Concerning His—glorified be He—statement, “By Time.” The wāw here is the oath-particle, and al-ʿaṣr (“Time”) is the object of the oath; it is in the genitive case, indicated by the kasrah, and what is meant by it is the span of time itself.

Allah—mighty and exalted—has sworn by time even though it is a created entity. Allah may swear by any of His creatures that He wishes, whereas a creature may swear only by Allah. Moreover, Allah swears only by something weighty, in which there is a sign of His signs. Time, then, is full of lessons and carries great significance; for that reason Allah swore by al-ʿaṣr, by the night when it envelops, and by the morning brightness.

The created being, however, must swear only by Allah; it is unlawful for us to take an oath by anything other than Him. The Prophet ﷺ said, “Whoever swears by anything other than Allah has committed disbelief or shirk,” and he said, “Whoever must take an oath, let him swear by Allah, or else remain silent.”

Thus Allah swears by whatever He wills, yet He swears only by what has importance and offers lessons. What are the lessons contained in time? They are immense—the successive alternation of night and day, each one encroaching upon the other: this one taking from that, and that one taking from