As I was reading through the Seerah of our beloved Prophet (Alayhi As Salaat wa Assalam), I landed on the pages regarding the trip to the mountainous town of Ta’if.

 I was left wondering; ‘How? Just how??’ How did the Prophet (peace be upon him) bear such a terrible experience and not become utterly depressed? It is almost beyond human to go through such a stressful event and not break down.

Just to jog your memory, I’ll briefly highlight the main parts of the story.  After the persecution of his followers began to increase in Makkah, the Prophet (peace be upon him) decided to extend his efforts elsewhere by walking to the town of Taif , conveying Islam to other tribes. Much to his disappointment the chiefs of the tribe treated him with harshness and even refused to provide him with safety and protection. 

Some narrations state that the Prophet (peace be upon him) stayed on for a week to give dawah to the commoners, who only ignored him and ridiculed him. As the week went by, they became more hostile in order to push him out of the town and eventually pelted him with stones until his footwear became drenched in blood from the injuries he sustained.

Once the people stopped chasing him, the Prophet (peace be upon) recounted how he was in such emotional shock that he didn’t know where he was. After some time, he collapsed in a garden not far from Ta’if where he confided in Allah and humbly asked for His help. Almost instantly, a Christian servant came out to attend to the strangers in his master’s orchard and upon hearing the Prophet (peace be upon him) say ‘bismillah’ when eating, the servant recognised the signs of prophethood. He honored the Prophet (peace be upon him) and kissed his hands,head and feet.

While on the journey back to Makkah, the angels descended and offered to take revenge on the people of Ta’if on behalf of the Prophet (peace be upon him). For the sake of the future generations of the people of Ta’if, the Prophet (peace be upon him) asked the angels to spare the town. Such is the merciful conduct of our messenger who was ‘Mercy to mankind’!

Just a side note for those of you who come from a Pakistani background like myself, the area of ‘Sindh’ and India were opened by a Muslim general named ‘ Muhammad Ibn Al- Qasim’ who happened to be from the Thaqif tribe, most likely born in the city of Ta’if. He was a descendent of the very people who ambushed and drove our Prophet out of Ta’if for teaching them the Oneness of Allah.

This emotional story led me into an inquiry on how the Prophet went through such a wide range of mental and physical traumas yet he was able to frame all the discomfort he had to face as a possibility for growth?

I delved into the topic of this unique type of resilience and eventually came across a term called ‘Post Traumatic Growth’, a condition that comes about after intense grief, crisis or adversity. Instead of falling apart, the individual who goes through PTG benefits from the trauma by experiencing a leap in their perspective and a higher level of appreciation for life. Individuals have described profound changes in their view of “relationships, how they view themselves and their philosophy of life (Joseph and Linley, 2006).

The 5 stages of PTG are:

1)Appreciation of life – where you are essentially grateful for having survived and being alive.

2) Closer relationships – recognising the importance of key relationships in life.

3)New possibilities – when you experience how fragile life is, it makes you sense how precious time is, leading to a re-evaluation of goals and priorities.

 4)Greater sense of personal strength – you begin to view yourself as a survivor, and see your capabilities of thriving in the face of novelty and difficulty.

5) Spiritual development- you rediscover or strengthen your faith.

If we look at the process of PTG above, we can see that the response such a person has, allows them to embrace the pain and to shatter their beliefs. This leads to coping as well as recovery by opening the door of growth despite experiencing such a dark time.

As we’ve discussed, PTG comes about when we reframe the traumatic event as an opportunity to build on ourselves rather than a burden we are forced to carry. Also, research shows that it is important to plug into a support network of compassionate loved ones who will offer an empowering perspective of what we have gone through and help us to see our experience in a way that is comforting and motivating. Last but not least, is adopting a mindset of “realistic optimism”, where you acknowledge the emotions and pain but handle these feelings in a constructive rather than destructive way, by taking positive action. This could be by seeking help or going for therapy.

In the pursuit of growth, you need to recognise your own discomfort, give yourself time to heal but appreciate that these struggles have given you the results that would have never come about through ease and comfort. Sometimes trauma is revolutionary!

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