes, then she should forgive other people’s mistakes.

In this way, Aaishah learnt to control her temper. Her friends were happy with her again, and she no longer hurt people by shouting at them or hitting them.

Lessons:

1. When a person becomes angry, he should control his temper. To control his temper, he should recite ta‘awwuz (أعوذ بالله من الشيطان الرجيم) and make wudhu. If he is standing, then he should sit down, and if he is sitting down, then he should lie down.
2. In the Qur’aan Majeed, Allah Ta‘ala tells us that the people of taqwa and piety will enter Jannah, and part of taqwa and piety is for a person to control his temper.
3. We should never use bad language when speaking to people or call them insulting names. Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) never used bad language.
4. A Muslim should not hit or hurt the next person. If we hurt any person, we must ask him to forgive us. If we do not get the person to forgive us, then on the Day of Qiyaamah, our good deeds can be taken away and given to the person whom we hurt.
5. When a person loses his temper with people, then Allah Ta‘ala will be displeased with him, and people also will not like him. The outcome of this is that people will not want to befriend him.