"She gasped for air. She couldn't breathe. The water was forcefully rushing into her lungs through her nose and mouth. She struggled to swim to the surface against the mighty waves. But the waves were too strong for her. Come to think of it, she did not even know how to swim properly. But she frantically made every effort to swim. Yet, she kept sinking deeper and deeper. She could no longer see anything around her. She could not even scream. She was losing consciousness. She was drowning.
Was this is a dream? Or was the life she was living just moments ago a dream? She could not make sense out of things. Nothing made sense to her. How did she get here? Her life began to play before her eyes, fast forward. She was partying and living it up. She had everything one could dream of – friends, loved ones, a career, money, fame and freedom– she was having the time of her life. She had her whole life ahead of her... No worries!
But no! She snapped back to reality. She was in the middle of the sea,drowning. And she only had seconds to live. How did she get here? Was that a dream? Or is this a dream? She struggled to make sense out of things. She could no longer think clearly. She felt her strength leaving her body. Her mind was becoming foggy. Suddenly, an arm grabbed her hand firmly and pulled her up. Was she going to be saved? She felt her strength coming back. She made an effort to swim once more. She broke through to the surface. She gasped. Finally, she could breathe. She was overwhelmed with gratitude. It was her friend who had saved her. They both looked around. She realized there were others around them who were also drowning. She saw her family, her friends... Some were struggling, some did not even realize yet that they were drowning and were still in deep sleep, and some were almost giving up, losing hope. She knew they had to save others. They could only make it to the shore together. They called out to others and swam towards them with every ounce of strength that they could muster. They did not even know how they could possibly rescue them, or even their own selves. But they still moved every muscle, and motivated each other to hang on and be patient. They hoped that the shore would be near."
"I SWEAR BY THE TIME, MOST SURELY MAN IS DROWNING IN LOSS. EXCEPT THOSE WHO BELIEVE AND DO GOOD, AND ENJOIN ON EACH OTHER TRUTH, AND ENJOIN EACH OTHER PATIENCE." (Surah Al-Asr)
Welcome to reality. Imagine this scene. The truth is that we are all drowning... except those who wake up and realize that time is running out, and they are drowning. What do you do when you realize that you are drowning? You go back to sleep again? No. You make every effort to swim and save yourselves at any cost, even if you don't know how to. Once you manage to reach the surface, you realize that your loved ones are drowning too, and you try to pull them up too no matter what it takes. You know you have got to be patient. You know they have got to be patient against all odds.That is the crux of what Allah tells us in the Quran through Surah Asr, which is in essence a reflection of the main theme of the entire Quran.
Whenever the companions(Sahaba R.A.) would meet, they would not leave each other without reciting Surah Asr to each other. Why? They felt this is something extremely important to remind each other of constantly. Imam Shafi (ra) said, "If people only reflected on this Surah, it would encompass them." It would be enough for them. "If this was the only thing that was revealed, it would have been enough." What is so powerful in this Surah that made him say that?
"Asr" literally means "time that is running out". It comes from "Aseer", juice that is squeezed out. We all know that all human beings are rich in one asset that is more valuable than any other wealth and that is 'TIME'. The wealthy, the poor, the healthy, the sick, the Rulers, the beggars - everybody has 24 hours. Allah distributed time equally among everyone. Everybody has one thing that they have total control over, and that is time. Time is slowly but surely slipping away from our hands. And Allah (SWT) swears by that 'TIME' that you and I are drowning in loss because we are watching time slip away, and not making the most of it. What's interesting is that we have not been told how much time we have got left. That is a mystery to everyone.
What we have been told is that we need to get to the shore at every cost. How? By doing good deeds and acts of kindness. By just making an effort to be the best person that we can be and making the most of what we have been blessed with.And it does not end at that. We need to wake others up and save them as well. Allah starts with the idea that we are in loss and drowning alone and ends with the idea that we cannot survive unless we stick together and unite. Unfortunately,we are being fed on this modern idea that we should live nuclear and independent lives. We should just adopt the attitude of "live and let live" "Jiyo aur Jeenay do" "mind our own business" and "survival of the fittest". But no, Allah tells us in this Surah that our survival is interdependent. We need to swim our way together, to the shore. Saving just our own selves is pure selfishness on our part. In fact,we cannot even survive alone. And that is not even the way of the Prophets and companions(R.A.). Otherwise, Islam would just be confined to doing acts of personal worship in isolation. There would be no concept of interpersonal relations or a society consisting of individuals who care for one another and strengthen each other like bricks of a wall.
And the most important point is that in this Surah, Allah does not tell us how to get an A+ grade. This Surah is not for high achievers. Allah just conveys to us the bare minimum that we need to do in order to pass in the test of life. Anything less than that,and we are losing. Imagine you are sitting in your final exams. Will you be frantically filling the answer sheets and using every cell of your body to pass or will you be sitting around doing nothing?In this world,we dont know what questions we will get, whether our examiners will be fair, or which answers are required from us in the exam. But imagine, Allah has told us everything! The questions, the answers, the syllabus-it is an open book test! And there is a hundred percent guarantee that we will be judged fairly. But we are sleeping throughout the exam. When will we wake up?
