No Post-Traumatic Stress Among the Ṣaḥābah

Then Allah (swt) tells us, in verses 47 and 48, wa idh zayyana lahumu al-shayṭānu aʿmālahum. This is a most interesting incident, showing how the shayṭān works among people. And while these verses were revealed concerning the Battle of Badr, they apply in truth to all battles, these being fundamental ground rules for any battle and for anybody.

The British army and the American army and the rest — the British army, no doubt, teaches similar notions, except without the aspect of God in them. It is for your country, and stand firm; and there is a great deal of drilling that takes place. But when a man does a thing for Allah (swt), he does not come back with post-traumatic stress disorder, which is a great difficulty. From Vietnam, it was about a quarter at least who came back with that trouble, and who went on to commit various crimes and troubles, for they had no counselling; they did not have much counselling either, it appears.

And in our history, especially in the time of the Ṣaḥābah — and of after that nothing can be said — in the time of the Ṣaḥābah no one is known to have returned with a disorder of that kind. Because there was a very particular reason for which they did it. And it was a holy thing; there was no dissonance among them. There was no dissonance; it was entirely clear what they were doing and why they were doing it. And that is very hard to attain, except where a man has a very strong faith and there is no selfishness in the matter.