Transliteration:( Laqad khalaqnal insaana fee kabad )
Man has been encircled by numerous creational and religious challenges, akin to how water is contained in a vessel. Allah Almighty has created man with limited knowledge and surrounded him with countless responsibilities, both worldly and spiritual. These burdens include the struggle to earn sustenance, the need for food, clothing, and shelter, and the myriad diseases that afflict him. Unlike angels, jinns, and animals, these challenges are unique to humanity.
In addition to the trials of life, man is burdened with the anxieties of death, the fear of the grave, and the accountability on the Day of Judgment. May Allah Almighty grant us success in navigating these trials.
Key Insights:
Man's Unique Burden:
The Wisdom in Hardships:
The Struggle for Divinity and the Reality of Man's Weakness:
The Role of Remembrance (Dhikr) in Overcoming Hardships:
The tafsir of Surah Balad verse 4 by Ibn Kathir is unavailable here.
Please refer to Surah Balad ayat 1 which provides the complete commentary from verse 1 through 10.
(90:4) Verily We have created man into toil and hardship.[5]
5. This is that for which the oaths as mentioned above have been sworn. Man’s being created in toil means that man in this world has not been created to enjoy himself and live a life of ease and comfort, but the world for him is a place of enduring and undergoing toil, labor and hardship, and no man can be immune from this. The city of Makkah is a witness that a servant of Allah toiled and struggled hard, then only did it become a city and the centre of Arabia. In this city of Makkah the condition of Muhammad (peace be upon him) is a witness that he is enduring every kind of hardship for the sake of a mission; so much so that there is full peace here for the wild animals but no peace for him. Then, every man’s survival, from the time he is conceived in the mother’s womb till the last breath of life, is a witness that he has to pass through trouble, toil, labor, dangers and hardships at every step. The most fortunate of us is also exposed to grave dangers of death before birth or of elimination by abortion while in the mother’s womb. At birth he is only a hair-breadth away from death. After birth he is so helpless that had there not been somebody to look after him, he would perish uncared for and unnoticed. When he became able to walk he stumbled at every step. From childhood to youth and old age he had to pass through such physical changes that if any change had taken a wrong turn, his very life would have been at stake. Even if he is a king or a dictator, at no time he enjoys internal peace from the fear that a rebellion might arise against him somewhere. Even if he is a conqueror he is never at peace from the danger that one of his generals might rise in revolt against him. Even if he is a Korah of his time, he is ever anxious to increase his wealth and to safeguard it. Thus, there is no one who may be enjoying perfect peace freely and without hesitation, for man indeed has been created into a life of toil and trouble.
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