94- Surat Alsharh/Tafseer
8 Verses Meccan (revealed in Mecca)
A'auzu Bellahi mena alshaiytani alrajeem
I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan
Besmi Ellahi Alrhmani Alraheem
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
Alam nashrah laka sadrak (1).
Did We not expand for You Your breast.
Wa wada'na anka wezrak (2).
And We removed from You Your burden.
Allazi anqada zahrak (3).
Which had weighed upon Your back.
Wa rafa'na laka zekrak (4).
And We raised for You Your mentioning.
Fa-inna ma-a alousri yousra (5).
So indeed, with the hardship there is ease.
Inna ma-a alousri yousra (6).
Indeed, with the hardship there is ease.
Fa-iza faraghta fa-nsab (7).
So when You have finished, then Stand up.
Wa ela Rabbika fa-rghab (8).
And to Your Lord Direct Your intention.
Simplified interpretation:
Surat Alsharh is an acknowledgment of the blessings that Allah has bestowed upon His Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), where Allah mentioned His favors upon Him in the first four verses, and gave him glad tidings in the next two verses, then assigned Him what He should do in the last two verses.
Allah says to His Messenger in the first verse "Did We not expand for You Your breast", this means that He made His chest ready to accept the faith and the truth, so according to this expanding and acceptance, He became on light and guidance from Allah. The breast here refers to the heart where the heart is the locality of faith, and the heart is located in the breast, so the breast is a metaphor for the heart.
Then Allah says in the next two verses (2,3) that He removed all the burden that weighed upon the back of His Messenger (PBUH), and the first three verses are equivalent to the second verse of Surat Alfath {So that Allah may forgive for You what preceded of Your sins, and what will follow, and may complete His favor upon You, and may guide You to a straight path}.
In addition to the previous favors, Allah Almighty gave Him a great bounty that no other human being has ever received as Allah has raised His mentioning till the day of resurrection Aya (4), for his name is accompanied with the name of Allah in the call to prayer five tomes a day, and Allah mentioned Him by the name Muhammad and addressed Him by other names in the Holy Quran.
The next two verses (5,6) carry glad tidings to the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and His Ummah, as Allah said to Him {So indeed, with the hardship there is ease} and repeated it in the sixth verse, and the two verses show that there is one hardship and two eases. It was said that the hardship in the two verses is Muhammad's striving against the polytheists, and Allah will make Him overcome them until they submit to the truth, and it was said that when the polytheists said to the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH): we will collect money for you, so He grieved and thought that they lied His message because of his poverty, then Allah counted His favors upon Him as it was mentioned at the beginning of the current Surah, and promised Him the rich saying {So indeed, with the hardship there is ease}, so Do not grieve for what they said about your poverty.
Although the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) has a special and a great honor from His Lord that He has a forgiveness for all His sins of the past and future, But Allah commanded him in the last two verses to fulfill the requirements of worship, and said to him {So when You have finished, then Stand up}, and it came in general for Allah does not determine the affair which he talks about, it may be the worldly affairs, or the striving against the polytheists, or the prayer, whatever this affair is, Allah says to him Strive hard in worshipping and Direct your intention to your Lord.
So as narrated by Aisha: "The Prophet (PBUH) used to offer prayer at night (For such a long time), that His feet were swelling, I said, O Allah's Messenger! Why do you do it since Allah has forgiven you your faults of the past and those to follow?, He said, should not I love to be a thankful servant?, when He became old, He prayed while sitting, but if He wanted to perform bowing, He would get up, recite (some other verses) and then perform the bowing" (Sahih Albukhari 4837).