In the Name of Allah,
[It (the Qur'an) is a Book We have sent down to you, full of blessing, that they may ponder over its verses and that people of intelligence take heed.] (Saad 38:29)
PLEASE DO NOT READ BELOW IF YOU ARE NOT A THINKER.
Since I was a child, concept of time has always been my interest. When I read fiction and non-fiction about time-travel, it sparked many ideas and questions in my mind. In fact, I was sure that Time Travel is possible, but when I start reading Quran, I realized that Allah has already told us that some people slept for centuries in a cave, which is time travel.
Here are some of the questions.
1) If God created us and wrote our destiny, how do we have free will?
2) How was Mohammad (PBUH) able to see people in Hell and Paradise, when no one has entered yet?
3) How was Mohammad (PBUH) to travel to seventh heaven and beyond in one night?
4) How long would we be in afterlife?
All of these questions are interesting ones, there are many explaination given for them. Let me explain my point of view on these.
1) If God created us and wrote our destiny, how do we have free will?
Yes, Allah created The Pen, and told it to write everything he will create and everything about it. It includes, what all of us will do , including if we will go to Hell or Paradise. Now, on the face of this, it sounds like we don't have the free will, if our actions are known, but a deep analysis reveals that thats not true.
Allah in his infinite wisdom know everything that will happen, because if he doesn't he will not be All knowing. However, we don't know what he knows about us, or what is written. So, in the absence of that knowledge, we can keep striving for salvation.
Also, knowing what we will do doesn't mean he decided for us. For example, on your way to school, you see your friend still not ready for school, and when you reach school you tell everyone that your friend will be late today. Now, you knew that you friend will be late, but it doesn't mean your friend can blame you for making him late. Of course there is no comparison to Allah, but he has provided us free will to chose the right or wring path, otherwise it wouldn't have been fair for him to judge us.
Also, our free will is limited to our intention, but all the movements including brain sparks (thoughts) are carried by the angels. For example, if you make intention to raise your hand to scratch your face, intention is yours, but you can't move your hand unless Allah permits, and Angels make it happen. If we were to have free will in action, it would nullify many of Allah's attribute. As you remember, reward of good deeds depend upon intentions and not actions.
Next three question are connected to each other, so let's tackle them together. They are all related to our concept of time.
So, within the creation of Allah, he created a concept of progression. Everthing is progressing towards an end stage. If we think for a second, our concept of time is deduced from this progression. Earth rotating around its access gives us a day. Moon rotating around earth gives us a month and year. Our bodies growing and aging gives us life spans. Now there are some of Allah's creation where progression is very slow or different. For example, Angels are not limited to progression as we see it. In fact, they seem to go and come back through out our history without aging.
Now, everything Allah created has an end, and it will die, but some are progressing faster. I argue that concept of time in our world is even more explicit. Our universe is like a watch that was wound a long time ago, and it is winding down to its end. And, we know that there are seven firmaments (heavens) and lowest is our reality which has the slowest progression of time. It is clear in the following.
"He arranges (every) affair from the heavens to the earth, then it (affair) will go up to Him, in one Day, the space whereof is a thousand years of your reckoning (i.e. reckoning of our present world's time)." (Quran 32:5)
Above verses and hadith clearly shows the difference of progression in time through seven firmaments. It takes 500 years to reach from earth to boundries of duniya. Then, the heaven surrounding the duniya is 500 years thick, so it takes 1000 years of our time for something to reach the highest point of creation at the highest speed possible for us in Duniya (not planet earth but the lowest reality).
"The angels and the Rûh [Jibrael (Gabriel)] ascend to Him in a Day the measure whereof is fifty thousand years,..." (Quran 70:4)
"Allaah passes judgement between His slaves on a Day the length of which will be “like fifty thousand years”, ..." (Saheeh Muslim)
In the above verse and hadith, Allah is revealing the length of the day of judgment when sun will be overthrown, mening lower reality will cease to exist, and the progression of time will change.
One can go on for hours on the knowledge in Quran on time, but let's move on to the next point. So, we know that there are different time progression at different levels of creation. So, there must be a highest place where progression stops. Naturally that exist outside the boundaries of creation or close to it, known as SidratulMuntaha (Lote tree of the extreme limit).
"It is na on the authority of Abdullah (b. Umar) that when the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) was taken for the Night journey, he was taken to Sidrat-ul-Muntaha, which is situated on the sixth heaven, where terminates everything that ascends from the earth and is held there, and where terminates every- thing that descends from above it and is held there. (It is with reference to this that) Allah said:” When that which covers covered the lote-tree” (al-Qur’an, Iiii. 16). He (the narrator) said: (It was) gold moths." (Saheeh Muslim)
During the ascention of our Prophet (PBUH) reached that tree which is the edge of all creation.
"During the night of Isra' and Mi`raj, the Prophet was taken up to a point where he heard the screeching of the Pens (writing the divine Decree)."(Shaykh Muhammad `Alawi al-Malaki)
When he reached there he heard the screeching of the pen writing the decree (fate of all creation)
"The first thing which Allah created was the pen. Then, He said to it: Write. It asked: My Lord, what should I write? He said: Write the proportions of all things up until the Hour." (Ahmad, At-Tirmidhi)
"The pens have been lifted, and the tablets have dried." (At-Tirmidhi)
From above ahadith it is clear that Allah created the Pen, and the Pen wrote everything that has to happen, and then stopped, and then the creation was created. So, if the pen(s) stopped writting, how can Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) heard it writing that decree just 1430 years ago.
So, lets put all our knowledge together. Time slows as you travel towards the end of the creation, and does not exist beyond the Lote tree, and The decree was still being written close to the limits. It is only logical that Time doesn't exist or very very slow in some part of the creation. Furthermore, Hell and Paradise exist in those part of the creation, and so Angels, and so The Pen. What Prophet (PBUH) may have seen was the act that started along time and still cotinues.
In fact, our reality exists like a bubble which is progressing from begining to end. Angels enter this bubble at different point in time and space as Allah commands them.
For example, Aslam and Salman are sleeping in two rooms in the same house, and die in an explosion at the same time. Angel of death will enter at January 5, 2010 1:10:01 PM at Aslam's room and take his soul, then re-enter at the same exact time but different space (location) and take Salman's soul. If we can see both death happening at the same time, we will see them happening simultaneously, but in reality (true reality) Angel took Aslam's first then Salman's.
2) How was Mohammad (PBUH) able to see people in Hell and Paradise, when no one has entered yet?
During the asecention of our Prophet (PBUH) visited Hell and Paradise, and saw humans there. One thing to note is that NO human will enter the Hell or Paradise untill the day of Qiyamah (last day), so it seems impossible for our Prophet (PBUH) to see us in there. In fact, it may be possible, if the Hell and Paradise exist outside this reality and time bubble, Judgment day has already happened, and we all entered the appropriate last abode. However, in this world, we still experiencing the time captured in the bubble.
In other words, if our entering into Jannah or Jahanam follows in time progression after this world ends, then the after life will become the part of time progression, and time concept will extend to afterlife, which is highly unlikely.
3) How was Mohammad (PBUH) traveled to seventh heaven and beyond in one night?
So, when Rasool Allah (PBUH) traveled through the staircase of spirits, he crossed the boundries of time bubble, where all of us are existing after Qayamah in Hell and Paradise, and Pen writting at the same time (using it losely). When he returned, Angels brough him back to the same point in time then he departed, becuase remember he spent some time in Jerusalem.
"They asked about this, when the Prophet came back from Miraj. they asked, Where was he? His wife said that he was sleeping in the bed next to her. He went on Miraj and came back. The place he was lying was still warm, she said, when he came back." (Cliamed to be authenticated, but I couldn't find the reference)
There are other reports that the journey took one third of the night. Only Allah knows, which report is true. One thing for sure that Isra was in this world so time was passing, but Miraj was outside the bubble of time, so time didn't pass.
4) How long would we be in afterlife?
Regarding the question on how long we will live in Hell and Paradise. There is no progression of time there, so we will live there until Allah decides to destroy us from existence.
In truth, Prophet (PBUH) hearing the footsteps of Bilal, or knowing about the future generation is not very difficult for Angels, if Allah wills. We all exist here in this bubble whose worth is less than a wing of Mosquito, and when Allah promises that not even an atom worth of deed will be forgotten, it makes sense, because Angels can retreive that by entering this bubble at any point in time and space, if they haven't been recorded already.
This concept of time explains many of the mysteries that we struggle with, but it is an opinion. Please don't hesitate to follow up on this.
Just a Thinker
Adnan Jumani
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