The Four Keys To Salvation In Surah Al-Asr

Surah Al-Asr: The Four Keys to Salvation

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds, and peace and blessings be upon the Seal of the Prophets and Messengers, and upon his family and his companions, the purest of the purest, and those who follow them with kindness and support. In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

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

The Most Comprehensive Surah

This very, very beautiful, short, comprehensive surah that we all know, and that we all learned in our childhood — one of the first surahs that we learned. Perhaps the three shortest surahs: Surah Al-Ikhlas, Surah Al-Kawthar, and Surah Al-Asr.

We all learned it in our childhood. It is one of the most comprehensive surahs in the Qur'an. Imam Muhammad ibn Idris Al-Shafi'i Al-Muttalibi rahmatullahi alayh said that if this was the entirety of the Qur'an — if this is all that Allah revealed, and nothing beyond this, if the whole Qur'an was only one surah, not 114 surahs, the remaining 113 surahs were never revealed — as a great 'alim, as a faqih, as a mufassir, as a muhaddith, Imam Al-Shafi'i rahmatullahi alayh, from the tabi' al-tabi'een, founder of the Shafi'i madhhab, he says that he firmly believed this would have been sufficient for the hidayah of mankind.

This is all that is needed for the salvation of humanity, as guidance from Allah, and everything and every other ayah and surah that was revealed beyond this is an additional gift from Allah. That is how comprehensive this beautiful surah is.

That is why it was a normal practice of the Sahabah ridwanallahi ta'ala alayhim ajma'een: when they would meet and greet each other, when they would come together and then depart, as an advice to one another, as a reminder to one another, they had this frequent habit of reciting this surah. And giving this tazkirah, as Allah says:

And the reminder is beneficial for the believers. When someone would depart from his beloved ones, if someone is going out on a journey — like many will be leaving for Hajj soon insha'Allah — or going for any other journey, the perils of journeys are there today but were definitely much greater in the past. And just like the perils of childbirth are still there today, mortality for the mother or the child, but in the past it was much higher. So whenever they would go out on a journey, whether for tijarah, for business, or whether for Hajj, or any other purpose, they would also recite this surah as a parting advice. Such a beautiful history of this surah.

Reflection, Not New Information

In this surah, Allah reminds us — and perhaps this is not new information, as I began by reminding all of us that this is a surah we all learned. And I pray and I hope, in fact I believe confidently, that we didn't just learn the words — I'm sure we also learned the translation. So sometimes the issue is about learning new information. We go to learn something we didn't know before. And other times the objective is not necessarily to learn new information, but rather to contemplate how much of it is in our lives. So this would be of the second category.

Where, hey, we already know the translation — what's there new that you're going to share? But rather it's an opportunity for us to contemplate and reflect. It's an opportunity for us to think and ponder: how much of this reality is in my life?

Allah Swears by Time

Where Allah says — number one — He takes an oath by time. Allah swears by time. When it comes to us, the prohibition from Allah is that we cannot swear by any of His creation. We can only swear by Allah. By His name or by His attributes. By His Dhat or His Sifat. But Allah here is swearing by time.

And whenever there's an oath taken, there's a link between the qasam, the oath, and that which is being substantiated or proven or emphasized through the oath. So over here when Allah says He swears by time, then He says — which is a very dangerous statement, a very all-inclusive statement that puts everything in focus and wakes us up to a very dire reality, and in fact may even be considered a morbid fact — that إِنَّ الْإِنسَانَ, verily all human beings, the entirety of the human race, لَفِي خُسْرٍ, is in utter, complete destruction.

Allah does not need to take any oath. Allah does not need to add any emphasis or ta'kid. Because His statement is the truest of all true statements.

Whose words can be truer than Allah? Whose words can be more correct and accurate than Allah? And lying is something which is muhal, impossible for Allah — not impossible because of any external threat or any external force that will compel Him to speak the truth, but because He has adopted that Himself. There is no ilzam or compulsion from anyone that you must speak the truth. But rather it is iltizam — He has taken it upon Himself never to speak a lie. This is an 'aqidah issue.

And subhanAllah, Allah, so many ayat in the Qur'an where He speaks about how truthful He is. Like He says:

Verily Allah does not break His promises.

Same concept: إِنَّكَ لَا تُخْلِفُ الْمِيعَادَ — Verily You do not make khilaf, contrary to what You have promised. Oh Allah, إِنَّكَ لَا تُخْلِفُ الْمِيعَادَ. Allah does not break His promises regarding the future, and likewise regarding an incident of the past — whatever the nature of the sentence may be, He does not lie. So if He says it, it's sufficient.

The Etiquette of Qur'anic Recitation

And when we begin reciting the Qur'an, we seek the protection of Allah from Shaytan. As Allah has said:

Say, I take Your protection, O Allah, from the whisperings of Shaytan. Which is a general ayah. But specifically He says:

When you begin the recitation of the Qur'an, seek the protection of Allah from Shaytan Al-Rajim. So we start with:

And at the beginning of the surahs we recite:

And one mas'alah for us to benefit from — this may be under the category of something we may learn as well as a reminder — is that بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ is one of the most general du'as possible. And just like الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ is one of the most general du'as possible — very, very broad application. Because at the beginning of anything that is good, righteous, helpful, deen or dunya wise, we can say, we should say rather, بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ. And at the completion of which we can say, or we should say, الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ.

So any of the specific du'as that are there, you'll find this component in the beginning — the بِسْمِ اللَّهِ component — and at the end, the الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ component, and then there'll be additional words. Like before sleeping:

Oh Allah, with Your name, I die and I come to life. The بِسْمِ اللَّهِ component is there. When waking up it's:

The rest of the du'a makes it more specific. But the gist of it is the hamd. That الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ, all praise to Allah, أَحْيَانَا بَعْدَ مَا أَمَاتَنَا — who has brought us in a state of wakefulness like life after death. And just like we're waking up now, one day we'll wake up from our graves. So you wake up with the concept, remembering the Day of Judgment. Then how will the rest of your day follow? It will be a different type of day.

Before eating we say:

And after ending the meal:

So the hamd component is there. All praise to Allah who has given us food to eat and drink. And He has made us Muslim. You didn't just take the shahada now. But why وَجَعَلَنَا مُسْلِمِينَ? Yes, I ate and I drank, I thank Allah for that. But the blessing that requires more thanks, that is greater than the food and the drink and even the air, is the blessing of Islam. وَجَعَلَنَا مُسْلِمِينَ.

So بِسْمِ اللَّهِ is all-inclusive. But أَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ is actually specific for the tilawah of the Qur'an. أَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ has some applications — where for example two people were arguing. The Prophet, peace be upon him, said: "I know of such a word — if he would say it, his anger would dissipate, it would go away." What is that?

Seeking the protection of Allah from Shaytan has certain applications. But ritually reciting it at the beginning of every 'amal — is that specific for the Qur'an? Not even for hadith. So this sometimes happens when in different ta'lim halaqat etc., people say أَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّجِيمِ بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ — that's actually not the correct usage. It's not some major sin, no major kabira happened. But it's actually the incorrect usage. أَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ shouldn't go before a hadith. And if it's not hadith, then forget about tafsir and fiqh, and forget about any other deeni book, and forget about any dunyawi book. So this ritually reciting أَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّجِيمِ is khas for tilawat of the Qur'an.

Because the recitation of the Qur'an is such a means of drawing the mercy of Allah and such a means of spiritual elevation, there's a specific attack of Shaytan to stop you from it. That's why you need to recite this.

And the reason I was mentioning the beginning and end is because when we are reciting the Qur'an there are certain things we say in the beginning and certain things we say at the end. And I wanted to mention the one at the end — and at the end is what?

And that's what we were talking about — that Allah is the most true. And when we finish reciting the Qur'an we remind ourselves and say: Allah the Great has spoken the truth. So sometimes we reaffirm what's going on. Like in the ruku', we say سُبْحَانَ رَبِّيَ الْعَظِيمِ. Then when we come up we say سَمِعَ اللَّهُ لِمَنْ حَمِدَهُ. This is just a bayan of a waqi'. Meaning this is reaffirming what happened. What does سَمِعَ اللَّهُ لِمَنْ حَمِدَهُ mean? Allah has heard the one who praised Him. Yeah, He heard — whether you say it or you don't say it, He has heard. But by saying it you are reaffirming the reality and reminding yourself that I just said سُبْحَانَ رَبِّيَ الْعَظِيمِ. Now I'm saying سَمِعَ اللَّهُ — sami'a means to hear. Allah has heard who? The one who praised Him. Now if I remember He's hearing me, I want to praise Him in a different manner. Because He's listening to me. He's there, I'm praying to Him. It's not some rehearsal where He's not there — He would be there for the rehearsal too. Nothing can escape Him.

So likewise, just like سَمِعَ اللَّهُ لِمَنْ حَمِدَهُ, the same concept is صَدَقَ اللَّهُ الْعَظِيمُ — Allah has spoken the truth. So He does not lie. What we are talking about here is the fact that He doesn't need an oath. He doesn't need a ta'kid. He says it, it's done. But for our sake, to wake us up, for us to pay attention.

Al-Bidayah wal-Nihayah: History and the Knowledge of the Future

Now whether we are paying attention or not, that's for us to reflect upon. But He went out of His way to add how many forms of emphasis? Keep counting — multiple. I don't know if I can actually go through all the levels of the ta'kid here. Which is one of them — I'll mention some of the obvious ones. First is the fact He took an oath. وَالْعَصْرِ — I swear by time. And why by time? It's because time is testifying to the truth of what is to follow. The pages of history are an evidence of this, as well as the pages of the future — because we don't only have history, we also have accurate knowledge of the future. SubhanAllah.

This reminds me of a very beautiful point. We have such a unique book of history, which no other nation has, no other culture has, no other civilization, no other theology has — which is Hafiz Ismail ibn Umar ibn Kathir rahmatullah alayh. His monumental work, which is known throughout the world, is Al-Bidayah wal-Nihayah. You may have heard the name, Al-Bidayah wal-Nihayah.

So this is such a strange book. Because if you want to classify — like where does it go in the library, is it fiction or non-fiction? Obviously non-fiction, right? It's not fiction, it's not stories. And in the non-fiction, there are so many different categories — where are we going to put it? We're going to put this under the history section. So it falls under history. But it's such a unique book of history, Al-Bidayah wal-Nihayah, from the beginning till the end.

So history — he starts from, where does the history start from? اللَّهُ كَانَ وَلَمْ يَكُنْ مَعَهُ شَيْءٌ. Volume 1, page 1, line 1. That Allah existed and nothing existed besides Him. Like from that time — nothing existed besides Allah, وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ. ثُمَّ خَلَقَ الْقَلَمَ وَخَلَقَ اللَّوْحَ. Then He created the Pen and the Tablet. فَقَالَ لِلْقَلَمِ: اكْتُبْ مَقَادِيرَ الْخَلَائِقِ. Then He told the Pen, start inscribing everything that will happen till the end of time. فَبَدَأَ الْقَلَمُ يَكْتُبُ. The Pen started inscribing. ثُمَّ خَلَقَ الْعَرْشَ وَالْكُرْسِيَّ. Then He created the Arsh and the Kursi. These are the beginning of creation. So it starts from there.

Wow, that's a very interesting place to start your history book. But then after that, much later you come to Adam alayhissalam. Thereafter, you have all the Anbiya. You have your Aad and Thamud and Nuh alayhissalam — no, Nuh alayhissalam first, then Aad and Thamud, etc., etc. Ibrahim alayhissalam, Khalilullah, then Musa alayhissalam, Kalimullah, then 'Isa alayhissalam, Ruhullah. And then you come to Muhammad, Rasulullah, peace be upon him. You have the entire seerah. Then after the seerah, you have the Khulafa' Al-Rashidun: Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali. Then you have Hasan r.a. — the six-month Khilafah. Then Mu'awiyah r.a., Banu Umayyah, Banu Abbasiyyah. All the way to his time.

But any historian can only write till his time. But there's the nihayah — till the end. What's the end? The ending point — it's not his time. What's the ending point? After that he talks about the signs of the Day of Judgment. Alamat sughra, minor signs. Alamat kubra, major signs. You have the story of Imam Mahdi. And you have, subhanAllah, Dajjal, Ya'juj wa Ma'juj, and the Dabbah, and the beast, and the fire from the east, and the sun rising from the west. And all of these signs. Then you have the description of the Day of Judgment in detail. The blowing of the trumpet, and the entire description of the Arsh, who's going to have the shade under the Arsh, and the Mizan, and the weighing of the deeds, and the Kawthar, and every single depiction of the scenes of the Day of Judgment. Then the Sirat, then Jannah or Jahannam, then خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا أَبَدًا — they will reside therein forever. That's the nihayah.

So we have knowledge of the future as well, when nobody else has. How do we have this knowledge? From wahi, from Allah. So Allah is truthful regarding everything He said in the past, and Allah is also truthful regarding everything He said in the future.

And when He says this, وَالْعَصْرِ — He swears by time — He's swearing by what? The entirety of time. So all of the time in the past, and all of the time in the future, it testifies to the truth of what is to follow. And what is to follow — may follow perhaps next week, because we're almost done now.

The Surah of Al-Asr: Multiple Levels of Emphasis

وَالْعَصْرِ — what does He say? Verily all of humanity is heading towards utter loss. The whole jumlah ismiyyah is ta'kid, meaning emphasis. All of these words, each one — the لَـ has a ta'kid, فِي خُسْرٍ is emphasis upon emphasis — up to 11 different forms of emphasis. And then He makes an exception. Except for those who have iman, who believe; وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ, they do righteous actions; وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالْحَقِّ, وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالصَّبْرِ. And they invite one another towards haq, and they invite one another towards sabr.

The Four — Really Two — Keys to Salvation

So how many points are there here for us to reflect on? Of course we can imagine there's so much more to follow. But if I have within one minute to wrap up, I will say, subhanAllah, that over here what's worth noting is إِلَّا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ — except for those who believe and do righteous deeds — وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالْحَقِّ وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالصَّبْرِ — invite one another towards truth, and invite one another towards patience.

So there are four things mentioned here. And there are only four — not 40, not 400, four. You think that's few? Actually it's not even four. It's less than four. From these four it boils down to actually two. Only two of the four. Which are the two? It's آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ. To believe in one's heart, and to do righteous deeds.

What? You're cutting out two words of the Qur'an? وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالْحَقِّ — you said it doesn't matter? Yeah, of course it matters. But then you just said two of the four. Why? Because وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالْحَقِّ — inviting towards haq — is that a good deed or a bad deed? It's a good deed. So it's already included. وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ includes وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالْحَقِّ. وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ already includes وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالصَّبْرِ. Because iman and عَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ — belief and doing righteous deeds — so inviting towards haq is a good deed, included in عَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ. Inviting towards sabr is a good deed, included in عَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ.

But they're specifically being mentioned. This is something called tafsilun ba'da ijmal — meaning something is already included, but then it's specifically highlighted for a reason. Because you have to have the correct belief inside the heart, and you have to act accordingly with the body parts. So acting with the body parts is عَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ. Having the correct belief inside is iman.

The fasiq may have iman inside, but he doesn't practice accordingly. The munafiq is practicing outside, but he doesn't have iman inside. And the Muslim and the mu'min is the one who has iman inside and is practicing عَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ.

وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالْحَقِّ وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالصَّبْرِ is mentioned even though they're already good deeds — to identify: how are you going to develop your iman, and how are you going to develop your عَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ? What's the way to achieve the above two? Because at the end it's only two.

So وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالْحَقِّ — the more we speak about haq, invite towards haq, remind one another about haq. Haq meaning:

The more we make تَوَاصَوْا بِالْحَقِّ, give da'wah towards haq, إِلَّا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا — number one will go up, the iman will get stronger.

And how do we strengthen our a'mal? It's وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالصَّبْرِ. Because sabr, by the way, it doesn't just mean patience. Because when you say sabr — oh yeah, that's when somebody dies, you're patient, in the first and second jumu'ah. Or somebody dies, you'll be patient. No, no, sabr is much broader. Sabr is habsun nafs — it's to restrain the nafs. And restraining the nafs in doing good deeds, restraining the nafs عَنِ الْمَعَاصِي — to abstain from sins. And restraining the nafs at the time of musibah and calamity, which is the commonly known sabr, patience. So sabr is going to help in عَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ.

So these are the two keys to achieve the two above. Number one, number two, number three, number four — three and four help us achieve one and two. At the end of the day, the gist of the four is the first two. And the tariq al-wusul — the way to achieve the first two — are also identified.

May Allah give me and you and all of us tawfiq. That we do not be among the إِنَّ الْإِنسَانَ لَفِي خُسْرٍ side. But rather we are among those — إِلَّا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ — those who believe and do righteous deeds. And how we achieve them? How do we achieve the iman? Through وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالْحَقِّ. And we achieve the a'mal through وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالصَّبْرِ.

Alhamdulillahi rabbil 'alamin.

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