Tafseer of The Consolation · Ash-Sharh · 94:5
For indeed, with hardship [will be] ease.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
His word: فَإِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْرًا * إِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْرًا ("Verily, with hardship comes ease; verily, with hardship comes ease"). The Exalted, whose praise is sublime, says to His prophet Muḥammad — Allah's blessing and peace be upon him: verily, together with the difficulty in which you find yourself through the struggle against these polytheists (mushrikīn), and through that with which you have been occupied from the beginning, there is hope and ease, in that He will make you victorious over them, until they conform to the truth which you have brought them, willingly or by compulsion.
And it is related from the Prophet — Allah's blessing and peace be upon him — that when this verse was sent down, he brought his companions good news with it and said: "One hardship shall never overcome two eases."
* Mention of who said that:
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: al-Muʿtamir ibn Sulaymān related to us, saying: I heard Yūnus, he said: al-Ḥasan said: when this verse فَإِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْرًا was sent down, the Messenger of Allah — Allah's blessing and peace be upon him — said: "Rejoice, the ease has come to you; one hardship shall never overcome two eases."
Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Yūnus, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, the like of it, on the authority of the Prophet — Allah's blessing and peace be upon him.
Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: ʿAwf related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, on the authority of the Prophet — Allah's blessing and peace be upon him — something similar.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, he said: the Prophet — Allah's blessing and peace be upon him — went out one day, joyful and glad, laughing, and he said: "One hardship shall never overcome two eases, one hardship shall never overcome two eases فَإِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْرًا * إِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْرًا ."
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning his word: فَإِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْرًا — it was related to us that the Messenger of Allah — Allah's blessing and peace be upon him — brought his companions good news with this verse and said: "One hardship shall never overcome two eases."
Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Muʿāwiya ibn Qurra Abū Iyās, on the authority of a man, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd, he said: even were hardship to enter a hole, ease would come until it entered in alongside it, for Allah says: فَإِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْرًا * إِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْرًا .
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Shuʿba, on the authority of a man, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh, something similar.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — both on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning his word: إِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْرًا . He said: ease follows upon hardship.
