SURAH AL-ASR — History Bears Witness

proper use of this potential. On the contrary, mankind has taken to the path of loss. This happened not because God fated it to, but because man has not understood God’s creation plan. Instead of following this plan, he developed his own road-map of his life by himself. And because of this self-created problem, he fell into loss and ruin. God has created mankind as potentially successful beings. Man should determine the purpose of his life in the light of God’s creation plan. He should make God, who is his Creator and Lord, his sole concern. He should reserve feelings of love and fear only for God. He should worship God alone. He should abide by the ethical principles laid down by God. He should model his personal and collective life on the basis of the plan set by God. He should understand the world to be a testing ground. He should make success in the Hereafter his target. He should desire for Heaven and greatly fear Hell. This is what is desired of man. But history tells us that most people have failed to become the desirable beings that God wanted them to. Instead of leading their lives in a way which would have made them acceptable to God, they failed miserably and fell into great loss. This chapter of the Quran is a warning. It warns man to save himself from the blunder of not becoming the sort of person who is desirable in God’s eyes. It tells man that he should become among those fortunate people for whom the doors of Heaven will be opened in the Hereafter. o Disunity Disunity stems from everyone putting themselves first and wishing that their utterances be given supremacy, no matter what the circumstances. If no one considered themselves superior, what would there be to quarrel about?