103. Sūrat Al-Asr · The Declining Day

By the ˹passage of˺ time!

By the declining day,

CONSIDER the flight of time!

By the time of the beloved (Prophet).

By the passing time (whose rotation bears witness to the affairs of mankind). Or By the Prayer of declining day (‘Asr, for this Prayer is the middle of all Prayers). Or By the declining time of the day, (when the sun, after shining for the whole day, presents the sight of its setting). Or By the holy era of the Prophethood of Muhammad (blessings and peace be upon him), the sole objective and the most coveted achievement of all ages historic as well as pre-historic, and of all times to come

Surely humanity is in ˹grave˺ loss,

Lo! man is a state of loss,

Verily, man is bound to lose himself

Undoubtedly, man is necessarily in loss.

Indeed, man is at a loss (for he is losing his valuable lifetime)

except those who have faith, do good, and urge each other to the truth, and urge each other to perseverance.

Save those who believe and do good works, and exhort one another to truth and exhort one another to endurance.

unless he be of those who attain to faith, and do good works, and enjoin upon one another the keeping to truth, and enjoin upon one another patience in adversity.

But those who believed and did good deeds and stressed one another to accept truth and counseled one another to be steadfast.

Except for those who believe and do good deeds and exhort one another to truth and exhort one another to patience (in the face of hardships and afflictions that are faced whilst preaching the Din [Religion] of truth)