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Ghadab (anger)

الغضب

The soul's agitation at offence or opposition, from which the sharia magnifies the call to guard; a man came to the Prophet saying 'counsel me' and he answered 'do not become angry', the man repeating his request several times and receiving the same answer — one route has 'teach me something and do not make it long that I may retain it', another 'point me to a deed that admits me to Paradise' — the answer one in every case; Ibn Rajab infers that repeating the answer to the renewed request shows anger to be the sum of evil and guarding against it the sum of good; Abu Amr ibn al-Salah reports from Abu Muhammad ibn Abi Zayd that 'do not become angry' is one of the four hadiths from which all the conduct of goodness branches, and among the definitions of good character are Ahmad's 'that you not become angry or fierce' and Ishaq ibn Rahuya's 'a cheerful face and not becoming angry'.

Depth

At a glance

Era
The Prophetic Era
Region
Global / Diaspora
Review
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Spirituality and Sufism

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Connections

Based on
Arba'un 16 — do not become angry
Part of
Prophetic adab (proper conduct)

People and things also explored

Haya' (modesty and shame)Goodness of Islam — leaving what does not concern oneHusn al-khuluq (good character)Sabr (patience and steadfast endurance)Prophetic adab (proper conduct)Iman (faith)Arba'un 15 — speak good or keep silentAbu Hurayra

Sources

  • Jami' al-Ulum wal-Hikam — Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Ghadab (anger)”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/concept/ghadab/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Accessed 2026-10-12.

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Wing

Ideas

Beliefs, concepts, sciences and schools, explained in plain words. Related

Haya' (modesty and shame)

The disposition that restrains a person from ugly deeds; in Abu Masud al-Badri's hadith in al-Bukhari: 'what people have retained of the speech of the first prophethood: if you feel no shame, do as you wish' — 'the speech of the first prophethood' meaning, for Ibn Rajab, what was handed down from the earlier prophets and inherited by people generation after generation until it reached the first of this community, one route adding 'nothing of the speech of the first prophethood reached people except this'; 'if you feel no shame, do as you wish' has two readings — not an imperative but censure: either threat and warning like 'do as you wish, for He sees what you do' and the hadith 'whoever sells wine, let him then carve up the pigs', the choice of a group including Abu al-Abbas Tha'lab, or an imperative in form carrying a statement — whoever lacks shame does whatever he wishes, shame being the only check on ugly deeds, like 'whoever lies about me deliberately, let him take his seat in the Fire' — the choice of Abu Ubayd al-Qasim ibn Sallam, Ibn Qutayba and Muhammad ibn Nasr al-Marwazi, Abu Dawud reporting from Ahmad what indicates the same.