العصر Al-Asr
وَالْعَصْرِ (1) إِنَّ الْإِنسَانَ لَفِي خُسْرٍ (2) إِلَّا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالْحَقِّ وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالصَّبْرِ (3)
(1) By time,
(2) Indeed, mankind is in loss,
(3) Except for those who have believed and done righteous deeds and advised each other to truth and advised each other to patience.

In Surat Al-Asr
-Whenever we read Quran, we must 1st ask Allah to protect us from the cursed Satan.
-Whenever we read a Surat we should 1st say “Besm Allah Al-Rahman Al-Rahim” except Surate Al-Tawba.
-We should take the sayings of Allah in the Quran seriously.
-When Allah make an oath before His sayings we should take it very seriously.
-Only Allah can make an oath invoking any of His creation. Muslims are forbidden to invoke other than the names of Allah when making an oath.
– Allah started by making an oath with the “Asr”. It could mean the Asr prayer, the time between Dhuhr and Maghrib; a particular period of time or all the time of the universe.
– Allah used two Arabic expressions to emphasize the statement after the oath that every human is in a state of loss except those who do 4 things: (a) believe; (b) do good deeds; (c) advise the truth; and (d) advise patience.
– Iman can be summarized in the elements of believing in the heart & mind that: a) Allah sent b) Angels with c) Holly Books to d) Prophets & Messengers to tell us about e) Qadar or Fate & Destiny in this life and f) Life after death & the Day of Judgement.
– Iman should be manifested in the behavior & actions of the believer.
– Allah who is merciful & forgiving still rewards Muslims for their good deeds even if Iman is not yet strong in their hearts.
– Allah has names & attributes as revealed to prophet Mohamed. We should not think that Allah is like any of his creation. For example Allah hears but we should not imagine that He has ears like any of his creation. We should be concerned that we don’t say bad things that Allah hears. Allah sees but we should not visualize that He has eyes like any of His creation. We should be concerned that we don’t do bad things that Allah sees.
– True believers believe in Allah and His messenger without any doubt and struggle for His sake with their wealth & their own self and against their own desires.
– Belief in Allah includes certainty in Allah as the only creator & controller of everything, acceptance in Allah as the only one worthy of obedience & worship and conviction in Allah’s names & attributes as revealed to prophet Mohamed & to behave according to them.
– Belief in prophet Mohamed take account of acceptance of all his authenticated narrations & Ahadith.
– Believers need to join with each other to advise themselves and others to follow the truth of Iman and its manifestation in doing good deeds & obeying Allah the Lord & Master and avoid falsehood with its disobedience to Allah.
– Believers who behave according to Allah commands and advise others to do so will face rejection, ridicule, discrimination and abuse from the wicked societies they live in. Therefore, believers need to support and advise each others to be patient in the face of these difficulties.
– Believers need to help each other to overcome the hardship to behave as per Allah commands and to resist temptations of disobedience to Allah.
– Believers need to be patient and steadfast when faced with difficulties in life as well as when having plenty of Allah’s gifts and material things.
– Believers should be patient and not rebel against Allah when stricken by present disasters. Believers understand that Allah give them the best with His infinite wisdom and mercy. Things could be worst and what seems to be bad is a blessing in disguise.
– Believers should not resent Allah when remembering past tragedies.
– Believers should have the mindset to be patient in the future knowing that themselves and their dear ones like all humans are subject to disease, accidents and death.
– Ignorance is not an excuse. We have to learn Allah’s massage to us. We need to practice in our life all the knowledge that we learned because we are accountable before Allah regardless we know or not.
– The real test is the test of life that we are living now. The result of our behavior test will be announced before all creation on the Day of Judgment. That is a serious realty to live according to.

Please, be ready for the practice exam May 21. Study Guide to be posted May 14 Inshaa Allah.