103- AL-ASR
THE DECLINING DAY
A Makkan sūrah, al-ʿAṣr most likely follows Sūrah 94, al- Sharḥ, in the chronological order of revelation. It takes its title from the first word, al-ʿaṣr, which can be understood to mean the late afternoon (hence the translation declining day), the last hour of the afternoon, the entire afternoon, the later afternoon prayer, or a period of time in the sense of an epoch. It is said that whenever two Companions of the Prophet would meet they would not Part Company until one of them had recited al-ʿAṣr in its entirety and one of them had given greetings of peace to the other. When viewed in relation to the previous sūrah, ʿaṣr can be understood as a reference to time in general, meaning that vying for increase (102:1) prevents people from spending their time in the most beneficial manner and that the blessing of time is that for which people will be questioned (102:8). From one perspective, these three short verses contain the entire message of the Quran, namely, that human beings are in loss unless they turn to God. In this vein, the famous legal scholar al-Shāfiʿī is reported to have said, “Were the people to ponder this sūrah, it would suffice them”.
(source: “The Study Quran” a new translation and commentary by Seyyed Hossein Nasr)
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