The Mindset You Need When Life Gets Very Difficult

The Battle of the Trench: Setting the Context

In the Battle of the Trench — Ghazwatul Ahzab — Allah is describing in Suratul Ahzab the same situation experienced completely differently by two groups of people. The Mu'minoon, the people who have Iman, they experienced this situation completely differently — physically, mentally, spiritually. Their emotions, their thoughts, their skin, everything is different — only because they have Iman. And those who don't have Iman, or who are faking it, they experienced the situation completely differently.

And this is important for those people who try and divorce Iman — remove it and say it's unrelated to your mental or your physical health, or your emotions, or your intelligence. All of this is one interconnected piece.

Let's set the context first. The Prophet ﷺ hears that there are 10,000 people from Mecca marching towards Medina. But there's something different in this battle to all the previous battles that took place. It's not only Quraysh — it's multiple groups, multiple tribes that have teamed up. Not just one group. So now you have a number and a set of groups which you've never seen before — with more wealth, with more backing, more resource, more strategy, more military power than you've ever seen before.

The second thing: how did the Muslims decide to deal with this situation? Their leader Muhammad ﷺ decided, upon the advice of his companions, to pick and select the advice of Salman al-Farisi — which is, dig a trench. But is it around the whole of Medina? Three parts of Medina are covered by mountain range. Jabal Uhud is not one mountain, by the way — Uhud is a mountain range, it covers a whole part of Medina. Then you have other mountains surrounding Medina. There are mountain ranges covering every part of Medina except one part — one vulnerable quarter. And only one vacant part of the square. There is a mountain called Jabal Sila, a small mountain, but this is the part that needs a big hole digging so they never penetrate this part of Medina.

Do you know the dimensions of the trench? We're talking about a trench which is roughly — its width is between 5 and 10 meters, its depth is the depth of three men — 18 feet — and its length roughly 1.5 to 2 kilometers long. This is a construction project, and there was no fundraising for it. Who built it? Everyone. Were they paid a salary for it? They had to volunteer their time. How long did it take to build the trench? It took them 2 to 3 months just to dig.

The Prophet ﷺ — if you one day go to Jabal Sila, you climb up to the top — there's a small masjid there, about the size of a small room: Masjid al-Fath. The Prophet ﷺ went and he set up post and he stayed there for months, and he would pray salah in this exact location — Masjid al-Fath.

Now imagine all of this — months and months of digging in the scorching hot heat. Everybody's volunteering their time; they have other jobs, other ways to earn a living, other lives to lead. Their wives and their kids are at home suffering without the men. The men are there in the heat, digging, digging, digging, digging. And this is a long job, not a short job. And they know the kuffar of Quraysh are coming with all these groups they've never seen before. All of this is the context that's important for you to understand what's about to happen.

Allah's Description of the Moment

So now, Allah describes the situation:

"They came from above you and from below you." — The arrows raining from above. Imagine a thousand arrows raining down; the shields have to go up. And from below, they tried to cross the trench — they tried to go around it, they sent arrows above it, they tried to jump with their horses across the trench.

Now how does Allah describe the situation? Notice:

"And when the eyes were transfixed, and the hearts reached the throats, and you were thinking all kinds of thoughts about Allah."

The eyes were trembling. The heart reaches the throat — you know when you're swallowing something very thick out of fear. And you are thinking wild thoughts about Allah.

Let's break it down. Thinking? This is something in the mind — your thoughts. The heart reaches your throat — this is a physical symptom, something you can measure, you can taste, you can feel. And the eyes are trembling — this is a physical symptom. How would you describe someone whose eyes are trembling, who's gulping, whose mind is going in crazy directions? What is this emotion? Panic? A panic attack? Intense fear? Horror?

What do you think is the most common term for such a thing today in the world — when something very difficult happens to someone? They call it trauma.

Trauma vs. Ibtila: Two Very Different Frameworks

Now, what does Allah call this situation?

"There the believers were tried and shaken with a mighty shaking."

Allah calls it Ibtila. In the modern world they call it trauma. Let's compare these two things.

Trauma in the English language, up to the 18th century, was used for what? When you get smashed in the head by someone physically — they called this blunt trauma, meaning a physical wound. After WW1 and WW2, people came back not the same as the person who left. What did they call this? Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. This person — some external thing happened that was very difficult for them to bear, and now they're not the same person. This external thing is called trauma. You have to protect people from trauma. Trauma is bad. Trauma is something that can hurt you. It's like being smashed, being hurt — it's like a wound. You can't recover from it, you can't heal from it easily.

So they started using the word for physical injury; then they started using it for a very scary event, a very difficult event — almost as though to say: if something really bad happens to you, you are now permanently injured, like someone who came back from war. You need some very big thing in order to recover from this.

What does Allah call this incident? Ibtila. What is Ibtila in Arabic? To test, to examine, to see what something is made of — to open something and check what's under the surface. This is what bala yabloo means: to really examine and scrutinize something until you see what it is made of. To melt something until the impurities fade and you only get the pure substance. This is Ibtila.

Allah describes this scary, terrifying, physically shaking incident of Ahzab — Allah describes it as a purifying occasion. Ibtila: something that purifies, something that refines them, something that polishes them. And what do people in the modern world call it? Trauma — something that damages, something that injures, something that hurts and scars, and it's not reversible.

Giving things the right name is a core part of our deen. It's very important. If you give the wrong name, you have a wrong idea about it completely. Allah in the Quran taught Adam the correct names — how to name things properly. And when somebody used to call Zaid "Zaid ibn Muhammad," Allah revealed: call him by his real name — what is his real name? Zaid ibn Haritha — not Zaid ibn Muhammad. The wrong name messes up the whole concept.

This incident — Allah calls it: the believers were shook, they were cleansed and refined. وَزُلْزِلُوا زِلْزَالًا شَدِيدًا — they were shaken with a very severe shaking. Was it a physical earthquake? So what earthquake was this then, if it wasn't a physical earthquake? What shook? The Iman shook.

Can Iman shake? Yes. Iman can wobble — like somebody standing on a tightrope, about to fall, struggling to stay on board. Iman can wobble the same way. You have to fight to stay on the tightrope. You know, when people think of الصِّرَاطَ الْمُسْتَقِيمَ, they think of a road — don't think of a road. Think of a rope, and you're trying to walk on this rope with a stick, trying to balance. And زُلْزِلُوا is you're shaking — a wind blows, you're about to fall off, and you're fighting to stay back on. This is what happened in this incident.

Allah calls it Ibtila. Modern clinicians call everything trauma — everything. Anything bad happened: your father did something to you, your sister did something to you — everything is trauma. They created through this theory of trauma a very fragile generation, terrified of any type of difficulty. Allah calls it Ibtila — it's a purifying opportunity. And a believer embraces it. And a believer never runs from Ibtila.

Two Groups, Two Reactions

Now Allah describes the reaction of two groups of people — the reaction of people of Iman and the reaction of people of no Iman. Watch:

"And when the hypocrites and those in whose hearts is disease said: 'Allah and His Messenger did not promise us except delusion.'"

When people with no Iman saw this situation — arrows raining from above, armies gathering from all sides, stuck in a place for two months, feeling claustrophobic — when they felt fear, overwhelmed, terrified, the people who had no Iman said: "Allah lied to us. The whole Iman thing was a lie. Allah promised us victory — look what he gave us! Terrifying fear and doubt. Everything Allah and his messenger promised us was a lie."

Now here's the key point: both of them are feeling the same symptoms. The same fear. The same trembling eyes. The same heart feeling like it's in the throat. They're both experiencing it. What's the difference? Are the people of Iman in some kind of immunity — they don't feel any fear? No, they feel fear. The difference is how they respond to fear. How they respond to the situation.

Now what happened when the believers saw this situation?

"And when the believers saw the confederates, they said: 'This is what Allah and His Messenger had promised us, and Allah and His Messenger spoke the truth.' And it increased them only in faith and in submission."

When the people of Iman saw this — they felt this fear — what did they say? They said: "Guys, this is exactly what Allah promised us."

The Critical Difference in Perspective

One group is saying: "Guys, everything Allah promised us is a lie." The believers are saying: "Guys, everything Allah promised us is true." What's going on? Why are they saying two opposite things? Are they wearing different glasses?

When the people of no Iman say "Allah lied to us," what are they referring to? What's the promise that Allah did not fulfill? Victory. They're saying: "Allah promised us victory — look, we're going to be defeated."

When the believers see the situation, they say: "Allah promised us and he's true." What promise are they referring to? What comes before victory? Struggle.

The munafiqun are saying: "Allah promised us victory — look, it's a lie." The believers are saying: "Allah promised us struggle — look, it's true." The same incident. The same fear. The same physical symptoms. Only one difference: Iman makes you see everything completely differently, and kufr makes you see everything completely differently.

They said: "Guys, look — Allah promised us struggle, the struggle is here. This is what Allah and his messenger promised us, and Allah was right. Look — they came for us. If we weren't on to something, would they come for us? They wouldn't — they'd ignore us. We're on to something; that's why they came for us. Allah told us this would happen."

Where in the Quran did Allah promise that something like this would happen? Allah promised:

"And We will surely test you with something of fear and hunger and a loss of wealth and lives and fruits, but give good tidings to the patient."

So they are saying: "Aha — Allah promised us struggle. This is the struggle. This is what Iman promised." And this is what Imam Bukhari quotes: this situation increased their Iman. The same situation decreased somebody else's Iman. Why? Perspective.

Did it come automatically to them? Like an angel came and said: "Guys, increase your Iman"? Were they standing there and a lightning bolt struck them and their Iman suddenly shot up? Iman is active effort. When they saw the situation, they struggled to keep a positive mindset — that Allah promised us struggle, we will not lose hope in Allah.

Because the root cause of the people who ran away, the people who responded negatively, is what? Their mind went into a negative spiral. Thinking negatively about Allah. And they said: "Allah lied to us, the whole thing is a sham." Negative, negative, negative. These are thoughts — this is their mental state. And their Iman — Allah described their Iman as linked to their physical, mental, and emotional response to any given situation.

Iman is a Muscle: It Requires Effort

Allah described those whose Iman increased in the situation and those whose Iman decreased — and the only difference was the perspective, but also this: they actively had to fight themselves internally for their Iman to increase. It didn't happen automatically. Iman doesn't move until you move. Iman requires effort. Requires exertion. Requires exercise.

Iman is a muscle — if you don't exercise it, what happens? Let me go back to the exercise analogy. This situation is like someone who hasn't been to the gym in six months, and someone helps him with the weights — he lies on the bench press and someone puts 300 kilograms on. He's trying to lift 300 kilograms. In this situation, what is he going to do? He's going to collapse — he's not ready for this level of weight. But if he had exercised regularly and consistently and worked hard, the amount of weight he can take is much higher than somebody else — somebody else who's never tried to exercise in their life, where even the bar alone has their hands trembling and about to shatter, because they never made the effort.

Iman requires exertion, requires effort. But most of all, Allah shows in the situation a completely different way of looking at life. One group sees it as trauma — negative, a lie, victim mentality: "Oh my gosh, we are victims in this situation." Victimhood. Negativity. They implode.

Another group is seeing this as an opportunity — an opportunity to refine themselves. "This is Ibtila from Allah. This is the opportunity to refine, to improve. And look — O Allah, even in this situation, we didn't lose our good hope in You."

The Men Who Proved Themselves to Allah

"Among the believers are men who have been true to what they pledged to Allah. Some of them have fulfilled their pledge, and some are still waiting. They have never changed in the least."

Allah says: from the believers that day, there are men who proved themselves to Allah. صَدَقُوا مَا عَاهَدُوا اللَّهَ عَلَيْهِ — they proved their sincerity and their genuine Iman. Because Iman is something — just like in karate you have belts, just like in knowledge you have exams — Iman has exams that prove your level. Who are you? And what level is your Iman? You're not going to know on a good day. You're going to know when everything goes wrong. Today is the day your Iman is going to be exposed.

Allah divides them into three groups. Number one: the group that was sincerely truthful to their promise with Allah — they promised Allah: "When the opportunity comes, I'm going to stand up, I'm not going to fall." And they did it. فَمِنْهُم مَّن قَضَىٰ نَحْبَهُ — they proved themselves. وَمِنْهُم مَّن يَنتَظِرُ — some of them are waiting for the day to prove themselves.

You see, this is a very different way to look at life — to say: "O Allah, bring on the next exam, I'm ready. Ya Rabb, bring on the next test, I'm ready to confront it with my Iman." يَنتَظِرُ — he's waiting. He's waiting for Ibtila. He's looking forward to the next test. Compare this to someone who's always trying to escape and run away and avoid difficulty. Iman trains you to be ready for it, because you expect it, because Allah promised it. What else? Allah promised it's going to come — when it comes, be ready.

وَمَا بَدَّلُوا تَبْدِيلًا — they did not change. We talked about last time: Iman requires discipline and consistency. You have to get in the reps every week. When you do something very consistently — you work on your thought patterns, you work on your physical worship, you give sadaqah, you sit with the Quran — every week, every week — you will be someone who doesn't change easily. You don't lose these qualities easily. It becomes part of who you are.

The opposite? Who are the people who fluctuate a lot — today they're Muslim, tomorrow they're not, one day they're with you, the day after they're against you? The munafiqun. Is there an ayah that says they change too much?

"Wavering between this and that, belonging neither to these nor to those." These guys switch — they switch very quickly. So the mark of Iman is consistent effort. The mark of Iman is a new perspective on life. The mark of Iman is somebody who's ready to embrace the next test.

Every Day is Practice

Every day is a practice — a mental and a physical and a spiritual practice — to ready yourself to prove your Iman. Because the day when you get hit with a loan, the day when you lose your job, the day when your wife leaves you, the day when your husband leaves you, the day when your child does something crazy — that's the day. Today is the day, guys. This is what Allah promised you.

Are you ready to face it? This is where Iman comes to a standstill, and you'll know yourself on this day. You'll know what is the level of your Iman on this day. Do you fall onto your knees to pray when you are pushed? Or when you're pushed, do you fall onto your back and run away? Which side, which way you fall determines where your Iman is.

All the practice, all the effort — the spiritual muscles, the physical muscles, the building of the worldview, the way to see everything, the knowledge of Allah's names, the visits to nature and the mountains, the hiking and spending time in open spaces — all of this was to prepare for what? This is where the believers will be tested, and they will be shaken and shaken. Be ready — that day is going to come. And that is the day you'll know what your Iman is really made of.