Time and Eternity (1/2)

The concepts of time and eternity and their relationship to God have been subjected to diverse philosophical speculations throughout the history of religion. This is demonstrated amply in Muhammad Iqbal’s Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam,[1] in which he attempts a new interpretation in conformity with modern thought and the doctrinal sources of Islam. The attempt itself has received considerable praise from Muslim and non-Muslim scholars, despite considerable disagreement on both sides about the validity of his ideas.[2]

In the words of Iqbal, we should not underestimate the importance of such efforts, since many theological paradoxes arise from our understanding of these concepts. On the one hand, we cannot resist, as the scriptures themselves cannot, relating time to God. On the other hand—and this is more important—we must alert ourselves to the deficiencies in our understanding.

The greatest perplexities arise from attributing human limitations to God when dealing with time. As God transcends space, we naturally do not associate with Him any spatial limitations. For instance, we would not say that God literally descends to earth or walks in the garden; equally, we would not insist that God is a three-dimensional being or that He travels from one point to another in space. In the same way, we should not demand that God have a past, a present, and a future, for this assumes that His existence is, like ours, in time.

Again, this conflicts with His infinite transcendence.

We have little difficulty accepting the idea that God’s knowledge can encompass two different points in space simultaneously.

This is perhaps because we assume that the attribute of transcending space implies a unique vantage point. We could compare it, however imperfectly, to the experience of being high above the ground and hence having simultaneous knowledge of very distant events. But unlike space, with respect to time, we are immobile: we cannot travel forward or backward in time. An hour from now, we will be at an hour from now, a fact that cannot be changed.

Therefore, it is more difficult to comprehend that God’s existence is independent of or beyond time, as indeed it must be, for it is impossible to believe that His existence is contained within or constrained by any of the dimensions of the space-time environment which He created for us to live and grow in. Once again, because of His unique vantage point, His knowledge encompasses all events, regardless of their distance in space or time.

Another key point, one that is well-established in the Qur’an, is that our perception of time is not objectively real. The Day of Judgment, for example, is portrayed as belonging to a different ordering of time, one in which we will comprehend suddenly that our former perceptions of time are no longer valid and were not absolute.

 “The Day they see it, (it will be) as if they had stayed only a single evening, or the morning following it.” (Surah An-Nazi’aat, 79:46)

“And the Day He will gather them all together, it will be as if they had stayed only an hour of a day...” (Surah Yunus, 10:45)

“It will be on a Day when He will call you, and you will answer with His praise, and you will think that you stayed only a little while.” (Surah Al-Isra’, 17:52)

 “In whispers they will consult each other: “You stayed not longer than ten (days).” (Surah Ta-Ha, 20:103)

“…You stayed not longer than a day.” (Surah Ta-Ha, 20:104)

He will say: “What number of years did you stay on earth?” They will say, “We stayed a day or part of a day: ask those who keep account.” He will say: “You stayed only a little, if you had but known!” (Surah Al-Mu’minun, 23:112-114)

“On the Day that the Hour will be established, the transgressors will swear that they stayed only an hour: thus were they used to being deluded...” (Surah Ar-Rum, 30:55)

Interpreters will always render all references to the Day of Judgment in the future tense, because, from our perspective, that is when it will take place. However, several of the passages actually use the past tense. Commentators assume, quite correctly, that this is a literary device that stresses the inevitability of these happenings. The use of the present and past tenses in referring to the Day of Judgment also reinforces the idea that it will take place in a very different environment, one in which our current conceptions of time and space will no longer apply. The illusory character of time is further supported by the comparisons of the “days of God” with earthly days, in which a “day” of God’s is said to be “as a thousand years of your reckoning” (Surah As-Sajdah, 32:5) and like “50,000 years” (Surah Al-Ma’arij, 70:4).

(Continued)