"We did not send down the Quran unto thee that thou shouldst be distressed."
Quran 20:2
This is the first passage, after the separated letters, of the twentieth surah, Ta Ha. In the corresponding commentary Nasr tells us:
"The Quran was not give to the Prophet to cause him to be distressed over its acceptance or rejection by his people, or their belief or disbelief in its message. Thus this verse relates to the wider Quranic theme of God's addressing the prophets' human reactions to the trials they encountered when rejected by their people. According to another interpretation, the Prophet had been praying all night to the point that his legs had become swollen; so this verse was revealed, conveying that the Quran was not sent to cause him to weaken and exhaust himself in acts of worship, thereby causing undue hardship upon himself." (p. 789)
A couple things jump out at me from this verse, and especially from Nasr's commentary. First off, it's sometimes easy in religions to lose sight of the hardships and suffering of the founders of the faith. Christians, of course, focus on the death and resurrection of Jesus, although there's not a lot of time devoted to the rest of his life. Islam devotes considerable time discussing the challenges of the prophets, and especially of the Prophet. We've talked about the complexity of Muhammad's life, a matrix of religious, social, political and military responsibilities. Beyond that, he also suffered, physically and emotionally, and the revelation reminds us that suffering is not supposed to be part of the faith.
Secondly, I was looking over my copy of the Study Quran and I remembered that I had written, "g - what about more generally to all believers?" That is, are any of us supposed to suffer for this faith or any other? In Islam the answer is no, hence the Quranic statement, "God desires for you what is easy, not what is hard." Does it mean that there are no consequences? Of course not. Instead the point is that following the faith is not meant to be painful, physically or emotionally.
Quran 20:2
This is the first passage, after the separated letters, of the twentieth surah, Ta Ha. In the corresponding commentary Nasr tells us:
"The Quran was not give to the Prophet to cause him to be distressed over its acceptance or rejection by his people, or their belief or disbelief in its message. Thus this verse relates to the wider Quranic theme of God's addressing the prophets' human reactions to the trials they encountered when rejected by their people. According to another interpretation, the Prophet had been praying all night to the point that his legs had become swollen; so this verse was revealed, conveying that the Quran was not sent to cause him to weaken and exhaust himself in acts of worship, thereby causing undue hardship upon himself." (p. 789)
A couple things jump out at me from this verse, and especially from Nasr's commentary. First off, it's sometimes easy in religions to lose sight of the hardships and suffering of the founders of the faith. Christians, of course, focus on the death and resurrection of Jesus, although there's not a lot of time devoted to the rest of his life. Islam devotes considerable time discussing the challenges of the prophets, and especially of the Prophet. We've talked about the complexity of Muhammad's life, a matrix of religious, social, political and military responsibilities. Beyond that, he also suffered, physically and emotionally, and the revelation reminds us that suffering is not supposed to be part of the faith.
Secondly, I was looking over my copy of the Study Quran and I remembered that I had written, "g - what about more generally to all believers?" That is, are any of us supposed to suffer for this faith or any other? In Islam the answer is no, hence the Quranic statement, "God desires for you what is easy, not what is hard." Does it mean that there are no consequences? Of course not. Instead the point is that following the faith is not meant to be painful, physically or emotionally.
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