Surat Al-`AÅŸr (The Declining Day) – سورةالعصر
بسماللهالرØمنالرØيم
By time,
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.
I have heard from a scholar before that the above chapter is indeed enough of an admonition for mankind. The first two verses of this chapter are what Sister Sadaf draws our attention to by calling to the reality of this work in more detail with Quran 57:20
Know that the life of this world is but amusement and diversion and adornment and boasting to one another and competition in increase of wealth and children – like the example of a rain whose [resulting] plant growth pleases the tillers; then it dries and you see it turned yellow; then it becomes [scattered] debris. And in the Hereafter is severe punishment and forgiveness from Allah and approval. And what is the worldly life except the enjoyment of delusion?
Allah describes the life of this world as amusement, adornment, boasting to one another, competition, and diversion. Let’s go through Sadaf’s breakdown to truly understand the loss we’re in.
First, this world is described as amusement, play.
Think about how games are played – Candy Crush. Temple Run, PS5, PS4 popular games – Call of Duty, FiFA etc. It’s like a drug. You begin and then you can’t stop. It’s time for Salat and you’re trying to quickly finish the game with an online competitor and others are egging you on. You’re agitated, driven or what we like to call, sadly, ‘Having fun’. Playing or not, everyone is hooked on the euphoria of the win. That is this world. It toys with us. Egging you on to win. But what exactly?
Second, the world is described as a diversion.
Imagine you’re driving on the road, and something comes onto your path and distracts you. What happens? A head-on collision or, if we are fortunate, a near miss. That’s what this world is. That distraction, that diversion. And aren’t we so easily diverted by the different offerings and distractions life throws at us? Changing lanes from right to left to follow the excitement and the new ‘happening’ thing. She narrates a story from Ibn Kathir, where there was a time when the Prophet Sallallahu Alayhi wa Sallam was giving a lecture and then somebody arrived honking his wares and it diverted the people from the sermon Subahnallah.
Allah says:
Surat Al-Jumu`ah (The Congregation, Friday) – سورةالجمعة
But when they saw a transaction or a diversion, [O Muhammad], they rushed to it and left you standing. Say, “What is with Allah is better than diversion and than a transaction, and Allah is the best of providers.”
How often do we respond to the honk?
Next, decoration.
Allahu Akbar, we know this. Our love for beautiful things.
We love our houses to have all those beautiful, fantastic frames and flowers.
We love to see our clothes dragging on the floor in colours and things.
We love to look at the mountains and the oceans.
Instead of taking our time to understand the majesty of what this is, what do we do?
We are diverted. We are moved.
We take glorious pictures that we put up on our walls and screensavers. Share evidence of all the fine places we travelled for the world to see in real-time.
We travel 1st/business class and lodge in the most beautiful abodes.
This is a world of beauty and decoration.
And it distracts. Oh, how it distracts.
Mutual boasting
With our wealth, status, noble authority and air, our children, beauty…name it. ‘I have more kids than you, more cars than you, we have doctors in our family…, professors in mine…’
‘I schooled here, my child goes there’, right from when we are children. ‘My mother is…My father is…I am…I have… We are…’ The world is one of mutual boasting and right on its heels, contention. Because how do you not compete with others to have the right to boast yes?
Competition is here
You start to keep up with the Joneses. You want to have what Susan Susu has. I want to be what Susan Susu is. If someone has done something and everyone’s talking about it, we’re going to do it bigger and louder. Social media aids us in contention more than anything. In the past, we didn’t know what other people had, now, know them or not, here’s a window to see, so, of course, we want to be like and move like those people. Competition in worldly gains diverts us from the more serious things until we enter the graves.
That is this life. Today there’s a plant and a flower, beautiful. Everyone is rushing to that flower. Tomorrow it withers. Autumn will come. It will fall off the leaves. The plants will dry.
We are babies. We are beautiful. We are carried. Bought the best clothes. We grow up-long hair for some, strong limbs for others. And then we are in our prime – money, jobs, travel, family, diversion. Next, we start to bend over. To wrinkle, fight for age and to keep being young. But it comes, whether we want it or not, the cycle of life. And we fall back into the ground.
This is who we are. This is what this world is.
Think about it. Allah has placed us in this place of play, decoration, mutual boasting, contention and diversion and says, ‘Here is where you are, can you stay focused and get over there?’ The more we remember this, we should ask ourselves what we want. Painful torment or the forgiveness of Allah and His pleasure?
She ends this chapter with a beautiful Hadith that I hadn’t heard before. It’s recorded by Ibn Majah. She says, and I quote, ‘Uqba Ibn Amir al-Juhani (Radiyallahu Anhu) narrated that the Prophet, Sallallahu alayhi wa Sallam said, ‘Allah will admit three to paradise by the virtue of one arrow:
1. The one who makes it while seeking reward by making it well.
2. The one who shoots it.
3. The one who hands it to him.
He then said, shoot and ride. And if you shoot, then that is dearer to me than if you ride. Everything that a Muslim man does for entertainment is in vain except for shooting arrows, training his horse and playing with his wife. For these are things that bring reward
Arm yourself with an arrow that provides for you – your worldly needs and jihad. Shoot it for these purposes, to provide for yourself and loved ones and to defend. Don’t just ‘ride’ through the world; this might not be a sin, but to act is more beneficial and dearer.
The ones who help others to ‘shoot’ right in this world, making and passing it on – our parents, teachers, trainers and guides will be rewarded for sharpening and gifting this arrow.
And the only amusement is that you play with your wife. Subhanallah. Subhanallah. May Allah guide us all aright and bless us with steadfastness and beneficial knowledge. Ameen