Course of Human Life

Al-Balad (The City) 90:4

لَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا الْإِنسَانَ فِي كَبَدٍ

Verily, We have created man into [a life of] pain, toil and trial.

Toil: sweat, drudgery, effort, exertion, industry, application, grind, slog, travail, moil, graft, hard work, pains, slaving, struggle, drudge, fatigue, labor, slavery, yakka and tears (be wasteful), nine-to-five, occupation work, elbow grease, hard yakka, (blood, sweat and tears), endeavor, trouble, strain, striving, stress, chore, trial, expenditure, energy, while, diligence, task, hard labor, push, determination, persistence, daily grind, hardship, industriousness, battle, activity, pain, routine, assiduity, bother, burden, exercise, conscientiousness, undertaking, attempt, hassle, enterprise, gruntwork (thankless task), treadmill,, grindstone, ordeal, tribulation, load, perseverance, sweated labor, suffering, problem, back-breaker, tenacity, test, millstone, force, muscle, assiduousness, spadework, strength, venture, uphill battle, difficult task, tough grind, tall order, tough assignment, rut, pattern, rote, lockstep, groove, drill, adversity, hard graft, chores, drain, encumbrance, dedication, tedium, swink (sink), exertions, efforts, pace, grubwork (labor), menial work, doggedness, sedulousness, torture, difficulty, resolution, agony, zeal, steadiness, weight, earnestness, operation, intentness, pull, anguish, nightmare, try, power, vigor, shot, strife, uphill struggle, crack, manual labor, bid, whack, stab, bash, heavy labor, pass, assay, busyness, go, fling, offer, whirl, headache, essay, sweat of one's brow, one's all, one's level best, dry run, drive, squirrel cage, working day, pursuit, crusade, resolve, skivvying, commitment, campaign, plodding, privation, tears, distress, tirelessness, scut work (thankless task), hard slog, dirty work, thankless task, grunt work, sedulity, attention, workout, hard, resoluteness, steadfastness, movement, challenge, painstaking, pangs, trials and tribulations, action, rigor, attentiveness, devotion, dynamism, long haul, throes, mission, duty, moonlight, employment, stretch, drag, Herculean task, study, productiveness, pertinacity, rat race, menial labor, oomph, back-breaking task, patience, endurance, concentration, laboriousness, perseveration, rigorousness, hack work, experiment, foray, physical effort, elbow juice, deliberation, purpose, labor of Hercules, rigor, doing, continuance, slogging, vocation, discipline, tension, welly, conflict, salt mines, grit, intensity, hard pull, long pull, physical exertion, experimentation, single-mindedness, job, imposition, dead weight (farming), nuisance, tax, preoccupation, try on, old college try, no picnic, best shot, attempts, try-on, aim, crash project, tryout, backbreaking work, difficult project.

Al-Baqara (The Cow) 2:214

أَمْ حَسِبْتُمْ أَن تَدْخُلُواْ الْجَنَّةَ وَلَمَّا يَأْتِكُم مَّثَلُ الَّذِينَ خَلَوْاْ مِن قَبْلِكُم مَّسَّتْهُمُ الْبَأْسَاء وَالضَّرَّاء وَزُلْزِلُواْ حَتَّى يَقُولَ الرَّسُولُ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ مَعَهُ مَتَى نَصْرُ اللّهِ أَلا إِنَّ نَصْرَ اللّهِ قَرِيبٌ

[But] do you think that you could enter paradise without having suffered like those [believers] who passed away before you? Misfortune and hardship befell them, and so shaken were they that the apostle, and the believers with him, would exclaim, "When will God's succour come?" Oh, verily, God's succour is [always] near!