Hammer a NAIL in the wall; Anger Management

The other day I was listening to this beautifully story while going through an audio Tafsir of Quran. An efficient technique of anger management.

The story is about a father and his son. The father, in the process of grooming the boy, wanted to teach him lessons of personal leadership. So, he gave the boy a bag of iron nails and asked him to hammer one nail in the fence at the back of his house whenever he gets angry and frustrated. The boy took his father’s advice seriously and started practising it from that very day.

At the end of the first day, the boy realised that he had to hammer 37 nails in the fence.

“O man, this is really a bad number. Am I that furious?”, the boy exclaimed.

The next day, he was more consious of his anger and the number of new hammered nails were compartively less. In just a few days, he realized that hammering a nail in that fence is far more difficult, as you have to get and pick up the stuff and work on it every time you are angry, you know. So, he continued to grasp any opportunity where he could control his anger, resulting in lesser hard work and greater control.

After a few days, he finally had a day when he hammered no new nail. He informed his father about his success. The father was happy. However, there was still one piece of advice remaining. The father asked the boy to maintain his ‘no-anger’ phase and for each successful day, the boy must pull out one nail from the fence.

The father was obeyed.

Controlling anger was definitely a difficult job but once it was fueled with the temptation of making an achievement, it became easier. The boy continued to control his anger everyday and everyday he kept on pulling nails from the piece of wood. The day was not far when the wood was free from nails. The boy felt the satisfaction of accomplishment, deep within his heart, as he showed his hardwork to his father. The father appreciated his son and handed him his final words about the whole experience.

The father said, “Look at the fence my dear boy. Can you count how many holes are there? This fence is similar to our life and our anger. Once you’re furious upon someone and have hurt his feelings, no matter how many times you say sorry and apologize, you can’t fill those holes in his heart”, and he left his son…..thinking!

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It is narrated on the authority of Jabir that he heard the Prophet صل اللہ علی وسلم say:

“‏ الْمُسْلِمُ مَنْ سَلِمَ الْمُسْلِمُونَ مِنْ لِسَانِهِ وَيَدِهِ”

A Muslim is he from whose hand and tongue the Muslim’s are safe.

[Hadith permalink/reference]

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P.S: The story is the product of my memory and its storyline might be a little different from the original. 

The writer majors in Software Engineering and is an amateur blogger and photographer. He may be contacted at zakiimtiaz1@gmail.com.