Page 88 - Timelessness and the Reality of Fate

86 TIMELESSNESS AND THE REALITY OF FATE

a ruler all at once, so Allah encompasses in one moment, from beginning to
end, the time to which we are subject. However, human beings experience
these events only when the time comes to witness the destiny that Allah has
created for them. This is the way it is for the destinies of everyone in the
world. The lives of everyone who has ever been created and whoever will
be created, in this world and the next, are present in the Sight of Allah in all
their details. The written destinies of all living things-planets, plants and
things-are existing together with the destinies of millions of human beings
in Allah's eternal memory. They will remain without being lost or dimin-
ished. The reality of destiny is one of the manifestations of Allah's eternal
greatness, power, might and His name The Preserver (al-Hafiz).

The Concept Of "Past" Comes From
Information In Our Memories

Because of suggestions we receive, we think we live in separate divi-
sions of time called past, present and future. However, the only reason we
have a concept of "past" (as we explained earlier) is that various things have
been placed in our memories. For example, the moment we enrolled in pri-
mary school is a bit of information in our memory and we perceive it there-
fore as an event in the past. However, future events are not in our memories.
Therefore, we regard these things that we do not yet know about as things
that will be experienced or happen in the future. But just as the past has
been experienced from our point of view, so has the future. But, because
these events have not been given to our memories, we cannot know them.

If Allah puts future events into our memories, then, the future would
be the past for us. For example, a thirty year old person has thirty years of
memories and events in his memory and, for this reason, thinks he has a
thirty year past. If future events between the ages of thirty and seventy were
to be put into this person's memory, then, for this thirty year old individual,
both his thirty years and the "future" between the ages of thirty and seventy,
would become the past. In this situation past and future would be present in
the memory, and each one would be lived experiences for him.
Because Allah has made us perceive events in a definite series, as if
there were a time moving from past to future, He does not inform us of our
future or give this information to our memories. The future is not in our