Al-'Asr

Name The Surah takes its name from the word al-'asr occurring in the first verse . Period of Revelation Although Mujahid, Qatadah and Muqatil regard Surah Al-'Asr as a Madani Surah, a great majority of the commentators opine that it is Makki; its subject matter also testifies that it must have been sent down in the earliest stage in Makkah, when the message of Islam was being presented in brief but highly impressive sentences so that the listeners who heard them once could not forget them even if they wanted to, for they were automatically committed to memory. Theme and Subject Matter This Surah is a inimitable specimen of comprehensiveness and brevity. A whole world of meaning has been compressed into its few brief words, which is too vast in content to be fully expressed even in a book.