Surah Asr Meaning in Urdu, Hindi & English (Word by Word)

Surah Asr in Urdu: Zamaane ki qasam. Beshak insaan sar-ta-sar nuqsaan mein hai — siwaaye un logon ke jo imaan laaye aur nek amal kiye, aur aapas mein haq ki wasiyat ki aur ek doosre ko sabr ki naseehat ki.

In English (Pickthall): "By the declining day, lo! man is in a state of loss, save those who believe and do good works, and exhort one another to truth and exhort one another to endurance."

Three verses. One warning, one way out, and four conditions. This page goes through each verse, then each word — and then shows you something useful: the key phrase of verse 3 is one you will meet again and again across the Quran.

Surah Asr meaning, verse by verse

Surah Asr meaning in Hindi: "Zamaane ki qasam, insaan poori tarah nuqsaan mein hai — siwaaye un ke jo imaan laaye, achhe kaam kiye, ek doosre ko sach ki taakeed ki aur sabr ki naseehat ki."

A note on verse 1: the two translators put al-ʿaṣr differently. Pickthall says "the declining day" — the late afternoon, the same time as Asr namaz. Junagarhi says zamaana, time itself. The Arabic word carries both ideas, and both translations are well known.

Surah Asr word by word

Almost every important word here is already familiar to an Urdu speaker: insaan, imaan, amal, saaleh, haq, sabr. Even tawāṣaw is from the same root as Urdu wasiyat — which is exactly how Junagarhi translates it.

The phrase you'll hear again and again

The heart of verse 3 is four words: ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ وَعَمِلُوا۟ ٱلصَّٰلِحَٰتِ — alladhīna āmanū wa ʿamilū ṣ-ṣāliḥāt, "those who believe and do good works". This phrase comes back many times in the Quran. You'll find it in the short surahs near Al-Asr too:

Look at 95:6 — it even starts with illā, "except", just like Surah Al-Asr. Once you know this phrase, you'll start catching it in many places across the Quran, long before you know the rest of the verse. That is how understanding grows: one repeated phrase at a time.

What Surah Asr teaches: a four-point checklist

Verse 2 says every human being is in loss. Verse 3 names the exceptions. The four qualities work almost like a checklist:

1. Believe (āmanū) — faith in the heart.
2. Do good deeds (ʿamilū ṣ-ṣāliḥāt) — faith shown in action.
3. Urge one another to the truth (tawāṣaw bil-ḥaqq) — not keeping goodness to yourself.
4. Urge one another to patience (tawāṣaw biṣ-ṣabr) — helping each other hold on when it's hard.

The first two are personal. The last two are shared — tawāṣaw means doing it for one another. A believer, the surah suggests, isn't meant to be saved alone.

And the oath in verse 1 — by time — frames it all. Time is the one thing every person is spending, whether they notice or not.

When is Surah Asr commonly recited?

Being only three verses, Surah Al-Asr is a common choice in namaz after Surah Al-Fatiha, and a favourite for children's first memorisation. It is easy to keep in mind all day, because it sums up so much in so few words.

A namaz tip: count the four on your fingers

When you recite verse 3 in prayer, you can't use your hands — but you can count in your mind. Believe — one. Good deeds — two. Truth — three. Patience — four. After a few days, the four qualities will come to mind every time you hear the verse, and you'll find yourself asking: which one am I weakest in today?

A simple exercise: pick one of the four and act on it once today. Remind a friend of something true, or encourage someone who is struggling to be patient. That's tawāṣaw, in practice.

Read next

For another surah built around one strong idea, see Surah Kausar meaning. The words āmana, ʿamila and ḥaqq belong with the Quran's most common verbs, and if you want the full picture of short surahs, the last 10 surahs with meaning covers them together. To learn how whole phrases like alladhīna āmanū become easy to spot, read how to understand the Quran word by word.

Every word in the table above that has a number is taught — with a real verse and its Roman Urdu meaning — in 600 Words of the Quran.