Ash-Sharh

Commentary

It was mentioned at the end of the preceding Surah that twenty-two Surahs from Surah Ad-Duha to the end of the Qur'an are mainly concerned with Divine favours conferred upon the Holy Prophet ' and with his greatness. Only a few Surahs are concerned with the conditions of the Hereafter or some other subject. Surah Al-Inshirah is concerned with special favours that Allah conferred upon the Holy Prophet ﷺ . Its style is the same as that of the preceding Surah - the interrogative style. In the preceding Surah, the style was 'Did He not find you...?' [ Here the style is ]:

أَلَمْ نَشْرَ‌حْ لَكَ صَدْرَ‌كَ (Did We not cause your bosom to be wide open for your benefit?...94:1). The word sharp literally denotes 'to open, to cause the bosom to be widely opened'. [ In the present context ] it is to cause the bosom to be wide open to comprehend the Divine mysteries. The verse signifies that Allah illuminated his bosom with wisdom, Divine light and peace and made it spacious, vast and wide as is said in another verse:

فَمَن يُرِ‌دِ اللَّهُ أَن يَهْدِيَهُ يَشْرَ‌حْ صَدْرَ‌هُ لِلْإِسْلَامِ

'So, he whom Allah wills to give guidance, He opens his heart for Islam [ 6:125] '

The Holy Prophet's ﷺ bosom was expanded to receive the knowledge and wisdom and the gracious morals and ethical qualities, which the greatest philosophers could not match. As a result of this expansion of heart, tawajjuh ilal-makhluq (attentiveness to the creation) did not disturb his attentiveness to and concentration on Allah. Some of the authentic Traditions report that the angels, with Allah's permission, physically opened the blessed chest of the Holy Prophet ﷺ . Some of the commentators interpret this 'expansion of the chest' to refer to the same miracle, as mentioned in Ibn Kathir and others. And Allah knows best!

وَوَضَعْنَا عَنكَ وِزْرَ‌كَ الَّذِي أَنقَضَ ظَهْرَ‌كَ (And We removed from you your burden that had [ almost ] broken your back...94:2-3). The word wizr literally denotes 'burden' and the phrase naqd-uz-zahr means 'to break one's back as for instance when a heavy load is put on one's back, it bends'. This verse signifies that Allah had relieved him of his burden that was breaking his back. What was that burden or heavy load? One answer to this question is that now and then the Holy Prophet ﷺ did certain permissible deeds, thinking that they were of benefit and in the interest [ of spiritual development ]. Later on he discovered that they were not in keeping with wisdom, or they were undesirable. The Holy Prophet was conscious of his high status and close proximity to Allah. He regarded even such things as serious infractions. This was naturally a very heavy load that made him grieved. But Allah relieved him of his burden in that a blanket pardon was granted to him and it was declared that he would not be held accountable for such things.

Some commentators say that wizr (burden) refers to the effect of revelation. It weighed heavily on him in the initial stages of the Prophethood. He was saddled with a nerve-racking and back-breaking task of raising [ a morally degenerated people ], through propagation of Tauhid and elimination of kufr and shirk, [ from the depths of moral turpitude to the peaks of spiritual excellence, and then through them to cleanse and purify the whole of mankind of the dross of iniquity, ignorance and superstition ]. The task enjoined:

فَاسْتَقِمْ كَمَا أُمِرْ‌تَ

'So, stand firm - as you have been commanded [ 11:112] '

The Holy Prophet ﷺ used to feel the heavy weight of this task and responsibility. Some narration report that a few strands of his beard had turned grey as a result of this command. The Holy Prophet ﷺ is reported to have said that the following verse has made me old:

فَاسْتَقِمْ كَمَا أُمِرْ‌تَ

'So, stand firm - as you have been commanded [ 11:112] '

Verses [ 2-3] give the cheerful news that Allah will remove from him the load which was weighing down his back. The following verses show how the back-breaking load will be removed, and every difficulty will be followed by ease and relief. By means of expansion of bosom, Allah gave the Holy Prophet so much of courage that no instance of hardship seemed hardship, and no burden of any magnitude seemed a burden. And Allah knows best!

وَرَ‌فَعْنَا لَكَ ذِكْرَ‌كَ (and We raised high for you your name....94:4). The meaning of raising the name of the Holy Prophet ﷺ is that his blessed name is remembered together with the name of Allah in all the symbols of Islam, like the kalimah, the adhan, the iqamah, and in sermons from the minarets and pulpits [ throughout the world ]:

اَشھَدُ اَنَّ لا إله إلا اللہ

اَشھَدُ اَنَّ مُحَمَّدَ رَّسُولُ اَلله

(I bear witness that there is no God worthy of worship except

Allah; I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.'

No sensible person utters the Holy Prophet's ﷺ name without respect and honour even though he may not be a Muslim.

Note Carefully

Here three verses mention three favours that are bestowed on the Holy Prophet t: [ 1] opening of the bosom widely; [ 2] removal of the burden; and [ 3] raising of the name high. Each of the sentence is composed of a verb, an object and between them is a prepositional phrase thus:

شرح صدر

for your benefit? [ 1] '

وضع وزر

'from you your burden [ 2] '

رفع ذکر

'for you your name. [ 4] '

This indicates the essential characteristic and special greatness of the Holy Prophet ﷺ ، in that all this is done for the sake of him.

فَإِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ‌ يُسْرً‌ا إِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ‌ يُسْرً‌ا (So undoubtedly, along with hardship there is ease. Undoubtedly, along with hardship there is ease....94:6). Grammatically, if the Arabic definite article al- is prefixed to an Arabic noun and is repeated with the same definite article al-, they refer to the same antecedent. However, if the same noun is repeated without the definite article, they refer to different antecedents. The word al-'usr '[ the ] hardship' in verse [ 6] is the repetition of al-'usr '[ the ] hardship' occurring in verse [ 5]. It does not refer to a new hardship. In contrast to this, the word yusr 'ease' in both verses occur without the definite article. This indicates that the second yusr 'ease' in verse [ 6] is a different antecedent to the yusr 'ease' occurring in verse [ 5]. Thus it may be concluded that there is only one ` usr 'hardship' and two yusr 'twofold ease'. 'Twofold ease' does not mean twice as much. In fact, it means 'manifold ease'. The verse signifies that only one kind of hardship will face him, but in the wake of it many kinds of ease are assured.

Sayyidna Hasan Al-Basri (رح) reports that once the Holy Prophet ﷺ emerged from his home in a very happy mood and, giving cheerful news to his Companions on the basis of the current verse, said: "One hardship cannot overcome twofold ease". Thus history and biographical books written by Muslims and non-Muslims - all bear ample testimony to fact that the most difficult task, even the seemingly impossible task, became easy for him. The above narration further indicates that the Arabic definite article al- signifies that it is an article used to indicate previous knowledge [ that is, al- lil ` ahd ] and refers to the hardship of the Holy Prophet ﷺ and his Companions. Allah kept to His promise to them in such a way that the world saw it visibly how in the wake of every hardship the Holy Prophet and his Companions experienced the manifold ease that made their task easy. If a person does not achieve 'ease' after 'hardship', it does not contradict this verse. In fact, even now Allah's universal principle applies. One needs to exercise fortitude against hardship, rely on Allah with purity of heart, devote oneself totally to Him, hold onto high hopes for His grace, and one should not despair of His mercy if there is delay in success - He certainly will grant relief after every instance of hardship. [ Fawa'id-e-` Usmaniah ]. Hadith narratives support this.