Ramadān Qur’an Gem 29 {103:1-3}: ”Survival vs Success”

Bismillah

Survival vs Success

By Al-‘Asr (the time). Verily, man is in loss. Except those who believe and do righteous good deeds and recommend one another to the truth and recommend one another to patience.

{Surat Al-Asr 103: Verse 1-3}

• In Surah Al-Asr, Allah (Subhanahu Wa Ta’aala) says that man is in loss except those who meet the 4 conditions as stated in the third ayat. By presenting this ayat in the form of exception, we learn that those who will not be in loss are not going to be a lot of people.

• In the third ayat, notice that between these 4 actions is the word “’and” not “or”. Allah (Subhanahu Wa Ta’aala) didn’t say “Except those who believe, or do righteous good deeds, or recommend one another to the truth etc.” What it means is that we have to meet all four conditions in order not to fall into the group of people who are in loss.

• Other surahs mention Jannah, but this surah doesn’t talk about higher level of success. The focus is to meet these four conditions and anyone who doesn’t meet this is in loss – a failure. The surah is talking about survival, escaping the Hellfire. This is the urgency of this surah.

• Success vs survival, what’s the difference? We can’t talk about success until we’ve secured our survival first. Imagine we’re in a building which is on fire. To escape, we have to get through four doors first. Until we’ve unlocked all four doors, we don’t have the time to worry about anything else. But once we have secured our survival, then we will be able to work on attaining success.

• This surah also teaches us that being good on our own isn’t enough. Iman & doing good deeds, that’s what we do on our own. But getting the truth to other people and telling others to persevere and remain committed – these involve others. This includes inviting people to the Deen, giving people counsel & advice, enjoining good, forbidding and standing against evil. We cannot be just a Muslim within our own little circle.

May Allah (Subhanahu Wa Ta’aala) make us of the people of the exception, who are not in loss. -theidealmuslimah.com