The web journey of this blog has taken many paths and a recent one was agreeing to participate with fellow blogger hal786, an English Muslim girl who writes After Hardship Will Always Come Ease, in her BloggersUnite’s event HARDSHIP2EASE DAY which takes place today 23 September 2009.
According to hal786:
The goal is to help bring ease to people who’ve suffered hardships in life, by sharing their stories and writing stories of how someones life went from bad to good/hardship2ease.
Being ignorant of such matters, I did not realize that the words come from the Qur’an. As is my habit, I did some web-searching to learn more. The blog Far From Home provided greater insight. My sense as an outsider is that this is a very important part of the Muslim tradition of which our Western culture has very little idea. It also strikes me as a very personal idea of finding ease within ones self. The underlining of the quote below is mine.
“With every hardship, comes ease. Verily, with hardship comes ease.” (Chapter 94; verses 5-6)
This refrain, echoed twice, stress upon the sometimes “hidden” blessings within a given burden or hardship. In the ordinary words of mortals, “In every dark cloud, there is a silver lining.” Sometimes, we are too weary, too burnt out, too depressed to see that “ease”, that silver lining. After all, when surrounded by darkness, it is not easy to “see.” Usually, we understand the “ease” afterwards and therefore make the mistake that the ease comes after hardship. But note the stress in the refrain of the word “with” which indicates that the ease comes hand-in-hand with the hardship. (Once again, the duality that I was discussing in an earlier note kicks in.)
Another source was Islam.Online.Net Thinking Over the Verses of the Qur’an
Many people read the Qur’an, but the important thing is, just as Allah states in His verses, to ponder on each verse of the Qur’an, to draw a lesson from that verse, and to improve one’s conducts in compliance with these lessons.
Those who read the verse [For truly with hardship comes ease; truly with hardship comes ease] (Al-Inshirah 94:5-6), for example, reflect upon it. They understand that Allah creates ease with each hardship, and therefore, the only thing they have to do when they meet a hardship is to put their trust in Allah and find the ease that is with it. Allah’s promise being so, we see that giving up hope or being stricken with panic in moments of difficulty is a sign of a weakness in our faith. After reading this verse and reflecting upon it, our conduct will go in line with the verse throughout our lives.
I can’t help but find it interesting that my last post on this blog dealt with perception and this blog post deals with concepts arguably beyond perception. When BeyondPerception writes of dunya it brings to my mind the Buddhist concept of samsara. Similarly Far From Home above speaks about duality. The concept of “With every hardship, comes ease”, also extends to others. This seems to me to be a concept common across all the major religions. It is not merely a matter of how we see the world, but how we take what we see and the shared story we create to make our world.
In the end, love means wanting the best for that other person. But I truly think love shouldn’t end with our family and friends, it should spread to everyone, even a stranger. As result, if you have this type of love for everyone, you should genuinely only want the best for them.
The dunya is ephemeral. Change is inevitable and nothing, including this world is permanent. Relationships will always change, feelings will continue to change and it is all because it is God’s will. “Allahu Alam” (God knows best). He knows what’s best for you even though it may not be in your favor. All we can do is love one another and pray that Allah will bless all of us with goodness in this life and the hereafter.
I thank Allah for making me stronger in times of tribulation, for removing anger from my heart, and turning my negative emotions into peace.
Here is a wonderful youtube video passed along from another xanga member for those going through hardship. JazakAllah Kairun 
After hardship will always come ease Intro (This will be the 1st post all the time, so scroll down to see the new posts) July 5, 2009
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Assalamualaikumwarahmatullahiwabarakatuhu.
A’udhubillahiminashaitanirajeem.Bismillahirahmaniraheem.
((May the peace, mercy, and blessings of Allah be with you).
(I seek protection in Allah swt from the accursed shaitan/devil/satan).
(In the name of God, the Most Kind, the Most Merciful)).
This blog will (Inshallah/God willing) be like a charity, as charities are there to help people. But it’s also something totally new. As It’s FREE! Probably the world’s first free, no sign-up required, anonymous if you wish, online help service solving your life problems like an agony aunt and you can raise money for charity.It’s going to feature stories. Which you send in. Like if you’re depressed, suicidal, a self-harmer/cutter, upset, had a bad life etc, or emo, or anything like that and you need some help, but don’t know what to do, or just need some moral support, like a friend, or someone to talk to:this is the place for you. And to ‘help’ the people in need all you have to do is leave in your comments of support to people who give in their stories. It’s like an agony aunt thing. But these are more serious issues. Not the average boyfriend/girlfriend thing. and hopefully one day this site will become much bigger than just a few stories Inshallah (God willing). I want it to reach out to the world. Whoever has a problem and they can’t deal with it, then leave your story. You don’t need to sign up to be the helper or the one being helped. It can be anonymous too. You don’t need to leave your name or email etc if you don’t want to. So let’s start. The WORLD’S FIRST FREE BLOG TO SOLVE LIFE ISSUES AND RAISE MONEY FOR CHARITY ONLINE. (Probably, I don’t think there’s anything like it.) No money involved at all. It’s words and your time to help by commenting and leaving stories is how you help. Show some love. Oh yeah and about the charity thing- if you look to your right (of this webpage lol) you should see a title ’socialvibe’ under there there’s a button that says ‘Help Now! It’s FREE’. Click it. Then do the activity. And leave a comment if you wish. By doing that you’ve donated to charity for FREE! So please do help it’s so easy, and do it as many times as you can!!More clicks, more money raised! And remember AFTER HARDSHIP WILL ALWAYS COME EASE. Never give up! so: Start leaving your ‘stories’. Let us, the people of the world help solve your life problems!