Balance Of Realities - Perpetual Resurrection
Perpetual Resurrection
Tags: sa`ah, al'an, ghayb, amr, fi`l-i qudrat
What I am going to explain now will show clearly that the example of the resurrection really exists in the watch. That is, just as there can be the division and aggregation of time, such as the second, minute, hour, day, night, week, month, year, decade, century, cycle and age through the watch, similarly different resurrections take place in different ages, which resemble the times of the watch. There has been a need for the watch in every age. Therefore, since the ancient times, different kinds of clocks and watches have been invented in order to estimate and know the quantity of time, such as: sundial, sand-glass or hour-glass, water-clock, sidereal clock and finally the present watch. Having mentioned the above examples and proofs, I will explain the Divine watch’s (as-sa`ah’s) resurrection (which is initial, final and perpetual). It is extremely necessary to know about it.
The rapid pace with which time passes through the limit of “now (al'an)” shows that there has never been a time which has not elapsed second by second. Similarly, the perpetual resurrection continues constantly, without any interruption, with a speed faster than that of the twinkling of an eye. This is evident from the following noble verse: “To God belongs the unseen (ghayb i.e. things and souls) of the heavens and the earth. And the matter of the Hour (as-sa`ah) is not but as a twinkling of the eye, or nearer. Surely God is powerful over everything” (16:77).
Explanation: The unseen or hidden things of the heavens and the earth belong to God, both in physical and spiritual forms. There is no doubt that both the worlds belong to Him. However, it is necessary to know that all the scientific and atomic inventions and discoveries of the present era, which thirteen centuries ago were among the hidden things of God, have today been unsparingly granted to humankind by Him, the Self sufficient. From this, it follows that when God says about a thing that “such and such a thing belongs to Me or is with Me”, it is not a decisive proof that He, the Generous, will never give it to human beings. Rather, according to the verse: “Naught is there, but its treasures are with Us, and We send it not down but according to the quantity of the knowledge [of the people of the time]” (15:21), there is nothing which, according to the capacity and preparedness of the time, does not appear in the world. The same is true of knowledge and recognition, which is the most necessary and the highest of all things and is the real blessing and spiritual bounty of God. Since despondency from the mercy of God is blasphemy, therefore, despondency about knowledge and recognition is nothing but despondency from the mercy of God. Further, how is it possible for God to bestow a coarse and dense thing like the body with His extremely new favours of the present inventions and discoveries and yet to deprive a subtle and lofty thing like the soul of knowledge and recognition and leave it helpless amidst the confusions of present day problems? Therefore, it is certain that as material things appear in this world according to the preparedness of time, similarly it is also possible to benefit from spiritual bounties (which are knowledge and recognition) according to our capacity and preparedness.
Now in the above mentioned verse (16:77) in “ma amru's-sa`ah (Not the matter of the Hour ...)” the particle ma (not), by its being the sign of negation stands for the initial and the final zero (cypher) of the watch of resurrection. In a manufactured watch, each of its seconds starts from a hypothetical zero and ends at it. Similarly time, starting from [the hypothetical zero of] the circumferential surface and passing through the universal centre, ends back at the hypothetical zero of the circumferential surface. In the same way the effects of the perpetual resurrection starting from the surface of the universal body (heavens and all heavenly bodies) and touching the centre of the sun (universal centre) ends back at the hypothetical zero of the same circumferential surface. For, with respect to the limit of the body’s non existence, ma (not), la (not) and zero, all have the same meaning and this is the extreme limit of the circumferential surface.
Amr or the perpetual resurrection is the name of that all-embracing act of God (fi`l-i qudrat) which continues in the universal body with extreme rapidity. Just as the second hand passes through the span of time with extreme rapidity, thereby creating the range of times from a minute to the year etc., and meanwhile continuing in all these times, in exactly the same way, from the perpetual resurrection (which is the shortest resurrection) is created the greatest resurrection. If we suppose the change of the events and conditions of the universe to be the times of a watch and observe this in our imagination, we will come to know that there are two kinds of events with respect to time: Those which take place constantly in the twinkling of an eye like [the fraction of] the second, which we will call the perpetual resurrection; and those which take place in different times like a minute, hour, day, night, month, year etc., which are called the temporary resurrection (hangami qiyamat). This example shows that resurrection is the collective name of the physical and the spiritual, the particular and the universal events.
| Chapter Index | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter |