Al-'Asr 103
TimeHow to read the Hangul
الرَّحْمَٰنِ르r라흐마니 بِسْمِ비스밀
- Bold = the stressed syllable of the word; a little stronger.
- Overline = long vowel (madd): hold it about two beats. Length matters most in recitation.
- Tiny = no vowel in the Arabic here — just the consonant, short.
- Small Latin letter = a sound Korean lacks, on the next syllable: f upper teeth on lower lip · θ/ð tongue tip between the teeth · r rolled tongue tip (a bare ㄹ is l).
How to read the Hangul
beginning the Christ salvation
- Bold, larger (ˈ) = say it strong and a little longer — the stressed syllable.
- Faint = weak and short (a reduced vowel). Don't give every syllable equal weight.
- Tiny 으 · 트 · 스 = barely voiced. English has no vowel there — stop on the consonant.
- Whole word faint (the, of, and, to…) = light and quick in a sentence; stress the content words.
- Small f v θ ð r = sounds Korean doesn't have — f: upper teeth on the lower lip; v: the same, voiced; θ/ð: tongue tip between the teeth; r: tongue curled back, touching nothing.
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Surah
About this surah
Classed as a Meccan sura, it has only three verses. It opens with a brief oath, 'By time!' The second verse makes a broad statement about the human condition: man is in loss. It speaks of humanity as a whole rather than of a particular group. The third verse names those who are excepted from this loss and describes them by four qualities: they believe, they do righteous deeds, they urge one another to the truth, and they urge one another to patience. The first two concern a person's own faith and action; the last two concern what people encourage in each other. In this compact form, the sura ties together time, human loss and the way out of that loss.
- An oath by time
- Human loss
- Faith and righteous deeds
- Urging truth and patience
The name It is named after 'time' (al-'Asr), the single oath that forms verse 1.