Page 86 - Eternity Has Already Begun
P. 86

ETERNITY HAS ALREADY BEGUN





                    "The Source Book"

                    In the Sight of Allah, everything has taken place and finished in
                 a moment. Since the beginning of time, everything has taken place
                 at this single moment. In the Sight of Allah, all information pertain-
                 ing to this moment is kept in a "Book." This "Main Book", or as the
                 Qur'an calls it, "The Mother of the Book", holds every bit of infor-
                 mation about everything:
                    It is in the Source Book with Us, high-exalted, full of wisdom. (Su-
                    rat az-Zukhruf: 4)
                    The Master Copy of the Book is in His Hands. (Surat ar-Ra'd: 39)
                    We possess an all-preserving Book. (Surah Qaf: 4)
                    Certainly there is no hidden thing in either heaven or earth which
                    is not in a Clear Book. (Surat An-Naml: 75)
                    The Book will be set in place and you will see the evildoers fear-
                    ful of what is in it. They will say, 'Alas for us! What is this Book
                    which does not pass over any action, small or great, without
                    recording it?' They will find there everything they did and your
                    Lord will not wrong anyone at all.  (Surat al-Kahf: 49)
                    In other verses, too, Allah declares that all the events one experi-
                 ences, all the thoughts one considers, and everything that befalls one
                 are included in this Book:
                    Nothing occurs, either in the earth or in yourselves,without its be-
                    ing in a Book before We make it happen.That is something easy
                    for Allah. (Surat al-Hadid: 22)

                    Allah has created everything, living or non-living, which has exist-
                 ed since the beginning of the universe and all events, which have hap-
                 pened. Consequently, Allah is cognizant of them all. To put it in an-
                 other way, "They all exist in the memory of Allah." In this sense, the
                 Mother of the Book is a manifestation of Allah's attribute, the al-Hafiz.
                    At this point, we come upon a striking fact: because the memory
                 of Allah is infinite, nothing existent in Him becomes lost. In other
                 words, no living being created by Allah vanishes, no flower fades,


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