TIME appears simple because human beings experience it in one direction: the past disappears, the future has not yet arrived and our lives move steadily towards old age and death. Yet both modern physics and the Qur’an challenge the assumption that ordinary human experience provides the only meaningful way of understanding time. The Qur’an does not present a scientific theory of relativity, but it repeatedly reminds us that human measurement of time should not be treated as the measure of all reality. One of the clearest examples occurs when Allah says:

“Indeed, a day with your Lord is like a thousand years of what you count.” (Qur’an 22:47) The phrase “of what you count” contrasts divine perspective with human reckoning. Similarly, Allah says that affairs ascend to Him “in a Day, the measure of which is a thousand years of what you count” (Qur’an 32:5). Another verse describes the angels and the Spirit ascending to Allah “in a Day, the measure of which is fifty thousand years” (Qur’an 70:4). These verses should not be understood as a mathematical formula in which one “divine day” always equals a fixed number of earthly years. Classical commentators offered different interpretations because the passages concern different contexts. Their broader lesson........

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