In this blog, I have written about the verse of the Holy Quran in which Allah Almighty talks about the relativity of time.
Translation of verse 5 of Surah As-Sajdah
He conducts(governs) everything from the heavens to the earth, and then everything ascends to him on a day whose length by your reckoning is a thousand years.
Explanation
The above-mentioned verse of the Holy Quran talks about a very famous concept in physics, which is the relativity of time, also known as time dilation. Late 19th and early 20th century scientists such as Lorentz, Emil Kuhn, Hermann Minkowski, Albert Einstein and many others theorized this concept, but Einstein made the greatest contribution. Time dilation deals with the fact that time is not absolute but relative. In general, time dilation is defined as how fast or how slow time will pass depending on the reference frame (accelerating/moving or non-accelerating/at rest or speeds much slower than the speed of light). Time is also affected by the pull of gravity on an object. This means that time will pass more slowly for someone moving at or near the speed of light than for someone moving at normal speed or not moving at all. For example, after spending 6 months on the International Space Station (ISS), orbiting the Earth at a speed of about 7,700 m/s, an astronaut's lifespan would be about 0.005 seconds less than that on Earth. This also means that time is also affected by gravity. The greater the gravity, the slower the time. For example, if someone is on the moon, their clock ticks faster because time passes faster for them than for someone on Earth. This is because the Earth's gravity is stronger than the Moon's gravity. In addition to this time could also slow. Down near massive objects such as supermassive blackhole etc. The reason for this is because masaive or heavy object have more gravitational pull which can slow down time.
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Now, if we move back to the verse, in the first part of the verse, there is a mention of Allah conducting every matter from heavens to Earth. These matters refer to the commands of Allah who govern this and all the heavens. Without His command, not even a particle of dust or a leaf can move by itself. It is his command which governs each and everything which is happening around us. With his command, we breathe and live our lives. It is his command with which we come into this world, and with his command, one day we will die as well. This is the glory of Allah. Then in the next part of the verse, it is mentioned that 'all this ascends to him on a day whose length is a thousand years of our reckoning.' The last part of this verse falls under the category of Relativistic time or Time dilation. A thousand years, by our reckoning,, could mean that a thousand years in our frame of reference is equal to one day in Allah's frame of reference. Time could be slower in Allah's frame of reference due to various factors that slow time, which I have mentioned above, such as gravity, mass and size of the throne and Qursi of Allah, and there could be some other factors involved in this as well, and Allah knows best. This verse is one of the many verses of the Holy Qur'an which describe scientific facts so accurately that 1400 years ago when people of that time could not even imagine such a thing. This is clear proof that the Holy Quran is the book of Allah and it has been sent to guide us. One thing to note is that this verse and all other scientific verses of the Quran do not make the Quran a book of science. This is a book of 'signs'. The mention of such signs or such verses is only so that we can ponder upon the greatness and wisdom of Allah Almighty.
One thing to keep in mind is that there can be various others explanations of this verse and only Allah Almighty knows what is the correct explanation.
Views of Al-Kindi on Relativistic Time
Al-Kindi (801-873AD) was a famous Muslim scientist who lived during the Islamic Golden Age. He was one of the most esteemed scholars of his time. He worked extensively in fields like medicine, astronomy, physics, mathematics, optics, etc. He was also a pioneer of cryptography and scientific methodology. Al-Kandi is said to have proposed an unproven theory of relativity 1,100 years before Einstein.
Al-Kindi argued in his book al-Falsafa al-Aula that a person sees an object whose size is small or large according to the vertical movement between the earth and the sky. If a person moves towards the sky, he will see the trees getting smaller and if he moves towards the earth, he will see the trees getting bigger. According to al-Kindi, objects, time, motion and space are not only relative to each other but also to other objects and observers who observe them. He viewed it as an essence of the law of existence.
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