TRULY that is CERTAINLY from the noble tasks. (Shoora 42:43)

Allah mentions this statement many times in the Qur’an:

إِنَّ ذَلِكَ مِنْ عَزْمِ الْأُمُورِ 

Certainly that is from the noble tasks. [Luqman 31:17], [aal Imraan 3:186].


When this statement occurs in the Qur'an, it is always in reference to Sabr (patience).

However, when this statement appears in Surah Shoora (42:43), something different occurs that does not in all the other ayaat. Allah (azza wa jal) states:


إِنَّ ذَ*ٰلِكَ لَمِنْ عَزْمِ الْأُمُورِ
Truly that is certainly from the noble tasks. (Shoora 42:43)

This ayah is a special case because there is an extra letter, a laam. This laam is for emphasis: certainly. But why does this ayah have more emphasis, but the rest of the similar ayaat on patience do not? Because there are Two different types of patience (sabr) being referenced for these two ayaat:





The Two types of Patience


There are many types of sabr [patience] in this deen/religion, but they all fall into two basic categories:

1. When something happens to you and you do not have the power to respond. 
2. When something happens to you and you have the power to respond and take action (ie, revenge/retaliate).

1) In situations when you cannot take take action, it is still a great thing to have patience. For example the Sahaba [companions of Prophet Muhammad] in Makkah, they did not have the power to retaliate but Allah ta’ala still commanded them to have patience and He praised those who were patient. Also with the Battle of Uhud or Ahzaab, they did not have the power to retaliate but still had patience in their situation.

2) Then the Conquest of Makkah occured, and those who overpowered the Sahaba before, those who kicked them out of their homes, those who tortured them and their families were right there–the Sahaba were easily able to take revenge. Does THAT not require sabr? Which sabr/patience is more difficult? It is the sabr that one practices when they have the ABILITY to take revenge and retaliate, but they do not!



Which is the Best Patience?

Allah ta’ala mentioned in the same ayah before that statement: وَلَمَنْ صَبَرَ وَغَفَرَ “and for the one who has patience and forgives” [Shura 42:43] This person could have had sabr, and retaliated BUT they had sabr and chose to forgive…so this ayah, the only time it occurs in the Qur’an, gets an extra laam.




وَلَمَنْ صَبَرَ وَغَفَرَ إِنَّ ذَ*ٰلِكَ لَمِنْ عَزْمِ الْأُمُورِ

“And surely, whosoever shows patience and forgives that would truly be from the noble tasks” (Shura 42:43)

If you have the upper hand and you are in a position to retaliate and respond, but you chose to forgive – that is the harder sabr, and truly from the noble tasks.






http://tayyibaat.wordpress.com/2008/...asks/#more-797

So, verily, with every hardship, there is ease. (Inshirah 94: 5-6)

Asalaam alaikum warahmatulah wabarakatuh.
 

فَإِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْرًا
So, verily, with every hardship, there is ease:

إِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْرًا
Verily, with every hardship there is ease.

[Surah Inshirah 94: 5-6]

The ال issue you mentioned can be explained in one of two ways I know of:

1) al-Jurjani said that if you say,

إن مع الفارس سيفاً، إن مع الفارس سيفاً
(Indeed, the horseman has a sword, indeed the horseman has a sword)

then it means that there has to be one horseman who has two swords. So it means there is only one hardship, but two different eases. This is also the opinion held by al-Farraa’ regarding the meaning of this verse. Tha‘lab also mentioned that if the Arabs mentioned a definite noun and repeated it, then it is for emphasis and it is the same noun, but if they mentioned an indefinite noun and repeated it then they are two separate objects.


2) The repetition of the verse was for the sake of emphasis, and this is common in the Arabic language, such as when Allaah repeated the phrase in Surah Mutaffifeen: وَيْلٌ يَوْمَئِذٍ لّلْمُكَذّبِينَ which was for the sake of emphasizing the meaning in the souls and hearts of the reader.

Some of the scholars conjectured on what the ease refers to – some said it was the conquests that happened in the days of the Prophet (sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) and the Khulafaa’, others said it was the ease of this life and the Hereafter (as in the reference to Ihdaa al-Husnayan [Tawba 9:52]). So if it is a definite ease that is intended, the question is why is it mentioned indefinitely, without the definite marker ٱلْ ?

The answer is (Allah knows best) for aggrandizement, and it is as though Allaah is saying, With the hardships you have gone through, O Muhammad, [which is in reference to the Mushriks of Makkah taunting him (sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) and the believers about their poverty and facing torture/hardships until he (sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) came to believe that they were not embracing Islam due to the poverty of the Muslims and their contempt] will come a great, copious, abundant amount of ease, so do not despair of My mercy.”

The other beautiful point with regards the language is the use of إِنّ مّع (‘indeed with’) instead of, for example, إِنَّ بَعد (‘indeed, after’) because the word مع is used to indicate that something accompanies something else, so how can it be said that ease accompanies hardship when they are two completely opposite things? It was mentioned in this way (wallaahu a3lam) as though Allaah is being merciful to them by telling them that before they know it, the ease will come to them, as though they will feel it is such a short time that it is happening right then, at the exact same time as the hardship, to increase their strength and hope.




The "ف" [ fa ] is just a conjunction used to indicate continuation (‘due to what has been said then do such and such.’) The "ف" used in this manner can carry the same meaning as ثُمَّ but the difference is that the "ف" is after a shorter period of time.

With hardship there is ease, SO [really soon] there is (another) ease with that hardship.