Surah Al-'Asr: The Four Pillars Of Salvation For Humanity

Surah Al-'Asr: The Four Pillars of Salvation

As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu. My dear respected brothers and sisters in Islam, As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu.

This very well-known surah, very brief surah, Allah has revealed in the Qur'an.

Imam Shafi'i rahmatullahi alayhi says that if this was the only surah and the only ayah that were revealed, and that was the entirety of the message of Allah, that would be the entirety of the Qur'an — it would have been sufficient for the salvation of mankind, if we would ponder over this surah. The Sahaba radhiyallahu anhum ajma'een, many times when they would meet one another, and when they would depart from one another, and if they had an opportunity to remind one another in brief, they would recite this surah as a reminder.

Allah Swears by Time

Allah in this surah swears by time. And Allah is the source of all time, and He is the one who is bringing the different conditions upon mankind, as Rasulullah ﷺ mentioned in a hadith, that Allah says in a hadith of Qudsi:

"Do not curse time, for indeed I am time."
(Sahih Muslim, Book 39, Hadith 6663)

Allah is the one who is in charge of time, and is the one who is bringing the different conditions upon us. Yes, the actions of human beings that are taking place in a particular time may be good or may be bad, but time itself we should not curse. We should not say the times are bad, or that the dahr itself is corrupt — rather, our actions are. Allah says:

"Corruption has appeared throughout the land and sea by reason of what the hands of people have earned." The corruption that is in the earth is because of our actions, not because time itself is inherently evil.

Another interpretation of swearing by time is the fact that the history of the centuries that have passed themselves bear testimony to that which Allah is mentioning in the following ayat. If you go through history, go through the pages of time, you will find this to be an irrefutable truth, a reality of our life and our existence.

Mankind is in Utter Loss

"By time. Indeed, mankind is in [a state of] loss. Except for those who have believed and done righteous deeds and advised each other to truth and advised each other to patience."

Verily, all human beings, all mankind, all humankind is headed towards utter loss. This is such an arresting proclamation Allah is making, Allah is declaring — it is so serious, and it should wake us up. Allah is talking about utter loss, utter destruction for all of humankind.

إِنَّ الْإِنسَانَ لَفِي خُسْرٍ — There can perhaps be nothing more disastrous and more destructive. It is not a few people — all of humankind are heading towards utter loss, utter destruction.

Then Allah makes an exception, and the exception is for the few, those who have these four attributes:

• إِلَّا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا — those who believe
• وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ — they do righteous actions
• وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالْحَقِّ — they invite one another, encourage one another, they exhort one another towards haqq, towards the truth
• وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالصَّبْرِ — they exhort one another towards sabr, towards patience

That is the meaning from this verb of tawasaw, from tafa'ul — to each other. They are exhorting, encouraging one another towards haqq, towards the truth. And they are exhorting one another, encouraging one another towards sabr — towards not just patience, but sabr in its entirety of squashing the nafs and going against the nafs.

The True Meaning of Sabr

Sabr means to squash the nafs and to push it down and to not follow its dictates — clamping down on it, habsul nafs. That's the actual meaning of sabr. Typically, when we use the term sabr, we are always referring to being patient, and of course that is a big part of it — patient at the time of trials, at the time of tribulations, at the time of difficulties.

But sabr is actually squashing down the nafs. There are three forms:

1. Sabr in fulfilling the obedience of Allah — fi ta'atillah — going against the nafs in obeying Allah
2. Sabr in avoiding the disobedience of Allah — going against the nafs in staying away from ma'asillah
3. Sabr at the time of calamities — going against the nafs at the time of trials

At the time of calamities there are things we are supposed to do and things we are supposed to avoid — both. What we are supposed to say and what we are not supposed to say. What we are supposed to believe and what we are not supposed to believe. Rasulullah ﷺ has defined that for us.

When his baby was passing away in his lap, he said:

"Verily, the eyes shed tears, and the heart is filled with grief, but with the tongue we will not say anything displeasing to Allah."
(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1303)

So, to be pleased with whatever the decree of Allah is — to have ridha bil-qadha, to be pleased with the decree of Allah.

These are the four things. We have to remind ourselves — the stakes frankly could not be greater. If we do not have these four, then it is pretty much destruction. Allah did not leave much wiggle room here. He took an oath when He did not need to. And in the most emphatic language, with so much emphasis, He said, إِنَّ الْإِنسَانَ لَفِي خُسْرٍ. There is a lot of emphasis in this grammatical structure that Allah uses for this sentence.

The First Pillar: Iman

إِلَّا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا — except those who have iman. The reality of iman is to have the conviction — unwavering conviction, without any shadow of a doubt, without any shade of a doubt, without any rayb.

"This is the Book in which there is no doubt."

The reality of iman is la yaqbalush shak — there is no room for doubt in iman. To have the tasdiq bi jami'i ma ja'a bihin nabiyu ﷺ — to have the conviction from the bottom of one's heart in the truth of the entire message conveyed to us by Rasulullah ﷺ. Whatever he has narrated to us on behalf of Allah as a messenger of Allah — that it is the truth, it is the ultimate truth. When it makes sense for us, we submit to it. When it does not make sense to us, when it is beyond our understanding, we still submit to it. With complete conviction.

As Abdullah ibn Rawaha radhiyallahu anhu said:

"The Prophet ﷺ showed us a path of guidance when we were lost in our blindness, in our dalalah, in our ignorance. Now our hearts have complete conviction that every single thing he has narrated to us on behalf of Allah — anama qala waqi'u — it will definitely come to pass. It will occur."

The reality of iman is that it cannot remain hidden — it will manifest itself outside through the body parts. Imanun ma waqqara fil qalb — the reality of iman is that which must penetrate the bottom of the heart, but saddaqahul amal — the actions that come from the body parts will testify to it, will prove it.

The Twin Pillars: Iman and Amal Salihat

إِلَّا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ — they have iman and they do righteous deeds. This pretty much includes everything. But then Allah specifically points out two more — which are already good deeds and are already included in the word عَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ — but they are specifically highlighted because of their importance.

One is the effort of iman, and one is the effort of amal. These first two are the most important ones — the actual twin pillars: belief and practice. In many places in the Qur'an, Allah just lists these two. He doesn't go on and mention number three and number four. For example:

And:

"Whoever does righteous deeds, whether male or female, while being a believer — We will surely cause him to live a good life, and We will surely give them their reward in proportion to the best of what they used to do."

If the question is asked — are tawasub bil haqq and tawasub bil sabr good deeds or bad deeds? Everyone will agree they are not bad deeds, they are good deeds. There are no two opinions about it. So if they are good deeds, then are they not already included in عَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ? They are included — just as if you said إِلَّا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ and then mentioned that they pray salah, give zakat, and do hajj — that's already included in amal salihat.

So why are three and four specifically mentioned? Because they will help us in one and two. Tawasub bil haqq will help us in iman, and tawasub bil sabr will help us in amal salihat. This is known as takhsis ba'dat ta'mim — specifically mentioning something after it is already included in the general wording that precedes it.

For example, if you say ja'al qawm — the tribe came, the group came — that means the whole group came. And then after that you say ra'eesuhum, their leader, their ameeruhum — you are specifically mentioning them despite the fact that they were already included in the general wording before, to add emphasis. This is what we see here.

How Pillars Three and Four Strengthen Pillars One and Two

The words of haqq include all of the realities of our iman, the articles of our faith — the maghibat, the iman billahi wa mala'ikatihi wa kutubihi wa rusulihi wal yawmil akhiri wal qadri khayrihi wa sharrihi minallahi ta'ala wal ba'thi ba'dal mawt. This is all haqq. As Rasulullah ﷺ used to repeat in his tahajjud du'a:

"O Allah, You are the Truth, Your promise is the truth, the meeting with You is the truth, Paradise is the truth, and the Fire is the truth."
(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1120; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 769)

All of these things are haqq. So tawasub bil haqq — the more we speak about these articles of faith, the more we invite one another — if we do not have the courage to go and speak to random people in the street, give them da'wah, or even colleagues at work or classmates at school, then those children who Allah has entrusted in our care and granted us this amanah — who we are otherwise teaching everything about life, from how to clean themselves to how to eat and how to go to school — why can't we start at least making tawasub bil haqq with them?

"O you who have believed, protect yourselves and your families from a Fire." Save yourselves and your family from the fire of Jahannam. So we can start with tawasub bil haqq right there. That's a very easy place to begin.

Whose iman will increase? Ours. And whose iman will gain strength? Ours. And we will be implanting iman, insha'Allah, in the hearts of these children of ours.

Once a person has understood the haqq and knows the right path, then we need the ability to implement it in our lives, to follow through with it. There are two steps. If you want to go from point A to point B, first of all you have to know how to get there. Second of all, after that, you have to have the desire and the ability to actually tread the path.

So tawasub bil haqq will develop one's iman — a person now knows what is haqq and batil, what is the path pleasing to Allah and displeasing to Allah, what is the path to Jannah and Jahannam. But how are we going to have the inner strength to follow through? That is where sabr is required — habsun nafs, squashing down the nafs.

Number four is linked with number two. That is where the amal saliha will come into existence. A person doesn't know why he has to pray or how to pray — tawasub bil haqq will help. After a person knows, but the nafs is dragging a person away from salah — tawasub bil sabr will squash the nafs, and insha'Allah the amal saliha will become strong.

Conclusion

With the combination of these four — which have now been summarized into the first two — we will, insha'Allah, be saved from the destruction that Allah began the surah by proclaiming. May Allah protect me and you and all of us from this khusr azeem, this great destruction that all of mankind is headed towards, and grant us the reality of iman and amal saliha and the effort of iman and amal saliha.

وَآخِرُ دَعْوَانَا أَنِ الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ

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Jazakumullah Khair.