103- Surat Al-Asr/Tafseer
3 Verses Meccan (revealed in Mecca)
A'auzu Bellahi mena alshaiytani alrajeem
I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan
Besmi Ellahi Alrhmani Alraheem
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
Wa al-asr (1).
By time.
Enna al-insana lafi khusr (2).
Indeed, mankind is in loss.
Ella allazina amanu wa amelu al-salehati wa tawasaw bil-haqqi wa tawasaw bil-sabr (3).
Except for those who have believed and done righteous deeds, and advised each other to truth, and advised each other to patience.
Simplified interpretation:
Surat Al-Asr comes to clarify the straight path for man in the worldly life, and when Allah, Almighty swears an oath, this means the importance of the issue that He will talk about, so man must pay attention to the importance of something.
Allah Almighty says in the first verse (1) "By time", that is, Allah swears by time (Al-Asr), and time has many interpretations; as some scholars said that Allah swears by the time in general, and some said that it means night and day, while others said that it means the era of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) as it was a decisive era for all mankind.
And there are some scholars who went behind these interpretations and said that Allah swears by time of Al-Asr prayer "Afternoon prayer", for Allah says in Aya (238) of Surat Albaqarah {Maintain the prayers and the middle prayer}, and the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said in narration of Sumurah bin Jundab: "The middle prayer is afternoon prayer i.e. Asr prayer" (Jami Altirmidhi 2983). Whether the interpretation of Al-Asr means time in general or in a specific time e.g: night and day or the Prophet's era, or the time of afternoon prayer, it remains a unit which constitutes the human life in general, and reflects the movement of man to do good or bad deeds.
Allah Almighty says in the last two verses (2,3) "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", that is, Allah assures that the son of Adam is in loss and destruction, except for the believers, and Allah confirms that they have four interrelated features, the first feature is that they believe in Allah, then the second one is that they do righteous deeds, and these two features (faith and righteous deeds) are related to the individual's own deeds.
While the following two features are related to the society around them, as the righteous people advice one another, whether they receive the advice or preach others, so they exhort one another to the truth, and most commentators said that the truth means advising each other to act according to what Allah has revealed in the Holy Quran by following his commands and avoiding His prohibitions. And Allah urges the believers to invite to all that is good, enjoin what is right, and forbid what is wrong, as He has stated in Aya (104) of Surat Ali Imran {And Let there be from you a community inviting to good, enjoining the right and forbidding from the wrong, and those are the successful}.
The fourth feature is that the believers exhort one another to the patience, and this means that they advise each other to be patient in order to attain good, and refrain from evil. The patience was mentioned along with the prayer as a means of seeking help to reach obedience of Allah, as Allah says in Aya (45) of Surat Albaqarah {And Seek help through patience and prayer, and indeed, it is difficult except for the humble ones}.