Not Sent to Burden You

We have not revealed this Qur'an upon you to make it difficult for you, to create difficulty for you. What kind of difficulty is meant?

The Prophet (peace be upon him) used to exert himself fully in two things: in reciting the Qur'an for himself and benefiting from it, and in giving the daʿwah, inviting people towards it. Both were exertion of an extreme kind.

The exertion in recitation was this: he would stand in prayer after he had dealt with his public duties. Having come home and finished with the affairs of the public, he would then make the effort and put that exertion in. The account of it is known from ʿĀʾishah (may Allah be pleased with her), who used to observe him at it: that he used to stand for long periods in his tahajjud. The verse fa-tahajjad, passed over a little earlier without comment, is the one by which the Prophet (peace be upon him) was obligated to perform the tahajjud prayer. His were very long; and the chapter on the night prayer in the Shamāʾil records the different numbers of rakʿahs that he used to pray. The point, however, is the long recitations. One can only wish to have been present to witness one of those tahajjuds of the Prophet (peace be upon him): in the public prayer he was very measured in how much he recited, but in the tahajjud he most probably held nothing back, and there are some descriptions of it. Allāhumma ṣalli ʿalā sayyidinā Muḥammad.

Such was the effort he made in that. The other exertion was in his daʿwah. He would be deeply grieved if somebody did not believe. He wanted everybody to believe: however many times they persecuted him, swore at him and cursed him, he still wanted them to believe. Even after Ṭāʾif, when they had bloodied his entire body and the angel stood ready to say, we will finish them off, his answer was: no, leave them; from their children. And today Ṭāʾif is a Muslim place. SubḥānAllāh. Such was the Prophet (peace be upon him).

Allah is therefore compassionate with him. He tells him: We did not do this for you to enter into such difficulty and to find it so hard. Allah (swt) is consoling the Prophet (peace be upon him), and for this reason He says: We did not reveal this to you to create difficulty for you. It is only a reminder for those who have the reverent fear of Allah — such people will benefit; those without it will not. Allāhu akbar. Tanzīlan: revealed from the One who created the earth and the high heavens. To Him belongs everything.