Surah Al Asr is one of the earliest chapters of Holy Qur’an–that was revealed in Makkah. Having just three verses, Surah Al Asr is considered to be the essence of entire Holy Qur’an because it serves as a great means of salvation containing focus towards the four basic qualities that are crucial to apply in one’s life in seeking the pleasure of Almighty Allah. As every true believer of Almighty Allah knows that life on earth is temporary and its real purpose is based on seeking the pleasure of Almighty Allah and living one’s life according to Allah’s commandments, The Almighty Allah, the merciful says in the Holy Quran in Surah Al-Asr:
وَالْعَصْرِ⃝إِنَّالْإِنسَانَلَفِيخُسْرٍ⃝إِلَّاالَّذِينَآمَنُواوَعَمِلُواالصَّالِحَاتِوَتَوَاصَوْابِالْحَقِّوَتَوَاصَوْابِالصَّبْرِ⃝
Translation: “By time, indeed, mankind is in loss, except for those who have believed and done righteous deeds and advised each other to truth and advised each other to patience” [Quran, 103: 1-3]. In this Surah,Allah takes an oath on ‘Time’and impresses upon that mankind is in sheer loss and only those people are an exception from the loss who are characterized by four important qualities:
(1) Complete faith— Faith in Allah and His Attributes, faith in the Hereafter and Reckoning, reward and punishment, the Divine Books and the prophets.
(2) Righteous deeds.
(3) Exhorting one another to Truth, and(4) exhorting one another to Patience.
In Islam, we believe that following the teachings of Holy book of Qur’an (The Word of Allah) and our beloved Prophet Muhammad (SAW) serve as a guiding light to live life of peace, prosperity, happiness, justice and in best way for service to humanity through pleasure of Almighty Allah. Following the Qur’an (The Word of Allah) and teachings of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) serve as an ideal motivation and guide in fulfilling the true purpose of life and fulfilling our dreams and aspirations in this world in a rightful, truthful and humanity-serving way.
Allah sometimes approves and strengthens His Verses through vows, He sometimes uses the names of some beings when He vows to indicate the importance and value of these beings for man. Allah manifests excellence of Time to make us understand that every moment is significant for success. This Surah is a complete specimen of guidance and brevity. A whole world of meaning has been compressed into its few brief words, which is too vast in content to be fully expressed even in a book. In it, in a clear and plain way it has been stated what is the way to true success for man and what is the way to ruin and destruction for him. Imam Shafi (RA) has very rightly said that if the people only considered this Surah well, it alone would suffice them for their guidance and mentorship. How important this Surah was in the sight of the Companions of Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W) can be recognized from the tradition cited from Hadrat Abdullah bin Hisn ad-Darimi Abu Madinah, according to which whenever any two of them met they would not part company until they had recited Surah Al-Asr to each other (Tabarani). A professional’s main goal must be to seek the pleasure of Allah through whatever graces and blessings he has been endowed upon by Almighty. The noble work you do for the pleasure of Almighty Allah and for the benefit of humanity is always worth full and a way towards seeking HIM. Allah has blessed you with the amazing potential and so He has found you to potentiate that noble work. Take it as a blessing from Almighty Allah and in His pleasure – find your pleasure and be positive. To realise success in your any dream – Faith in Almighty Allah and Faith in Self are important. But don’t ever let your Faith in Self overpower your Faith in Almighty. If it happens so, you may land into trouble as your Faith in Self has roots and control from your Faith in Almighty Allah.
Remember! When the work you do brings you closer to Almighty Allah and build in you strong faith towards Him, do realise that you are in right direction and preaching towards enlightenment and success. Moreover, to realise a dream you will have both right and wrong direction to fore. It depends upon you which one you choose. But ensuring right direction to a dream will bring you success as well as make you fulfil the true purpose of life (pleasure of Almighty Allah). If you ensure wrong direction to your dream – you will fail to accomplish the true purpose of life. It will be worth to mention here that you will be able to give right direction to a dream by imbibing true guidance, good character and values – by following the teachings of Almighty Allah and His beloved Prophet (SAW). In Islam, we believe that following the teachings of Holy book of Qur’an (The Word of Allah) and our beloved Prophet Muhammad (SAW) serve as a guiding light to live life of peace, prosperity, happiness, justice and in best way for service to humanity through pleasure of Almighty Allah. Following the Qur’an (The Word of Allah) and teachings of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) serve as an ideal motivation and guide in fulfilling the true purpose of life and fulfilling our dreams and aspirations in this world in a rightful, truthful and humanity-serving way.
(The author is a Physician, Educator and Founder/Director J & K Innovative Foundation for Transforming Society –JKIFTS. The views, opinions, facts, assumptions, presumptions and conclusions expressed in this article are those of the authors and aren’t necessarily in accord with the views of “Kashmir Horizon”.)
