PAST AND FUTURE

Divided and undivided senses have been discussed in the previous pages. These are the divided senses (the Absolute Edict) which reveal themselves in the form of the universe after adopting the temporal time; the time between Eternity (azll) and Infinity (abdd). It is not possible to have access to the soul through the forms and figure but it is definite to have access to the roots of the forms and figures through the soul. At this juncture, mistake on the part of those who attach preference to the Manifestations and claim the Manifestation as the ’Scope of the Life’, becomes clear. What else could it mean when the Manifestations are considered to be the scope of life that those who believe so, are declining both the past and the future. As if the relativity of Time have been totally ignored by them whereas the Relativity of Time is the Absolute Edict and the universe. In fact the Past is the universe. And, as far as the Present and the Future are concerned, they do not have any existence of their own but are parts of the Past. Every moment is travelling from future towards the past.

The auspicious saying of the Holy Prophet (Peace and Blessing of Allah be upon him), "The Pen has dried after writting whatsoever is to take place", is explicating the same meanings. No other form of Time, other than the Past, is suggested in this saying. Present and the Future both are the components of the Past.

This directly leads us to the structural formation of the universe. In the Holy Quran, it has been stated by Allah, the Most Exalted,

”Verily, when He intends a thing, His Command is, Be!, and it is!”  

(Surah 36 Verse 82)

 Structure and the ingredients of the Will (Intention) have been stated in this verse. We do not know how the people of the old times have used and what meaning did they ascribe to the structure’ but we find Light in it, that is, the Will of Allah is the infinite light. In this verse Allah has explained His Command. The statement, “When I command a thing to be, it is!”, is the exposition of the Elohistic Command that it comprises of three parts.

 1.    Will (Intention)

2.    That what is there in the Will i.e., the Thing.

3.    Manifestation of the thing.

 It is established from these words of Allah, the Most High that whatsoever he intends to do, already exists in His Knowledge. Thus, that which exists – is the past. Now the question is, what is the magnitude of the past? For understanding the magnitude of the past we have many systems. For instance, according to the scientist of the present age the speed of the light is 186,282 miles (about 3 × 10⁵ Km) per second. In this way the radius of one second, in the world of light, is 186,282 miles.

 To have an idea of the number of incidents, actions and functions taking place within space occupied by the radius of 186, 282 miles of the universe is out of the question. In other words, all the activities that can take place in one second in the whole universe are the incidents of only one second. If somehow the calculation of the number of these activities could be made possible then the expanse and enormity of one second could be estimated. The main thing to note here is that to pen down the cosmic events of just one second mankind would certainly require all the time from Eternity to Infinity. Thus, it could be proclaimed, without a hint of doubt, that one second is equal to all the times between Eternity (azll) and infinity (abdd)O When only one second is operative from Eternity to Infinity then the Serial Time becomes a meaningless thing. In fact, Shaiun’ (Faculties) of Allah, the Most High are the reality of Time.

 The universe is ordained with three Times; the Real Time, Serial time and the Non-Serial Time.

 The Serial Time is experienced during the state of divided senses. All the incidents and activities, on the external plane of the universe, are measured on the scale of the Serial Time. Each step of the cosmos is related with one moment. Thus, the travel of the cosmos from one point to the other and thence into the third does not come about undergoing a variation, that is, one moment is one variation and the other moment is another variation. In other words, ‘moment’ is the name of the cosmic variation. It is evident from the separation of moments from one another that the incidents and events of every moment are distinct and different from one another. Separate units of time provide sufficient evidence that there is partition between them and this partition is the opposite and contrasting units. And, these units have merits and properties of their own. Technically, these very units are known as Non-serial Time. If the Serial Time is the known incidences then the Non-Serial Time is the Unknown incidences. If units of Serial Time are the collection of those incidences that are known by the Conscious then the units of Non-serial Times are those incidents which are not known to the Conscious.

 Both these Times have been mentioned in the Holy Quran by Allah, the Most Exalted in the following words:

 “I breathed My spirit into Adam’s mould and granted him knowledge of the Objects”.

 This makes them two agencies; the Elohistic Spirit and the Knowledge of Object.

 Corresponding to the Knowledge of Objects is the World of Nature (the Serial Time) that has been termed as the Witnessed Realm (alam-e-shahadat) and the Elohistic Spirit corresponds with the Spiritual World (the Non-serial Time) that has been termed as the Unseen Realm (alam-e-ghaib) in the Holy Quran.

 For Detailed information of these two agencies, understanding to some extent, of the Light (noor) and the nasma is necessary. Human existence is a composition of these very two things and the same are the conscious and unconscious scales of the human mind.

 There are three planes of the human mind. The first plane has two sides, Metafantasy and Fantasy. Similarly the second plane also has two sides, Sensation (feeling) and the Observation. The Realm of Unseen is situated in front of Metafantasy (soul). This realm is disclosed upon the soul and the conscious remains unaware of this realm. This realm comprises the inner of the cosmos and ultracosmos. This realm is a combination of timelessness (the Real Time) and the Non-Serial Time. The Real Time is the Elohistic Knowledge that is termed as the Invisible Unseen (Ghaib-ul-Ghaib). The Non-Serial Times is the World of Angels and is termed as the Unseen Realm. Thus, Both the Sections of the Unseen Realm, the Invisible Unseen and the Unseen are located in front of the soul; the Invisible Unseen in the Simple Light and the Unseen in the Compound Light. The human mind is a collection of the remaining five aspects of the human mind – fantasy, thought, imagination, sensation and observation and the Nature is aligned with the very same aspects.

 Now, the explanation of the Cosmic Life would be that first comes the moment of the Unseen Realm and then that of the Realm of Nature. Our conscious is unaware of the moment of the Unseen Realm but the soul remains well informed about this moment.

 The Invisible Unseen is the boundlessness i.e., it is the Real times or the Timelessness. Facing this Boundlessness is the structure of every bounded domain whose other name is knowledge. In other words knowledge is that entity which has a quest for Boundlessness and remains in pursuit of understanding and cognition of the same. Knowledge remains desirous of locating those lights of the Boundlessness that are yet to be discovered by it. Knowledge remains in search of these lights and the lights that are found are assimilated by the knowledge. The light that is absorbed becomes a permanent feature (impression) of the knowledge. Name of this impression is the species. This is the Non-Serial Time. Impression of the species in the knowledge’ means that the species has the knowledge of its existence and to maintain the knowledge of its existence, the species repeat itself which causes the creation of the individuals of that species. This is the Serial Time. It should be kept in mind that reproduction of the species occurs in the stage of Bounded Domain which is facing the Boundlessness.

 The stage of the Boundlessness is the Invisible Unseen and the stage of the Boundness is the Unseen. Species is the Stage of Boundness of the knowledge and individual is a stage of the Boundness of species. Manifestation of the individual is the Witnesses Realm which is termed as the Serial Time.

 It has already been mentioned that the knowledge of the Unseen has two stages, the Invisible Unseen and the Unseen. The Invisible Unseen is the moment of simple Light (noor-e-mufrad) and the same has been called the Real Time (Timelessness). This moment is an invariant moment. Its expanse ranges from Eternity to Infinity. The Knowledge remains in pursuit of the characteristics of the very moment, i.e., it keeps on peregrinating from the Boundlessness towards the Boundness of the moment. This interim moment of the knowledge which is spent in travelling from the Boundlessness towards the Boundness, is the moment of the Compound Light (noor-e-murakab). Duration of this moment is beyond the range of the conscious comprehension because inception of the human conscious takes place only in the Boundness. Moment of the Boundness is the temporal Time that has been mentioned as the Serial Time. This Moment after commencing from the simple Nasma ends on the compound namsa. Human conscious is acquainted with the simple Nasma within the area of the Perceptors: the fantasy, the thought and the imagination and, familiarizes itself with the compound nasma in the limits of the sensations (feelings) and the observation. Process of becoming aware of the variations of the Conscious is the existence of the Conscious. Thus, the Conscious is constructed within this very moment. The Moment of Nasma, in the Holy Quran, has been termed as Afaaq (Horizon or External World) and the Moment of Light, as Anfas (Soul or inner world). The Moment of the Light is facing the human Soul and the moment of the nasma is situated before the human mind.

Example

Tom is an individual. If it is asked, who is Tom? The answer would be that he is the son of so and so, brother of so and so, twenty-five, well mannered, well educated, intelligent, and a smart man etc. He is young, he is handsome, he is tolerant. This means that Tom is a combinative collection of these qualities and all these things are present in him. That is, Tom is not the name of flesh and bones, veins and muscles but that he is a collection of certain actions and deeds. If the life of the Tom could be pasturized, the title of the film would be the Ultraconscious i.e., Unconscious or an entity of such Compunded Light which is comprising the Non-serial Time. Here, the role of Non-serial Time, in the life of Tom, is required to be properly understood.

For instance, thought of the sun occurs to Tom. This means that the mind of Tom unconsciously surrounds the solar system, that is, the complete solar system in the form of a picture comes before his inner Self (Soul). Details of the solar system in this picture would be a moment of the Non-serial Time.

If the details of the moment; the events, incidents, situation and conditions are rolled up, they will jointly form one moment of Tom’s life. This is the moment of the Serial Time. This moment also has two aspects. One, which is facing the senses and is known as the World of Nature. The collective name of such countless moments is Tom. He is the same person who is known, felt, sensed and observed by the senses. It means Tom is a rolled up film of countless moments i.e. The World of Nature. Name of this rolled film is the solid and perceivable Tom. In other words, Tom is a title of a unit of the Serial Time. Detail of this title is that unit of Non-Serial Time which could be termed as the Formational construction of Tom. This could also be said that the unit of Non-Serial time is the formational construction of Tom. It has been mentioned earlier that the Formational construction is the name of the dilation of the Light or is such a pervading Light which is a photographic picture of the components of a unit. Each and every fantasy thought, imagination and sensation of a unit is pre-recorded in this picture.

The above mentioned could also be stated in this way that the moment of the Serial Time is the title or the body and the moment of the Non-Serial Time is its descriptive film. It is pertinent to know that the moment of the Non–Serial Time always remains present before us but remains unnoticed our mind hence the same is unseen.

When we look at something, the moment of the Non-Serial Time measures the intermediatory distance without our knowledge in such a way that neither the light of the object detaches from our mind giving way even to the slightest gap thereof nor is it allowed to penetrate our mind. This is the reason that we can see the object. Had our mind slightly detached itself from the object or penetrated the object slightly the object would have vanished from our sight and we would have never been able to see it.

Serial Conscious is continuous and Sequential. For instance, day after tomorrow cannot come unless tomorrow is not lived through. Similarly, the month of June cannot come after March unless the months falling between them have not passed. The Non-Serial Time, contrary to this, is not bound to be in sequence. Dreams (visions) are one of the examples of this state. A dreamer can suddenly start foreseeing the happenings of ten years hence, although the intermediatory time has not yet passed. It means that the events, incidents and happenings of any era irrespective of the past, the present or the future can be sighted in the Non-Serial Time. For surveying the cosmic events the Non-Serial Times contains all those scales with which the past, the present and the future can be measured without any sequence. Times of thousands of years ago can be brought back in the thoughts or the dreams and in bringing it back the intermediatory interval is overlooked. Besides the above mentioned aspect of the Non-Serial Time there is another aspect that always remains attached to our mind and remains in operation. One of the examples in this regard has been cited above and we frequently experience others of the like nature. For instance, when we happen to see a person who had been known to us twenty years ago, face of that person is instantly recalled without going through and recollecting all the incidents of past twenty years in a sequence rather the face of that person flashes back’ in our mind. In fact, he had been preserved in the circle of the Non-Serial Time and in recollecting his personality our mind skips over all the intermediatory moments. In other words, either our mind enters that circle of the Non-Serial Time where the personality of the said person is preserved or the circle of the Non-Serial Time finds its way into our mind. There may be many other examples of the Non-Serial Time. When we are, for instance, climbing down the stairs, the measurement of the stairs being recorded in the Non-Serial Time is guiding our steps. Therefore, we do not have to think consciously while descending the stairs. Sometimes our mind is distracted from the circle of the Non-Serial Time and the Serial Time takes over the control of our steps this causes us to stagger on our steps because the measurements of the steps are not recorded in the Serial Time. In the Holy Quran the Non-serial time has been denominated as the knowledge of the Names. This Knowledge is that Conscious which we have termed as the Non-serial Time, or to say, this Conscious is the additional property of the Non-Serial Time.

Real Time is the personal characteristics of the soul which contains all the pictorial films of all the times from the Beginning to the Ending and the same have been called the Preserved Scripturum in the Holy Quran. This Time is inscribed in the Beatific Vision of the Supreme Being and enjoys the status of the Beatific Vision of the Attributes. The soul (spirit) mentioned in the Holy Verse, “I breathed My soul into Adam’s mould” is the consciousness of the Real Time. The Beatific Vision of the Being (Knowledge of the Pen) and the Beatific Vision of the Attributes (the Preserved Scripturum) are situated before this very Conscious. Both these are two grades of the Realm of Light. Contents of both the Serial and Non_Serial Times are preserved at the Level of the Beatific Vision of the Attributes and that is the conscious which is responsible for the survival of both the Serial and the Non-Serial Consciouses. The Beatific Vision of the Attributes, in terms of the Holy Quran has been called the Realm of Behest (alam-e-amr) and both these Times have been denominated as the Created Realm.

Created Realm has two portions. One is the Illustrated Realm which is the Non-Serial Time and the other is the World of Nature. This is the Serial Time and the same is known as the Realm of Elements or the World of History or the Phenomenal World.

Allah, the Most Exalted has stated, “We are closer to you than your Jugular vein”. Three stages have been mentioned in this Verse. First is that of the Supreme Being of Allah and His Attributes. It is the Real Time, i.e., the Consciousness of the Presented Knowledge (Ilm-e-Huzoori) of Allah, the Most High. Second is the stage of the jugular vein’ which is the consciousness of the human ego’ i.e., the knowledge of the Names. Third stage is that of the person whose Jugular vein’ has been indicated herein. This is the man as an object whose other name is the Serial Time. Serial Time is the Conscious of the individuals. Every individual of the universe, that is, every particle of the universe, within the perimeter of this Conscious, knows itself within its own individuality. Non-serial Time is the Cosmic Conscious which functions in the individuals unconsciously.

Real Time is the knowledge of Allah (the Presented Knowledge). It is that Conscious which is operative in every particle of the universe. When this Conscious is operative in the universe, the universe considers it to be its own intrinsic conscious and when it is operative in the particle, the particle considers it to be its own individual Conscious. As long as, this Conscious is Ultra-cosmic, it is known as the Real Time and when it is merged in the universe it is known as the Non-Serial time and when it is active in a particle it becomes the Serial Time. “Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth”, here the very same Conscious has been called the light O

Various degrees of these very three consciouses are functioning in the human being.

“And those who strive towards Us, We will certainly guide them to Our Path, And Verily Allah is with those who do right”. (Surah 29 Verse 69)

Both Serial and the Non-Serial Times have been indicated in this Verse. Those who search for Allah, Both these Times are revealed upon them. That awareness is produced in them which, remaining in the Serial Time, understands and feels both these times. The Things that were ever transferred in the Serial Time from the Non-Serial Time and in Non-Serial Time from the Real Time or would ever be transferred in times to come, are frequently revealed upon them. Some time their insight, their sight and their feelings happen to observe the concurrent features of the past, the present and the future. The activities of the past, the present and the future are also known by their insight distinctively and separately from one another. The Serial Time is associated at its every end-point with the Non-Serial Time and every end-point of the Non-Serial Time is connected with the Real Time O

Anything that is existing for the time beings is a unit of the Serial Time and it cannot be out of the life Cycle before coming into being because that which is out of the life cycle, does not possess the ability to enter the life-cycle. A tree which is present before us after growing up completely once used to dwell in its ancestors. Or in other words, the inner of the ancestors of the tree has become the tree after taking the form of a Manifestation. The inner of the ancestors’ of the tree is the Non-Serial Time O

Structural formation of the cosmos has been mentioned in the Holy Quran, in the following words, by Allah, the Most Exalted, “ It is Allah who created and granted the Common Sense, appointed the fate and granted the guidance”.(Surah 87 Verse 2&3)