WAQT (time; refers to the measurement of movement, such as movement and stillness, black and white) and DAHR ( time, vicissitudes of time), the latter majorly communicates the possibility of not quantifiable time, this assertion may be deciphered as puzzling and solitary, particularly interestingly with the exacting monotheism of Islam. It statutorily speaks among some moment in lifetime of men which doesn’t necessarily have to do with the O’clock time but the happenstance in one’s existence i.e time when trials and calamities strick, time when one is wealthy, time when weather conditions become friendly or unfriendly, time when one is tested with his possessions etc.
It ought to be noticed that “time” (dahr) isn’t one of the Names of Allaah; it is ascribed to Allaah as in He made it and is controlling it, i.e., He is the Creator of time.
The Prophet of Allah (Peace be upon him) said:
“Do not inveigh against time (al-dahr), for Allaah is time”
“Let not any one of you say, ‘Woe to time,’ for Allaah is time”
“Allaah says, ‘The sons of Adam offend Me and say, Woe to time, but they should not say Woe to time. I am time, I alternate the night and the day, and if I willed, I could seize them both.’”
With regard to the meaning of the hadeeth, al-Nawawi said:
They said: this is a metaphor, because the Arabs used to inveigh against time when disasters such as death, old age, loss of money, etc., happened. They would say, ‘Woe to time’ and other phrases cursing or inveighing against time. So the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: ‘Do not inveigh against time for Allaah is time’, i.e., do not inveigh against the One Who brings about those disasters, for that will be directed towards Allaah, for He is the One Who causes them to happen. Time (al-dahr) means al-zamaan (time) which cannot do anything in and of itself, for it is just one of the things that have been created by Allaah.
The meaning of the phrase “for Allaah is time” means that He is the One Who causes those events and accidents to happen, and He is the Creator of all that happens. And Allaah knows best.
(Sharh Muslim, 15/3)
The reasonable differentiation among Zaman and Dahr, permits us to more readily see some element of the Islamic conventions especially identified with the distinct relationship that exists between the term of the Supreme being and us.
Denouncing against time might be separated into three classifications:
1. Where the expectation is to pass on an ongoing or important information without accusing or denouncing the cause of it (Allaah). This is passable, for example, when an individual comments, “We are experiencing the warmth (or the cool) today” and such, in light of the fact that deeds are weighed by their intention (Niyaah), and for this specific situation; an individual is only portraying what’s going on without communicating discontent nor cursing time.
2. Where an individual denounces against time as the reason for occasions or things that happen, as though by denouncing against it, he implies that time is the thing that makes things switch between good and bad, beautiful and ugly. This is a major disbelief (Shirk), on the ground that when an individual credits occasions to some different being or cause other than Allaah, this implies that he accepts that there is another supernatural being likened to Allaah (May Allaah save us from such).
3. Where an individual denounces against time however accepts that the One who makes things happen is Allaah, yet he denounces against time due to the terrible things that occurred. This is haraam in light of the fact that it is in opposition to the sabr (patience/forbearance) that is required, yet it isn’t disbelief in light of the fact that the individual doesn’t denounce straightforwardly against Allaah.
Other inexcusable articulations which individuals utter involve reviling the hour or the day on which a specific terrible thing occurred, etc. This is a wrongdoing since it is reviling and ill-advised discourse, and in light of the fact that this is reviling something which doesn’t have the right to be reviled. Nothing separated from the way that the occasions happened at that point, yet they are just made things which have no power over anything and can’t be held to fault. In the event that an individual denounces against time, this ponders the Creator of time. The Muslim should be above talking in a particularly absurd and ill-advised way regarding to the attributes of His creator even when it affects him in a bad and distasteful manner.
Lawal Afeez Arishekola
Lagos, Nigeria
8th January, 2021
English 
