Surah Alam-Nashrah }1{ }2{ }3{

Surah Alam-Nashrah ‫من الرَّ ح ِِيم‬ ِ ‫ِبسْ ِم‬ ِ ْ‫ الرَّ ح‬ This surah seems to be a sequel of the previous one because it has the same comforting message... making one realize the enormous blessings of Allah. Primarily these soothing words were being addressed to the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w) but at a secondary level, we, the ordinary followers of faith, can extract a glimpse of the same assurance from Allah which He had sent to His beloved Messenger (s.a.w). It is a well known fact that the road to paradise is not a bed of roses... on the contrary Allah is going to test us at every step with various hurdles and setbacks to judge our level of faith and commitment. Although we understand this reality but still, being human beings, we sometimes begin to lose hope... Thus Allah has revealed these beautiful words to reassure us that just as he had opened our hearts to understand His Quran, similarly he will open up the doors which appear to be closed on us...

{1} ‫ص ْد َر َك‬ َ ‫أَ َل ْم َن ْش َرحْ َل َك‬ O Prophet! Have We not expanded your breast for you? The opening of the heart is the first step towards success because unless we are whole heartedly convinced of the benefit of a project we can never truly work to our utmost capacity. Thus we should be extremely thankful to Allah if we feel complete conviction in His religion. Surely the heaviest burden is the feeling of being lost... not knowing where to go.

{3} ‫ض َظھ َْر َك‬ َ ‫{ الَّ ذِي أَ ْن َق‬2} ‫ضعْ َنا َع ْن َك ِو ْز َر َك‬ َ ‫َو َو‬ And relieved you from the burden which had weighed upon your back Before Islam, our Prophet (s.a.w) used to feel so sad at the state of people’s lives... their ignorance, their aggression, their total lack of direction. He wanted to change all that but He himself didn’t know the true religion... until finally Allah relieved the burden of uncertainty from His heart and filled it with the conviction of His message. And due to this He became known in the whole world. Even today, after all these centuries, He is the most well known personality, known for His truth and sincerity, for his courage and character, for his mercy and forgiveness for even the worst enemies... the most successful person in the history of mankind...

{4} ‫َو َر َفعْ َنا َل َك ِذ ْك َر َك‬ And exalted your fame The disbelievers made life miserable for the Messenger of Allah and His followers but they could not turn them away from their true faith. Similarly today if we have to face problems due to following our religion then we should remember that the pain is soon followed by ease...

{6} ‫{ إِنَّ َم َع ْالعُسْ ِر يُسْ رً ا‬5} ‫َفإِنَّ َم َع ْالعُسْ ِر يُسْ رً ا‬ Surely with every difficulty there is relief. Surely with every difficulty there is relief. Why should we hesitate to bear a temporary hardship if it is to bring everlasting peace and pleasure? This life is nothing but a test and it will pass away so quickly anyway... so our focus should be on the life of the hereafter which is never ever going to end. The only way to succeed there is to work hard for it...

{7} ْ‫صب‬ َ ‫َفإِ َذا َف َر ْغتَ َفا ْن‬ Therefore, when you are free from your daily task, devote your time to the labour of worship But all our actions should be focused on making Allah happy. Because if He is not happy then nothing is of any use at all... and if He is happy with us then it is the greatest success which will bring the greatest joy and security that we yearn for...

{8} ْ‫ِّك َفارْ َغب‬ َ ‫َوإِ َل ٰى َرب‬ And turn all your attention towards your Rabb. I recently read an advertisement which addressed its clients in the following words: “Making you our Number-1 priority has made us Number-1” And I thought to myself that if we understand this concept so well for our worldly interests then why can’t we understand that if we want to be successful then we have to make Allah our number-1 priority. We want everything from Him and yet we don’t want to give Him anything? Think on it...