Surat Adh-Dhuha: A Remedy for Sadness and Grief

(April 27, 2020)

الحمد لله رب العالمين والصلاة والسلام على سيد المرسلين وعلى آله وأصحابه أجمعين

عِبَادَ اللَّه - أوْصِيكُمْ وَنَفْسِي بِتَقْوَى اللَّه

O servants of Allah, I admonish you and myself to be conscious of Allah.

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ اتَّقُواْ اللَّهَ حَقَّ تُقَاتِهِ وَلاَ تَمُوتُنَّ إِلاَّ وَأَنتُم مُّسْلِمُونَ

“O you who believe, be conscious of Allah with all the consciousness that is due to Him, and do not die except as Muslims.”(Aal ‘Imran, 3:102)

رَبِّ اشْرَحْ لِي صَدْرِي وَيَسِّرْ لِي أَمْرِي وَاحْلُلْ عُقْدَةً مِّن لِّسَانِي يَفْقَهُوا قَوْلِي

Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu,

My dear brothers and sisters! There are times in every person’s life when he or she feels sad and sorrowful for some reason or the other. There is a surah in the Qur’an that was especially revealed to comfort and cheer up our beloved Prophet Muhammad (SAW) at a time when he was feeling depressed and distressed, the reason being that revelations had stopped coming to Him for some period of time.

Different traditions have mentioned different durations of this period varying from 12 days to 40 days. In any case the period was so long that it made the Prophet (SAW) sad. His opponents found this as an opportunity to taunt him, and began to say that his Lord had abandoned him. The withholding of revelation from Allah really distressed the Prophet (SAW) and he began to think that Allah was displeased with him, and had forgotten him.

Does this situation somehow sound familiar to us? Do we also sometimes feel sad and lost? Sometimes we may feel as though Allah hates us or that He may be angry with us. We feel like our duas are not being answered, that our salah is not having a positive impact on our hearts, and that Allah doesn’t love us or doesn’t care about us.

Surat Adh-Dhuha was revealed to the Prophet (SAW) to relieve him of these negative feelings and to give him hope, positivity, and the assurance that Allah was with him. When we go through similar states of depression, sadness, and hopelessness, we too can find peace, hope, and a renewed faith in Allah (SWT) through this surah. Let us go through the wordings and meaning of this surah.

أعوذُ بِٱللَّهِ مِنَ ٱلشَّيۡطَٰنِ ٱلرَّجِيمِ

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ

وَالضُّحَى () وَاللَّيْلِ إِذَا سَجَى () مَا وَدَّعَكَ رَبُّكَ وَمَا قَلَى () وَلَلْآَخِرَةُ خَيْرٌ لَكَ مِنَ الْأُولَى () وَلَسَوْفَ يُعْطِيكَ رَبُّكَ فَتَرْضَى () أَلَمْ يَجِدْكَ يَتِيمًا فَآَوَى (6 وَوَجَدَكَ ضَالًّا فَهَدَى () وَوَجَدَكَ عَائِلًا فَأَغْنَى () فَأَمَّا الْيَتِيمَ فَلَا تَقْهَرْ () وَأَمَّا السَّائِلَ فَلَا تَنْهَرْ () وَأَمَّا بِنِعْمَةِ رَبِّكَ فَحَدِّثْ ()

“By the morning brightness! And by the night when it covers with darkness. Your Lord has neither abandoned you, nor is He displeased with you. And the next life is certainly better for you than the present life. Soon your Lord will give you that with which you will be pleased. Did He not find you an orphan, and shelter you? And He found you wandering and guided you. And found you in want and made you free from want. So as for the orphan, do not oppress him. And as for one, who begs, do not scold him. And as for your Lord’s blessing, proclaim it. (adh-Dhuha, 93:1-11)

So what does this surah say?

 وَالضُّحَى

“By the morning brightness.” (adh-Dhuha, 93:1)

This is the first thing we need to hear when we are depressed: Everything in life is not doom and gloom. There is sunshine, there is light, there is beauty. In other words, you just have to look up! Look at the bright-side of things.

وَاللَّيْلِ إِذَا سَجَى

“And by the night when it covers with darkness.” (adh-Dhuha, 93:2)  

Allah is telling the Prophet (SAW) that just as brightening up of the day and spreading of the night with darkness and stillness is not for the reason that Allah is pleased with the people during the day and displeased with them during the night but both states are based on supreme wisdom, so sending down of revelation to you at one time and suspending it at another time is also based on wisdom. It has nothing to do with Allah being pleased with you when He sends down revelation and his being displeased with you when He suspends it.

Besides, another relevance of the oath to the subject is that if man is constantly exposed to the light of days it tires him down; so, it is necessary that night should fall after the day has remained bright for a certain period so that man may have rest and peace in it. Likewise, if you are constantly exposed to the light of revelation, your nerves would not stand it. Therefore, the break or gap in the revelation has also been provided by Allah to your own advantage so that the effects of the strain of revelation that you have to bear passes away and complete peace is restored to you.

مَا وَدَّعَكَ رَبُّكَ وَمَا قَلَى

“Your Lord has neither abandoned you, nor is He displeased with you.” (adh-Dhuha, 93:3)

Swearing an oath by the light of the day and the peacefulness of the night, the Prophet (SAW) is told that neither your Lord has forsaken you, nor is He displeased with you.

وَلَلْآَخِرَةُ خَيْرٌ لَكَ مِنَ الْأُولَى

“And the next life is certainly better for you than the present life.” (adh-Dhuha, 93:4)  

This good news was given by Allah to the Prophet (SAW) in a state when he had only a handful of Muslims with him, the entire nation was hostile and there was not even a remote chance of success. The candle of Islam was flickering only in Makkah and storms were brewing all around to blow it out.

At that juncture Allah said to His Prophet (SAW): Do not at all grieve at the hardships of the initial stage, every later period of life will be better for you than the former period. Your power and glory, your honor and prestige will go on enhancing and your influence will go on spreading. This promise is not only confined to the world, but it also includes the promise that the rank and position you will be granted in the Hereafter will be far higher and nobler than the rank and position you attain in the world.

Many times when we’re depressed we think: Is this all my life going to be? Is it never going to get better? This verse serves as a perfect answer to those questions, reminding us that life in this world is temporary and that the hereafter is certainly a better, more permanent place for us than this world could ever be. This makes us look forward to attaining our place in Jannah and helps us look at any problems in our lives as temporary tests of our faith from Allah.

وَلَسَوْفَ يُعْطِيكَ رَبُّكَ فَتَرْضَى

“Soon your Lord will give you that with which you will be pleased.” (adh-Dhuha, 93:5)

That is, although it will take some time, yet the time is not far when your Lord will bless you with so much that you will be well pleased. This promise was fulfilled during the lifetime of the Prophet (SAW) and all Arabia, from the southern coasts to the Syrian frontiers of the Byzantine Empire and the Iraqi frontiers of the Persian Empire in the north, and from the Persian Gulf in the east to the Red Sea in the west, came under his control. For the first time in the history of Arabia this land became subject to one law and rule. The people not only bowed their heads in obedience, their hearts were also conquered and their beliefs, morals and acts were revolutionized.

There is no precedent in human history that a nation sunk in paganism might have completely changed in only 23 years. Then the movement started by the Prophet (SAW) gathered such power that it spread over a larger part of Asia, Africa and Europe and its influence reached every nook and corner of the world. This much Allah gave His Messenger (SAW) in the world. The glory and extent of what He will give him in the Hereafter cannot be imagined.

Isn’t this the best thing to hear when we’re depressed and fed up with this worldly life and the problems we’re facing? Very soon Allah will replace our sorrow with good; and He promises us that we will be satisfied with what He gives us. And the promise of Allah is true. The next ayah says:

أَلَمْ يَجِدْكَ يَتِيمًا فَآَوَى

“Did He not find you an orphan, and shelter you?” (adh-Dhuha, 93:6)  

That is, there can be no question of abandoning you and being displeased with you. We have, in fact, been good to you ever since the time you were born as an orphan. The Prophet’s father passed away three months before his birth; thus he was an orphan at birth. But Allah did not leave him without support even for a day. Up to six years of age his mother nourished and looked after him. After her death, his grandfather took him and brought him up with great love. When he died, his uncle, Abu Talib, became his guardian and treated him with such rare love that no father could treat his son better. So much so that when after his proclamation to be a Prophet the entire nation turned hostile, Abu Talib alone stood firm as his chief supporter for as long as ten years.

Now many of us may think:  how would this verse about orphans relate to the majority of us? Think about it. Weren’t there many times in our lives when we were sick or lonely and felt like we had nobody who cared about us? Who was the only one by our side at that time? It was Allah who took care of us and guided us out of that stage in life.

وَوَجَدَكَ ضَالًّا فَهَدَى

“And He found you wandering and guided you.” (adh-Dhuha, 93:7)

Before Prophethood the Prophet (SAW) was certainly a believer in the existence of Allah and His Unity, and his life was free from sin and reflected excellent morals, yet he was unaware of the principles and injunctions of true faith. This verse may also mean that the Prophet (SAW) found himself lost in a society, engrossed in ignorance. It may also imply that the extraordinary powers, that Allah had blessed him with, were going waste in the unfavorable environment of ignorance.

How many of us, despite being born Muslims, have found ourselves misguided and straying away from Islam in the past? It was Allah who gave us guidance and brought us back to the straight path and to Him. Alhamdulillah!

The next verse of this blessed surah says:

وَوَجَدَكَ عَائِلًا فَأَغْنَى

“And He found you in want and made you free from want.” (adh-Dhuha, 93:8)

Many of us have probably gone through many periods in our lives when we have been short of money and wealth. Now when we look back we realize that it was only Allah who gave us that provision (rizq) in some form and got us through those tough financial times. When people are depressed, giving them examples of how Allah has helped them in the past will strengthen their conviction and belief in the promises Allah makes in this surah for their future.

فَأَمَّا الْيَتِيمَ فَلَا تَقْهَرْ

“So as for the orphan, do not oppress him.” (adh-Dhuha, 93:9)  

This verse is the ultimate antidote to depression! Depressed people are mostly consumed with their situation and feel that nobody could possibly be in a worse situation. This verse reminds us to look at people who are in far worse situations than ourselves when we’re feeling hopeless and dejected. Look at the orphans, who have no family or loved ones and nobody to care for them. We have families and parents who love us, a roof over our heads and food on the table and we still think we’re in a bad situation.

وَأَمَّا السَّائِلَ فَلَا تَنْهَرْ

“And as for one, who begs, do not scold him.” (adh-Dhuha, 93:10)

Another example is of the beggar in order to once again remind us of the many material blessings such as food, clothing and shelter that Allah has given us and that we take for granted. How many of us have ever gone to sleep hungry? How many of us don’t have clothes to wear? Or don’t have a home to go to? These examples of the orphan and the beggar should constantly remind us to be grateful to Allah for the countless blessings He has given us. This will greatly help us in getting over our depression and feeling connected to Him.  

وَأَمَّا بِنِعْمَةِ رَبِّكَ فَحَدِّثْ

“And as for your Lord’s blessing, proclaim it.” (adh-Dhuha, 93:11)

This final verse is about maintaining that renewed faith and bond with Allah, by pondering, glorifying and talking about the blessings of Allah. This could be through discussions with family and friends, doing  Dhikr, doing Dawah work, reading the Qur’an, participating in halaqas, listening to lectures, and so on.

أَلَا بِذِكْرِ اللَّهِ تَطْمَئِنُّ الْقُلُوبُ

“Truly, hearts find peace only in the remembrance of Allah." (ar-Ra’d, 13:28)

This is the ultimate deed that will reduce the feeling of sorrow and despair. So the next time we feel disconnected, disheartened or depressed with our level of iman and our connection with Allah, we should read Surat Adh-Dhuha and ponder over its meanings. InshaAllah it will restore our faith and increase our belief in the greatness and power of Allah. We praise and thank Allah (SWT) in every situation;   (Alhamdulillahi ‘ala kulli haal).

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