Time Is Relative

To read the previous part: Time A Blessing from Allah Almighty

By Dr. Ahmad Adam

The scientific concept of time is that time can only exist when there is space. Allah Almighty is One, Eternal, and Absolute. He has always been in existence before time, in negative eternity, and He is present after time, in positive eternity. Before the creation of the heavens and the earth, only Allah Almighty existed.

Space and time came into existence:

[Wonderful Originator of the heavens and the earth, and when He decrees an affair, He only says to it, “Be,” so there it is.] (Al-Baqarah 2:117)

Our concept of time is relative to the revolution of the day and the night (i.e. the time it takes Earth to spin on its own axis, which is one day, while one year is the time that it takes Earth to revolve around the sun. Yet, the concept of “day” has different meanings, some of which is beyond our comprehension:

[To Him ascend the angels and the Spirit in a day the measure of which is fifty thousand years] (Al-Ma`arij 70:4).

[The grand night (Laylat Al-Qadr) is better than a thousand months] (Al-Qadr 97:3)

So our concept of time is related to one revolution of the earth axis, i.e. one earth day. Thus Allah Almighty, the Most Merciful, has decreed that whoever is fortunate to take advantage of the Blessings the night of power, then this is better than a thousand of earthly months. A thousand months amount to 83.3 years — a whole lifetime for some. This is a phenomenal return on investment.

You only invest 12 hours of prayer, and obtain a reward of 83.3 years of worship — truly, Allah Almighty is Most Gracious, Most Beneficient, and the Most Merciful. Surely, those believers who spend this blessed night in gossip or socializing or watching TV are the true losers.

There are many examples where the benefits we obtain on spending our time on the important matters, far outweigh the temporal benefits of this world.

To read the next part: Time Usage