Tafsir of Al-Inshirah 94:5

Question: How does the statement {For indeed, with hardship [will be] ease} connect to what precedes it?

Answer: The polytheists used to taunt the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and the believers regarding their poverty and distress. It even crossed the minds [of the believers] that people were turning away from Islam due to the poverty and low status of its followers. Therefore, Allah reminded him of the great blessings He had bestowed upon him, then said: {For indeed, with hardship [will be] ease}. It is as if He said: "We have granted you what We have granted you, so do not despair of the bounty of Allah, for with the hardship you are currently in, there is ease."

Question: {Inna ma‘a} (Indeed, with) implies accompaniment. What is the meaning of ease and hardship accompanying one another?

Answer: He meant that Allah would grant them ease shortly after the hardship they were experiencing. He brought the anticipated ease so close that He made it appear as if it were accompanying the hardship, to provide further consolation and to strengthen their hearts.

Question: What is the meaning of the statement of Ibn Abbas and Ibn Mas‘ud (may Allah be pleased with them): "One hardship will never overcome two eases"? It has also been narrated as a marfu‘ (elevated) hadith that the Prophet (ﷺ) came out one day laughing, saying: "One hardship will never overcome two eases."

Answer: This is based on the apparent meaning and the strength of the wording. The promise of Allah should be interpreted in the most complete and eloquent manner the language allows.

There are two ways to view this:

1. The second sentence is a repetition of the first—just as the phrase {Woe, that Day, to the deniers} is repeated [in Surah al-Mursalat] to reinforce its meaning in the soul—or like repeating a noun for emphasis (e.g., "Zayd, Zayd came to me").
2. The first is a promise that hardship is inevitably followed by ease, and the second is a new, independent promise that hardship is followed by ease. Thus, they are two eases if viewed as an independent statement.

The hardship is singular because it is either definite by reference (the specific hardship they were in), making it the same hardship—just as the rule for "Zayd" in the phrase "Indeed, with Zayd is wealth, indeed with Zayd is wealth"—or it is generic, known to everyone, which is also the same. As for "ease" (yusr), it is indefinite, referring to a portion of the genus. If the second statement is independent and not a repetition, it refers to a different portion of ease without ambiguity.

Question: What is meant by the "two eases"?

Answer: It is possible that it refers to the victories granted to them during the days of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and those granted during the days of the Caliphs. It may also refer to the ease of this world and the ease of the Hereafter, similar to His saying: {Say, "Do you await for us except one of the two best things?"} (At-Tawbah: 52)—the "best thing" of victory and the "best thing" of reward.

Question: What is the meaning of this indefiniteness (tankir)?

Answer: It is for magnification (tafkhim), as if it were said: "Indeed, with hardship is a great ease, and what an ease it is!" It appears only once in the codex of Ibn Mas‘ud.

Question: If it is established in his recitation that it is not repeated, why did he say: "By Him in whose hand is my soul, if hardship were in a hole, ease would seek it out until it entered upon it; indeed, one hardship will never overcome two eases"?

Answer: He likely intended by "two eases" the meaning of magnification inherent in the word {ease}, interpreting it as the ease of the two abodes (this world and the next), which are, in reality, two eases.

{So when you have finished, then stand up [for worship], and to your Lord direct [your] longing.}