Arba'un 16 — do not become angry

الأربعون 16 — لا تغضب

Abu Hurayra's hadith, the sixteenth of al-Nawawi's Forty and of Ibn Rajab's commentary; transmitted by al-Bukhari alone (6116) through Abu Husayn al-Asadi from Abu Salih from Abu Hurayra, Muslim omitting it because al-A'mash's chain from Abu Salih is disputed — variously from Abu Hurayra, from Abu Sa'id al-Khudri (correct in Ibn Ma'in's view), from both, from Abu Hurayra or Jabir, or from an unnamed Companion — and transmitted by al-Tirmidhi (2020) as hasan sahih gharib; 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 in each 'do not become angry', the asker possibly Abu al-Darda' or Jariya ibn Qudama; Ibn Rajab infers that the man sought a brief comprehensive counsel of good traits and that the repeated answer shows anger is the sum of evil and guarding against it the sum of good, this being one of the four hadiths from which all the conduct of goodness branches in Ibn al-Salah's report from Ibn Abi Zayd (Jami' al-Ulum wal-Hikam pp. 343–359).