Surah Al-‘Asr 103:1

وَالْعَصْرِ﴿١﴾ إِنَّ الْإِنسَانَ لَفِي خُسْرٍ

103:1-2 Al-‘Asrالْعَصْرِmeans time, succession of age, afternoon or evening. Al-‘Asrân are the night and the day (Lisân; Tâj). Dahr is another word for time. The difference between al-‘Asr and al-Dahrالدهر is that in the former the time can be counted and estimated whereas the latter can neither be counted nor estimated. The word also refers to the time of the Holy Prophet (pbuh). In an authentic saying he compares his own time to ‘Asr or the afternoon (Bukhârî). “The human being is pursuing a losing bargain” إِنَّ الْإِنسَانَ لَفِي خُسْرٍ is a reminder that little time is left to make up for the loss when he has to stand before his Lord and account for his deeds. Little time is left to free him from the distress and remorse that awaits him if he continues to go after the temptations of worldly joys and forgets thereby his obligations towards his fellow beings. It will not be an easy job to pursue that spiritual goal, as it will require patience and perseverance.

In addition there are other words in the Holy Qur’ân that refer to time, they are moment (waqt), day (yaum), daytime (nahâr), night (lail), the age (dahar) as discussed above, eternity without beginning (azal), eternity without end (abad), which are in fact negation of beginning and end. Smallest possible time, which is no more divisible is also called “day” (yaum) or the” day of event” (yaum al sh’an; كُلَّ يَوْمٍ هُوَ فِي شَأْنٍ; 55:29). This inifinitisimal little time what we call “now” is passing.

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