Page 84 - Timelessness and the Reality of Fate

82 TIMELESSNESS AND THE REALITY OF FATE

earth-bound son, if the father was 27 years old when he set out and his son
3, when the father comes back to the earth 30 years later (earth time), the son
will be 33 years old, but his father will be only 30. 61
It should be pointed out that this relativity of time is caused not by the
slowing down or running fast of clocks or the slow running of a mechanical
spring. It is rather the result of the differentiated operation periods of the
entire material system, which goes as deep as sub-atomic particles. In other
words, for the person experiencing it, the shortening of time is not like act-
ing in a slow-motion picture. In such a setting where time shortens, one's
heartbeats, cell replications, and brain functions, and so on, all operate more
slowly than those of the slower-moving person on Earth, who goes on with
his daily life and does not notice the shortening of time at all. Indeed the
shortening does not even become apparent until the comparison is made.

Relativity In The Qur'an
The conclusion to which we are led by the findings of modern science
is that time is not an absolute fact as supposed by materialists, but only a
relative perception. What is more interesting is that this fact, undiscovered
until the 20th century by science, was imparted to mankind in the Qur'an 14
centuries ago. There are various references in the Qur'an to the relativity of
time.
The scientifically-proven fact that time is a psychological perception
dependent on events, setting, and conditions is underscored in many verses
of the Qur'an. For instance, as started in the Qur'an, the entire life of a per-
son spans a very short time:
On that Day He will call you, and you will answer (His Call) with (words
of) His Praise and Obedience, and you will think that you have stayed (in
this world) but a little while! (Surat al-Isra, 52)

And on the Day when He shall gather them together, (it will seem to them)
as if they had not tarried (on earth) longer than an hour of a day: they will
recognise each other. (Surah Yunus, 45)
In some verses, it is indicated that people perceive time differently and
that sometimes people can perceive a very short period of time as a very
lengthy one. The following conversation of people held during their judge-
ment in the Hereafter is a good example of this:
He will say: "What number of years did you stay on earth?" They will say: