Fleeting Time

Wal-'Asr, "by the afternoon", is also translated, "by the fleeting time". It is usually in the afternoon that people become aware of how time is running away, how there is not much left of the working day. They feel the pressure to finish what must be done today before it is too late.

There is a similar feeling in autumn, especially in the North when the days quickly become shorter and darker. As the autumn storm blows the golden and red leaves off the trees and the animals get ready for hibernation, people feel the joy and gratefulness for the harvest but they also become aware of another year having gone by and of the transistoriness of all things. Days of remembrance, even secular ones, have therefore been scheduled for this season. At the same time, the thought of transistoriness is not popular in modern age because it is linked with the fear of the inevitable that cannot be managed by human ingenuity, with the fear of loss. The transformation, for example, of the traditional Catholic "All Saints' Day", a solemn day of remembrance, into the secular Halloween is symptomatic for the attempt to channel these fears into something funny and to repress the thought of one's own mortality.

In Arabia where the Qur'an was revealed, the seasons are different, consisting mainly of dry and wet phases. In local agriculture, the dry season would be associated with death and rain with life. The Qur'an repeatedly points out how God "sends down rain from the sky to revive the earth after its death". But in any case the afternoon evokes a feeling of urgency, no matter whether one's occupation is in agriculture, crafts or trade. The Prophet's contemporaries were well acquainted with the experience: look at the afternoon, the fleeting time, and you become aware of transistoriness and loss. At the time of this revelation, the people of Makkah had just experienced an economic boom. Being preoccupied with material gain, they certainly did not like to be reminded of loss. Meanwhile they were losing their time, rushing past the meaning of their lives in a way rather similar to our own hectic age.

Being a businessman himself, the Prophet could very well see the point of economic activities. They are, however, not an end in themselves but a means to acquire the sustenance necessary for a dignified life in which we can unfold our human qualities and become what we are meant to be.

Let us pause for a while to reflect.

Human life on earth usually last about seventy or eighty years, and the older we become, the faster time seems to rush by, just like in the progressing afternoon or autumn. Every minute, the remaining time becomes less and we feel that we lose moments of our precious time.

"Not so those who have faith and work towards order and peace ..," says the Qur'an. A first pious impulse might direct our thoughts to the Hereafter where time does not matter any more, where the struggle is over and peace reigns. But is that what the Qur'an is trying to teach us here?

Complete otherworldliness would just be the opposite of materialism and just another extreme that contradicts our purpose of life. It is no coincidence that, in our prayers, we ask for "the good in this world and the good in the Life to Come", that the leading principle in Islamic law is Sa'âdah fid-Dârayn, "happiness in both realms", i.e. both in our life on earth and in the Hereafter, that our most central prayer is for guidance "on the straight path" during our journey in time and space. Especially this surah, while not denying the Life to Come, therefore emphasises the antidotes for loss in this life: faith, good actions and mutual support. It is precisely our struggle for order and peace, our faith that God created a meaningful world and our responsibility is to preserve and cultivate it, and our mutual encouragement on this path that give an additional quality even to the fleeting days on earth. Far beyond physical sustenance, it is the vision of hope that gives us the strength to deal with the forces of destruction, that enables us to live a fuller life in spite of any adversity, that makes it possible for us to taste every minute with gratitude, enjoying the colours of the falling leaves and the changing shades of the afternoon sky, knowing quite well that we will eventually return to our creator.

Let us therefore remind and encourage each other.

Haqq is truth and justice. Let us be truthful with ourselves. With the wonderful potential we have been given, we are part of a fabric that provides both possibilities and limitations for us, both sustenance and challenges that promote the growth of our humaneness. Justice implies giving each created being its rightful share, keeping our eyes open for the needs of other human beings, animals and plants, but also of our own body, mind and soul.

Sabr is patience and constancy. Let us strengthen each other by providing hope and comfort, by sharing joy and sorrow, by being trustworthy friends and reliable partners, by helping each other to overcome disappointments and by patiently and relentlessly working towards reconciliation and healing.

God, how lonely is the path unless the hope for You is my travelling companion, and how far is the journey unless the hope for You is my guide! Those who rely on others than You are bound to be disappointed and those who lean on a pillar other than Yours are bound to remain weak.
My God, I ask You as one who knows about the deepest depth of Your knowledge and about all the good that a faithful person is to perform, and I seek Your protection against all evil and all temptations that You protect Your friends against, for You are the Mighty Friend.

Our Creator and Sustainer, give us the good in this world and the good in the life to come.
Our Creator and Sustainer, forgive the men and women who surrender to You and the faithful men and women, both the living and those who passed away.
Our Creator and Sustainer, make our spouses and children a source of comfort for us and let us be examples for those who are God-conscious.

The supplication (first paragraph) was transmitted from Ali b. Abī Tālib.

(c) Halima Krausen, 2005