Surah Al-‘Asr · Part One By Time, Loss, and Entropy

Why does the Quran swear an oath by time? Part One connects the “squeezing” meaning of al-‘asr with the arrow of time, entropy, and humanity's default condition of loss.

An hourglass, sundial, and fading daylight beneath the Milky Way — Concept art · time, compression, and the irreversible direction of change

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Key Takeaways (Part 1)

Time can be stretched and squeezed: modern physics challenges the idea that time is constant.
‘Asr implies squeezing: pressing until essence is extracted; late afternoon “squeezed daylight” becomes a metaphor for time itself.
Loss as an environment: “mankind is in loss” reads like an inescapable default condition.
Entropy as a lens: in bounded systems, usable energy declines and disorder increases—time “squeezes order out.”

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Part 2 answers the question Part 1 ends with: if entropy drives unavoidable loss, why does the Qur’an claim an exception?

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Transcript (Part 1)

Most people think that time is constant but physics proves it can be stretched and squeezed as our universe expands. The brakes on time are coming off, accelerating the loss of everything we know. The Quran opens one of its shortest chapters with a powerful phrase often translated as "by time," but the Arabic word Al-Asr has a deeper meaning.

Its root relates to squeezing, pressing something until its essence is forced out, like juice. Juice is called in Arabic 'aseer. Al-Asr refers to the time of day that is being squeezed—the late afternoon when daylight is disappearing. Time feels compressed. At an even deeper level, Al-Asr refers to time itself—the passage of the day being slowly pressed away.

Then the next verse says, "Indeed mankind is in loss." Not that humanity has lost, not that people are losers, but that we are inside loss, as if loss is our environment that we live in.

Interestingly, physics describes something very similar in thermodynamics. Any system with boundaries, such as a living room, a body, or even the universe, naturally loses usable energy over time. This is called entropy.

Entropy means disorder increases, not because something evil has happened, but because time itself moves forward. Physics tells us that the arrow of time only points one way: toward more entropy, more disorder. There is no way to make usable energy increase in a closed system, which means there is no way to go back in time. Time squeezes the order out of everything.

Imagine placing a cup of hot water beside a cup of ice-cold water on a kitchen counter. At first everything is very orderly—fast-moving molecules here, slow-moving molecules there. But over time both move towards room temperature. No one caused it, yet order was lost.

Time squeezes order out of systems. In Islam, good things are linked to order and evil to intentional disorder. That's why worship emphasizes structure—prayers at set times, facing one direction, synchronized movement, shared rhythm. Order repeated, maintained.

Creating order is for social structures too. The Quran doesn't just ask believers to be good; it asks them to be muslihun—people who fix what breaks between others. On the other hand, taking life, spreading chaos, or destroying complexity without purpose is considered evil because it intentionally accelerates disorder.

Yet the Quran doesn't say loss is unavoidable. It gives an exception with four conditions. Why does the Quran claim there is an exception? The answer is fascinating and I'll answer that question in a future episode.