A077
Surah: 016 - Ayah: 077
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16:77
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.
This verse has been referred 2 times.