بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
-> At-Tabarani recorded:
كَانَ الرَّجُلَانِ مِنْ أَصْحَابِ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ ﷺ إِذَا الْتَقَيَا، لَمْ يَتَفَرَّقَا إِلَّا عَلَى أَنْ يَقْرَأَ أَحَدُهُمَا عَلَى الْآخَرِ "سُورَةَ الْعَصْرِ" إِلَى آخِرِهَا، ثُمَّ يُسَلِّمُ أَحَدُهُمَا عَلَى الْآخَرِ
Whenever two men from the Companions of the Messenger of Allah used to meet, they would not part until one of them had recited Surat Al-`Asr in its entirety to the other, and one of them had given the greetings of peace to the other.
-> Imam Ash-Shafi'i said:
لَوْ تَدَبَّرَ النَّاسُ هَذِهِ السُّورَةَ، لَوَسِعَتْهُمْ
If people were to ponder on this Surah it would be sufficient for them.
Theme of the Surah: The Value System
It is animal nature to pursue what we perceive to be beneficial and avoid what we perceive to be harmful. All animals do this, and human beings are also animals. For example, animals would hunt and search for food because they perceive food to be beneficial.
We say "perceive" because perception of benefit or harm, or in general the perception of value - how valuable we consider something - is subjective. Meaning, what one person thinks is valuable may be of not much value to someone else.
Example:
If we were asked to choose between the two pictures, normal people who have lived in society would choose gold. But, if you offer this choice to a toddler who has not grasped the concept of currency or money, it is more likely that he would go for the wooden toy, because it seems more beneficial to him because he wants to play with.
Our own understanding of value is sometimes influenced by our environment. The reason we think the gold bar is important because we learnt it is a rare element.
Let's take this example a bit further: Consider that this wooden toy is made by your mother and then she passed away. This is the only thing you have left from her. You would value it even more. You, who would have chosen gold before, would go for the wooden toy. Your perception of value changes again. The value you attach to that object changes again. When you have different reference system, a different criteria, a different way of thinking, a different judgement process, then how valuable one thing is changes or is different from person to person.
We know actions are driven by intentions, and that is why Islam emphasizes intentions so much, but we sometimes overlook that intentions are driven by our evaluations. Because it is animal nature to choose what we perceive is valuable and beneficial, whatever you think is beneficial and valuable, you would intend and want. Every single moment in our daily life we are constantly weighing and judging the value of a certain course of action.
E.g. When you saw the poster for today's talk. You think: Is it more valuable for me to attend this talk or is it more valuable for me to stay at home? Is it more valuable for me to go eat food at a restaurant?
You have all kinds of possibilities presented in front of you and then you do that evaluation. The result of that evaluation leads to an intention and that intention leads to an action.
Every single moment we are asking ourselves when we are presented with a choice: Will this benefit me? And if I think it will benefit me, how will it benefit me? What we prioritize is what we believe to be more valuable.
What is the reference system of the vast majority of people? How do they evaluate matters? For them, it is mostly based on the social environment. You value gold because everyone else values gold. They take the existing established evaluation system that has perhaps been there for a thousand years and they are in this social environment so they adapt and assimilate themselves to it. It does not require much effort, you just need to conform. You do not have to think for yourself and you do not have to be different. We love to be coherent with our environment. We want to be the same as everyone else even when sometimes we know we are right and everyone is wrong. We want to be accepted. So that is what most people are doing, including many Muslims. The way we dress, the way we talk, the kind of entertainment we involve in, the kind of lifestyle we uphold, are all influenced by the social environment - what people take to be valuable. But when we go read the stories and figures in the Qur'an, a Book that is intended by Allah to direct all apects of human actions, to define values for you, we find that many of the widely shared and perpetuated perceptions of human value do not apply. For example, in most human societies, to be respected and loved by people reflects value and to be hated by people repels value. To own property and have a stable residence is considered a form of value, and to be homeless is valueless. But then we have the example of Ibrahim عليه السلام whose people hated him. This is the total opposite of what people consider valuable. But Allah says about him in Surah an-Nisa [4:125]:
"And who can be better in religion than one who submits his face (himself) to Allah (i.e. follows Allah's Religion of Islamic Monotheism); and he is a Muhsin (a good-doer). And follows the religion of Ibrahim (Abraham) Hanifa (Islamic Monotheism - to worship none but Allah Alone). And Allah did take Ibrahim (Abraham) as a Khalil (an intimate friend)."
Allah evaluates based on a different set of standards and criteria.
Similarly, you would think Yusuf عليه السلام has no value because he was sold as a slave and thrown into jail. In human society, we do not value people who have been thrown into jail, even if they come out. As long as you have been thrown into jail, you lose value. But Allah narrates the story of Yusuf عليه السلام and called it أحسن القصص (the best of stories).
In human society, we think highly of formal education and degrees. We would despise someone who does not know how to read and write, yet Allah chose someone who does not know how to read and write as a Prophet and a role model for all of mankind.
You can be broke, homeless, in prison, and can still be very significant and valuable to Allah.
But if you truly want to be valuable to Allah, you need to know Allah's value system. You need to liberate yourself from what everyone else thinks is valuable and implement what Allah thinks is valuable. And this is something we should do. The word "Islam" is not just limited to submission of actions; total submission should also include submission of your values. Whatever Allah says is important, you attach value to it, and whatever He says is not important, you disregard it. We should internalize this divine value system. If you can evaluate from this set of standards, you have attained true liberty. How? You can do things that other people laugh at but still feel happy and fulfilled because you know it is valuable to Allah - and if it is valuable to Allah it is valuable. If you do not have something everyone is competing to attain, if you understand that divine value system, you would not feel anxious or have that burning desire to have what everyone else has.
Thinkers who have tried to understand the purpose of existence have come to this conclusion. An Author said: Someone who has true virtue and understands the meaning of life, even if the entire world praises him, he does not feel proud. Even if the entire world slanders and criticizes him, he does not feel bad about himself or humiliated. He knows the difference between inside and outside; the difference between true dignity and humiliation.
Basically, he has his own reference system. He does not depend on people anymore. And This is freedom.
This divine value system is concisely presented to us in Surah Al-'Asr. If you know this Surah you will be able to evaluate everything in your life.
Verse 1:
وَالْعَصْرِ
"By time,"
When Allah swears, two things are being said:
1) What I am about to say next is very important.
You never swear for an insignificant issue.
2) The object that I am swearing by is also very important.
Putting aside the fact that Muslims can only swear by Allah, even non-Muslims do not say, "I swear by this banana". No one swears by anything that has no value.
Time is very important. What are the characteristics of time?
a) It flows one way and never comes back. Yesterday will never come again, this particular moment will never come again. Whatever you're doing is combined with your time and is being recorded.
b) Our time is limited.
Al-Hasan Al-Basri said:
ابن آدم إنما أنت أيام، كلّما ذهبَ يوم ذهب بعضُكَ
O son of Adam, you are but a number of days. Each time a day goes past, a part of you has gone.
The unit of your existence is measured by time, and a person's life from an Islamic perspective is not measured by how many years he lived but how well he utilized his time.
The connection between value system with time: The result of your evaluation is manifested by how you distribute your time. You can say that prayer is valuable to you or that family is important to you but how you distribute your time is a much more honest manifestation of how you evaluate things. If that is not in line with what Allah sees as valuable, then the conclusion is:
Verse 2:
إِنَّ الْإِنسَانَ لَفِي خُسْرٍ
"Indeed, mankind is in loss,"
Allah did not use the verb and say "إن الإنسان ليخسرون" (I.e. Indeed human beings are losing). He said they are in a state of loss, which means they are surrounded by loss wherever they go, whoever they are. All humans are surrounded and submerged in a state of loss (في الخسر). It is like the fundamental property of human beings to be in loss. If you look at all the verses in the Qur'an which mention the characteristics of human beings, you will find that all these evidences are a supporting evidence that human beings are in loss.
What does loss mean?
1) Something belongs to you and then you do not have it anymore.
2) You put in a lot of effort but what you obtain is less than what you invest.
What are the characteristics of the losers in the Qur'an?
- In Surah Al-An'am [6:31-32]:
"They indeed are losers who denied their Meeting with Allah, until all of a sudden, the Hour (signs of death) is on them, and they say: "Alas for us that we gave no thought to it," while they will bear their burdens on their backs; and evil indeed are the burdens that they will bear!"
"And the life of this world is nothing but play and amusement. But far better is the house in the Hereafter for those who are Al-Muttaqun (the pious). Will you not then understand?"
- In Surah Yunus [10:45]:
"And on the Day when He shall gather (resurrect) them together, (it will be) as if they had not stayed (in the life of this world and graves, etc.) but an hour of a day. They will recognise each other. Ruined indeed will be those who denied the meeting with Allah, and were not guided."
- In Surah Hajj [22:11]:
"And among mankind is he who worships Allah as it were, upon the very edge (i.e. in doubt); if good befalls him, he is content therewith; but if a trial befalls him, he turns back on his face (i.e. reverts back to disbelief after embracing Islam). He loses both this world and the Hereafter. That is the evident loss."
If we link these four verses together, we see a pattern in loss - it has to do with both this world and the next. People who deny the Hereafter and pay little attention to it are in loss, because in the Hereafter, they will realize, as the Prophet ﷺ said:
اللهم لا عيش إلا عيش الآخرة
O Allah, there is no life except the life of the Hereafter
Liberalism tells you to be happy as long as you are not harming others. But if one enjoys a worldly amusement and another person imagined that he enjoyed this enjoyment, tomorrow comes and there is no difference between these two people. It all remains as a memory. If you are using all your time, energy, effort, talents, skills, for things in this world, they will eventually vanish. You are investing a lot but you do not get any gains.
In these two verses, Allah firmly and authoritavely states that all of humans are in loss. It is a warning and reminder to wake up: If you do not truly see what is valuable and act according to it, you are wasting your life and you are losing. You need to know what is fake and what does not matter, and you need to know what matters.
Many wise people have realized the vain nature of this world, whether Muslim or non-Muslim. Jean Jacques Rousseau, one of the most prominent French thinkers during the 18th century and someone who is considered one of the founding formers of western democracy, said: "When we consider, on the one hand, the immense labours of mankind, the many sciences brought to perfection, the arts invented, the powers employed, the deeps filled up, the mountains levelled, the rocks shattered, the rivers made navigable, the tracts of land cleared, the lakes emptied, the marshes drained, the enormous structures erected on land, and the teeming vessels that cover the sea; and, on the other hand, estimate with ever so little thought, the real advantages that have accrued from all these works to mankind, we cannot help being amazed at the vast disproportion there is between these things, and deploring the infatuation of man, which, to gratify his silly pride and vain self-admiration, induces him eagerly to pursue all the miseries he is capable of feeling, though beneficent nature had kindly placed them out of his way."
In simple words: You try so hard to gain misery and pursue things which make you feel bad. When you make money, you want to make more money. When you get a promotion, you are looking for the next position. It brings more and more insatisfaction, desires, and pain.
But this world is not pointless; it is where you cultivate. A farmer only reaps his crops in autumn, but it does not mean that whatever he does in spring and summer is in vain. Similarly, this life is where we invest effort for our harvest in the Hereafter.
If a person is in transit, he does not spend all his money there and totally forget his destination. It is okay to stop, take a few pictures, but you have to always keep an eye on your destination. In order to not be in loss, you have to use your time wisely, and this is why Allah swore by time. And there are four conditions for you to make good use of time, all which are in line with the divine value system:
Verse 3:
إِلَّا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالْحَقِّ وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالصَّبْرِ
"Except for those who have believed and done righteous deeds and advised each other to truth and advised each other to patience."
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