Message for Friday - With difficulty comes easing

عن الحسن, قال: خرج النّبي (صلّى اللّه عليه و آله و سلّم) يوما مسرورا فرحا و هو يضحك و يقول: لن يغلب عسر يسرين, لن يغلب عسر يسرين. (فَاِنَّ مَعَ العُسْرِ يُسْرًا. اِنَّ مَعَ العُسْرِ يُسْرًا)
(تفسير عبد الرّزّاق - تفسير الطبري)

Narrated from ِAl-Hasan that he said that The Prophet come out on a day of gleeful joy and was laughing, and he was saying:
Never shall one difficulty overcome two easingss; never shall one difficulty overcome two easings. [Then he read from Al-Qur’an (94:5-6)] Surely with difficulty, there is ease. Surely with difficulty, there is ease.
[Abdur Razzaq – Tafseer, At-Tabari – Tafseer & other sources with a slight variance in wording and chain of narrators]

To know and appreciate joy or victory in this physical life, a person must experience struggles and difficulties. In fact, ease is built into difficulty. When a weightlifter begins with a certain amount, it is initially difficult. As he struggles to lift this weight overtime, it will begin to feel lighter or easier to lift, so he can begin to handle weight that is heavier. This is how the weightlifter grows in mass and muscular strength.

For the people who die during struggle, the difficulty that they faced in this world will not overcome their reward when meeting their Lord. Khadijah, the Mother of the Faithful, died before making the migration to Al-Madinah while the Muslims where being boycotted in Makkah, so she never experienced the joy of the Muslims being victorious in establishing the model city in Al-Madinah. However, the Prophet was informed by Angel Jibreel that she was promised the paradise.

And surely G'd knows best.