Page 97 - Timelessness and the Reality of Fate

Relativity of Time and The Reality of Destiny 95

The heedful are amid Gardens and Rivers,on seats of honour in the Pres-
ence of a Competent Sovereign. (Surat al-Qamar: 52-55)

We can understand from this way of speaking in the Qur'an that, in
Allah's Sight, time is a single moment and for Him there is no past or future.
As we see, some events that will be for us in the future, are understood in
the Qur'an as being long passed. This is because both the past and the future
are created by Allah as a single moment. Therefore, an event which is relat-
ed to occur in the future, in fact, has already occurred, but, because we can-
not understand this, we think of them as future. For example, in the verses
where the account to be given to Allah by human beings is described, it is
understood as a long passed event.
And the trumpet is blown, and all who are in the heavens and all who are
on the earth swoon away, save him whom Allah wills. Then it is blown a
second time, and behold them standing waiting! And the earth shone with
the light of her Lord, and the Book is set up, and the Prophets and the wit-
nesses are brought, and it is judged between them with truth, and they are
not wronged. (Surat az-Zumar: 68-69)

Some further examples of this are the following:
And every soul came, along with a driver and a witness. (Surah Qaf: 21)
And the heaven is cloven asunder, so that on that day it is frail. (Surat al-
Haqqa: 16)
And because they were patient and constant, He rewarded them with a gar-
den and garments of silk. Reclining in the garden on raised thrones, they
saw there neither the sun's excessive heat nor excessive cold. (Surat al-
Insan: 12-13)
And Hell is placed in full view for all to see. (Surat an-Nazi'at: 36)

But on this day the believers laugh at the unbelievers. (Surat al-Mutaffifin:
34)
And the sinful saw the fire and realized they are going to fall into it and
find no way of escaping from it. (Surat al-Kahf: 53)

In the above verses, the events we are to experience after death are
described as finished. This is because Allah is not bound to the relative
dimension of time and space as we are. Allah has willed all these events in
timelessness; human beings have done them, experienced them all and
brought them to a conclusion. The verse below reveals that every kind of