Ad-Duha and ash-Sharh

Ad-Duha and ash-Sharh: the cards as text

Qur'an and Tafsir. Draft written with AI help: awaiting scholar review.

  1. Card 1

    The messages stopped. His opponents said his Lord had dropped him.

  2. Card 2

    The silence, and the morning after

    For a while no revelation came, and some in Makkah mocked that his Lord had abandoned him. Then ad-Duha arrived. It opens with the bright morning and the still night, and says: your Lord has not left you, and He does not hate you.

  3. Card 3

    Qur'an 93:3

    مَا وَدَّعَكَ رَبُّكَ وَمَا قَلَىٰ ۝٣

    3 Your Lord has not taken leave of you, [O Muḥammad], nor has He detested [you].

  4. Card 4

    Who said it, and how long was the silence?

    One report, which al-Bukhari recorded, is small and human. He was ill and missed his night prayer for a night or two. A woman came and said: I think your devil has finally left you. Ad-Duha was the reply.

  5. Card 5

    Lesson: Silence is not abandonment. The night is part of the same day.

  6. Card 6

    Look at your own life so far

    Then the surah gives its evidence: his own past. Did He not find you an orphan and shelter you? Find you lost and guide you? Find you poor and provide? So be gentle with the orphan and with the one who asks.

  7. Card 7

    Qur'an 93:6

    أَلَمۡ يَجِدۡكَ يَتِيمࣱا فَـَٔاوَىٰ ۝٦

    6 Did He not find you an orphan and give [you] refuge?

  8. Card 8

    An orphan three times over

    His father died before he was born. His mother died when he was six. His grandfather took him in, and died when he was eight. Then an uncle, Abu Talib, raised and protected him, and never accepted his message.

  9. Card 9

    Lesson: The comfort comes with a job: treat others as he was treated.

  10. Card 10

    A chest opened, a load lifted, a name raised

    Ash-Sharh, the Opening, picks up in the same voice with three more questions. Did We not open your chest? Lift the load that weighed on your back? Raise your name? Ad-Duha looked at his childhood. This surah looks at what he carries now.

  11. Card 11

    Qur'an 94:1

    أَلَمۡ نَشۡرَحۡ لَكَ صَدۡرَكَ ۝١

    1 Did We not expand for you, [O Muḥammad], your breast?

  12. Card 12

    A name raised, while Makkah was still laughing

    "We raised your name" was said to a man mocked in his own town. Commentators point to what followed: his name beside Allah's in the call to prayer, in the testimony of faith, and in the Friday sermon.

  13. Card 13

    Lesson: Before the promise, a reminder of what has already been done for him.

  14. Card 14

    With hardship, ease. Twice

    Then the line the two surahs are known for, said twice: with hardship comes ease. Commentators note "the hardship" is definite in Arabic and "ease" is not: one hardship, more than one ease. Then: when you are finished, turn to your Lord.

  15. Card 15

    Qur'an 94:5-6

    فَإِنَّ مَعَ ٱلۡعُسۡرِ يُسۡرًا ۝٥ إِنَّ مَعَ ٱلۡعُسۡرِ يُسۡرࣱا ۝٦

    5 For indeed, with hardship [will be] ease [i.e., relief].

    6 Indeed, with hardship [will be] ease.

  16. Card 16

    One hardship, two eases

    In Arabic the hardship has "the" in front of it both times, so it is the same hardship. Ease has no "the", so the second ease is a new one. One hardship, two eases.

  17. Card 17

    Lesson: One hardship, two eases: what commentators read in a line said twice.

  18. Card 18

    Reflect: What does ash-Sharh say twice?

    Answer: With hardship comes ease. "Indeed, with hardship comes ease", twice.

  19. Card 19

    The end of Ad-Duha and ash-Sharh.

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