Maulana Wahiduddin Khan | The Sunday Guardian | April 09, 2017, p. 12
Once a person said to the Prophet of Islam: “O Prophet, give me a master advice by which I may be able to manage all the affairs of my life.” The Prophet simply replied: ‘Don’t be angry.’ (Bukhari). It means: ‘Don’t be angry even when provoked.’ If someone keeps himself from being victim of anger, then how can this habit become a master formula for his life? The moment of anger is a high moment in the life of a person. Anger is not just anger, it creates brainstorming. Anger releases high energy in the angry person. It is a high time for the individual concerned. If at this moment, he is able to divert this “anger energy” to the positive side, it will bring him toward healthy activities from unhealthy activities. Anger is energy, and anger energy cannot be released in normal situations. An abnormal situation is required for unleashing it, for example when one becomes angry due to provocation. It is reported that the Prophet observed: ‘One who keeps silence will be blessed with salvation.’ (Tirmidhi). How does silence become a source of salvation? When you become angry due to some provocation, you should make a point to not speak and to remain silent. Maintaining this silence will help in bringing about change in the thinking process of the mind. This can be understood with the following analogy. There is a term in car driving called “shift time”. It refers to the time interval between gear changes. Shift time changes the direction of your car. So is the role of silence. Silence at the time of anger, shifts the direction of your thinking from negativity to positivity. The Prophet once also said: ‘When you are angry, keep silence.’ (Musnad Ahmad). At the time of anger, keeping silence is like applying gears to your mind. When man is angry and he instantly becomes silent, the mind then takes a new pace. Instead of running to the negative side, it starts running in the positive direction.