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Reflections on Surah Al-Balad Ayah 4

90:4
لقد خلقنا الانسان في كبد ٤
لَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا ٱلْإِنسَـٰنَ فِى كَبَدٍ ٤
لَقَدۡﱻ
خَلَقۡنَاﱼ
ٱلۡإِنسَٰنَﱽ
فِيﱾ
كَبَدٍﱿ
٤ﲀ
Indeed, We have created humankind in ˹constant˺ struggle.
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Reflections are personal perspectives (reviewed for quality) and should not be taken as authoritative.
Jamilah De Silva
2 days ago · Referencing Ayah 90:4
As human beings, it is our nature to always want ease and comfort. Yet this surah reminded us that 'we are created in a constant struggle.' As long as we are here in dunya, we will face challenges and hardships.

This truth can cause discomfort in our hearts, BUT it is also a hope.

Why?

Because our desire for ease and comfort comes from our natural fitrah of being in Jannah. SubhanaAllah. This dunya is not our permanent place; we are just a tr...
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Fatimah Jamshed
8 weeks ago · Referencing Ayah 90:4
Bismillah -

Allah SWT says in the Qur'an,

لَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا ٱلْإِنسَـٰنَ فِى كَبَدٍ ٤

Indeed, We have created humankind in ˹constant˺ struggle.
(Surah Balad: 4)

Though social media has made our lives more difficult with the idea of perfectionism and 'having it all together', with everyone showing the best side of their lives (be it even just 5% of their whole life); but if we look outside this bubble of this fake perfection which has become ...
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Cyaxzanetta Lynnara
15 weeks ago · Referencing Ayah 88:2-3, 88:8-9, 90:11, 90:4
These verse reminds me that we all made an effort for something—whether it's our deen, occupation, education, health, or anything—but sometimes here, in this dunya, we didn't get the results we wanted.
This dunya never looks to your effort. It looks to the end result.
Was it successful? Was it a failure?
Well done, you've failed. That's all.
But the efforts....where do they go? Unnoticed from people, yes. But never unnoticed by Allah.
Here, from...
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Safiya B
21 weeks ago · Referencing Ayah 90:11-16, 90:4
Allah in this ayah describes the path of good as a “difficult pass.”
Doing good isn’t easy. It requires sacrifices.
Oftentimes, it’s easier to not do it at all. It’d be easier to sleep in rather than struggle to wake up for fajr, it’d be easier to withhold your wealth rather than watch it decrease.

And yet, Allah says that He created us in hardship. No matter what, we’ll be toiling away at something. So let it be something worthwhile. Even if yo...
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176
Ilham Amin
29 weeks ago · Referencing Ayah 69:22-23, 76:12-14, 90:4
One of my avocado trees has fruited quite fruitfully (pun intended). Alhamdulillah. And if you know me, you know I love my avocados, so I am already salivating. But as I stood there admiring this tree, naturally, I started thinking about harvesting it. I started thinking about the kind of effort it would require my team to harvest these fruits – they were quite up there in the tree. The tools they would have to use. The time they would have to sp...
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Salihu Abba
50 weeks ago · Referencing Ayah 84:6, 89:27-30, 90:4
'O mankind! Indeed, you are laboring toward your Lord with great exertion and will meet Him.' — Qur’an 84:6

'Indeed, We have created humankind in ˹constant˺ struggle.' Quran 90:4

Sometimes I pause and realize, we are all struggling toward something in life. Each of us is chasing a dream, a goal, a sense of perfection. But if I look deeply, I see that what I truly yearn for in all my pursuits is not the thing itself, but what lies behind it — pe...
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Rooma Khanam
last year · Referencing Ayah 100:6, 14:34, 17:100, 17:11, 17:67, 18:54, 21:37, 22:66, 33:72, 4:28, 43:15, 70:19, 80:17, 90:4, 96:6
Various times in the Qur'an, Allah SWT reveals such integral qualities of Al Insaan - Mankind which only Al Khaaliq - The Creator can. Allah SWT describes human beings as ungrateful, hasty, impatient, unfair, stingy. He SWT calls them ignorant, argumentative, wrongful and transgressive. He says mankind has been created weak, in difficulty and constant struggle.

لا ريب فيه
No doubt that Al Musawwir - The Fashioner has spoken the truth about His C...
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Salihu Abba
last year · Referencing Ayah 21:50, 90:4
I had to take some hours to fully internalise this verse: Allah says in Surah Al-Anbiya (21:50):

'And this is a blessed Reminder that We have revealed. Will you then deny it?'

after taken time going through tafsir, i sat down alone and think through what does it mean for Quran to be a blessed reminder, i had this realisation :

Qur’an is indeed a blessed book, concise in its expression yet profound in its impact. It is textually efficient and s...
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Salihu Abba
last year · Referencing Ayah 48:29, 90:4
'We have certainly created man in hardship.' (Qur’an 90:4)

This verse has been on my mind since morning, just one short Aya, yet it carries a truth that reshapes how I see life.

We were created in hardship. Struggle isn’t a detour from life; it is life. But for years, I kept hoping for that day when things would finally settle, when the struggle would be over. And yet, every time I reached a goal, I felt... empty. That peace I imagined never tr...
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Rayaan Shafi
2 years ago · Referencing Ayah 25:47-48, 8:11, 90:4
I wasn't getting enough sleep for the last couple of days, but yesterday I had a better sleep, alhamdulillah. I also felt better while I was at work. I felt sharper and more rejuvenated mentally and physically.


So, this positive feeling caused me to reflect on a verse of the Quran in a more personal and relatable way. It is about the sleep or the drowsiness that some of the Companions were blessed with during the battles of Badr and Uhud (which...
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