The Meaning of the Saying of Allah the Exalted: "It is hard for Him what you find hard," with mention of examples of the mercy of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) toward his Ummah.

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The Shaykh : Before the revelation was sent to him, what was he called by the Quraysh? The Trustworthy and the Truthful. And after the revelation came, what did they call him? The Liar, the Sorcerer, the Diviner, the Madman, the Poet, and may Allah protect us from that. Desire blinds and deafens. How did they describe him at first with the noble attributes, and then when he came to you with the truth, you turned away from it and described him with the vile attributes?

There has certainly come to you a Messenger from among yourselves

لقد جاءكم رسول من أنفسكم

[At-Tawbah 9:128]

And it is known that the Messenger, being from among them, will advise those who are of his people, because he is in the position of a soul among them. For this reason, He said:

Grievous to him is what you suffer

عزيز عليه ما عنتم

[At-Tawbah 9:128]

"It is hard" means "difficult."

what you find hard

ما عنتم

That is, it was difficult for you. So whatever is difficult for the Ummah is difficult for the Messenger. I will give you two examples. The first example: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said:

Were it not hard on my ummah, I would order them to use the tooth-stick at the time of every prayer

لولا أن أشق على أمتي لأمرتهم بالسواك عند كل وضوء

Sunan Abi Dawud 47Sahih (Al-Albani)

So here, or at every prayer, what prevented him from ordering them and obligating them to use the miswak? Fear of hardship. And he (peace and blessings be upon him) said, and he once delayed the 'Isha' prayer one night until most of the night had passed. He said:

This is the proper time for it; were it not that I would impose a burden on my people

إنه لوقتها لولا أن أشق على أمتي

Sahih Muslim 638c

This is the proper time for it; were it not that I would impose a burden on my people

إنه لوقتها لولا أن أشق على أمتي

Sahih Muslim 638c

So the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was considering the conditions of the Ummah. And Allah the Exalted said:

And know that among you is the Messenger of Allah

واعلموا أن فيكم رسول الله

[Al-Hujurat 49:7]

What is it?

If he were to obey you in much of the matter, you would be in difficulty

لو يطيعكم في كثير من الأمر لعنتم

[Al-Hujurat 49:7]

That is, it would be difficult for you. Because the Companions would ask the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) for things due to their high aspirations and love for good, but the Messenger would not obey them because he knew that if he obeyed them, what would happen? It would be difficult for them. Look at the case of 'Abdullah ibn 'Amr ibn al-'As. What did 'Abdullah ibn 'Amr ibn al-'As say? He said:

I will fast during the day as long as I live

لأصومن النهار ما عشت

All my life.

pray all the nights as long as I live

ولأقومن الليل ما عشت

Sahih al-Bukhari 3418

All my life. So the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) called him and said:

Did you say this? He said, Yes, O Messenger of Allah. He said: You cannot do that. You cannot do that. Fast and break the fast, and stand in prayer and sleep.

أنت قلت هذا ؟ قال نعم يا رسول الله قال : انك لا تطيق ذلك لا تطيق ذلك صم وأفطر وقم ونم

And he guided him to the best fasting and the best standing in prayer. He said to him:

The best fasting is the fasting of Dawud: he would fast one day and break the fast the next day. And the best standing in prayer is the standing of Dawud: he would sleep half the night, stand in prayer for a third of it, and sleep for a sixth of it.

أفضل الصيام صيام داود يصوم يوما ويفطر يوما وأفضل القيام قيام داود ينام نصف الليل ويقوم ثلثه وينام سدسه

The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) did not allow him to fast during the day and stand in prayer during the night. And likewise,

Three men came to ask the Mothers of the Believers how the Messenger would act

ثلاثة نفر جاؤوا يسألون أمهات المؤمنين كيف الرسول يعمل

in private, meaning in matters that people do not know, he informed

The women informed these men that he used to do such and such, and such and such, and such and such. They said: "By Allah, this is a little work; this is a little work. But the Messenger says: 'Allah has forgiven him what has passed of his sin and what remains.' As for us, this is not enough for us." One of them said: "I will fast and not break my fast." The second said: "I will stand in prayer and what? I will not sleep." The third said: "I will not marry women." That reached the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), so he delivered a sermon and said: "What is the matter with a group of people who say such and such? As for me, (peace and blessings be upon him), I fast and I break my fast, I stand in prayer and I sleep, and I marry women. Whoever rejects my Sunnah is not one of me."

أخبرت النساء هؤلاء النفر أنه كان يفعل كذا ويفعل كذا ويفعل كذا قالوا : والله هذا عمل قليل هذا عمل قليل لكن الرسول يقولونه : قد غفر الله له ما تقدم من ذنبه وماتأخر أما نحن فلا يكفينا هذا قال أحدهم : أنا أصوم ولا أفطر وقال الثاني أنا أقوم وإيش ؟ ولا أنام وقال الثالث : أنا لا أتزوج النساء فبلغ ذلك النبي عليه الصلاة والسلام فخطب وقال : ما بال أقوام يقولون كذا وكذا أما أنا صلوات الله وسلامه عليه أما أنا فأصوم وأفطر وأقوم وأنام وأتزوج النساء فمن رغب عن سنتي فليس مني

All of this was so as not to make things difficult for the Ummah. And Ibn 'Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) said:

The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) combined the Zuhr and 'Asr prayers, and the Maghrib and 'Isha' prayers, in Madinah, without fear or rain.

جمع النبي صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم في المدينة بين الظهر والعصر وبين المغرب والعشاء من غير خوف ولا مطر

He combined the Zuhr and 'Asr prayers, and the Maghrib and 'Isha' prayers, without fear or rain. They said: "O 'Abd Allah, what was his intention in doing that? Why did he do this?" He said: "He intended not to burden his Ummah."

جمع بين الظهر والعصر وبين المغرب والعشاء من غير خوف ولا مطر. قالوا : يا عبد الله ما أراد إلى ذلك ؟ ليش فعل هذا ؟ قال : أراد ألا يحرج أمته

And what does "it would be difficult for them" mean? It means it would put them in difficulty. That is, if combining prayers is a hardship for a person in leaving it separate, then he should combine them. But if there is no hardship, he should not combine them. For this reason, it is permissible to combine prayers due to illness, even if you are in the city, and it is permissible to combine prayers due to rain, even if you are in the city, and combining is permitted due to severe cold wind, even if you are in the city. All of this is for what? Answer: So that it does not become difficult for the Ummah. So the saying of the Exalted and Majestic:

Grievous to him is what you suffer

عزيز عليه ما عنتم

[At-Tawbah 9:128]

means that it is difficult for Him what is difficult for you. There are many examples of this.

Source alathar.net

The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.

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