Tafsir of Surat al-Asr.

The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and I send prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad, the Seal of the Prophets and the Imam of the Pious, and upon his family and his Companions, and those who follow them with excellence until the Day of Judgment.
As for what follows:
This is the thirty-seventh session, as mentioned by Shaykh Mahmud ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz al-Sayyag, of the monthly sessions held in the Great Mosque in the city of Unayzah. This evening is the night of Sunday, the twentieth of Rabi' al-Awwal, 1417. I do not have a specific, defined topic in mind to speak about, but it is recommended that we speak about what we heard in the recitation of our prayer this evening, which is Surat al-'Asr, in which Allah the Exalted said: It is not hidden from any of us that before this surah there was So, is the Basmala a verse of the surah that follows it, or of the surah that precedes it, or is it an independent verse? The correct view is that it is an independent verse with which the surahs begin, except for Surat al-Bara'ah, for the Companions did not write it down. Therefore, the Muslim community has established the practice of not reciting the Basmala in Surat al-Bara'ah. However, for all other surahs, each one has it before it, as for His saying, the Exalted: The meaning of al-Asr is al-dahr (time), and this is the correct view. It does not mean the 'Asr prayer; rather, it means al-dahr. Allah swore by it because al-dahr is the time of action, and because al-dahr fluctuates for its people from war to peace, from hardship to ease, from illness to health, and from knowledge to ignorance Time is the treasury of deeds, and for this reason Allah swore by it, saying: The human being, which human being is it? Every human being. And for this reason we say that"al"in His saying: means: every, so it is for comprehensiveness. Every human being is in loss, meaning: in a state of loss. His time is a loss for him, his life is a loss for him, his wealth is a loss for him, and his children are a loss for him, as Allah the Exalted said regarding Noah with his people: What? Allah (Mighty and Majestic) excluded those who possess these four qualities: These are the successful ones: with what faith is obligatory in, That is: they performed righteous deeds, and righteous deeds are those that combine two conditions: sincerity for Allah, and following the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family). That is: some of them would advise one another to uphold the truth, and the truth is what the messengers brought, as Allah the Exalted said: Patience with what? With the qualities they possessed: faith, righteous deeds, and advising one another to uphold the truth. That is, some of them would advise one another to be patient, saying: “Be patient in your religion, stand firm upon it, be patient in your deeds, be patient with what befalls you, be patient.” They would advise one another to be patient. And patience is restraining the self from what harms it. Patience means restraint, and from this comes their saying: “So-and-so was killed with patience,” meaning he was restrained and bound, and then killed.