The above ideas are not contradictory to each other and they...

The above ideas are not contradictory to each other and they may be all correct for the meaning of the verse, and the oath could be taken to the whole of those important matters, but among all of them the most fitting one is 'Asr with the meaning of 'Time' and the history of Man; because, as it was said repeatedly before, the oaths of the Qur'an are in relation to the subject that the oath is taken for, and it is certain that the loss human beings incur in their lives is the consequence of passing their lifetime, or passing the Age of the Call of the Prophet (S), because the command of 'four principles', mentioned in the, last part of the Surah, was revealed in that very life.

Referring to the above explanations, it makes the greatness of the Qur'an and the vastness of its meaning clear when one word of it is so expressive and deserves so many profound and diverse interpretations. In the following verse it refers to the object that this great oath is made to. It says: "Surely man is in loss". They, willy nilly, will lose the capital of their existence. Hours, days, months, and years of life pass quickly, spiritual and material potentialities decline and abilities fade.

Yes, Man is like a person who possesses great capital and without his permission and will, every day, a portion of that capital is taken away. This is the nature of life in this world; the nature of continual loss. The term /xusr/ as well as /xusran/, as Raqib cites in his book, Mufradat, means 'declining the capital'.

Sometimes it is concerned with humans and it is said that such and such a person has suffered loss; and sometimes it is concerned with the action, itself, and it is said that the persons' bargain showed a loss. This word is often used for outward capital such as wealth and position, but it is sometimes used also for inward capital, like that of health, wisdom, faith and reward. This is the same thing that Allah has referred to as 'the evident Loss' in Surah Zumar, No.

39, verse 15; where it says: “...truly those in loss are those who lose their own souls and their people on the Day of Judgement: Ah! That is indeed the (real and) evident Loss!” Commenting on the verse under discussion, Fakhr-i-Razi cites: One of the old scholars said that he had learnt the meaning of this verse from an ice-seller who had been calling again and again: 'Have pity on him whose capital is melting'. He said to himself that it was the meaning of 'surely man is in loss'.