notifications_active Weekly Meshkat-e Noor Session: Thursdays at 20:30 at Haj Reza Mosque
Dear teacher, I’ve been reading your answers about time. Thank you very much. One question remains unresolved for me: In discussions of divine unity, why is it necessary or useful to study time? What need draws us to explore the subject, and what is the ultimate outcome? I would be grateful for your guidance.
َّهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحيمِ
Studying time in discussions of divine unity deepens our understanding of the majesty of the Almighty and prevents us from confining the Divine Essence within the limits of time. An understanding of time also helps us better appreciate God’s Most Beautiful Names and verses such as «و ان یوما عند ربک کالف سنه».
Understanding time, grasping its vastness, and deepening our understanding of it lead us to a greater awareness of the majesty of the Exalted Lord!
At the very least, these discussions have this benefit: they make us realise how little our knowledge is in comparison with the grandeur of the universe.
But how does the discussion of time relate to tawhid?
When a person believes in what transcends time, that belief extends to what transcends existence. They no longer confine the Divine Essence to time, thus avoiding the trap of imagining the existence of the Divine as being of the same kind as the existence of created things.
From another perspective, interpreting verses such as the following requires a profound ontological understanding of time:
الحج : 47 وَ يَسْتَعْجِلُونَكَ بِالْعَذابِ وَ لَنْ يُخْلِفَ اللَّهُ وَعْدَهُ وَ إِنَّ يَوْماً عِنْدَ رَبِّكَ كَأَلْفِ سَنَةٍ مِمَّا تَعُدُّونَ
السجدة : 5 يُدَبِّرُ الْأَمْرَ مِنَ السَّماءِ إِلَى الْأَرْضِ ثُمَّ يَعْرُجُ إِلَيْهِ في يَوْمٍ كانَ مِقْدارُهُ أَلْفَ سَنَةٍ مِمَّا تَعُدُّونَ
المعارج : 4 تَعْرُجُ الْمَلائِكَةُ وَ الرُّوحُ إِلَيْهِ في يَوْمٍ كانَ مِقْدارُهُ خَمْسينَ أَلْفَ سَنَةٍ
Moreover, understanding time and the questions surrounding it deepens our appreciation of the Most Beautiful Names, such as “He is the First,” “He is the Last,” “He is the Originator,” “He is the Knower of the unseen and the seen,” and the concepts of eternity and everlastingness...
On the other hand, the Imam of our tawhid is the Master of the Age and Time; and time is that which the Creator swore by: وَالْعَصْرِ ...