PTSD – Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. A lifetime illness with no cure, caused by life events and situations. You can only manage this because it will never go away.

Like a parasite that leaves its venom inside you, PTSD is the name given to the condition you are left in, spending the rest of your life healing.

Like a scar from childhood, from that one time we fell and hurt ourselves badly, PTSD is the name given to the scars scratched inside our mind and subconscious, that we cannot predict will cause a random shooting pain.

With a serious injury or a broken bone, the nerves that connect to the wound are damaged won’t rejuvenate and go back to ‘normal’. Similarly, a person who goes through PTSD will never go ‘back to normal’.

The Demons that haunt us in our sleep, in our minds, that plays tricks on us, causing paranoia and takes us back to that one moment in time that changed us, they will always be there.

Lurking and patiently waiting for that vulnerable moment to attack.

As a present day Muslimah, how does my faith protect me from these demons? Islam preaches prevention is better than cure. The ideal situation is to prevent the causation of certain situations, to avoid the risk of unfavourable outcomes. We learn self-awareness and the impact of our actions.

We acknowledge that there are situations that we find ourselves in that is not within our control, and not our fault. Despite oppressors trying to make us believe that it is. I think that is a liberating moment when we recognise this anomaly.

Islam has taught me the true meaning of ‘sabr’, which goes beyond the meaning of having patience. I am not a scholar, I am merely sharing my knowledge and life experience. Sabr also means having solace in justice. We should seek justice, pursue our rights and fulfil our obligations within our realistic means. Sabr means to act with a calm mind, and not be influenced by our emotions. Maintaining faith in God and kismet/destiny is included, and it is this element of Sabr that is often misunderstood as just having patience.

The demons will always remain, because they are there to test us in all manners, in every shape and form. But how we cope and recover is key to our growth.