Al-ʿAṣr
Makkan Period
In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate
[1] By the time!1 [2] Lo! Man is in a state of loss; [3] save those who have faith and do righteous deeds, and counsel each other to hold on to truth and counsel each other to be steadfast.
1. “Time” here refers both to the present and the past. To swear by time amounts to saying that both man’s past and present bear witness that the statement which follows is absolutely true.