The message of Surah al- Asr

[Silent Spectator]

ASSLAMUALAIKUM,
I hope all are fine.
The Message of Sûrah al-`Asr (part 1)| Sheikh Salman al-Oadah
Allah says: “By time! Surely the human being is at loss. Except for those who have faith and do righteous deeds and exhort one another to truth and exhort one another to patience.” [Sûrah al-`Asr]

Love for the sake of Allah is the elixir that dissolves barriers and binds the hearts of people together. It does not matter how far apart those people might be, or how much their activities and concerns lead them down different paths. Let us always raise the banner of love whenever the tempest of hate and anger begins to swirl up around us.

The age in which we live is one where oppression, injustice, killing, and violence are sometimes perpetrated in the name of freedom, or in the name of democracy, or in the name of peace, or in the name of Islam. We can only overcome this by raising the banner of love between us built upon our love for Allah and our love for His Messenger (peace be upon him).

This type of love is a particular quality of the believers. Allah says: “O you who believe! If any of you turn back from his faith, soon will Allah produce a people whom He will love as they will love Him – having humility among the believers but mighty in front of those who reject faith, striving in the way of Allah and never fearing the reproaches of those who scoff. This is the grace of Allah which He bestows upon whom He pleases. And Allah encompasses and knows all things.” [Sûrah al-Mâ’idah: 54]

We should realize that the hardships of life are transient, preceded and followed by times of ease. Allah says: “Verily with hardship comes ease; verily with hardship comes ease.” [Sûrah al-Sharh: 5-6]

Just like life is filled with obstacles, it is also filled with opportunities. Indeed, the message given by Sûrah al-`Asr is one of glad tidings of love, relief, and ease brought by Allah.

When the Companions of the Prophet (peace be upon him) used to meet one another, they would not depart until one of them recited Sûrah al-`Asr to the other and they bid peace upon one another. [Awsat al-Tabarâni (5124) and Shu`ab al-Îmân (8639)]

The Companions used to remind one another of Sûrah al-`Asr because of the fundamental issues that this small chapter of the Qur’ân addresses and that all Muslims should be concerned with. We can acquire wisdom from the fact that the Qur’ân pays such careful attention to major and important issues, since we too often focus our attentions on minor issues that should be very low on our list of priorities. Our limited energies get distracted from what is important.

Becoming preoccupied with insignificant matters while forgetting what is really important is a major pitfall. The Companion Ibn `Umar once said to the people of Iraq: “How concerned you are with minor things and how neglectful you are of what is serious! You kill al-Husayn, the Prophet’s grandson, and then ask about the blood of a mosquito.”

We have another example of such an imbalanced focus in the executioners who flogged the great scholar Ahmad b. Hanbal. They used to ask him about the blood that splattered on their clothes and they used to question his praying seated while his arms and legs were bound in irons.

We will, in this article, focus on three major topics: time, the human being, and deeds. These three topics are the key to success in this world and salvation in the Hereafter. We will discuss these topics one at a time.

1. Time

We must realize that though time is innocent, people so often wrongly accused it of all the hardships and wrongs that they experience. Time is a mere receptacle for these happenings. It is neutral. This is why the Prophet (peace be upon him) prohibited us from censuring the course of time. He related that Allah said: “The son of Adam does me wrong when he curses the course of time. I am the course of time, for the affair is in My hands as I turn the day and night over one another.” [Sahîh al-Bukhârî (4826) and Sahîh Muslim (2246)]

The statement “I am the course of time” is telling us that what people attribute to time is only by the will and decree of Allah, the wise and all-knowing. Allah is the Creator of everything and nothing that happens in His Creation happens in vain.

In Sûrah al`Asr, Allah swears an oath by time, indicating its seriousness and importance. Time is the receptacle within which our deeds are carried out. It is a factor in our success in this world and the Hereafter. Allah says: “He it is who made the night and the day to follow each other for such as have the will to remember Him or to give thanks.” [Sûrah al-Furqân: 62]

Ibn `Abbâs said: “Whoever missed performing any of the deeds of the night should make them up during the day, and whoever missed performing any of the deeds of the day should make them up at night.”

Allah says regarding the unbelievers in Hell: “Therein they will cry: ‘Our Lord! Bring us out. We shall work righteousness, not the deeds we used to do.’ Did We not give you long enough lives so that he who would receive admonition could do so? Moreover, a warner came to you. So taste what comes to you. For the wrongdoers there is no helper.” [Sûrah Fâtir: 36-37]

The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “A man has no excuse if Allah extends his life until he reaches sixty years of age.” [Sahîh al-Bukhârî (6419)]

Allah swears an oath by time because, in the course of time, changes and transformations take place. Summer turns to winter. Cold weather replaces heat. Strength turns to weakness. Victory turns to defeat. A person goes from rags to riches. Hardships are replaced by ease. Sicknesses are cured.

History is a testimony to this changeability. Today, the Muslim world is weak and divided and subdued by its enemies. Its intellectual life is superficial. It is wracked with despair and hopelessness. This can be remedied if the Muslims become forward thinking and work towards constructive change. We should not assume that the present circumstances are forever etched in stone.

Allah says: “Did you not swear aforetime that you would never suffer decline?” [Sûrah Ibrâhîm: 44] I used to wonder who could possibly believe that they would never suffer decline. Must not everyone realize that their lives must inevitably come to an end? Who could possibly swear such an oath?

I got my answer to this question when I read Francis Fukuyama’s book entitled The End of History. The book was written in celebration of the fall of Communism. He declared that the West had won and that Western democracy was the victor. The long-awaited event had happened that marked an “end point of mankind's ideological evolution” and the “final form of human government” and deserved to be called “the end of history.”

Allah says: “Did you not swear aforetime that you would never suffer decline? And you dwelt in the dwellings of men who wronged their own souls. You were clearly shown how We dealt with them and We set many examples before you.” [Sûrah Ibrâhîm: 44-45]

The word for time used in Sûrah al-`Asr is the Arabic word `asr which refers to the current time or age, as opposed to some more eternal and abstract notion of time. By swearing an oath by this aspect of time, Allah is indicating to us the importance of being up to date, of living in the present, and of understanding the contingencies of the era in which we live. We need to understand the age in which we live and actively engage the changes and challenges that it presents to us.

The epitome of virtue is to respond to these changes and challenges appropriately while remaining completely within the limits set down by Allah. We see that the Prophet (peace be upon him) offered the following supplication to Allah: “O Allah! Lord of Gabriel, Michael, and Ariel, Creator of the heavens and the Earth, Knower of the Unseen and the evident! You judge between your servants in what they differ about. Guide me, by your grace, to the truth in what they differ. Truly, You guide whom you please to a path that is straight.”

TO BE CONTINUED.......
Naqeebullah khan
Regards

[Silent Spectator]

Second part of surah al- Asr////
This is why Allah commands us to say in every unit of prayer that we perform: “Guide us to the Straight Path”. This shows us that there will always be new matters for which we will need guidance. We need to always beseech Allah to guide us in all matters and never assume that what we presently know is sufficient for us. We cannot assume that we have arrived at the final, immutable truth for every matter. We must understand that we will always need to learn how to respond to changing times and circumstances without compromising the immutable truths that our religion teaches us.

Some people are rigid in their adherence to a narrow set of ideas and opinions, though what they adhere to is not above reproach or criticism. Such people treat their ideas as if they were immutable, absolute truths, and sometimes even go so far as to reject an authentic Sunnah that had previously been unknown to them.

By contrast, there are others who begin to doubt the truly eternal and immutable teachings of our faith. When we review what is being said about Islam on the air and on the Internet, we can find people who call into question the most fundamental teachings of Islam. We can even find them disputing about Allah, the Qur’ân, revelation, the Prophet (peace be upon him), and the relationship between religion and politics. We hear people who advocate secularism and wholesale Westernization. There are those who wish to wholly adopt American culture and values.

Faced with these extremes, we must recall Allah’s words: “Those who, when they spend, are neither extravagant nor niggardly, but maintain a just balance between those (extremes).” [Sûrah al-Furqân: 67]

The American Muslim, Muhammad Ali, once said: “If I say today at forty what I said when I was twenty, then I have wasted twenty years of my life.”

Changing circumstances brings to the surface the true mettle of people. It shows who has the ability to move forward. There are those who are held captive by their lusts and desires. Others are held captive by their rulers or by their follows. A free person is one who can escape all of that.

Allahs’ Messenger (peace be upon him) said: “The slaves of gold, silver, and finery are wretched. If they are given what they want, they are pleased. If not, they become discontent and bitter and sink into wretchedness. If they come to any harm, they do not recover.” [Sahîh al-Bukhârî (2887)
Regards............
To be continued..........

[Silent Spectator]

Asslamualaikum,
I hope all are fine.
The message of surah al-Asr part 3.....
The Arabic word “Asr”, that Allah swears by, has another connotation. It refers to the time at the end of the day, in other words the late afternoon. It is also used for the end of the harvest season. Our late afternoon prayer is called the `Asr prayer, that Allah often refers to in the Qur’ân as the “middle prayer”.

The time of Muhammad’s followers is like the late afternoon of human history. It is the last period before the end of the world. The Muslim nation is the last and greatest of all nations. It is the most preferred nation with Allah and it will be the first nation in the Hereafter to be admitted into Paradise.

The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Our relationship to the people of the two previous scriptures can be likened to a situation where a man hires a number of laborers. He asks: ‘Who will work for me from morning until midday for a certain sum?’ The Jews are the ones to work at this time. Then he asks: ‘Who will work from midday to the late afternoon for the same sum?’ The Christians are the ones to work at this time. Then he asks: ‘Who will work from the late afternoon until sunset for double that sum?’ You are these people. This angers the Jews and Christians who say: ‘Why did we have to work more to receive less?’ He replies: ‘Have you been deprived of any of your right?’ They answer: ‘No.’ He says: ‘This is my favor that I give to whom I please.’” [Sahîh al-Bukhârî (8622)]

Since we are the nation of the late afternoon of the Earth, we must be witnesses over humanity. We should therefore be the most knowledgeable of people as well as the best in character. We should be the most civilized and most acquainted with what is best for humanity in both their worldly and spiritual lives. However, today, we are a wasted, exploited nation, with a number of lands and countries under foreign occupation.

Of the worlds poor, 65% are Muslims. Likewise, Muslims comprise 80% of the world’s refugees. In spite of the fact that Muslims make up from one-fifth to one-fourth of the world’s human population, they collectively possess no more that a 6% share of the world’s economy. Moreover, Muslims are seriously maligned in the world media.

A young Muslim woman today will know about hundreds of actresses, singers, dancers, fashion models, and even nude models, but we find it difficult to produce a contemporary wholesome role model for women to emulate. We end up having to speak about the Prophet’s wives.

Why, when we are the nation of Earth’s late afternoon, does our society not have good role models for its men and women? The answer is that, in spite of the poverty, weakness, and all the problems that we face, we seem to be working very hard to destroy one another.

In our desperation and our desire to run away from our problems, some of us turn to fancies and dreams. We must be wary of this. Many quite unscholarly books are being written about the end of time and the signs of the Hour, some even specifying when the end of the world is supposed to be. It may be that these books are being written with the best of intentions, but they speak without knowledge about the Unseen. They also lull people into a state of inaction and bring about a lot of negativity.

2. The human being

When Allah says: “Surely the human being is at loss”, He is speaking about every human being. In the Qur’ân, the human being is often threatened with loss. Allah says: “Verily, We have created the human being in the best of molds. Then We have brought him to the lowest of the low, except for those who have faith and do righteous deeds, for they shall have an unfailing reward.” [Sûrah al-Tîn: 4-6]

Allah created the human being, chose him, taught him, and even had the angels prostrate themselves before him. When the angels said: “Will you create therein who will spread mischief therein and spill blood while we celebrate your praises and glorify your holiness?” Allah says: “I know what you know not.” [Sûrah al-Baqarah: 30] This is a clear commendation for humanity and a clear statement of the uniqueness of the human being and the special responsibility that he carries.

Allah says: “We have honored the descendants of Adam, provided them with transport on land and sea, given them for sustenance things good and pure, and favored them above a great part of Our Creation.” [Sûrah al-Isrâ’: 70]

We must keep in mind, however, that our possible abasement and punishment are directly proportional to this responsibility.

People will be at loss to varying degrees. Some, like the unbelievers, are completely at loss. Their works will profit them nothing on the Day of Resurrection. Allah says: “And in the hereafter theirs will be the greatest loss.” [Sûrah al-Nahl: 5] Others will be partially at loss with little or no profit to their credit. Some on that Day will have debts to others.

Life is a form of business and trade. Allah says about some of the Unbelievers: “Those are the ones who purchased misguidance with guidance, so their trade did not profit them and they were not of those who were guided.” [Sûrah al-Baqarah: 16]

The Prophet (peace be upon him said): “Every person goes forth in the morning trading in his own self. He either earns its freedom or consigns it to perdition.” [Sahîh Muslim (322)]

The human being is by nature a creature of action and of concern. He does not sit idle. Every person is going forward, but not every person is headed in the same direction. Some people are headed towards greater perfection and towards salvation, while others are headed towards their own ruin.
Regards....
Naqeebullah khan
Pray for me..