Ash-Sharh الشرح
The Relief
Ash-Sharh opens by reminding the Prophet ﷺ of what God has already done for him — opened his chest, lifted the burden that weighed on his back, raised his name — before making a claim that has become one of the most quoted lines in the Quran: "with hardship comes ease," repeated twice in successive verses for emphasis. Commentators note the grammar carefully: it says with hardship, not after it — ease is presented as accompanying difficulty rather than merely following it once the difficulty ends. The surah closes with a practical instruction rather than a promise alone: once one task is finished, turn immediately to the next, and direct all striving toward God. Read together with its companion surah Ad-Duha, which precedes it and shares the same reassuring address to a Prophet ﷺ going through a difficult stretch, Ash-Sharh is often cited for people facing hardship as a reminder that relief is not a separate, later event but something running alongside the difficulty itself.
أَلَمْ نَشْرَحْ لَكَ صَدْرَكَ
Did We not relieve your heart for you [Prophet],
وَوَضَعْنَا عَنكَ وِزْرَكَ
and remove the burden
ٱلَّذِىٓ أَنقَضَ ظَهْرَكَ
that weighed so heavily on your back,
وَرَفَعْنَا لَكَ ذِكْرَكَ
and raise your reputation high?
فَإِنَّ مَعَ ٱلْعُسْرِ يُسْرًا
So truly where there is hardship there is also ease;
إِنَّ مَعَ ٱلْعُسْرِ يُسْرًا
truly where there is hardship there is also ease.
فَإِذَا فَرَغْتَ فَٱنصَبْ
The moment you are freed [of one task] work on,
وَإِلَىٰ رَبِّكَ فَٱرْغَب
and turn to your Lord for everything.
Arabic text and translation (M.A.S. Abdel Haleem) via the Quran.Foundation API.
Frequently asked
Eight verses.
Meccan, revealed in Makkah.
"Truly where there is hardship there is also ease" (verses 5–6) — repeated twice, and phrased as ease accompanying hardship rather than only following it.
Verses 7–8 instruct that once one task is completed, work on the next, and direct all striving toward God alone.