Surah al'Asr

Tafsir of Surah al 'Asr - Time (Surah 103)

1) By Time. 2) Truly man is in a state of loss! 3) Not so those who believe and do good works, and counsel one another to truth, and counsel one another to patience.

Allah takes an oath by time, the passage of night and day, the time in which man works his deeds: “By Time,” the purpose of the oath being “Truly man is in a state of loss,” loss has many different levels: complete loss, the state of one who loses both this world and the Hereafter, who loses eternal bliss and instead deserves Hell. A person could also lose out in some aspects and not others and this is why Allah generalises this loss to all of man save those who have four qualities: “Not so those who believe” in what Allah as ordered to believe in, faith cannot come about or be complete without knowledge and therefore it is a branch of knowledge, “and do good works,” all good deeds, outward and inward, those linked to the rights of Allah and the rights of His servants, both the obligatory and recommended “and counsel one another to truth” which is faith and righteous deeds “and counsel one another to patience,” in obedience to Allah, away from disobedience to Him, and in the face of His decrees that man finds trying. The first two matters perfect the servant and the next two aid to perfect others. In the completion of these four matters lies safety from loss and through them does the servant attain success.