Du`a – Essence of `Ibadat Part One - What is Divine Ghadhab (Anger)?

What is Divine Ghadhab (Anger)?

One of the important subject headings of the Fatihah is Divine anger or ghadhab. This means that one of the important subjects of the Qur'an is about the anger of God. It is necessary therefore to explain it to some extent here. Divine anger is not related to God's pure essence, rather it is included in His law. His law is the name of the collective nature of the universe and existents, whose quintessence is the human being. Thus human nature is like a model or a book of Divine law. In other words, Divine law is within human beings, and it is a kind of automatic law. This means that the effects and consequences, whether good or bad of what a human being intends, speaks or does by his own choice affect him first and last. We may ask: If a human being has equal power over good and bad and Divine law requites him according to whatever he does in accordance with his own desire, to which creature do the actions of God's ninety-nine or hundred attributes apply? The answer is that there is no doubt that a human being can do as much bad as he can do good by the power which God has given him. In this case it appears to be appropriate that he must be requited accordingly. But, in reality, it is not so, rather his bad deeds are requited in like measure, but his good deeds are rewarded ten times over. It is obvious that the nine fold reward is due to God's attributes, and the one is due to his own choice, as the Qur'an testifies: “Whoso brings a good deed will receive tenfold the like thereof, while whoso brings an ill deed will be awarded but the like thereof; and they will not be wronged” (6:161). The purpose of this explanation is to show that there is no permanent name for wrath and anger in the attributive names of God. Names like qahir or qahhar, which common people use in the sense of anger or wrath, or the use of qahr in the sense of ghadhab is a mistake due to their wrong habit. These names actually mean mighty, overwhelming, conquering.

Now it is established that Divine anger as an unchangeable law is hidden in the nature of a human being in the form of his ignorance and negligence. This means that when individuals or a community do not obey the command of God and turn their face away from His `ibadat, their intellects do not receive the knowledge that was hidden in obeying His command and their souls do not receive the spiritual food, which was hidden in His `ibadat. Thus, their ignorance and negligence will continue to increase to the extent that their intellects and souls will be deformed. That is, their capacity to acquire true knowledge, wisdom and pleasure from dhikr and `ibadat will disappear even though they will remain in a human shape and form, as God says: “And had We willed, We verily could have transformed them in their place, making them powerless to go forward or turn back” (36:67). That is, if We had willed We could have transformed them into the habits and characteristics of an animal in a human body, due to which they would neither have progressed in humanity, nor could they have returned to the natural capacities of their childhood. They will remain in a state in which they have lost their natural capacities.

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