SURAH AL-ASR

Interpretation

In the Name of Allah, the All-Merciful, the All-Compassionate,

1. By time,
2. Most certainly, human is in loss,
3. Except those who believe and do good, righteous deeds, and exhort one another to truth, and exhort one another to steadfast patience.

Surah al-Asr was revealed in Mecca and comprises of three verses.

This surah is not only short and concise, but it is also a compilation which summarizes all the advice and warnings of the past surahs. In the surah, it emphasizes that all of the people are in a state of detriment and that faith is the only means of salvation and happiness. It was reported that Imam Shafi said: “If Allah had revealed this surah alone, even this short surah would have been sufficient for the guidance and success of mankind in life. It summarizes what the Qur’an taught.”

Commentary

1.)By time, ”The word “asr” is commonly used to define unrestricted time, and in particular the present time or an “era” (a time span of eighty or a hundred years). Initially, the commentators of the Qur’an emphasized that the meaning of “asr” is the Afternoon Prayer, the time of the Late Afternoon Prayer, a long duration of time and period, but in particular is the era of Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, or in other words the time when the Prophet was sent, and the period until the Last Day.

This means that “asr” is a collective word which has various meanings, and in view that there is no clear indication of the specific meaning, and that each of these meanings could be correct, it would be more appropriate to attribute this generally to “everything called asr (time).”

Allah the Almighty invokes “duha” (the morning) and “asr” (late afternoon). “Duha” is the first part of the day, and “asr” is the part which leads to the end of the day. This indicates that the life of mankind is coming to an end. In the Qur’an, the periods are divided into three in terms of the history of mankind:

1.The first period, the time before the Torah was sent to Prophet Musa, in other words, the period that ended with the destruction of the Pharaoh,

2.The middle period, the time from when the revelations of the Torah began until the coming of the Last Prophet,

3.The last period that began with the coming of Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, and will end with the Last Day, in other words as this means the era of the noble Prophet and his followers, when we say “asr,” it should be recognized as this particular period.

This is the conclusion of the different approach of the commentators: O Muhammad! By the time (period) which in every aspect will be the scene for many great events, whether this is oppression, or in terms of productiveness a summary of the past eras, the final era, in other words your era, the period leading to the Last Day;

2.“Most certainly, human is in loss.” Every person, all races of mankind, the nations, the people of all periods and in particular those of the last period, with the exception of those defined in the Qur’an, are in a state of loss and destruction (al-Baqarah 2:55). Indeed, a human’s capital is his life, whereas every breath, every hour of life is gradually fading, and with each breath is slowly approaching the end and the reckoning of the worldly favors. If those breaths belonged to the individual to do as he pleases and when he pleases, if the human was the owner of his own creation and structure, then that life would never end, and the individual would suffer no loss or harm if he consumed these breaths as he desired. But these breaths do not belong to humans, these breaths belong to the Creator the One who creates from nothing, therefore, this is an entrustment given to use and benefit from in the best way possible. The humans gain in life depends on the rewards of how he spent his life, and his dealings in this world.

3.)“Except those who believe and do good, righteous deeds, and exhort one another to truth, and exhort one another to stead- fast patience.”

Those attributed with these four qualities are not at a loss, but are those who gain:

1.Those who believe. These are the ones who acknowledge the unification of Allah, the Lord of the Universe and the Owner of the Day of Judgment, those who pledged to worship and obey Allah with all sincerity.

2.Those who do good, righteous deeds with their faith. In other words, those whose faith was not confined to their hearts, but rather performed these deeds according to their faith, to gain the pleasure of Allah believing that it was an act of righteousness; they continuously strived to do good, beneficial deeds for themselves, their families and friends, for their people and humanity, they performed the  prescribed duties and avoided major sins and evil.

According to the Qur’an, deeds which are not based upon faith are not classified as righteous deeds. In the Qur’an, whenever it refers to righteous deeds it also mentions faith, and righteous deeds are mentioned after faith.

In the Qur’an, there is no mention of righteous deeds without faith. In addition, the Qur’an gives no prospect of reward for deeds performed without faith, even if these are good deeds. On the other hand, it is stated that sound and rewarding faith is the faith confirmed by good deeds. Because those of faith who do not perform good deeds, despite their claim of faith are in fact pursuing a path other than that prescribed by Allah and His Messenger.

Righteous duties are generally two kinds:

The first are the physical duties such as worship which are obligatory duties and beneficial to the individual. The other righteous duties are those which are beneficial to others such as alms and charity. The most important of these is the call to truth and striving on the path of truth. Thus, in addition to the aim of maturing faith and righteous deeds together with theoretic and practical powers; by striving for the perfection and salvation of both themselves and others, calling others to the truth of Allah and by jointly performing good deeds and reforming others, righteous deeds are commanded in particular by signifying these two aspects because they recognize the duty of agreeing in terms of endeavoring to help others to reach perfection, and cooperating on the path of truth.

3.And exhort one another to truth. In other words, their whole purpose and devotion is to Allah; their faith, deeds and words are all for the sake of Allah. By guarding the truth of everything, they encouraged one another to the truth of Allah, their every action is based on Allah’s pleasure, they encouraged others to steadfastness and righteousness, unite in the truth, always called others to the truth of Allah, enjoined good and discouraged evil; in brief they advised and guided towards Allah and the truth, pledged to fulfill this and acted accordingly, their faith and actions were for the sake of Allah’s truth and pleasure.

Every individual should bear the two attributes mentioned above. However, there are another two attributes to prevent loss and disappointment. After believing and performing righteous deeds, these are inspiring the truth and encouraging patience to one another. Firstly, this means those who believe and perform righteous deeds should not confine this to their own actions, but should also encourage societies of believers and righteousness. Secondly, every individual must acknowledge their own responsibility in guarding the society from corruption. This is why it is a religious duty of every member of the society to encourage the truth and patience to one another.

The word “truth” is the complete opposite of “false.” Generally, this is used in two meanings: The first; is the statement of sincerity, justice and the truth. The second is exhorting the truth, a duty which is incumbent upon all humans. The meaning of exhorting the truth is a society of faith displaying the sensitivity of not standing by while others spread false knowledge and contradict the truth of Allah. Every individual in a society is not only obliged to personally enforce the truth, righteousness and justice in his own life, but at the same time must also advise others to fulfill this duty. This is the only means of guarding a community from moral decline and corruption. If there is no spirit in a community, then it is impossible for the society to avoid destruction and disappointment. Those who personally pursue the path of truth cannot remain on the true path if they stand by while the community becomes corrupted and will never escape destruction. This is why the Children of Israel were cursed by Prophet Dawud and Prophet Isa, peace be upon them, in Surah al-Maedah. The reason why they were cursed is because they did not restrain one another from evil acts which were widespread among the Jewish society during that period.           (al-Maedah 5:78–79) Furthermore, in Surah al-A’raf it was revealed that the Children of Israel violated the prohibitions of the Sabbath (Saturday) and began to catch fish and due to this were inflicted with punishment, and only those who strived to prevent this sin escaped this punishment.

4.And exhort one another to steadfast patience.

In addition to exhorting the truth, for those of faith and their societies to avoid loss and destruction, the members of the society were conditioned to exhorting one another to patience. In other words, they should inspire patience to one another before all the difficulties, tribulations, hardships and deprivations for the sake of truth, and to guard the truth.

Although there is no denying that human nature has a great influence on the level of patience, an individual’s upbringing, habits, determination, willpower and therefore faith also bears great significance. In these terms, just as patience is advised among the believers, they were also commanded: “O you who believe! Be patient; encourage each other to patience, vying in it with one another and outdoing all others in it; and observe your duties to Allah in solidarity, and keep from disobedience to Allah in due reverence for Him and piety, so that you may prosper!” (Al Imran 3:200), because “…Surely, Allah is with the persevering and patient” (al-Baqarah 2:153), “…Those who are patient will surely be given their reward without measure”  (az-Zumar 39:10). As related in the traditions “Patience is the key to contentment.”1 There are also famous phrases referring to patience “Patience is the companion of wisdom” and “Patience leads to salvation.”

In view of this explanation and context, we clearly see that patience which is both praised and recommended is patience on the path of faith and righteous deeds, and the truth and goodness that is the sign of courage, loyalty and heroism. On the contrary, participating in all kinds of evil, succumbing to all kinds of contemptible acts, falling into enormity and whatever the consequences, not striving to escape; being caught up in falsehood and no matter what consenting to evil; such lowness which affirms idleness, humiliation and weakness cannot be classified as pure insensitivity. Consenting to evil acts is evilness and consenting to blasphemy cannot be classified as anything but disbelief.

Therefore, only those who bear the four attributes of faith, performing righteous deeds, exhorting the truth and patience are not at a loss, they are the exceptional ones. These four attributes are the sign of perfect faith. Clearly, those who have no faith will not reach salvation. However, this verse indicates that those who do not believe in Allah, perform righteous acts and exhort patience will not be exempt from some kind of loss. Therefore, the view of the Murji’ah sect that faith is complete without righteous deeds is not true. Indeed, as the Sunni sect states, there will be some kind of loss for the evildoers and the rebellious ones who believe but do not act according to their faith. As certainly rebellious believers will enter Hell although it may not be for eternity. Irrelevant whether their faith will eventually save them, the believers whose sins are greater than their good deeds will experience the torment of Hell until their sins are purified. May Allah save us all from the punishment of Hellfire!

1 Daylami, Firdaws, 3/415; Kashfu’l-Khafa, I/27 (1590)

 

Akgul, Muhittin. Tafsir: An Introduction to Qur’anic Exegesis. Tughra Books Press, Inc. 2013