Control your anger before it is too late

Shalash Al-Dhaban An altercation involving several people recently ended in injury and death. Spokesman for the Eastern Province Police, Col. Ziyad Al-Ruqaiti, said one man was shot dead, another fled and one person was injured and taken to the hospital. We read about altercations and people getting killed as a result of quarrels almost every other day. The person who opened fire was arrested later that day. He turned out to be a Saudi man in his 40s. He was shot in the shoulder during the fight and was bleeding when police arrested him. He was rushed to the hospital and will be referred to the Bureau of Investigation and Public Prosecution after receiving medical treatment. I am 100 percent certain that the killer must be feeling great remorse now and wishes he had controlled himself and not fired the gun. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: “The powerful man is not the one who can wrestle, but the powerful is the one who can control himself at the time of anger.” However, it is too late now for the shooter to put things right; a man is dead and his family wants justice, nothing more and nothing less. I hope that our youth will redefine courage. Courage is not hurting and harming others. You cannot kill someone just because you are angry and then ask your tribe to intervene and help you convince the victim’s family to accept a large sum of blood money and drop the case. I hope that young men will also stop listening to members of their tribe and to their friends who encourage them to fight and get into trouble. Getting yourself into trouble for your friends and losing your life in the process should not happen at any cost. Always remember that real courage lies in protecting your homeland and playing an important role in contributing to its development. I urge young men to realize this fact and encourage older men to raise their children properly. We should all raise our children right and teach them that wrong concepts can lead to disastrous consequences.