The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 5) — Page 505
PT. 30 5. And name?4772 AL-INSHIRĀḤ We exalted thy 6. Surely, there is ease after hardship. 4773 7. Aye, surely, there is ease after hardship. 4774 8. So when thou art free from thy immediate task, strive hard, 9. "And to thy Lord do thou turn with full attention. 4775 CH. 94 وَرَفَعْنَا لَكَ ذِكْرَكَ فَإِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْرًان اِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْران فَإِذَا فَرَغْتَ فَانْصَبْ وَإِلَى رَبِّكَ فَارْغَبْ & 4772. Commentary: a73:9; 110:4. The Surah was revealed in the second or third year of the Call, at a time when the Prophet was hardly known outside his immediate neighbourhood, but very soon he rose to be the best known and most respected and successful of all religious teachers. No leader, religious or temporal, has SO commanded the love and respect of his followers as has the Holy Prophet. 4773. Commentary: The verse holds a message of hope and good cheer for the Holy Prophet. He is comforted with the assurance that whenever Islam would be in difficulty, God would raise a Reformer from among his followers who would restore to it its former glory and greatness. Pointing out the fact that one has to face difficulties and hardships in this life, the Prophet is assured that his tribulation would prove to be of short duration and would soon be followed by increasing ease, success and prosperity. 4774. Commentary: Repetition of the words, "Surely, there is ease after hardship," signifies that Islam will have to pass through very hard times but on two occasions it will have to face a challenge to its very existence, first at its birth and then in the latter days, and on both these occasions it will emerge from the ordeal with renewed strength. These verses also indicate that the hardships with which the Holy Prophet and Muslims are faced are temporary, but his successes would be permanent and ever-expanding. 4775. Commentary: The Holy Prophet is told here that as endless vistas of spiritual progress lie before him, after he has conquered the difficulties that bar his way, he should not rest satisfied with his success, but having scaled one peak he should strive to climb the next, and his attention should be wholly directed towards regenerating the fallen humanity and towards establishing God's kingdom on earth. 3401