Time is, in reality, the counter of successive creations! Every count in this world—in other words, every moment of time—comes to pass in the realm beyond time. The counting system, or clock, is the instrument or locus through which that time comes to pass.
A reminder: To grasp what is meant above, the mind must shift from the clock on the wall or wrist to the inner clock within the nature of created beings, inseparable from their very existence.
The Imam of the Age means the system of time, the divine clock, the locus where the creations of divine mercy are manifested. He knows.
When God is the One who brings things into being, He is also the One who brings them to an end. When Allah is the Giver of existence, He alone is, in the truest sense, the One who causes things to cease to exist. He is also the One who gives death, effaces and obliterates.
Just as the All-Powerful Creator expands the universe, He alone contracts it. In the same way, He alone extends time and draws it in. Time is under His command and obeys as He wills, in whatever form He chooses. And, should He will it, He is also the destroyer of time.
The effect of each bodily organ on the whole body, and the effect of every being’s action on the whole of existence, become manifest in the new state of the body of all existence when the trace left by each acting agent is erased. When the body or the whole of existence enters a new state, and everything is subject to and vanquished by Him, there is no cause for wonder at how or whether any act is possible for the Majestic, the All-Compelling, the Victorious. He is truly capable of all things. For the Creator, this act is easier than restoring colour to a person’s pale face.
The same is true of the effect of a person’s righteous deeds…