سُورَةُ العَصۡرِ
Surah 103 - Al-Asr
The Declining Day, Epoch
- 3 verses
- Juz 30
- Page 601 of the Mushaf
Al-Asr holds in three verses. The first is an oath cut down to a single word, that of Time. The second states a loss and refers it to humankind, with nothing excepted yet. The third brings the exception and details it in four terms: believing, doing what is good, then two mutual recommendations, one bearing on truth, the other on patience. The last two are said one after the other on the same verb form. The surah thus moves from oath to statement, then from statement to what escapes it. It is one of three surahs in the Mushaf that have three verses.
The main parts
The text of the surah
بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ وَٱلْعَصْرِ
By time,
إِنَّ ٱلْإِنسَٰنَ لَفِى خُسْرٍ
Indeed, mankind is in loss,
إِلَّا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ وَعَمِلُوا۟ ٱلصَّٰلِحَٰتِ وَتَوَاصَوْا۟ بِٱلْحَقِّ وَتَوَاصَوْا۟ بِٱلصَّبْرِ
Except for those who have believed and done righteous deeds and advised each other to truth and advised each other to patience.
What is surah Al-Asr about?
Of a loss stated as general, and of what makes an exception to it. Two verses are enough for the statement; the last, the longest, lists who comes out of it. The text develops none of its four terms: it names them and stops.
How is surah Al-Asr built?
In three sentences, one per verse: an oath, an assertion, an exception. The last verse alone carries close to two thirds of the words, and its final two terms rest on one verb, taken up unchanged.
What does surah Al-Asr name in its last verse?
Four things, in this order: faith, good deeds, then two recommendations people make to one another, the first about truth, the second about patience. The last two use the same verb, repeated unchanged.
Is surah Al-Asr the shortest in the Quran?
Not on its own. Three surahs have three verses - Al-Asr, Al-Kawthar and An-Nasr - and none has fewer. Counted in words, leaving aside the opening formula, Al-Kawthar is the briefest of the three: ten words against fourteen here.
Why is surah Al-Asr called that?
“Al-Asr” names time, and more precisely a stretch of time that passes. The name is the word the oath of the first verse bears on. It appears nowhere else: the two following verses do not come back to it.
How many verses does surah Al-Asr have?
Surah Al-Asr has 3 verses. It stands at number 103 in the order of the Mushaf, which holds 114.
The Arabic text is that of the Mushaf. The summary, the outline and the answers on this page describe the text and how it is built: they are not religious commentary.