ٱلَّذِىٓ أَنقَضَ ظَهۡرَكَ
Which had weighed upon your back
“that weighed so heavily on your back,”
Which had weighed down your back.
This ayah describes just how heavy that burden was.
The common translation is ‘which was breaking your back,’ but the Arabic word أَنقَضَ is far more vivid.
أَنقَضَ
had weighed upon
The root of أَنقَضَ, نقض, refers to the sound something makes when it’s about to break under pressure.
Think of sitting on a cheap table and hearing that cracking sound—that’s the sound this word describes. It’s the warning sound that something is about to give way completely.
When someone carries a heavy load on their back and their spine starts making those cracking sounds, that’s described with this same word.
When people crack their knuckles (though it’s not recommended), that popping sound is also described with this word in Arabic.
The image here is of the burden being so heavy that the Prophet’s (peace be upon him) back was already making sounds of breaking—the signs of collapse were showing.
He was on the verge of not being able to bear any more when relief came.
ظَهۡرَكَ
your back
The back is significant in this imagery because it represents the strongest part of the human body. Our back muscles are designed to bear weight.
This is why in Arabic, when someone reinforces or supports another person, it’s described as ‘backing them up’—literally strengthening their back (ظَهۡر).
When Prophet Moses (peace be upon him) asked Allah to reinforce his back with his brother Aaron (peace be upon him), he was asking for strength and support:
ٱشۡدُدۡ بِهِۦٓ أَزۡرِى
“Increase through him my strength”
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The back is your source of strength.
When the Qur’an describes someone in financial bankruptcy, they’re called فَقِير, which comes from the root meaning ‘whose back has snapped’—someone crushed under the weight of poverty until they have no strength left.
So when Allah says this burden ‘was breaking your back,’ He’s saying:
You no longer had the strength to carry the stress that was upon you. You were at your breaking point. And then I removed it from you.
I gave you revelation, I gave you the Qur’an, and it relieved you completely.