الَّذِينَ يُنفِقُونَ فِي السَّرَّاء وَالضَّرَّاء وَالْكَاظِمِينَ الْغَيْظَ وَالْعَافِينَ عَنِ النَّاسِ وَاللّهُ يُحِبُّ الْمُحْسِنِينَ
سورۃ آل عمران, آيۃ 134Those who spend (freely), whether in prosperity, or in adversity; who restrain anger, and pardon (all) men;- for Allah loves those who do good;
Surah 3, Verse 134
Samar, who is in the second grade, is short-tempered, has a high opinion of herself and shouts at anyone who tries to become close to her. She cares for nobody. One morning, as the teacher was coming into the classroom, Samar was shouting at Amir because he had trodden unintentionally on her book-bag. The teacher said: “Thank you Samar, for what you just did”. Samar was embarrassed at having been overheard and started crying.
Teacher: Explain to me why you’re crying.
Samar: Because I was shouting when you came in.
Teacher: Samar, I want to give you something to think about at home. What would have happened if you had trodden on Amir’s bag? Would he have shouted at you?
Samar (hastily): No, he wouldn’t.
Teacher: I said it was homework. Bring me your answer tomorrow.
At the end of the day, Amir went over to Samar and said: “Samar, you behaved badly towards me, but I want to help you and give you some advice. At home, open the Quran at Surah 3, Verse 134 and you will find the answer”.
Samar ran home, opened the Quran and read the verse: “.. who restrain anger, and pardon (all) men;- for Allah loves those who do good“. The next day she brought Amir a little gift and said to him, in front of the entire class: ” Please, Amir, take this little gift because you taught me something very important – how to be restrained; please forgive me”.
Samar is described as being short-tempered and having a high opinion of herself but we see that she is also capable, after the teacher's explanation, of accepting responsibility, crying and admitting that Amir would not have reacted in that fashion. This is to her credit. Amir also deserves credit. He overcame the insult, tried to help Samar and did so very well. Finally, Samar demonstrated her ability to use the Quran verse, to overcome her anger and to ask forgiveness. In essence, all three - Samar, Amir and the teacher - are observing this important Quran verse which reminds us how important it is to control anger and forgive others.