Sura Al Asr
Quran Tafsir by Dr Wasim Ahmed
March 12, 2011
Notes by Jaihoon
Verse 1
Dahr, although, used to denote time, does not the contain the meanings of Asr. Dahr does not encompass the past.
Time is running fast. Asr denotes fast moving nature of time.
Asr is the juice (asir) of the day or end of it.
Verse 2
Al Insan is used mainly in Quran for the Ungrateful man. This is like a warning.
The various time based acts of worship motivated scholars to research the nature of Time.
Linear time – which is non-repetitional and non-cyclic. Every time is new time for the believer.
Hadith : “No two days of a believer should be the same”
Qudsi Hadith : “Don’t abuse Time, for I am Time”
It is said Time is the fourth dimension of anything. There is no event which takes place outside the fold of time.
Man is said to be in loss since there is a chance for him to succeed. Quran is an admonition for Man who is capable of change.
Verse 3
4 attributes of believers are mentioned here.
Salihaat : beneficial, suitable and healthy deeds.
Our amaal will be salihaat when it fits in the whole scheme of Allah’s Laws of Nature.
Haqq also means kindness. Commitment to fellow humans.
Sabr is patience. It also means perseverance or firm adherence to one’s principles.
While believer is kind and gentle, he is also strong in his patience.
Search for Truth is also the Search with Patience.
Sabr is a medicine which does not have any overdose.
Reflections by Jaihoon
Allah has sworn by Time. Yet today’s Muslims, as individuals and community, delay more than others.
Light cannot be killed from the face of earth.
We cease to exist when our todays are no different from our yesterdays.
When we believe, we will do suitable and healthy deeds. Be a brand ambassador of the Truth you believe in by recommending it to others. But we should also be patient in promoting the truth.
The Sura which began with Time ends with Patience. Both are adjectives to each other.
It is a folly to suppose that common man by simply reading Quran translations or listening or watching Islamic media products can replace the Ulama in the community. Just as by reading medical publications we cannot do away with doctors, same is the case with religious scholars.
Rather than wasting precious time deconstructing the foundations which Ulama of past have already built out of their sheer hard work, the present wanna be scholars should extend their findings and arrive at more advanced conclusions. The Ummah has better work to do than reinventing the wheel. Cynicism is the jugglery of the easy and lazy mind which yield no positive results.
