Tafseer Ibn Kathir of ALAM NASYRAH [1]

1. Have We not opened your breast for you 2. And removed from you your burden. 3. Which weighed down your back 4. And have We not raised high your fame 5. Verily, along with every hardship is relief, 6. Verily, along with every hardship is relief. 7. So when you have finished, devote yourself to Allah's worship. 8. And to your Lord turn intentions and hopes. Allah says,

(Have We not opened your breast for you) meaning, `have We not opened your chest for you.' This means, `We illuminated it, and We made it spacious, vast and wide.' This is as Allah says,

(And whomsoever Allah wills to guide, He opens his breast to Islam.) (6:125) And just as Allah expanded his chest, He also made His Law vast, wide, accommodating and easy, containing no difficulty, hardship or burden.

(And removed from you your burden.) This means

(That Allah may forgive you your sins of the past and the future.) (48:2)

(Which weighed down your back) Al-Inqad means the sound. And more than one of the Salaf has said concerning Allah's saying,

(Which weighed down your back) meaning, `its burden weighed heavy upon you.'