Whyhardshipcomesfirstandeaseafter

Consider, writes Ibn al-Qayyim in Badā'i’ al-Fawā'id, the wisdom of severity at the beginning of an obligation and ease at its end, once the soul has settled itself on resolve and compliance. The servant then gains twice: the reward of his resolve and his settling himself to obey, and the ease and lightness of what Allah reduced for him.

The pattern in the Sharī‘ah

1. 1Fifty prayers, lightened to fiveOn the night of the Isrā’, Allah commanded His Messenger ﷺ fifty prayers, then lightened them, in His generosity, to five.
2. 2One against ten, lightened to one against twoThe believers were first commanded that one man stand firm against ten in battle; then it was lightened.
3. 3The fast, opened until dawnA man who slept was first forbidden to eat or be intimate afterwards; then it was lightened, permitting both until dawn.
4. 4Charity before a private word, then liftedCharity was first made obligatory before a private word with the Messenger ﷺ; once they had settled themselves to it, it was lifted.
5. 5A year’s waiting, lightened to four months and ten daysThe widow’s waiting period was lightened from a full year.

And as it happens in the trial of commands, so it happens in the trial of decree: the decree presses hard on the servant at first, then lightens. The wisdom: the first makes the second easy, and teaches the servant to meet the second with contentment, seeing the favour and the mercy in it. Kings do something like this with those they fine: demanding far more than a man can pay, then coming down to what he will hand over willingly and find easy. Porters do it too: adding to the load something unneeded, then lifting it off, so that carrying the remainder feels light. It is a chapter of wisdom that runs through both creation and command.

The reverse pattern: easy first, then harder

The decree also moves servants by degrees from the easy to what is harder, lest the severity fall on them all at once and they cannot carry it or submit to it. So it was with the laws themselves, given step by step rather than all in one moment. The prayer was first two rak‘ahs at a time; when they had grown used to it, two more were added for the resident. The fast was first offered with a choice (fast, or ransom by feeding); when they had grown used to it, the fast itself was fixed. Jihad was first permitted without being obligatory; when their souls had settled to it and they had tasted the goodness of its outcome, it was made a duty. The wisdom of the gradation: training in accepting the rulings and yielding to them, little by little.

What this means inside a long trial

The same happens in His decree upon His servant — inevitably, as His praise and wisdom require: He tries him with the lighter thing first, then raises it, until what was written for him is complete. This is why, at the start of a trial, the servant may strive to push it off and remove it, and it only grows more intense, like an illness at its onset and its climb. The wise person submits at the beginning: he lowers himself, breaks before his Lord, and stretches out his neck in humility to His might. Then, when the trial’s peak and its flood have passed (when its night announces morning), his efforts to remove it are helped by the means. Whoever reflects on this in creation profits from it enormously. And there is no might nor power except by Allah. (Badā'i’ al-Fawā'id, vol. 1, p. 141)