It was named al-'Asr because of the pressing forth (in'isar) of the eternal primordial nature from the Divine Will.

The third time is Sunset (al-Maghrib): the indication within it points to the first Ḥā' from among his personages. It is the middle one (al-Wusta) which Allah, the Exalted, commanded to be guarded by His saying: {Guard strictly the prayers, and [especially] the middle prayer} ¹ . It was named the middle one because the first Ḥā' is the middle of the five personages. The allusion therein is to the Divine Knowledge shining forth like the transaction of cosmic knowledge at the termination of the luminous orbit in incapacity, weakness, and setting after strength. That is like the sitting back of the first Ḥā' from standing up with the Matter, his surrendering of it to the accursed Adversary, and his manifestation of incapacity and weakness from standing in that station—alluding to the concealment of the soul of the Manifesting One in his station away from the understandings and sights of his deniers.