Time Dilation and the Qur’an
The verse 47 of Surah Hajj of the Holy Qur’an:
“They ask you to hasten the punishment, but Allah never breaks His promises. A day with your Lord is equivalent to a thousand years of your reckoning.” [Surah Hajj 22:47]
If we analyze the above verse, we will see that it is talking about the difference or relativity of the calculation of time. ” One day with your Lord is equal to a thousand years of your reckoning.”
In other words, the time span that equals a thousand years for us is merely one day for Almighty Allah.
Now the question is, can the calculation of time be different for each person? The short answer is yes time is relative. At one time it was thought that the value of time was the same everywhere in the universe and in all situations. That is, the value of a second or a minute of the clock will remain the same in all cases. But in 1905, Einstein changed this idea. He said, no – time is relative. And time varies for everyone. And it depends on location, speed etc. In other words, the calculation of time will be different for two different people if their position, speed etc. is different.
For instance, if one person is in a speeding rocket, while another remains stationary on Earth, time will slow down for the person in the rocket relative to Earth. Conversely, time will run faster for an individual standing still on Earth than for someone running in a rocket. The faster someone can move, the slower time will pass for them compared to others.
Time Dilation and the Qur’an
This difference in time calculation is called Relativity of Time. In the same way, the force of gravity can change the calculation of time. If the gravitational force of a planet is 5 times more with respect to the Earth, then the time of that planet will run about 5 times slower than that of the Earth. Again, if one of the two persons is on the moon, and the other on the earth, the clock of the one on the moon will run faster than the one on the earth. Because, the gravitational force of the moon is less than that of the earth. Gravitational force can change the calculation of time and the closer to the stronger gravitational force, the slower the clock will run. This matter is called Gravitational time dilation in science.
The relativity of time was discussed in Einstein’s Theory of Relativity in 1905. Before this, people did not have much idea about the relativity of time.
What’s intriguing is that the concept of the relativity of time is mentioned in Surah Hajj 22:47 of the Holy Quran-
“They ask you to hasten the punishment, but Allah never breaks His promises. A day with your Lord is equivalent to a thousand years of your reckoning.” [Surah Hajj 22:47]
And the interesting thing is that the difference in the calculation of time is explained in Einstein’s Theory of relativity. And this concept is also mentioned in the Holy Quran. The video below explains a little about how and why the time varies from state to state. Hope you like it for the curious reader –