With Hardships Comes Ease | Ep 02 | Tafsir from Duhā to An-Nās | Imam Nadim Bashir

Surah Al-Inshirah and Its Connection to Surah Ad-Duhaa

This week we're talking about Surah Al-Inshirah and Surah Al-Sharh. And in reality, Allah, these two surahs are very connected. In fact, you'll find some sahabah according to their understanding, Surah Ad-Duhaa and Surah Al-Sharh, this أَلَمْ نَشْرَحْ لَكَ صَدْرَكَ, is considered as one surah. They say that it's considered as one surah. Why? Because Surah Ad-Duhaa talks about the life of Rasulullah ﷺ before revelation and Surah Al-Sharh talks about the life of the Prophet ﷺ after revelation. So they are in some way connected with each other and therefore they consider it as one surah. Ibn Mas'ud who says it is considered as one surah.

At the same time, because of these kinds of opinions that do exist amongst some of the sahabah, just as a side note, I've seen some videos about Christians that they would say, in order to find a fallacy in the Qur'an, they would say that according to some sahabah, there are this many surahs in the Qur'an. And according to this sahabi, there are this many surahs in the Qur'an. The impression they're giving to other people is that there are some parts of the Qur'an that are missing. Whereas there are no parts of the Qur'an that are missing. What has happened is that there are some sahabah, what they believed in is that there are some surahs that are connected with each other. So there are no verses of the Qur'an missing but there are just some surahs that are connected. However, according to majority of the ulema and according to majority of the sahabah, Surah Ad-Duhaa and Surah Al-Sharh are considered as two separate surahs.

The Opening Verse: Did We Not Expand Your Chest?

So Allah, He begins the surah by saying:

And whenever Allah says the word أَلَمْ نَشْرَحْ لَكَ صَدْرَكَ, it is in a way to say that did you not know about something? Like did you not see something? Did you not know about something? So this is Allah asking really a rhetorical question. أَلَمْ نَشْرَحْ - Did we not expand your chest? Like this is a way of Allah asking. Of course the answer is yes, Allah did expand the chest of the Prophet ﷺ.

Understanding Sharh As-Sadr (Expanding the Chest)

Now when we talk about the word شرح الصدر there are many different understandings and different explanations. One of the things that you will find in most verses or most translations of the Qur'an is that the term شرح الصدر is usually translated as the expansion of a chest. And while this is okay and this meaning can be applied if you are talking about Rasulullah ﷺ when he was a child and literally we know from the seerah of the Prophet ﷺ that two angels they put down Rasulullah ﷺ, they cut his chest open. You can understand شرح الصدر as a literal perspective in a literal way.

But some ulema they say that and this is a valid opinion. This is Allah reminding the Prophet ﷺ that do you remember the time when you were put down as a child and the Prophet's ﷺ chest was cut open. His heart was taken out. It was washed in zamzam water and there was a black clot or something of that type on the heart of the Prophet ﷺ. The angels they removed it and they replaced the heart of the Prophet ﷺ back into his chest and they sealed the chest of the Prophet ﷺ.

It was really after this moment that when one of his foster brothers and sisters they saw this they came back to Halima As-Sa'diyah and they told her about what had happened to their brother, the Qurayshi brother. And that is when Halima As-Sa'diyah she returned Rasulullah ﷺ to the mother of the Prophet ﷺ and interestingly this happened right after Halima As-Sa'diyah she insisted that she want to keep Rasulullah ﷺ. And when the mother agreed then now she's coming and she's returning the child back to the mother. At that time the mother of course she understood that there is something unusual that has happened and when she inquired and pressed she said that look we don't know what happened but apparently something did happen to the child and that is when Aminah the mother of the Prophet ﷺ said that nothing bad can happen to this child because what I know of women generally going through pregnancy pains when they're going through the process of expecting a child and then the delivery process I never went through any pain what a mother generally would go through but nonetheless this is Allah reminding the Prophet ﷺ.

The Spiritual Understanding of Sharh As-Sadr

Some of the ulema they say that this is not in reference to an actual cutting and opening of the chest of Rasulullah ﷺ but rather there is a spiritual component to this matter and what that means is that just like we would find anyone else how much it would be difficult for them to receive wahi for them to receive the burden of revelation the responsibility of being a Prophet not just being a Prophet but being the final Prophet being the final Prophet and not only that but being an example for everyone else the sacrifices that the Prophet ﷺ he would have to go through Allah is telling him أَلَمْ نَشْرَحْ لَكَ صَدَرَكَ and here is what I want you all to understand this when we talk about again شرح الصدر from the perspective of spirituality then to translate it as an expansion of the chest is a wrong way how you would generally understand it and this is why the Arabic language is so nuanced that sometimes it becomes very difficult to translate something from the Arabic language into the English language with just probably a word or two.

The best way to understand شرح الصدر from a spiritual perspective is that Allah either He provides you clarity. He provides you clarity for example in the Qur'an Allah says:

Does that mean Allah expands the chest? No it means that Allah puts something in the chest in the heart of a human being that provides that instantaneously they can now see clarity now they can see something that they were not able to see before and that is why you find so many people who come and they take the shahada and what do they say? for such a long time I did not understand the concept of the trinity it just didn't make sense and so now he's saying that now I understand when I picked up the Qur'an and I read the Qur'an even in the English language I now have clarity so for someone coming to the fold of Islam it means clarity if it's something that you're going through a difficulty in life and now Allah is bringing relief to you then شَرْحُ الصَّدْرِ means that Allah is providing you emotional stability and emotional strength because not every person can go through every kind of difficulty unless Allah provides that strength to you so Allah here is saying exactly this to the Prophet ﷺ it can be taken in a literal perspective it can be taken in a spiritual perspective and the fact that Allah says أَلَمْ نَشْرَحْ لَكَ like Allah could have said أَلَمْ نَشْرَحْ صَدَرَكَ and it would have meant the same thing but the fact that Allah mentioned لَكَ it simply means that Allah is trying to state to the Prophet ﷺ that we did this exactly for you and from this what we learn is that when it comes to different anbiya the Prophet ﷺ had a higher status compared to the others.

Comparison with Prophet Musa

Now let me give you an example when we talk about the Prophet ﷺ Allah is saying did we not provide you whether it's the literal expansion of the chest or Allah provided emotional strength to the Prophet ﷺ we find in the story of Musa ﷺ a similar word right in his du'a, what was his du'a:

And the ulema they state something amazing about this they say that in the case of Musa ﷺ he had to ask Allah when he's being when he's communicating with Allah he's saying ya Allah going back to Fir'aun there's I mean there's a warrant of arrest out for me how do I go back into Egypt and face Fir'aun he knows who I am he knows exactly how I look like I grew up in his palace you want me to go back in the lion's den that is when he says رَبِّ اشْرَحْ لِي صَدْرِي Oh Allah expand my chest this is a request in the case of Rasulullah ﷺ did he Rasulullah ﷺ have to ask for this no Allah did it for him automatically and what we learn from this is the maqam and the status of Rasulullah ﷺ compared to all the Prophets the Prophet ﷺ had a higher status compared to others.

Practical Lessons for Our Lives

Now from this what do we learn from this from the very first verse of this surah the very first thing that we learn is that every person has to reflect that when life feels overwhelming the question that we need to ask ourselves is not that why is Allah doing this to me the question we need to ask ourselves is ya Allah what we need to make du'a to Allah for is ya Allah grant me شَرْحُ الصَّدْرِ you know next time anytime you're going through in life whatever you're going through in life don't say why am I going through this ask Allah that ya Allah give me emotional stability and what kind of a du'a can you make you can go back to the du'a of Musa ﷺ:

Because look at this du'a it's a very beautiful du'a he says رَبِّ اشْرَحْ لِي صَدْرِي oh Allah provide me emotional strength emotional stability and then what does he say after that وَيَسِّرْ لِي أَمْرِي and make my matter easy for me whatever we're going through in life this is a du'a that we can make ya Allah make this matter easy for me.

The Reality of Life's Difficulties

And the one thing that we have learned from our sunnah from the ulema and from the Qur'an from the word of Allah is this and this is the reality of life every single person will have to go through difficulty in life the Muslim and the kafir the Muslim and the kafir the very first thing is that a kafir does not get anything in return a kafir will go through difficulties a kafir you will find so many kafir so many people who don't believe in Allah they're homeless they're living paycheck to paycheck they cannot sometimes afford medical care they're going through struggles just like there are rich non-Muslims and there are struggling non-Muslims likewise there are rich Muslims and there are struggling Muslims but the beauty about all this is what?

The Beauty of Our Deen in Times of Struggle

At the end of the day, for the Muslim their struggles would never go unwasted - that's the beauty about our deen. Even if I have to struggle all my life, I know for a fact that all these struggles I will be compensated for these struggles either in this dunya or in the akhira. And this is why سبحان الله it breaks my heart when I see so many non-Muslims they're struggling in life - it's like they don't get dunya and they don't get akhira either, like it's a total loss.

That is why whenever you're going through a difficulty in life, always remember: yes I'm going through this, but in some way, in some shape or form, either in this dunya or the akhira, I will be compensated.

The Second Reality of Difficulties

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in many cases He may not - when you say "Ya Allah remove this difficulty from me" - as I said, what we need to ask Allah is to provide:

But remember that sometimes Allah may help you not by removing the difficulty. Sometimes Allah will help you in your difficulty by giving you the stamina and the emotional strength to deal with that difficulty. And this is something that you don't see often - we don't think in this way. We always think that "Ya Allah just remove the difficulty altogether."

No, there are people today who are living in immense amount of difficulty. For example, you look at people who are struggling with their health. There are so many families right now who have special needs children, special needs adults. These parents, if you ask them what is the most pressing concern on your mind, you know what is the most pressing concern on their mind? That if I die, what's gonna happen to my children? Now they are living with that on a daily basis.

And if you don't have children, if you have children alhamdulillah they are healthy overall, say alhamdulillah. But these are parents that Allah did not remove their difficulty - all that Allah did was that Allah gave them the emotional strength to handle the difficulty. And that is what - and by the way, just because Allah gave them the emotional strength to handle the difficulty, it doesn't mean that they will not be compensated. They will be compensated either in this dunya or in the akhira.

So this is why we learn, this is what we learn from this very first verse: Allah - if you are going through any kind of difficulty:

The Removal of the Prophet's Burden

Next ayah, next two ayahs - Allah He says:

"And did we not remove and we remove from you your burden and the one which had weighed heavily on your back."

Now the very first thing is Allah He mentioned after establishing in the very first verse that He provided emotional strength to Prophet ﷺ. Now Allah is saying what else did we remove from you. He says number one وَوَضَعْنَا - the word وَضَعْنَا and I'm gonna just give a little explanation when it comes to grammar here. The word وَضَعْنَا simply means to put something down when you're carrying something that is very very heavy, something that can really break your back.

And the word وَضَعْنَا عَنكَ وِزْرَكَ - the word وِزْرَكَ is a kind of burden that can bend your back or a kind of burden that can break your back, a kind of load or burden that a person is carrying that can cause strain and fatigue to one's body. Allah is saying وَوَضَعْنَا عَنكَ وِزْرَكَ - we have removed the burden from you. And then He says الَّذِي أَنقَضَ ظَهْرَكَ - that kind of a burden that would have broken your back.

What is Allah referring to when He's telling this to the Prophet ﷺ? He's referring to this: that there were so many difficulties that you were going through.

First of all is that revelation - it's not easy for the Prophet ﷺ to bear. As it is, it is mentioned in the Qur'an that:

First of all is the Qur'an is a heavy word. Whenever the Prophet ﷺ he would begin to receive revelation, if he was sitting down he would go into a trance, he would go into like a different altogether - he would be like people could see the Rasul ﷺ, the Prophet ﷺ could be sitting in front of the Sahaba رضي الله عنهم but the Prophet ﷺ is in a different dimension altogether because the revelation is coming down on Rasul ﷺ.

If this kind of revelation was revealed on anyone else, it would have broken their back. But it was revealed on Rasul ﷺ. But Allah is saying at the same time الَّذِي أَنقَضَ ظَهْرَكَ - وَوَضَعْنَا عَنكَ وِزْرَكَ الَّذِي أَنقَضَ ظَهْرَكَ - Allah is making things simple for Rasul ﷺ.

Another thing that was very heavy on Rasul ﷺ was looking at the affairs of the people in his society. How can people do shirk with Allah? How can they believe in these idols? Not only that, after he received revelation, the animosity, the hatred that the Prophet ﷺ he faced - there was no other person that could bear that much hatred, that much animosity, that much jealousy. No one else could do it but Rasul ﷺ was able to do it. Why? وَوَضَعْنَا عَنكَ وِزْرَكَ الَّذِي أَنقَضَ ظَهْرَكَ

So that is why what we learn from this ayah, these two ayahs, is that whenever you feel overwhelmed, do not feel that you are weak. It is not a sign of weakness. But what you do after that, after being overwhelmed, is what matters most. At the same time, another lesson that we learn from this is the relief - as I said earlier - is not sometimes Allah will remove it, but it means that sometimes Allah will increase your limitation.

The Elevation of the Prophet's Status

Then the next ayah:

So in ayah number one Allah says how He prepared Rasul ﷺ. Two and three talks about the removal of a burden. Now Allah is telling the Prophet ﷺ how we will elevate your rank and your status. And this is one of the most profound verses because if you reflect on the world that we live in, you will understand this verse. Perhaps at that time they would have never understood this verse.

This is Allah telling the Prophet ﷺ we will elevate your rank, we will elevate your status. And today when we live in this day and age, now we understand what that means.

First of all is that no person can enter into the fold of Islam without taking the name of Rasul ﷺ. Number one.

Number two: think about this for a moment. When you talk about the most famous human beings of all time, of human history, how many times do we take their names? We don't take their names that much. We may remember them if you study history, you will take their names.

Think about this: every single moment as Muslims we pray five times a day. That means that the Adhan is taking place five times a day. The Adhan includes the name of the Prophet ﷺ. The Iqamah includes the name of the Prophet ﷺ. Throughout the entire day, somewhere, someplace, a person is giving the Adhan or someone is giving the Iqamah, and in the Adhan and in the Iqamah they are taking the name of Rasul ﷺ.

It is as if in a 24-hour day, every second of the day there is some place somewhere where the name of the Prophet ﷺ is being taken. سبحان الله - there is no other person in human history whose name is taken in this way again and again. No other person.

When you talk about Salat, when we pray Salat, we have to recite the - we have to send our peace and blessings on Rasul ﷺ at the very end. In fact, one time Jibreel ﷺ came to the Prophet ﷺ and he says "My Lord and your Lord says: do you know how we raised your mention? How do we raise your mention?" كيف رفع لك ذكرك "How did your mention, how is it going to be raised?"

He says "Only Allah and Rasul ﷺ - only Allah knows best." He said that "whatever I am mentioned - meaning whenever Allah is mentioned, you are mentioned with me."

And that is why سبحان الله when it comes to seeking guidance, you cannot just go to Allah - I mean you cannot just only believe in Allah and deny and reject Rasul ﷺ. You have to believe in Rasul ﷺ.

Allah He says in the Qur'an:

"If you love Allah then you have to follow Rasul ﷺ."

There is no other human being in human history that has been given this kind of a status. After every single Adhan what do we say?

"Ya Allah grant him a Maqam Mahmood, a very exalted position on the Day of Judgment."

Not only that, but throughout the entire world, if there is one name that is the most famous name in the entire world, it is what? It is Muhammad ﷺ.

Because you know سبحان الله even - you know I remember this is something that is very common in many countries like in Pakistan. If you go to Pakistan, I remember when I was memorizing Qur'an a long time ago, they would never write my name just Nadim - they would always write it as Muhammad Nadim. And I always wondered why? Why Muhammad? Every single name they would add Muhammad to the beginning of that, because it is such a great honor that a person has this kind of a name. And this is the fastest growing name all over the world.

And not only that, but how Allah His mention there is - by the way, if you talk about even recorded in books, in terms of documentation, there is no human being that is documented as much as Rasulullah ﷺ. You're talking about different books - you go to an Islamic library, you'll find different books written on the Prophet ﷺ in different aspects. It's all considered and classified as seerah - different seerah books. But every single seerah book has a different way of covering, a different lens that through which they see the life of Rasulullah ﷺ.

Again, no human being has been documented and recorded in history like Rasulullah ﷺ. And that is why again, whenever we say, whenever we hear Muhammad, we say what?

Someone sent me a video just yesterday that because it was Easter, right? And so Christians were flooding the churches. You know when we talk about Muhammad ﷺ, you cannot say anything that is disrespectful about the Prophet ﷺ, whereas you're talking about Christians, how they revere their God...

The Unique Honor of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ

Jesus - they worship him, but you'll find people that they will walk around with shirts like "Jesus is gay" - it's acceptable. لا حول ولا قوة إلا بالله But try doing that with Rasulullah ﷺ - nah, you cannot do that with the Prophet ﷺ. You'll find - I literally saw a video where a guy is saying أعوذ بالله - like I don't know how you revere such a man but you talk about him in such a way. He said khalas, I don't want to say it's that disrespectful.

Even when you saw the Olympics that took place, the introduction to the Olympics, how they - you know when you talk about the Christian faith and how they revere Jesus - how they showcased it, it was such a disrespect to Jesus. At least we as Muslims, we will say that we respect the man, he is a Prophet, he will come back again. But when we talk about Rasulullah ﷺ, Muhammad ﷺ, there is no man in human history who is respected more than Rasulullah ﷺ. That is why Allah says:

You know subhanAllah, even whenever you go to Medina - whenever you go to Medina and you see all the men going to send their peace and blessings on Rasulullah ﷺ - these are people who have probably gone 3-4 times in a day, but yet every single time they are running to go say their salams. They are running! They just cannot wait to go back and send their peace and blessings on Rasulullah ﷺ. We ask Allah to keep us in the Ummah of Rasulullah ﷺ and may Allah grant us the companionship of Rasulullah ﷺ.

With Hardship Comes Ease

Then Allah says:

Allah brings up that as soon as difficulties come, immediately Allah says with the difficulties comes ease. Now you hear a lot of people who will say "after the difficulty comes ease" - no, it's wrong! فَإِنَّ مَعَ - مع means "with". فَإِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْرًا ۝ إِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْرًا

Why did Allah bring two verses back to back in the same exact way? For emphasis purposes. Number one is the word Allah says مع - with the difficulty is ease, not after the difficulty comes ease, but with the difficulty ease is already coming in the process. It is part and parcel of the difficulty.

The Arabic Grammar Shows Multiple Eases

Another thing that's beautiful about this is - listen to this. فَإِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ - for those of you who know the Arabic language, is it a proper noun or a common noun? Proper noun, okay. It's معرفة - it has الف in the beginning, it's معرفة. يُسْرًا - is it common noun or proper noun? Common noun - نكرة, right? So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is saying that with one difficulty there will be multiple eases - one difficulty, multiple eases.

And subhanAllah, even when you look at the life of Rasulullah ﷺ, you see the same exact thing. You saw Makkah, then came Medina - ease. You saw Ta'if, and then you have afterwards - what happened after Ta'if? All these tribes they came to the fold of Islam. You have Hudaybiyyah - you remember Hudaybiyyah? They had to sign the treaty, it was a one-sided agreement. What happened after that? يُسْرًا came:

Every single time the Prophet ﷺ went through any kind of difficulty, there came after that ease. So that is why what we learn from this is that no matter how much difficulty you're going through in life, there will be ease, as long as you put your faith and you put your trust in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

Always Strive with Purpose

Now when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has given all these blessings to the Prophet ﷺ, what do you do? Do you just sit down? Do you relax and do nothing? No!

So when you have finished, then strive in your devotion to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and to your Lord and to Allah alone you should turn with longing.

What the ulema they say here is that the very first verse فَإِذَا فَرَغْتَ فَانصَبْ - the very first one is in reference to the striving, the actual striving, the physical striving that you have to do. وَإِلَىٰ رَبِّكَ فَارْغَب is in reference to the spiritual journey that a person takes to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

And again, you see in the life of the Prophet ﷺ, he never ever just sat down and did nothing. If Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gave him all these blessings, he did something with those blessings. Every single day, either he was engaged in teaching, either he was taking care of his family.

Live with Purpose

And what the ulema they state is something very profound. They say that when Allah gives you all these blessings in life - and we all have been blessed in life - then always make sure that you are doing something that has some kind of purpose in life. There should never be a moment in your life where it is just empty, where you're just sitting down and doing absolutely nothing. There should never be a moment in your life - if Allah is telling Rasulullah ﷺ فَإِذَا فَرَغْتَ فَانصَبْ - get up, pray and do acts of devotion.

And this is why you find either Prophet ﷺ was either praying or serving his community or doing da'wah or taking care of his family. It was between these things - it was nothing beyond this. And that is why we learn from this is that a person always needs to strive. A Muslim always strives for the cause of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, or even if you're doing something with your family, you're taking care of your responsibility. Taking care of our families is part of our deen. Taking care of our families is part of our deen.

So what we're doing in essence is that at every single moment we're doing something that Allah has told us to do. There should never be a moment - you know there are some people who just sit down and do nothing for half an hour, one hour - they're just sitting down doing nothing. Like what are you doing? What is the purpose?

Whatever you do, ask yourself - like I remember there's a very good friend of mine, he tells me all the time: whenever you talk to anyone, whenever you meet with anyone, whenever you do anything, do it with purpose. Ask yourself why am I doing this? Is there any purpose behind it? If there's no purpose behind it, then there's no point of doing anything.

Conclusion

So that is what we learn from this surah ultimately. Again, this surah really teaches us how to bear patience, how to be patient, how to bear the difficulties that we're going through in life, because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, just like He did with the Prophet ﷺ, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala always brings ease after any kind of difficulty. And what we learn at the end of the surah is always do everything with purpose.

There's so much more that can be covered, but because of time, inshallah we'll stop right here. I ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to grant all of us tawfiq, inshallah.

Jazakumullah khair. Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.