بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
الصلاة والسلام عليك يا سيدي يا رسول الله
وعلى آلك واصحابك يا سيدي يا رسول الله
فداك ابي وامي يا رسول الله
In the Name of Allah, the Rahman, the Merciful
Blessing and peace be upon you, my master, Apostle of God!
And upon your family and your companions, my master, Apostle of God!
May my father and mother be sacrificed for your sake, Apostle of God!
Allah جلّ جلاله says:
وَاِنَّ یَوۡمًا عِنۡدَ رَبِّکَ کَاَلۡفِ سَنَۃٍ مِّمَّا تَعُدُّوۡنَ
And verily a day with your Lord is as a thousand years of your reckoning
(Surah 22, Ayah 47)
ثُمَّ یَعۡرُجُ اِلَیۡہِ فِیۡ یَوۡمٍ کَانَ مِقۡدَارُہٗۤ اَلۡفَ سَنَۃٍ مِّمَّا تَعُدُّوۡنَ
Then it will ascend to Him in a day whose duration is a thousand years by your reckoning
(Surah 32, Ayah 5)
This too is mirrored in the Zabur, what is known as the Psalms of David or the Tehillim:
כִּ֤י אֶ֪לֶף שָׁנִ֡ים בְּֽעֵינֶ֗יךָ כְּיֹ֣ום אֶ֭תְמֹול כִּ֣י יַעֲבֹ֑ר
For a thousand years in Your sight are but as yesterday when it is past
(Psalm 90:4)
Thus the term “day” wherever it occurs in the Quran and Hadith should not always be understood as a 24 hour day of the human reckoning. Allah عز وجل says that He created the Heaven and the Earth in six days, then (on the seventh day) He ascended upon the Throne (in a manner that befits His majesty). It is likely that what is meant by these six days is six long periods of time whose human reckoning may be in the thousands or millions of years. So elsewhere Allah says:
تَعۡرُجُ الۡمَلٰٓئِکَۃُ وَالرُّوۡحُ اِلَیۡہِ فِیۡ یَوۡمٍ کَانَ مِقۡدَارُہٗ خَمۡسِیۡنَ اَلۡفَ سَنَۃٍ
The Angels and the Spirit ascend unto Him in a day whose duration is fifty thousand years
(Surah 70, Ayah 4)
As a matter of fact, Surat al-Ma’arij, the seventieth chapter of the Holy Quran, gives insight into the multidimensional and mysterious character of time; it’s relativity and it’s non-linear reality:
اِنَّہُمۡ یَرَوۡنَہٗ بَعِیۡدًا
They see it to be far off
وَّنَرٰٮہُ قَرِیۡبًا
But We see it nigh
(Surah 70, Ayah 6 & 7)
From this we derive an important principle that the Apocalypse, meaning the Resurrection and the Judgment, must always be discussed as though it is imminent, therefore with a sense of alarm and urgency. And those from our midst who ignorantly speak as though it is something distant and therefore not occupy our discourse too much ought to be rebuked on this point. The Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم perfectly exemplified this in his own prophetic ministry, for instance, when he said:
بُعِثْتُ أَنَا وَالسَّاعَةَ كَهَاتَيْنِ
I and the Hour have been sent like these two
(and he raised his index finger along with his middle finger to indicate the proximity)
If it is said that fourteen centuries have come and gone since the advent of the Holy Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم yet the Resurrection and the Judgment have not yet ocurred then the response is that the perception of time when the End of the World does happen will be as though all those centuries between the Prophet's advent and the blowing of the Trumpet were as if it was a blink of an eye. The number itself is meaningless if the perception of time is that it is moving very rapidly. The expression "where has the time gone" encapsulates this reality. No human living today can say that he has experienced the slow passage of fourteen centuries. Hence the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said:
ReplyDeleteلا تَقُومُ السَّاعَةُ حَتَّى يَتَقَارَبَ الزَّمَانُ فَتَكُونَ السَّنَةُ كَالشَّهْرِ وَيَكُونَ الشَّهْرُ كَالْجُمُعَةِ وَتَكُونَ الْجُمُعَةُ كَالْيَوْمِ وَيَكُونَ الْيَوْمُ كَالسَّاعَةِ وَتَكُونَ السَّاعَةُ كَاحْتِرَاقِ السَّعَفَةِ
The Hour will not begin until time passes quickly, so a year will be like a month, and a month will be like a week, and a week will be like a day, and a day will be like an hour, and an hour will be like the burning of a braid of palm leaves (Musnad Ahmad)
This is the phenomenon which has been called تقارب الزمان Taqarub az-Zaman