Surah Alam Nashrah Translation, Arabic, & Transliteration (Surah Sharh)
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The 94th chapter of the Holy Qur’an is Surah alam nashrah, also known as Surah Al-Inshirah or ash-Shar. This piece will be looking at Surah Alam Nashrah translation in English and Tafseer.
Surah Alam Nashrah Translation In English
- Have We not filled your heart for you with reassurance and comfort.
- And relieved you of your burden.
- That weighed down your back.
- And exalted for you your renown?.
- So truly with hardship comes ease.
- Truly with hardship comes ease.
- So whenever you are free, strive in worship and supplication.
- And to your Lord alone turn in hope.
Alam Nashrah Surah Transliteration
- Alam nashrah laka sadarak
- Wawa da’anaa anka wizrak
- Allaziy anqada zaharak
- Wara fa’anaa laka zikrak
- Fa inna ma’al usri yusra
- Inna ma’al usri yusra
- Fa iza faragta fan sab
- Wa ila Rabbika far gab.
Surah Alam Nashrah In Arabic Text
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
- أَلَمْ نَشْرَحْ لَكَ صَدْرَكَ (١)
- وَوَضَعْنَا عَنكَ وِزْرَكَ (٢)
- الَّذِي أَنقَضَ ظَهْرَكَ (٣)
- وَرَفَعْنَا لَكَ ذِكْرَكَ (٤)
- فَإِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْرًا (٥)
- إِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْرًا (٦)
- فَإِذَا فَرَغْتَ فَانصَبْ (٧)
- وَإِلَى رَبِّكَ فَارْغَبْ (٨)
Summary Of Surah Alam Nashrah
| Classification | Mecca |
| Number of Verses | 8 |
| The Before Surah | Sura Ad Duha |
| Names | Comfort, Relief The Expansion |
| Surah Order | 97 |
| Position | 30 Juz |
Tafseer Of Alam Nashrah Surah
First verse, Have We not filled your heart for you with reassurance and comfort? that is, have We not made you feel at ease with the teachings of religion and when calling people to Allah.
Granted you the noblest characteristics, caused you to focus on the hereafter, and made it easy for you to attain goodness?
So his heart was not constrained and uneasy, hardly able to accept goodness or be at ease.
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As for the second verse,
And relieved you of your burden of sin that weighed down your back)?.
This is like the verse in which Allah says:
So that Allah may forgive you your past and future sins…
And exalted for you your renown that is, We have raised you in status, and caused you to be spoken highly of in a manner such as no one among humankind has ever attained.
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So Allah is not mentioned except that His Messenger (SAW ) is mentioned alongside him.
As when a person enters Islam, and in the adhan and iqamah, in khutbahs and in other matters in which Allah has caused the renown of His Messenger Muhammad (SAW) to be exalted.
And in the hearts of his Ummah there is love, veneration and respect that is not directed towards anyone else after Allah.
May Allah reward him on behalf of his Ummah with the best reward that is granted to any Prophet on behalf of his nation.
So truly with hardship comes ease, truly with hardship comes ease.
This is great glad tidings, for every time there is hardship and difficulty, it is accompanied by ease, to the extent that even if hardship were to enter a lizard hole, ease would enter upon it and expel it, as Allah says in the Qur’an:
… Allah will bring about, after hardship, ease.
And the Prophet (SAW) said:
Verily there is relief with distress, and verily there is with hardship ease.
(Recorded and authenticated by at-Tirmidhi)
The fact that the word translated here as hardship appears in the definite form indicates that it refers to one hardship.
Whereas the fact that the word translated here as ease appears in the indefinite form indicates that it is more than one, and one hardship can never overwhelm plural or repeated ease.
The definite form conveys a generic meaning and refers to any kind of hardship, indicating that any hardship – no matter what degree of difficulty it reaches – will ultimately and inevitably be relieved.
Then Allah instructs His Messenger (SAW) first and foremost, and the believers after him, to give thanks to Him and to do what is required in response to His blessings, as He says:
So whenever you are free, strive in worship and supplication.that is, when you are free from your errands and business, and there is nothing left in your heart to distract it, then strive hard in worship and supplication.
And to your Lord alone turn in hope that is, have great hope that your Lord will respond to your supplication and accept your acts of worship.
Do not be among those who, when they are free and have finished with their business, indulge in amusement and turn away from their Lord and remembrance of Him, for then you would be among the losers.
It was also suggested that what is meant is:
when you have finished your prayer and completed it, then strive hard in supplication, and turn to your Lord alone to ask for all that you need.
Those who suggested this opinion quoted as evidence the fact that it is prescribed to offer supplication and remember Allah following the prescribed prayers.
And Allah knows best about that.
What Is Surah Alam Nashrah About?
This surah’s topic matter is very similar to Surah ad duha’s.
Both surahs were revealed about the same time and in comparable circumstances.
In regard to the verb nashrah in the first ayah, it is called ash-Sharh and al-Inshirah.
Prophet Muhammad SAW had never had to deal with the circumstances that he did after becoming a prophet.
This was a significant change in his life, for as soon as he began to declare the message of Islam, the culture that had previously treated him with such reverence became hostile to him.
People in Makkah would no longer listen to him; he began to be mocked and humiliated, and he faced fresh challenges at every turn.
Although he grew accustomed to adversity with time, the initial period was particularly challenging for him.
What Is The Main Message Of Surah Al Inshirah?
Surah ad duha and then surah Al Inshirah were sent down to console him and encourage him to work harder for Allah’s approval and reward.
He is reminded that Allah has bestowed immense benefits upon him and that he should not be despondent.
In this surah, he is comforted that his hard times are coming to an end, and that relief is on the way.
Finally, he is instructed to reduce the stress of hardships in that initial period through additional worship and concentration on the meeting with his Lord.
Allah taala reminds His Messenger (May peace be upon him) of some of His favors to him among them that initially,
He enlightened his heart with counsel and opened it to embrace and contain Islam.
The reminder is meant to reassure him that his Lord would continue to help and assist him in the same way that He has previously.
Expansion of the breast” (sharh as-sadr) is a comfort, relief from doubt, satisfaction, confidence, and motivated expression.
Prophet Muhammad SAW was psychologically perplexed and afflicted before he was entrusted with prophethood.
He couldn’t accept his forefathers’ religion, and he couldn’t see a viable alternative.
He sought isolation in the cave of Hiraa’ to think and pray for guidance due to his spiritual discomfort and dissatisfaction.
Allah opened for him the way of proper guidance through the favour of prophethood, which offered him relief, peace of mind, and the bravery and commitment he required to fulfil the great obligations of his mission.
The context in which sharh as-sadr (expansion of the breast) is mentioned elsewhere in the Qur’an shows that it has two meanings:
So whoever Allah wants to guide, yashrah sadrahu lillslam (He expands his breast to contain Islam)
In Surah Zumar Verse 22, Allah says
So is one whose breast Allah has expanded to [accept] Islam (sharah-Allahu sadrahu lil-Islam) and he is upon a light from his Lord…”
In both of these verse, the term “sharh as-sadr” refers to freedom from all distractions and indecision, as well as satisfaction with Islam as the only proper and appropriate way of life.
In Surah Ta Ha, verses 25-26, Allah says that when Prophet Musa was sent to confront Pharaoh and his people, he prayed to Allah, saying:
Rabbishrah li sadri wa yassirlii amrii
Meaning, My Lord, expand for me my breast and ease for me my task.
Expanding the breasts here denotes a boost in morale and courage for the task ahead.
The phrase “increasing the Prophet’s breast” has two meanings in this surah.
It also emphasises for him another point:
There is no need for you to be upset or dejected after Allah has blessed you with sharh as-sadr.
Furthermore, Allah had lifted a heavy burden from the Prophet SAW’s shoulders.
Commentators have three different interpretations of this:
- It refers to two occasions when angels opened his chest and cleansed his heart: the first when he was a child, and the second just before al-Israa’ (the Night Journey).
Many scholars disagree with this interpretation because the terminology in those hadiths is shaqq as-sadr (splitting or opening), not sharh.
- It means forgiveness for any previous mistakes he may have made.
Although the word wizr (burden) is commonly translated as guilt or sin, it is known that all prophets were spared from sin.
As a result, his load refers to little blunders to which he was hypersensitive.
- It refers to the anxiety he felt at the start of his prophethood; this is the most likely and correct interpretation.
It implies that his mission’s challenges weighed heavy on his heart, but that Allah backed him and made things easier for him.
This surah was revealed at a period when no one could have predicted that a man with so few followers in one city (Makkah) would one day be revered all over the world.
But indeed, Allah gave him a reputation of high honor.
For his name, Muhammad, means one who is constantly praised and worthy of praise.
And the fact that he was chosen by Allah to deliver Allah’s ultimate word is enough to make him respectable.
His name was originally disseminated by enemies who made it a point to warn anybody they came into contact with, near and far, not to listen to this peculiar man.
Curiosity piqued, and people learned about the Prophet’s character, conduct, and faith as a result.
The shahadah and adhan were proclaimed throughout the Arabian peninsula within ten years.
It moved eastward through Asia and westward into Africa after that.
Furthermore, Allah distinguished him by uniting Muhammad’s name with His own name in the shahadah, which is recited in every prayer, and in the adhan, which is currently recited anywhere on the earth at all times of the day and night.
And anytime his name is mentioned, Muslims and angels invoke Allah’s blessings on him by saying, “sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam.”
Allah bestowed the highest honour upon him by naming him the greatest of all prophets and humanity’s ultimate prophet.
He would also be the first to enter Paradise and hold the highest distinction in the Afterlife.
In this world and the next, he held a stature to which no one else could ever aspire.
Allah also reassures the Prophet SAW that ease will overtake hardship and that with every hardship He has prepared relief.
Although it may appear to be a contradiction that difficulty should be accompanied by ease, the words express that the hardship is incomplete because it is accompanied by some form of ease.
The definite article (la) denotes that al-usr is a specific hardship, whereas the indefinite yusr denotes a variety of forms and characteristics of comfort.
As a result, the scholars have realised that the difficulties will be resolved.
The fact that it is repeated confirms this. He knew that the difficult circumstances he was going through would soon be over.
Read also Surah Qadr, Surah Al Feel and Surah Al Quraish.
The statement of ease before the difficulty rather than after it implies that the moment of ease is close by, as if it were linked to it.
Finally, Allah advises His Messenger SAW to continue his efforts in worship and redirect his focus to his Lord after concluding his religious and worldly activities for the day.
Some have interpreted the directive to be, “then stand [in additional night prayers] and supplicate to your Lord.
This is a reasonable but limited viewpoint, and it is included in the previous definition.
Because the Prophet’s obligations were fulfilled via his Lord’s obedience, service, and worship, he is now instructed to continue that endeavour through various forms of worship or more private ones once he is free, dedicating his complete focus to Allah and longing to meet Him.
This is expressed by the imperative form of the verb, raghiba (i.e., farghab), which means desire, want or long for something.
Longing for one’s Lord implies a constant effort in preparation for meeting Him, including praying and seeking His acceptance.
So the Prophet SAW is told not to be sidetracked from the aim and goal in front of him, but to remain in worship whenever he has spare time and to focus on the eternal life that is yet to come.
Believers are indirectly encouraged to never stop striving; rather, they should continue to seek the favour and pleasure of their Lord by extra worship and good acts.
Hope you learn new things in Surah alam nashrah?
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