Becoming Acquainted With The Means For Achieving Prosperity & Happiness By Shaykh Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah bin Abdul Rahman ar-Rajihi

Allah swore by time itself, by mankind's inevitable loss, and then gave the complete answer to that loss in four words: except those who believe, do righteous deeds, encourage one another to truth, and encourage one another to patience. Imam al-Shafi'i said: "Had Allah only revealed this surah as a proof against His creation, it would have been sufficient."

Becoming Acquainted With the Means for Achieving Prosperity and Happiness by Shaykh Abdul Aziz ibn Abdullah ar-Rajihi is a study of Surah al-Asr — the shortest surah in the Qur'an that addresses the complete path to salvation — unpacking each of the four means Allah identified as the conditions for escaping the loss that overtakes all of mankind.

What This Book Covers

The First Condition: Iman

Shaykh ar-Rajihi establishes what iman actually is — the correct belief in Allah, His angels, His books, His messengers, the Last Day, and divine decree — and why this is the indispensable foundation upon which everything else rests. Without iman, no deed is accepted. With it, every deed carries weight.

The Second Condition: Righteous Deeds

Iman without action is incomplete. The surah pairs belief with righteous deeds — establishing that the believer who genuinely holds what they claim to hold in their heart will demonstrate it through action. The Shaykh explains what qualifies as righteous action in the Islamic sense and why deeds without correct iman are similarly incomplete.

The Third Condition: Encouraging One Another to Truth

The Qur'an singles out the community dimension of salvation — that believers do not pursue their own rightness in isolation but actively call one another to the truth. This is the obligation of da'wah at its most personal level: between spouses, between friends, between neighbors and community members.

The Fourth Condition: Encouraging One Another to Patience

Truth will meet resistance, and the bearer of truth will need patience. The final condition acknowledges this — that the believer must both practice patience themselves and support others in it. Without patience, the first three conditions collapse under pressure.

About the Author

Shaykh Abdul Aziz ibn Abdullah ibn Abdul Rahman ar-Rajihi is a senior Saudi scholar known for his clarity in aqeedah and tafsir. Published by Maktabatul-Irshad Publications.

Who This Book Is For

Every Muslim who wants to understand what Allah defined as the complete path to salvation from a single surah — concise, evidenced, and directly applicable. Particularly valuable for new Muslims building their understanding of what Islam requires, for those who feel their faith is incomplete but cannot identify why, and for anyone who wants a grounded study of one of the most important surahs in the Qur'an.