Surah Ash-Sharh (Al-Inshirah): Meaning, Translation and Transliteration

Surah Ash-Sharh, "The Expansion", is eight short verses addressed to the Prophet ﷺ at a hard time in Makkah. Allah reminds him of what He has already given: an open heart, a lifted burden, and a name raised high. Then come the two lines that Muslims have repeated to each other in every difficulty since: with hardship comes ease.

This article gives the full surah in Arabic, a transliteration and the English translation, then goes through its meaning verse by verse.

The full surah

أَلَمۡ نَشۡرَحۡ لَكَ صَدۡرَكَ وَوَضَعۡنَا عَنكَ وِزۡرَكَ ٱلَّذِيٓ أَنقَضَ ظَهۡرَكَ وَرَفَعۡنَا لَكَ ذِكۡرَكَ فَإِنَّ مَعَ ٱلۡعُسۡرِ يُسۡرًا إِنَّ مَعَ ٱلۡعُسۡرِ يُسۡرٗا فَإِذَا فَرَغۡتَ فَٱنصَبۡ وَإِلَىٰ رَبِّكَ فَٱرۡغَب

Transliteration

1. Alam nashraḥ laka ṣadrak
2. Wa waḍaʿnā ʿanka wizrak
3. Alladhī anqaḍa ẓahrak
4. Wa rafaʿnā laka dhikrak
5. Fa-inna maʿal-ʿusri yusrā
6. Inna maʿal-ʿusri yusrā
7. Fa-idhā faraghta fanṣab
8. Wa ilā rabbika farghab

English translation (Saheeh International)

Did We not expand for you, [O Muḥammad], your breast? And We removed from you your burden which had weighed upon your back, and raised high for you your repute. For indeed, with hardship [will be] ease [i.e., relief]. Indeed, with hardship [will be] ease. So when you have finished [your duties], then stand up [for worship]. And to your Lord direct [your] longing. (94:1-8)

If you learned to read the Quran in the IndoPak script, here is the same surah as it appears in a South Asian mushaf:

اَلَمۡ نَشۡرَحۡ لَـكَ صَدۡرَكَۙ وَوَضَعۡنَا عَنۡكَ وِزۡرَكَۙ الَّذِىۡۤ اَنۡقَضَ ظَهۡرَكَۙ وَرَفَعۡنَا لَـكَ ذِكۡرَكَؕ فَاِنَّ مَعَ الۡعُسۡرِ يُسۡرًا ۙ اِنَّ مَعَ الۡعُسۡرِ يُسۡرًا ؕ فَاِذَا فَرَغۡتَ فَانۡصَبۡۙ وَاِلٰى رَبِّكَ فَارۡغَب

You can read and listen to Surah Ash-Sharh with its translation, or read it with the Urdu translation.

About the surah

Ash-Sharh is the 94th surah of the Quran, with 8 verses, in the 30th juz. It is Meccan. Its name comes from the first verse, nashraḥ, "We expanded". It is also called Al-Inshirah, "The Opening Up", and many people know it by its first words, Alam nashraḥ.

It comes straight after Surah Ad-Duha, and the two belong together. Ad-Duha comforts the Prophet ﷺ when revelation had paused ("your Lord has not abandoned you") and lists what Allah did for him in the past: He sheltered him as an orphan, guided him, and made him free of need. Ash-Sharh continues in the same voice. Some early scholars are reported to have recited the two together as though they were one surah, though the mushaf keeps them apart, each with its own Bismillah.

Verse 1: Did We not open your chest?

أَلَمۡ نَشۡرَحۡ لَكَ صَدۡرَكَ

Did We not expand for you, [O Muḥammad], your breast? (94:1)

The question isn't asking for information. It means: We certainly did. Sharḥ aṣ-ṣadr, opening or expanding the chest, means making the heart wide enough to hold guidance, wisdom and patience, so that the weight of the message doesn't crush it. The Quran uses the same phrase for anyone Allah guides:

So whoever Allāh wants to guide - He expands his breast to [contain] Islām; and whoever He wants to send astray - He makes his breast tight and constricted as though he were climbing into the sky. Thus does Allāh place defilement upon those who do not believe. (6:125)

The hadith also describe the Prophet's ﷺ chest being opened physically. As a young boy living with his nurse Halimah, Jibril came to him while he was playing, opened his chest, took out a clot from his heart and said, "That was Satan's share of you," then washed it with Zamzam water and closed it. Anas said he had seen the mark of the stitching on his chest (Sahih Muslim 162). The Prophet ﷺ described a second opening before the Night Journey, when his chest was cut open, washed with Zamzam and filled with wisdom and faith (Sahih al-Bukhari 3207).

Most commentators say the verse covers the inner meaning first: a heart opened to faith, able to bear insults and rejection and still keep calling people to Allah.

Musa (Moses) asked for exactly this before he went to Pharaoh: Rabbishraḥ lī ṣadrī, wa yassir lī amrī, "My Lord, expand for me my chest, and ease for me my task" (20:25-26). It is a good dua before any difficult conversation, exam or job.

Verses 2-3: The burden that weighed on your back

وَوَضَعۡنَا عَنكَ وِزۡرَكَ ٱلَّذِيٓ أَنقَضَ ظَهۡرَكَ

And We removed from you your burden which had weighed upon your back (94:2-3)

Wizr is a heavy load, and anqaḍa ẓahrak pictures a load so heavy that the back creaks under it. Commentators explain the burden in different ways: the weight of carrying the message to people who rejected it; his grief over his people's disbelief; or anything he felt he had fallen short in, which Allah forgave. Whichever it was, Allah says He took it off him.

Verse 4: A name raised high

وَرَفَعۡنَا لَكَ ذِكۡرَكَ

And raised high for you your repute. (94:4)

This verse was revealed in Makkah, when the Prophet ﷺ was mocked and a small number of people followed him. Yet his name is now joined with Allah's name in the testimony of faith, in every call to prayer and iqāmah, in the tashahhud of every prayer and in every Friday sermon. Qatadah, one of the early commentators, said that there is no one who gives a sermon, testifies to the faith or prays without saying: "I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah" (reported in al-Tabari's Tafsir).

At any moment of the day, somewhere in the world, the adhān is being called, so his name is never not being said.

Verses 5-6: With hardship comes ease

فَإِنَّ مَعَ ٱلۡعُسۡرِ يُسۡرًا إِنَّ مَعَ ٱلۡعُسۡرِ يُسۡرٗا

For indeed, with hardship [will be] ease [i.e., relief]. Indeed, with hardship [will be] ease. (94:5-6)

Two details in the Arabic make these verses stronger than a simple "things will get better".

"With", not "after". The word is maʿa, "with". Ease doesn't only come once the hardship is over; it travels alongside it. Even in a hard time there is some ease: a person who helps, a moment of calm, the reward being written.

One hardship, two eases. Al-ʿusr, "the hardship", has the definite article both times, so in Arabic usage it refers to the same hardship. Yusrā, "ease", is indefinite both times, so it points to two different eases. This is how the Companions read it. When Abu ʿUbaydah wrote to ʿUmar from Syria about the huge army gathering against the Muslims, ʿUmar wrote back that whatever hardship comes to a believer, Allah brings relief after it, and that "one hardship will never overcome two eases" (Muwatta Malik, Book of Jihad). The same saying is reported from Ibn Masʿud.

The repetition itself is a comfort. Allah didn't say it once; He said it twice in a row.

Verses 7-8: When you finish, keep going

فَإِذَا فَرَغۡتَ فَٱنصَبۡ وَإِلَىٰ رَبِّكَ فَٱرۡغَب

So when you have finished [your duties], then stand up [for worship]. And to your Lord direct [your] longing. (94:7-8)

Faraghta means "you have become free" or "you have finished", and fanṣab means "then work hard" or "stand up and strive". After reminding him of everything He gave, Allah tells His Prophet ﷺ not to rest in idleness: when one task is done, turn to the next, and above all to worship.

The early commentators gave different examples of what this means, all reported in the tafsir books: when you finish the obligatory prayers, stand for the night prayer; when you finish your prayer, put effort into your dua; when you finish your worldly work, turn to your Lord.

The last verse puts ilā rabbika, "to your Lord", before the verb, which in Arabic gives it the sense of "to your Lord alone". Turn your hopes and longing to Him, not to people.

Word by word

Arabic	Transliteration	Meaning
أَلَمۡ نَشۡرَحۡ	alam nashraḥ	did We not expand
لَكَ	laka	for you
صَدۡرَكَ	ṣadrak	your chest
وَوَضَعۡنَا	wa waḍaʿnā	and We removed
عَنكَ	ʿanka	from you
وِزۡرَكَ	wizrak	your burden
ٱلَّذِيٓ أَنقَضَ	alladhī anqaḍa	which weighed down
ظَهۡرَكَ	ẓahrak	your back
وَرَفَعۡنَا	wa rafaʿnā	and We raised
ذِكۡرَكَ	dhikrak	your mention
فَإِنَّ مَعَ	fa-inna maʿa	so indeed with
ٱلۡعُسۡرِ	al-ʿusr	the hardship
يُسۡرًا	yusrā	is ease
فَإِذَا فَرَغۡتَ	fa-idhā faraghta	so when you are finished
فَٱنصَبۡ	fanṣab	then strive
وَإِلَىٰ رَبِّكَ	wa ilā rabbika	and to your Lord
فَٱرۡغَب	farghab	turn your longing

Living by Surah Ash-Sharh

• Ask Allah to open your chest. Say Musa's dua, Rabbishraḥ lī ṣadrī, wa yassir lī amrī, before anything that worries you.
• Look for the ease inside the hardship. It comes with the difficulty, not only after it.
• Count what Allah has already done for you. The surah starts with past blessings before it promises future ones.
• Send blessings on the Prophet ﷺ. Every time you do, you take part in raising his name.
• Don't stop when a task ends. Turn to the next good deed, and give some of your free time to worship and dua.
• Put your hope in Allah alone. People can help, but longing belongs to your Lord.

Open Surah Ash-Sharh to read and listen to it with its translation.