TIME IN THE ISLAMIC WORLDVIEW
Time is among the most subtle creations of Allah. We live within it, measure our lives by it, and watch everything around us rise, fall, flourish, or fade through it. Yet the Islamic tradition teaches that time itself is not an independent force, nor an eternal backdrop, but a created reality — a dimension of change woven by Allah into the fabric of creation.
When we look at the world, we intuitively sense that time flows differently for different things. A mountain stands unmoved for centuries, a tree grows and decays across seasons, and an insect may live its entire life in a day. What distinguishes these experiences is not that time itself changes, but that each created thing undergoes change at its own pace. Time, in its essence, is simply the measure of these successive changes.
Modern science measures time with extraordinary precision, such as through atomic decay, while earlier civilizations — including the earliest Muslims — measured time through the alternation of day and night, the cycles of the moon, and the changing of the seasons. Whether measured by the heartbeat or by the orbit of a planet, time remains a human attempt to track the unfolding of Allah’s decree within creation.
The Qur’ān itself draws our attention to the relativity of time. What appears slow or unmoving to us may be in constant motion in another realm. A single day in one realm may equal a thousand years in another. These revelations remind us that human perception is limited, and that what we experience as time is only our vantage point within a far broader creation.
This relativity does not diminish the reality of time; it reveals its true nature. Time is not an absolute entity that governs creation. It is only the rhythm of created things undergoing change — mountains shifting imperceptibly, stars evolving over eons, the human heart beating moment to moment. Each realm of creation has its own tempo, its own cadence, its own clock.
Above all of this stands Allah, exalted beyond measure. He is the Creator of time and not subject to it. Time is contingent, always tied to change, and therefore cannot apply to the One who is eternal, unchanging, and perfect. Allah existed before time and remains as He has always been — unaffected by the motion, stillness, or transformation of His creation.
For this reason, the Prophet ﷺ taught us not to curse time. People often blame time for misfortune, but the Prophet ﷺ reminded us that it is Allah who creates the events that unfold within time. Time has no will or power of its own; it is merely the stage upon which Allah’s decree manifests.
Reflecting on time in this way brings clarity and humility. We begin to see every moment of our lives as part of a divine unfolding. The rise and fall of civilizations, the slow shaping of continents, the flicker of an insect’s life — all occur within a tapestry Allah Himself has set into motion.
To understand time, then, is to understand our place in creation. It is to witness how all things change, while Allah alone remains unchanged. It is to see life as a journey through the signs of Allah, each moment a reminder of the One who transcends all moments.
