The Truth of Surah Al-Asr

 **The Truth of Surah Al-Asr**  

🍀🥀 A powerful post that can change your life  

🌹🥀🍀 The Ultimate Ultimatum of the Universe, Melting Life, and the Global Market of Loss: A Scientific, Philosophical, and Revolutionary Manifesto of Surah Al-Asr! – Bilal Shaukat Azad

From the vastness of galaxies spread across the universe to the beating heart inside a human body — everything is held captive by one single law… and that law is **decline**.

In the language of physics, it is called **Entropy** or **the Second Law of Thermodynamics**.  

This law states that everything in the universe is moving from **order** → **disorder**, and from **life** → **death**.

The wheel of time turns like a merciless hunter, slicing off a piece of our existence every moment and throwing it into the dustbin of the past.

Right in the middle of this cosmic tragedy, the shortest chapter of the Quran — **Surah Al-Asr** — consisting of just three verses and a few words — is an explosive **manifesto** that contains the essence of human history, philosophy, and science.

Imam Shafi'i (رحمہ اللہ) once said:

“If only this one surah had been revealed in the Quran, it would have been sufficient for the guidance of all humanity.”

This is not exaggeration. It is a profound reality — to understand which we have to go beyond conventional explanations and dive deeper.

Today we will see what “**loss**” Allah, the Lord of Majesty, warned humanity about by swearing by Time — and what is that **survival kit** that can save us from this destruction.

Allah begins with an oath:

**وَالْعَصْرِ**  

(By Time / By the Age / By the Era)

The root of the Arabic word **عصر** (‘aṣr) is **ع ص ر**, which means **to squeeze** — like wringing out a cloth or extracting juice from fruit.

Allah did not use the ordinary word for time (دهر / zaman), but deliberately chose **عصر**.

Why?

Because this word reveals the **true nature** of time.  

Time is **squeezing** us. Every passing moment is squeezing the juice, the energy, the opportunity out of our life.

Time is a **pressure chamber** in which we are trapped.

Scientifically, time is the fourth dimension of the universe. Einstein taught us that time is **relative** — but for human life it is **strictly one-way** (linear). It never comes back.  

It is the only **capital** that is spent but can never be earned again.

When Allah swears by Time, He is actually presenting the whole of human history as a witness.  

History bears witness: nations came and vanished, Pharaohs came and turned to dust, civilizations were built and became ruins.

Swearing by Time means:

“O human being! Look! The flow of time itself is witness that what I am about to say is an absolute, unavoidable reality.”

An old incident narrated by the famous exegete Imam Fakhruddin Razi (d. 1210 CE) in his monumental Tafsir Kabir (Mafatih al-Ghaib):

An old man in ancient Arabia once understood the meaning of Surah Al-Asr from an **ice-seller** sitting in the market.

The man was standing in the scorching sun, crying out:

“O people! Have mercy on me… my capital is melting!”

Just think deeply about this sentence.

If that ice-seller doesn’t sell his ice **right now**, he cannot say:  

“Let me sell it tomorrow.”

No!

He doesn’t have the option of **tomorrow**.  

If he doesn’t trade now, his capital will turn into water, get absorbed into the ground, and all he will be left with is **regret**.

This is exactly the situation of every human being.

Our breaths are that **ice** that is rapidly melting.  

We are standing in the marketplace of the world.  

If we don’t exchange this melting ice (time) for Paradise, the pleasure of Allah, and inner peace — we will save **nothing**.  

We will be **looted** completely.

That is the **emergency** Allah is pointing towards.

After the oath, Allah delivers a verdict that sends tremors through the halls of the universe:

**إِنَّ الْإِنسَانَ لَفِي خُسْرٍ**  

“Indeed, mankind is in **loss**.”

Pay attention to a subtle grammatical point:

Allah said **الإنسان** (with **alif-lam** = “the”). This is **istighraq** — meaning **the entire human race** — without exception.  

Whether Bill Gates or a street beggar, Nobel Prize-winning scientist or illiterate laborer, king or pauper — the **default setting** of every human is **loss**.

Our ordinary logic says: “If you work hard, you succeed; otherwise you fail.”

But the Quranic logic is:

“You are **born in a state of failure/loss**. You have to **do something** to become successful.”

It is exactly like being in a boat in the middle of the ocean with a hole in the bottom. Water is rushing in.  

If you sit with folded hands, your sinking (loss) is guaranteed.  

To survive you have to struggle, bail out water, plug the hole.

Our life is that boat. Time is the water sinking it.

In worldly economics there is a concept of **Break-even Point** — neither profit nor loss.  

But in the economics of life there is **no break-even**.  

You are either winning or losing.

Modern man thinks: if bank balance is increasing, followers are growing, property is accumulating — then he is “in profit.”  

But Allah says: **خُسْرٍ** — You are broken. You are in **loss**.

Why?

Because you are giving away something eternal (life) to buy things that are doomed to perish (soil, stones, paper notes).

A billionaire lying on his deathbed cannot buy back **even one breath** by giving away all his wealth.  

At that moment he realizes that what he thought was profit… was actually the greatest loss.  

This is the **existential crisis** the Quran pointed out 1400 years ago.

After declaring the drowning of all humanity, despair could have set in — but then Allah’s mercy surged forward and He said **إِلَّا** (except those…) and gave four conditions — four pillars — upon which a person can escape this universal loss.

These four are not separate things; they are a **compound recipe**.  

Like a medicine — if even one ingredient is missing, there is no cure.

**1. الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا**  

Those who have **faith** (true belief)

Here faith does not mean just reciting the kalima with the tongue.  

Faith means determining the **purpose** and **direction** of life.

If you are driving very fast in the best car, but your **GPS** is pointing in the wrong direction — the faster you drive, the farther you get from your destination.

Faith is the **cosmic compass** of a human being.  

It answers:  

Who am I?  

Where did I come from?  

Where am I going?

Without faith, human life is a **purposeless journey**.  

Stephen Hawking once said:  

“Humans are chemical scum living on a mediocre planet.”

That is the view without faith.

But faith declares: You are **Allah’s vicegerent on earth**. Your purpose is **knowing Allah**.  

Faith takes a person out of loss and connects him to **eternity**. When you connect to Allah, even your mortal time becomes **everlasting**.

**2. وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ**  

And who do **righteous deeds**

Just having the map (faith) in your pocket doesn’t get you to the destination. You have to **travel** (act).

Faith is **potential energy**.  

Righteous action is **kinetic energy**.  

In Islam, theory without action is dead.

Righteous deeds are the **currency** with which we buy from our melting time.  

When instead of wasting an hour, you place your hand on an orphan’s head, pray, work honestly — you have saved your “ice” (time) from melting and converted it into **gold** (reward).

**3. وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالْحَقِّ**  

And who enjoin one another to **truth** / **righteousness**

Here the matter moves from **individualism** to **collectivism**.

Islam is not a religion of becoming a hermit or sitting in a cave.  

It is not possible that you become righteous yourself, but your society, friends, and family are heading toward Hell and you remain silent.

If there’s a hole in the boat — even if you keep your part dry, but allow others to make holes — you will sink too.

**4. وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالصَّبْرِ**  

And who enjoin one another to **patience** / **steadfastness**

This is the last and most crucial pillar.  

Allah knows what will happen when you speak truth, leave interest, observe hijab, stand for justice…  

Flowers will not be showered on you.

People will oppose, friends will leave, society will taunt, jobs will be threatened, maybe even life will be lost.  

The path of truth is full of thorns.

That is when **sabr** (patient perseverance) is needed.  

And sabr cannot be practiced alone. When the whole society has gone astray, a lone person breaks. He needs a **support system**.  

That is why Allah said **تَوَاصَوْا** — enjoin **one another** to patience.

Meaning: there should be a community of believers who hold each other’s hands and say:  

“Brother, don’t panic. Stand firm. This pain is temporary. Allah’s promise is true.”

My friends, my countrymen…

Surah Al-Asr is not just a glowing talisman in your pocket.  

It is your **life’s balance sheet**.

Tonight, when you lie in bed staring at the ceiling in the dark, ask yourself:

Where did I spend today’s 24 hours — my melting ice?  

Did I let it flow down the drain (social media, backbiting, useless activities)?  

Or did I buy with it some asset that will benefit me in the grave?

Remember:  

In the world many deals can be made on credit…  

But the deal of **time** is **cash only**.  

The moment that passes will never return — even if you gave the treasures of the entire universe.

We are all inside a burning house… or a sinking ship.  

We have very little time and a lot of work.

Come!  

Before the final bell rings, before our breaths’ ice melts completely, before the angels call our names —  

Let us hold firmly to these four pillars:

- Firmness in faith  

- Righteousness in action  

- Calling to the truth  

- Steadfastness in patience  

This is the only path that can lift a human being from the well of **loss** to the tower of **true success**.  

This is the message of Surah Al-Asr.  

And this is the **only secret** of life.  

Everything else… is fiction.