JOURNEY OF THE UNIVERSE
  AS EXPOUNDED IN THE QUR`AN
  (Excerpts Only)

By: Shaykh Fadhlalla Haeri

Chapter 4
The Meaning of Time

Man as a biological and physical entity is conceived, is born, lives, and dies in the dimension of time. While he exists, he also personally experiences the relativity of time. Certain events seem to last much longer than others; unpleasant moments linger longer than pleasant ones: a relaxing vacation passes very quickly, but a prison sentence takes ages. Living with people one likes is very easy; a year can pass without notice. If one keeps the company of disagreeable people, he counts every minute. Understanding this relativity of time implies that within man there is a built-in gauge that measures this changeable thing called time.

If we believe in the message of the Qur`an that man is basically a divine creature and that God is closer to him than his jugular vein, we will see that the main attribute of God is His timelessness. All the changes and fluctuations of this process called time are reflected upon an unchanging motionless, timeless dimension within man.

The Creator is in non-time; from Him comes time. The created being lives in time, experiences in time, and somehow the timeless dimension to which he will ultimately return is echoed within him. He has come from that zone of pre-creation and will return to that eternity. If he is returned to that eternity properly equipped, that is, conscious and awakened, then he will experience the state of the garden. If he is not properly equipped, then he will experience the recycling in the fire. Allah is in "non-time", man is in time; but Allah pervades all, permeates all, contains all; therefore man can gain understanding as well as insights and openings into non-time.

If one stretches time into millions and millions of units and then stretches those units into infinity, he will reach a point of "non-time". Infinity has the same qualities as zero. If one takes something to its limit, it will turn into its opposite. Take an hour and make it into a day, a month, a year, make it thousands of years, make it light years, extend it to its boundaries, and it will collapse into a non-time zone, into zero time. The Qur`an alludes to this in many verses. A saying in Arabic says: Kulla shay'in ta'adda haddah inqalaba ila diddah, "Anything that goes to its limit will revert into its opposite." In this existence, time is relative, and the Qur`an reflects this clearly. 

To Him ascend the angels and the spirit in a day the measure of which is fifty thousand years. (al-Ma'ârij:4)

Here the final day is implied, the day of reckoning, when everything is beyond time. On that day the angels and the spirit (the higher spirit, the rûh) return to God, because that day is the day of return. Everything will gather and return to the single Entity, to that single point. They will all ascend on that day, the measure of which is fifty thousand years. In other words, the measures of time we use here are only measures of technological convenience.

That day will unwind so slowly for us that we will be able to witness ourselves in slow motion, which can be the greatest agony and the greatest purification for many of us. At the end of that day, we may acknowledge that we have had enough of agony, and from then on we may witness the mercy of Allah.

This âyah shows us the final day as we may experience it, as thousands of years. One interpretation of this âyah is that life as man knows it will last fifty thousand years, and the Final Day will balance that out with the same amount of time. There are still other interpretations. What is generally agreed on is that the word yawm (day) in the Qur`an is used to indicate a period of time and not necessarily twenty-four hours. 

Therefore endure with a goodly patience. (al-Ma'ârij:5)

This is an injunction to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and to us. If man finds that whatever he is doing is to no avail, he must be patient. Patience means biding time. If he has patience with something, then he will reduce the period of endurance to zero-time. 

Surely they think it to be far off, and We see it nigh. (al-Ma'ârij:6-7)

They see the end of the world as being far away in time; but the truth, from beyond time, says "We see it nigh!" For people of learning the end is most urgent. If one truly makes his own reckoning now, he will bring on a state in himself similar to that on the day of reckoning. It is for this reason that many people, even semi-spiritual ones, say that one should make a reckoning at the end of each day, that is, settle one's accounts. Each of us should find out what we have done and why we have done it. We should not postpone things or brush them underneath the carpet. If we are willing to face up to all our accounts every minute of the day, they we will be up-to-date. We can see the end as being near, and yet for us time does not exist. Biologically, we are moving in time, yet we have a timeless consciousness. We will have already entered that state which we will experience anyway. 

And they ask you to hasten on the punishment, and God will by no means fail in His promise, and surely a day with your Lord is as a thousand years of what you number. (al-Hajj:47)

A day from the viewpoint of Him Who is beyond time can be any amount of time by our measurement, fifty thousand years, a thousand years, or one day, because from the timeless point of view there is no time. We, on the other hand, are at the other end of the spectrum. The closer we get to God the shorter the time. At a certain point, it may be a thousand years. When closer to God it may be an instant; and then, not even that.

Another reference in the Qur`an to the relativity of time is in sûrat al-Qadr: "The night of power is better than a thousand months" (al-Qadr:3). Laylat ul-qadr (the night of power) is the night of knowledge of the measure, of the knowledge of the Book – the night that the Qur`an descended. It is the night in which you wake up to confront your knowledge, the night in which you become awake and know that there is only Allah. The final book (the Qur`an) descended in its totality on laylat ul-qadr, and it took years to completely unfold from the heart of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him.

The essential meaning of laylat ul-qadr must also have an actual physical form. There cannot be a form without a meaning or a meaning without a form, a cause without an effect or an effect without a cause. The night in which knowledge in its final form came to the world – through the light of that perfect mirror, the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him – is better than a thousand months, that is, better than all the months. Look at the actualization of its meaning: there were a thousand months of the darkness of the Umayyad rule. It was for that period of time exactly that they governed and tried to make Islam into yet another religion to be used for wielding power and exercising control, rather than its being a din, a spiritually based code of conduct; for the way to a man's freedom is through the containment of his outer behavior.

In every year there is only one night in which the course of events becomes clear and it is the night of power, clarity and knowledge, the night in which the light of reality shines most. The Qur`an and traditions indicate that it is one of the nights during the last ten days of Ramadan (the month of fasting). During such a radiant night and such easy circumstances, the meditating worshipper will find it easier to attune to the nature of reality and the divine laws and thereby adjust his desires, will, and expectations more appropriately to the limiting factors that are imposed upon him. It can be the night that the individual's tuning fork is in harmony with the creational orchestra.

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