Surah Al-'Asr, The Passing Time

Surah 103 · 3 verses · revealed at Mecca

Al-'Asr is three verses long, perhaps fourteen words, and it contains a complete account of what the Qur'an thinks a successful life consists of.

It opens with an oath by al-'asr — a word meaning time, or the passing age, or the late afternoon when the day is running out. All three senses have been read into it, and all three point the same way.

Then the claim: that humankind is in loss. Not may be, not risks being. The statement is flat and universal, and the rest of the surah is a single exception clause. Except those who believe, and do right, and counsel one another to truth, and counsel one another to patience.

Four things, and the last two are notable because they are not private. The first two could be done alone. The second two cannot be done at all without other people. The surah's account of a life not wasted is therefore irreducibly social: you cannot complete it by yourself.

The jurist al-Shafi'i is reported to have said that if God had revealed nothing but this surah, it would have been enough for people. He was not suggesting the rest was unnecessary; he was pointing at how much is packed into fourteen words.

There is a report that the companions, when two of them parted, would recite this surah to one another before going their separate ways. The report is found in al-Tabarani rather than in the two most rigorous collections, and hadith specialists have discussed its strength; the practice itself is old and widespread.

Surah Al-'Asr on this site

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Surah Al-'Asr, The Passing Time

Surah Al-'Asr on this site

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