Before the battle of Badr set off, Allah `azza wa jall did something amazing for the believers, although it was quite subtle:

“(And remember) when Allah showed them to you as few in your dream, if He had shown them to you as many, you (the believers) would surely have been discouraged, and you would surely have disputed in making a decision. But Allah saved you. Certainly, He is the All-Knower of what is in the breasts.” [al-Anfal: 43]

The Prophet (sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam) was shown a dream in which the opposition appeared very few in number, and he then reported this to the fighters of Badr which immediately put their hearts to rest and strengthened them mentally. By simply showing this dream, Allah `azza wa jall changed the entire way the believers viewed their enemy and He totally shifted their perspective of things, leading to their success. This is something we can do in our everyday lives…

Lesson: Whenever you’re faced with an obstacle, or you wish to achieve something lofty, step back and view that obstacle as being small and minor. Never let something overwhelm your mind because then it will most likely overcome you and lead to your discouragement and failure. Know that success lies in facing your fears with mental strength, and it is often a case of mind over matter. So take a deep lesson from the verse above and allow Allah to show you your problem as being small and easily defeatable.

Abdullah bin Mas`ud said, “They were made to seem few in our eyes during Badr, so I said to a man who was next to me, “Do you think they are seventy?” He said, “Rather, they are a hundred.” However, when we captured one of them and we asked him, he said, “We were a thousand.”“[Tafsir Ibn Kathir]

This is really interesting because the Arabs at that time were extremely talented in estimating the number of participants in battle. When two forces met, each side would send a messenger forward and he’d look at the enemy lines and estimate the number accurately. So Allah veiled this from them in order that they did not waver at heart.

Alhamdulillah for the Qur’an which we can apply to our lives in so many different ways.