Interperting Ayah on Life Hardships لَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا الإِنْسَانَ فِي ك¡

[alsunna]

Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. We thank Allah for the blessing of Islam and humbly ask Him to raise the rank of Prophet Muhammad, his kind Al and Companions, and to protect his nation from that which he fears for it. May Allah grant us the sincere intentions and the proper comprehension.



{لَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا الإِنْسَانَ فِي كَبَدٍ}

This means Adam and his offspring will face the hardships of this life and the hereafter. The adjuration ends here and the answer statement that reveals its subject matter begins here.  Allah adjures by whatever He willed among His creations to draw our attention to their grand status.  Al-insan (الإنْسَانَ) here is used for the humankind, that is, refers to Adam and his offspring.  Al-Bukhariyy said:  Fi kabad (فِي كَبَدٍ) means 'into hardships.'  Ibn ^Abbas said it means 'toil.' Al-Hasan said:  'He faces the hardships of this life and the Hereafter.' 

Al-Qurtubiyy said:
 
"Our scholars said that the first hardship man encounters is the cutting off of his umbilical cord followed by the hardship of being strapped into cloths, then the hardship of nursing, without which he would die, then the hardship of teething and movement of his tongue, then he is weaned, which is harder on him than hitting.  He encounters circumcision, pain, and grief.  He encounters the strictures of his teacher, the policy of his moralizer, and the strong presence of his tutor.  Then he encounters marriage and its obligations.  He is occupied with children, servants, and soldiers.  He builds houses and palaces.  Then he faces old age, with accompanying knee and foot pains.  One faces many calamities too lengthy to enumerate:  eye, ear, tooth, and headaches.  He has financial responsibilities and faces the burden of debt.  He might be beaten, or imprisoned.  Every day that passes one faces calamities and hardships.  After all of that he faces death.  Then the questioning by the two angels, the closing in of the grave and its darkness, the Resurrection and facing his deeds--and until he ends up in Paradise or in Hellfire.  Had the matter been ones own choice one would not have chosen all of these hardships. This signifies that the human being has a Creator who manages him and decreed for him these situations. So let one submit to the orders of the Creator."

{أَيَحْسَبُ أَنْ لَنْ يَقْدِرَ عَلَيْهِ أَحَدٌ}
   Ar-Raziyy said ayahsabu (أَيَحْسَبُ) is an interrogative with the purpose to denounce.  The meaning of the ayah is 'does the extremely strong human being among the blasphemers of Quraysh think that because of his strength no one has the power to resurrect him and thereby punish him?'

{يَقُولُ أَهْلَكْتُ مَالا لُبَدًا}
   The blasphemer would say, "I have spent an abundance of money in animosity to Muhammad."  Abu Bakr, ^Aishah, Abu ^Abd Ar-Rahman, Qatadah, Abu Al-^Aliyah, Abu Ja^far recited (lubbadan), ^Umar Ibn Al-Khattab, Abu Al-Mutawakkil, Abu ^Imran recited (labdan), ^Uthman, Al-Hasan recited (lubudan), Aliyy Ibn Abu Talib, Ibn  Abu Al-Jawza' recited (libadan).

{أَيَحْسَبُ أَنْ لَمْ يَرَهُ أَحَدٌ}
   Does he think that no one sees him?  Rather, recording angels take down all what he says or does during his lifetime.  And they would count it all for the Day of Judgment, when no wealth or children shall benefit one, only one's coming to Allah with a soundly believing heart.

{أَلَمْ نَجْعَلْ لَهُ عَيْنَيْنِ}
   After Allah told us about the strong people of Quraysh and their sayings and refuting them, He established for us the perfectness of the Power of Allah by listing some of His endowments on mankind.  So in this verse is an interrogative to confirm the meaning therein.  The meaning is:  [We have made a pair of eyes for him to see.]

{وَلِسَانًا وَشَفَتَيْنِ}
   And We have made a tongue for him with which to give utterance and a pair of lips to close his mouth.  One uses the tongue and the lips to eat, drink, blow and for other needs.  The meaning here is:  Is not the case that Allah created for the person things which signify that Allah has the power to resurrect him after his death?

{وَهَدَيْنَاهُ النَّجْدَيْنِ}
   Allah showed the human being the route of virtue and the route of vice as was mentioned by ^Aliyy, al-Bukhariyy and others.  The Hafidh Ibn Hajar said:  At-Tabaraniyy produced with a good chain of narration from the route of Ibn Mas^ud that he said an-najdayn (النَّجْدَيْنِ) is 'the route of virtue and the route of vice,' and al-Hakim said it is sahih.  In his book, Al-Mufradat, ar-Raghib said:  An-najd (النجد) is 'the thick and slim place.'  And wa hadaynahun-najdayn (وَهَدَيْنَاهُ النَّجْدَيْنِ) is an example of the routes of truth and falsehood in the creed, truthfulness and lies in the sayings, and good and ugly in the doings.  Allah elucidated that He made these two routes known in His saying in Surah al-Insan, 3:

{إِنَّا هَدَيْنَاهُ السَّبِيلَ}
This ayah means:  [We have made the path known to him.]

Subhanallah. Let one think and ponder.