It is so easy to get angry, but it is so difficult to forgive. Just sit back and ask yourselves at this moment, how many friendships we could have saved; how many family disputes we could have avoided; how many severed relationships we could have mended, IF we knew what ALLAH (Subhanahu wataa'la) has said to us about it in the Quran. Anger and forgiveness are inseparable, as if in order to control one you lose the other.

Why??

When one gets angry he loses his/her control over him/herserlf and thus is liable to say or do things that he/she may regret later when he/she regains control over him/herself. Even doctors and psychologists have proved that when human beings get angry they are in a state of subconscious in which they do not realize what they are doing. This is why our Prophet (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him) described anger as a raging fire and advised the Muslims not to say or do anything till their anger had subsided. 

Meaning what? 

Meaning that just like that fire destroys everything it engulfs or takes into its custody, similarly anger destroys human beings, since it is burning the individual who is angry as well as the people on whom that individual is getting angry. This is why in another hadith the Prophet (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him) said to the Muslims,    " Say something good, or else keep quiet."

Meaning use the tongue only for *halal* good purposes otherwise keep quiet, because if you don't then you are accumulating sins through the tongue. Certainly, the tongue will tanned witness on Day of Judgment against you, if you don't obey the above hadith, because ALLAH(swt) says:

[Surah Fussilat (41), Verse 21]

"And they will say to their skins,"Why do you testify against us?"
They will say: ALLAH has caused us to speak,-- as He causes all things to speak,....."

So now we clearly understand that the key distinction of a true believer is the ability to control anger as described by ALLAH(swt) in the Quran:

[Surah Al-Imraan(3), Verse 134]

"Those who spend in prosperity and in adversity, who repress
anger and who pardon men; verily, ALLAH loves the good-doers."

Let us for a moment analyze this verse and see what ALLAH (Subhanahu wataa'la) as saying. ALLAH (Subhanahu wataa'la) is describing the good-doers, who are they? and that is what the verse describes in the first part, that they are those who spend for ALLAH's sake and also control their anger and forgive people. Subhan-Allah! can you see the analogy given here? That controlling anger and forgiving people is as if you are spending in the way of ALLAH(Swt), spending what you ask?? spending out of your patience, because patience is a property that is much more expensive then money these days. Why? Because money can be earned through a living, a job but patience in a human being is very scarce and seldom found, and very hard to earn. Why? Because in order to earn patience, you have to not only control your anger but also forgive people of what they do to you.

Our Prophet (PBUH) said in a hadith, "The strong is not the one who overcomes the people by his strength, but the strong is the one who controls himself while in anger."

Today, a person is considered powerful if he can show his strength and might through his anger or any other source, and by the same token a person who is mild and cool, easy going is considered to be meek and weak, just because he doesn't get angry. Sorry to say, but this completely contradicting to our religion, and we as Muslims have to understand that we have to see what the Quran and Sunnah are
saying in regard to each aspect, and not blindly follow the tide of society we are living in.

We are ordered not only to forgive those who believe (Muslims) but also those who do not look forward to meeting ALLAH(swt), meaning non-muslims, because ALLAH(swt) says in the Quran: [Surah Jathiyah(45), Verse 14]

" Say (O Muhammad(PBUH)) to the believers to forgive those who (harm
them and) hope not for the Days of Allah (i.e.. His Recompense),...."

A common mistake, a Muslim does is the misunderstanding that all orders in the Quran are to be observed towards muslims ONLY and not the others. Often we hear,"...oh he/she is not a muslim, and they are prejudice against us, so we shouldn't forgive them. We should treat them the same way they treat us. Oh they are mean to us , we should also teach them a lesson....." and so on....we can go on filling the sayings. But the fact of the matter is, as ALLAH(swt) is saying in this verse, that our attitudes should be the same whether muslim or non-muslim. Just because some people treat us as Muslim fundamentalists or give us a hard time, that  is no reason for us to have a double-standard, because ISLAM doesn't have a double-standard.

Besides the point, think how many people you can get close to by applying this characteristic to everyone, regardless of whether they have hurted you or not, and in due course you would have made a tremendous effect and impact on the society in general, just by doing what??? Following the Quran and Sunnah.

We are encouraged drastically by our Creator, ALLAH(Swt) to forgive others, so that He may forgive our mistakes. You see it is a double reward with ALLAH(swt) for implementing this characteristic, because ALLAH(swt) says in the Quran:
[Surah An-Nur(24), Verse 22]

" .......Let them pardon and forgive. Do you not love that Allah
should forgive you? And Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful."

May ALLAH(swt) give me and all the Muslims the tawfeeq to implement this characteristic, and follow on His Path until the Day of Judgment, aameen.

Peace.