Sunday, January 25, 2009

Qur'an: The Declining Day

In the name of God, the Lord of Mercy, the Giver of Mercy

By the declining day, man is deep in loss, except for those who believe, do good deeds, urge one another to the truth, and urge one another to steadfastness.

*declining day: old age? sadness? misfortune? what?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

"declining day" is an odd translation--the arabic is Al-Asr and actually means late afternoon (it is also prayer time for muslims--though that is not the reference for this surah) but can also mean the idea of "time through the ages"
In Islam, people are inherently good. All people are born in goodness. As we (babies)grow, we develop ego, pride, selfishness and we move away from our "goodness". Those who practice faith, right actions, patience etc can return to that inherent goodness and strengthen it. Life is transitory--so we should make the best use of it by making the right choices.

Anonymous said...

I forgot to mention---We are reading back to front and these surahs act as intro to monotheism--When the Quran is read from front to back, some of these surahs act as summation points. They often yeild deeper meanings which are fun to discover.