Surah Ash-Sharh (94) — Ayah 5

(Ayah 6,5) ➊ { فَاِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْرًا …:} In this, there is glad tidings for you (O Prophet ﷺ) and your companions that the days of hardship are few; after every hardship, in fact, along with it, ease begins. This is the meaning of {’’ اِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْرًا ‘‘}. The second glad tiding is that with every single hardship, there are two eases. Ibn Kathir has narrated from Ibn Abi Hatim, with his chain, the statement of Hasan al-Basri (may Allah have mercy on him), who said: {’’كَانُوْا يَقُوْلُوْنَ لاَ يَغْلِبُ عُسْرٌ وَاحِدٌ يُسْرَيْنِ اثْنَيْنِ‘‘} “They (the Companions) used to say that a single hardship cannot overcome two eases.” Hikmat bin Basheer, the researcher of Ibn Kathir, has graded its chain as Hasan. Ibn Kathir has explained in detail that Allah Almighty has repeated this statement: « فَاِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْرًا (5) اِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْرًا » and the rule of the Arabic language is that if a noun comes as definite the second time, it refers to the first noun, and if it comes as indefinite the first time and again as indefinite the second time, then it is separate from the first indefinite noun. Here, the second time {’’ الْعُسْرِ ‘‘} comes as definite, whereas {’’ يُسْرًا ‘‘} comes as indefinite the second time as well, so the meaning is: “With that same first hardship, there is another ease.” That is, with one hardship, there are two eases. An example of this rule is in Surah al-Muzzammil, where it is said: « اِنَّاۤ اَرْسَلْنَاۤ اِلَيْكُمْ رَسُوْلًا شَاهِدًا عَلَيْكُمْ كَمَاۤ اَرْسَلْنَاۤ اِلٰى فِرْعَوْنَ رَسُوْلًا (15) فَعَصٰى فِرْعَوْنُ الرَّسُوْلَ » [ المزمل : ۱۵، ۱۶ ] “We have sent to you a Messenger as a witness over you, just as We sent a Messenger to Pharaoh, so Pharaoh disobeyed that Messenger.” The first {’’رَسُوْلًا ‘‘} refers to our Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, the second refers to Musa (peace be upon him), and the third {’’ الرَّسُوْلَ ‘‘} comes as definite, and it refers to the same Messenger mentioned before, and that is Musa (peace be upon him).

➋ Remember that this rule of bringing an indefinite noun again as indefinite has been mentioned by most commentators, but this rule is not absolute; rather, the famous grammarian Ibn Hisham has declared it a mistake in “Mughni al-Labib,” because many times it does not occur so. Therefore, Ibn Ashur in “al-Tahrir wa al-Tanwir” and Zamakhshari in “al-Kashshaf,” regarding the statements of Hasan al-Basri and Qatadah and what is mentioned in some mursal narrations that {’’لَنْ يَغْلِبَ عُسْرٌ يُسْرَيْنِ‘‘} (a single hardship will never overcome two eases), have said that this point is derived from the repetition in the verse, not because of this rule. Then both commentators have explained this in detail in their own ways.