Home > The 40 Hadith of Nawawi > Hadith 16 of Nawawi
Hadith number 16 of the collection of the 40 hadiths of Imam an-Nawawi, in faithful English translation.
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Updated on 07 October 2026 at 4:51 AM
📖 24 min readThis hadith belongs to the collection of the 40 hadiths of Imam an-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him), the most studied hadith compilation in the world: foundations of faith, worship and character, all authentic narrations.
This man asked the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) to counsel him with a brief counsel embracing the traits of good, to hold on to them, fearing he might not hold them for their multiplicity; the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) counselled him not to become angry, and the man repeated this request several times, and the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) repeated this answer to him.
That indicates that anger is the gathering of evil entire, and that guarding against it is the gathering of good.
Perhaps this man asking the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) is Abu ad-Darda. At-Tabarani reports from the hadith of Abu ad-Darda: I say, "O Messenger of Allah, indicate to me a deed bringing me into Paradise." He said, "Do not become angry, and Paradise is yours." And al-'Ahnaf ibn Qays reports from his uncle Jariya ibn Qoudama that a man said, "O Messenger of Allah, say to me a word and be brief with me, perhaps I shall hold it." He said, "Do not become angry." The man repeated it to him several times, always saying, "Do not become angry." Imam Ahmad reports it. In a version of him, Jariya ibn Qoudama said: I asked the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), and he mentions it.
The more likely: the questioner is Jariya ibn Qoudama; but Imam Ahmad mentions of Yahya al-Qattan that he said: thus said Hicham, intending that Hicham mentioned in the hadith that Jariya asked the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him); Yahya said: and they say he never met the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), thus al-Ijli and others: "he is a Successor and not a Companion." Imam Ahmad reports from the hadith of az-Zouhri, from Houmayd ibn 'Abd ar-Rahman, from a man of the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): I say, "O Messenger of Allah, counsel me." He said, "Do not become angry." The man said: I reflected upon what the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, and behold, anger gathers evil entire. Malik reports it in the Mouwatta from az-Zouhri, from Houmayd, in mursal form. Imam Ahmad reports from the hadith of 'Abdallah ibn 'Amr that he asked the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): what keeps me far from the anger of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic? He said, "Do not become angry."
The words of the Companion, "I reflected upon what the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: behold, anger gathers evil entire," witness what we have mentioned: anger gathers evil entire. Ja'far ibn Muhammad said, "anger is the key of all evil." It was said to Ibn al-Moubarak: gather for us the beautiful character in one word? He said, "the abandoning of anger." Ahmad and Ishaq ibn Rahawayh interpreted the fortress of character likewise as the abandoning of anger, and it is reported in raised form: Muhammad ibn Nasr al-Marwazi cites it in the Book of the Prayer, from the hadith of Abu al-'Ala ibn ach-Chikhkhir, that a man came to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) from before him and said, "O Messenger of Allah, which is the best deed?" He said, "The beautiful character." Then he came from his right and said, "O Messenger of Allah, which is the best deed?"
He said, "The beautiful character." Then from his left, "O Messenger of Allah, which is the best deed?" He said, "The beautiful character." Then from behind him, wanting from behind, "O Messenger of Allah, which is the best deed?" The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) turned towards him and said, "What is the matter with you, that you do not understand? The beautiful character is not to become angry if you can." And this is mursal.
His words (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) to the one he counselled, "do not become angry," carry two meanings. The first: aiming at the causes that engender the beautiful character: generosity, largeness of soul, gentleness, modesty, humility, forbearance, withdrawal from wrong, forgiveness, letting pass, restraint of anger, ease, optimism and the like of beautiful characters; the soul, adorning itself with these characters and making them habit, renders it incumbent upon itself to repel anger when its causes arise. The second: intending: do not act according to anger when it comes upon you, but strive your soul not to execute it, and act according to what he commands; for anger, when it possesses the son of Adam, is like a commander commanding him and forbidding him. To this sense Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, says: "And when they become angry, they forgive."
If a man does not obey what his anger commands him and strives his soul, the evil of anger is repelled, and perhaps his anger calms and goes quickly, as though he had not been angry!
Towards this sense the allusion in the Quran by His words, "And when they become angry, they forgive"; and His words, "And those who restrain their anger, and pardon the people: Allah loves the beneficent."
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) commanded the angry man to practise the causes repelling anger and calming it, and praised the one possessing his soul in his anger. In the two Sahihs, from Soulayman ibn Sourad: two men were reviling each other near the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) while we sat, the one insulting his companion in anger, his face red. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, "I know a word which, said, removes what he feels: were he to say, I seek refuge with Allah from the stoned devil." They said to the man: do you not hear what the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) says? He said: I am not mad.
Imam Ahmad and at-Tirmidhi report from the hadith of Abu Sa'id al-Khudri that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said in his sermon, "Listen: anger is a live coal in the heart of the son of Adam; do you not see the redness of his eyes and the swelling of his jugular veins? Whoever feels anything of that, let him apply himself to the earth." Imam Ahmad and Abu Dawoud report from the hadith of Abu Dharr that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, "If one of you becomes angry standing, let him sit, and the anger will leave; otherwise let him lie down." It was said: the meaning here is that the standing man is prepared for vengeance, the seated one less so, the lying one further still: he commanded him withdrawal from the state of vengeance.
That is witnessed by his narration of the hadith of Sinan ibn Sa'd, from Anas, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), and of the hadith of al-Hasan in mursal form from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "Anger is a live coal in the heart of man kindling; do you not see the redness of his eyes and the swelling of his jugular veins? When one of you feels anything of that, let him sit, and let not the anger carry him beyond." The intent is that he restrain himself and not carry it to another by wrong in deed. To this sense the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said in the trials, "The lying man is better in it than the sitting man, the sitting man better in it than the standing man, the standing man better than the walking man, and the walking man better than the running man." That is by way of example of hastiness in trials, the meaning being: the one nearest to hastiness in them is worse than the one furthest.
Imam Ahmad reports from the hadith of Ibn 'Abbas, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "When one of you becomes angry, let him keep silent," saying it three times. That too is a great remedy of anger; for from the angry man comes in a state of anger what he often regrets when his anger has vanished: insults and other things whose wrong is great; were he to keep silent, that evil would vanish entirely.
How beautiful are the words of Mouwarriq al-Ijli (may Allah have mercy on him): "I never became angry, nor spoke in anger of what I regretted once calmed." And 'Omar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz one day became angry; his son 'Abd al-Malik (may Allah have mercy on them) said to him, "You, O Commander of the Believers, with what Allah has given you and preferred you by: this anger?" He said to him, "And what do you hold, O 'Abd al-Malik?" 'Abd al-Malik said, "And what would the breadth of my breast have served me, had I not made anger in it until it no longer appeared?!" Those are people possessing their souls in anger: may Allah be pleased with them. Imam Ahmad and Abu Dawoud report from the hadith of 'Ourwa ibn Muhammad as-Sa'di that a man spoke to him and made him angry: he rose, performed ablution, then said: my father told me, from my grandfather 'Atiyya: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, "Anger is of the devil; the devil is created of fire, and fire is extinguished only by water: when one of you becomes angry, let him perform ablution."
Abou Nou'aym reports by his chain, from Abu Mouslim al-Khoulani, that he spoke to Mou'awiya of a matter upon the minbar, and became angry; then he descended, performed ablution, returned to the minbar and said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) say, "Anger is of the devil, the devil of fire, and water extinguishes fire: when one of you becomes angry, let him perform ablution." In the two Sahihs, from Abu Hourayra, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "The strong man is not the one who overthrows; the strong man is the one who possesses his soul in anger." In the Sahih of Mouslim, from Ibn Mas'oud, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "What do you count the overthrown man among you?" We said: the one whom men cannot overthrow. He said, "It is not that, but the one possessing his soul in anger."
Imam Ahmad, Abu Dawoud, at-Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah report from the hadith of Mu'adh ibn Anas al-Jouhani, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "Whoever restrains his anger, able to execute it, Allah will call him on the Day of Resurrection before the creatures, to let him choose from the Houris whatever he wills." Imam Ahmad reports from the hadith of Ibn 'Omar, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "No servant swallows a draught better with Allah [the Mighty and Majestic] than the draught of anger restrained, aiming at the face of Allah the Most High." And from the hadith of Ibn 'Abbas, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "No draught more beloved to Allah than the draught of anger the servant restrains: no servant restraining it for Allah but that Allah fills his interior with faith." Abu Dawoud reports its meaning from a narration of certain Companions, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), and it says, "Allah fills him with security and faith."
Maymoun ibn Mihran said: a man came to Salman saying, "O Abu 'Abdallah, counsel me." He said, "Do not become angry." He said, "You command me not to become angry, and it seizes me beyond my control?!" He said, "If you become angry, possess your tongue and your hand." Ibn Abi ad-Dunya reports it. Possessing one's tongue and one's hand is what the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) directed by his command to the angry man to sit and lie down, and his command to keep silent.
'Omar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz said: "Successful is he preserved from passion, from anger and from covetousness." Al-Hasan said: "Four: whoever has them, Allah preserves him from the devil and forbids him to the Fire: whoever possesses his soul in desire, in fear, in carnal appetite and in anger." These four mentioned by al-Hasan are the principle of all evil. The desire of a thing is the inclination of the soul towards it, believing its profit; whoever desires a thing, that desire drives him to seek it by every way he believes leads to it, much of it being possibly forbidden, and possibly the desired thing itself forbidden. Fear is the fear of the thing; when a man fears a thing, he repels it from himself by every way he believes repelling, much of it being possibly forbidden. Carnal appetite is the inclination of a man to what suits him and delights in it, much inclination being possibly towards the forbidden, such as fornication, theft, drinking khamr, even disbelief, sorcery, hypocrisy and heresies.
Anger is the boiling of the blood of the heart, seeking to repel the harmful thing one fears coming, or seeking vengeance upon the one who did the wrong after it has come; and from it arise many forbidden deeds, such as murder, blows, kinds of injustice and aggression, and many forbidden words, such as qadhf, insult and obscenity, and at times it rises to the degree of disbelief, as ran for Jabala ibn al-'Ayham. And the oaths not lawful to keep legally, and the repudiation of the wife followed by regret.
It falls to the believer that his desire be restricted to seeking what Allah has made lawful for him, and that at times he take it with a good intention: rewarded; and that his anger be the repelling of wrong in religion from himself or another, and vengeance upon whoever disobeys Allah and His messenger, as the Most High says, "Fight them: Allah punishes them by your hands, humiliates them, succours you against them, and heals the breasts of a believing people."
Such was the state of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): he did not avenge himself; but if the inviolable things of Allah were violated, nothing held his anger. And he never struck with his hand a servant nor a woman, save striving in the path of Allah. Anas served him ten years, never saying to him ugh, nor of a thing done, why did you do thus? nor of a thing not done, why did you not do thus? In a version: when he blamed one of his own, he said (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), "Leave him: were something decreed, it would be." In a version of at-Tabarani, Anas said, "I served the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) ten years, never knowing anything granted to him nor anything contradicted, the grace of Allah upon what was."
'Aicha (may Allah be pleased with her), asked of the character of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), said, "His character was the Quran," meaning that he educated himself by its rules and adorned himself with its characters: what the Quran praised was his approval, and what the Quran blamed was his indignation. It has come in a narration of her, "His character was the Quran: he approved His approval and detested His indignation." And he (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), from the intensity of his modesty, never confronted anyone with what he detested, but one knew the detestation in his face, as [in the Sahih, from Abu Sa'id al-Khudri: the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was more modest than the virgin in her veil; seeing what he detested, we knew it in his face].
And when Ibn Mas'oud reported to him the words of the one saying: this is a division desiring not by it the face of Allah, it weighed upon him (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), his face changed and he became angry, and added only, "Moussa was harmed more than that and was patient." And he (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), seeing or hearing what Allah detests, became angry and spoke of it, not keeping silent. Entering the house of 'Aicha (may Allah be pleased with her), he saw a curtain with images upon it: his face coloured and he tore it, saying, "Among the most punished of people on the Day of Resurrection: the makers of these images." And when complaint was made to him of the imam lengthening the people's prayer, delaying some of them from praying with him: he became angry, and his anger intensified, he exhorted the people and commanded lightness. And seeing spittle in the qibla of the mosque: he grew irritated, scraped it and said, "When one of you stands in prayer, Allah faces his face: let him not spit before his face in prayer."
Among his supplications (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) were: "I ask You the word of truth in anger and approval." That is most precious: a man speaking only the truth, whether angry or pleased; for most people, in anger, do not attend to what they say. At-Tabarani reports from the hadith of Anas, raised: "Three of the characters of faith: he who, becoming angry, is not led by his anger into falsehood; he who, approving, is not led by his approval out of the truth; and he who, being able, takes not what is not his."
It is reported from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) that he informed of two men before us: one worshipping, the other dissolute upon himself; the worshipper exhorting him without ceasing, and seeing him one day upon a sin making it great to him, said, "By Allah, Allah will not forgive you?!" Allah pardoned the sinner and annulled the deed of the worshipper. Abu Hourayra said, "I uttered a word denying me this world and the Hereafter." Abu Hourayra feared people say such a word in anger, reported by Imam Ahmad and Abu Dawoud. This one was angry for Allah, then spoke in a state of anger for Allah of what is not permitted, and decreed upon Allah what he knew not: Allah annulled his deed; how then of the one speaking in his anger for himself and following his passion of what is not permitted?
In the Sahih of Mouslim, from 'Imran ibn Houssayn, that they were with the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) on certain journeys, and a woman of the Ansar upon a she-camel grew irritated and cursed it; the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) heard and said, "Take its baggage and leave it." And the hour of answering may coincide. Herein too, from Jabir: we travelled with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) on an expedition, and a man of the Ansar upon a mount grew irritated by some irritation and said to it: go, may Allah curse you. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, "Descend from it: a cursed one does not accompany us. Invoke not upon your souls, nor your children, nor your wealth: you might coincide with the hour of Allah in which a gift is asked and answered for you." All of that indicates that the supplication of angry men may be answered, coinciding with the hour of answering, and forbids invocation upon oneself, family and wealth in anger.
As for Moujahid, concerning the words of the Most High, "Were Allah to hasten to the people the evil of their hastening of good, their term would be decided": he said: it is the man rebuking family, child, wealth, when he becomes angry against it, saying: O Allah, bless not what is therein. O Allah, curse it. He said: were that hastened to him, there would perish of whoever invokes against it and makes die. That indicates that all the angry man invokes upon himself, family and wealth may be answered. And the hadith indicates it may be answered, coinciding with the hour of answering.
As for what is reported from al-Foudayl ibn Iyad, "Three are not blamed for anger: the fasting man, the sick man, the traveller." And from al-'Ahnaf ibn Qays: "Allah inspires the two guardians with the son of Adam: write not upon My servant in his irritation anything whatsoever." And from Abu 'Imran al-Jouni: "The sick man, when he grows impatient and sins, the angel at the right says to the angel at the left: write not." None of this has any basis: reported by Ibn Abi ad-Dunya, none of it has a sound legal origin indicating it, and the hadiths mentioned previously indicate the contrary.
His words (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), "if you become angry, keep silent," indicate that the angry man is charged in a state of anger with keeping silent: he would then be reproached for speech.
It is authenticated from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) that he commanded the angry man to divert his anger by words and deeds calming it: and that is the very substance of the duty of cutting off anger; how then could he not be charged in a state of anger with what comes out of him?
'Atta ibn Abi Rabah said, "Nothing has made the scholars weep at the end of life like an anger in which one of them becomes angry, demolishing a work of fifty years, or sixty years, or seventy years. And many an anger has plunged its author into what he could not bear." Reported by Ibn Abi ad-Dunya.
Then those of the Ancients who say: the angry man, if his cause of anger is licit, as sickness and travel, or obedience as fasting, is not blamed, intending that no sin is upon him for what comes from him in a state of anger of much speech requiring irritation or insult and the like, as he said (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), "I am only a human being: I approve as human beings approve, and become angry as human beings do; any Muslim I insult or strike, let it be expiation for him." As for what was of disbelief or apostasy, or killing of a person, or seizure of wealth without right and the like: no Muslim doubts that they did not will the angry man to escape reproach for it. Likewise what comes from the angry man of repudiation, emancipation or oath: for all of that he is reproached, without divergence.
In the Mousnad of Imam Ahmad, from Khoulaya bint Tha'laba, wife of 'Aws ibn as-Samit: she returned to her husband; he became angry, and declared her back bare, and he was an aged, great man who had lost his character and wearied; she came to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and complained to him of what she suffered from his evil character, and Allah sent down the verse of zihar, and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) commanded her the expiation of zihar in a long story. And Ibn Abi Hatim reports it by another channel, from Abu al-'Aliya: Khoulaya, her husband becoming angry, declared her; she came to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and informed him, saying: he did not intend the divorce. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, "I see nothing but that you have become forbidden to him," and mentioned the story at length, saying at its end: Allah turned the divorce into zihar: this man declared her in a state of anger.
And the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) held then that zihar was divorce, and had said, "She has thereby become forbidden to him," intending the divorce fell to him; when Allah made it expiable zihar, he obliged him of the expiation without annulling it. And Mujahid reports, from Ibn 'Abbas, that a man said: I have repudiated my wife three times, and I was angry. Ibn 'Abbas said to him, "None can make lawful for you what Allah has forbidden you: you have disobeyed your Lord, and your wife has become forbidden to you?!" Al-Jawzajani and ad-Daraqoutni report it with a chain meeting the conditions of Mouslim.
The judge Isma'il ibn Ishaq reports in the Book of the Judgements of the Quran, with a sound chain, from 'Aicha (may Allah be pleased with her): the laghw in oaths is what occurs in dispute, jest, play, and the word the heart has not contracted; and the oath of expiation applies to every oath sworn seriously over a matter, in anger or otherwise, to do or not to do: the contraction of the oath has its expiation therein. Likewise Ibn Wahb reports it, from Younous, from az-Zouhri, from 'Ourwa, from 'Aicha, and it is among the soundest of chains. No divorce in irritation.
That indicates that the hadith reported from her, raised, "no divorce nor emancipation in irritation," is either not authentic, or its interpretation by anger is not correct. The fatwas of the Companions upon the oath of the angry man. It is authenticated of more than one of the Companions that they counted the oath of the angry man contracted, and therein is the expiation; reported from Ibn 'Abbas contradicting that does not authenticate in its chain. And al-Hasan said, "The divorce of the sunna: repudiating her once, pure of allusion, and at his choice between him and that she have three menses; if it appears to him to take her back, he is freer so; were he angry, three menses, or three months if not menstruating, will carry away his anger." And al-Hasan said, "Allah showed, so that none regret in divorce, as Allah commanded it." The judge Isma'il criticized it.
Many scholars made allusions with anger like the explicit statement, that by them the apparent divorce occurs, and their interpretation is not accepted with anger as other than divorce. Some made anger with the allusions like intention, engaging thereby divorce also in the interior; how then would anger be a bar to the explicit divorce?!