There is a beloved passage in the Qur'an which states: فَإِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْرًا. It's commonly (and mistakenly) translated as "After difficulty, there comes ease." But that's not what the verse says. It states مَعَ , "with." There is ease and relief already provided *with* every hardship. The ease comes with, included inside, and provided with every hardship we face. We never know fully the hardships others face in life, and it's good to avoid offering platitudes like "God never gives you more than you can handle." But in our own life, in our own struggles, sometimes we look back and see that the ease and the grace is in how we navigated the hardships, who we found to be in our boat, and how the light got in through the cracks of our hearts. As the Buddhist friends say, "No mud, no lotus." The lotus comes up through the mud, and is actually sustained through the mud. So indeed, *with* difficulty there is indeed the lotus of ease. Alhamdulilah for all of it, both the ease and the difficulty.
Dr. Omid Safi
