Tafseer: {Cursing Time}

بسم الله والحمد لله والصلاة والسلام على رسول الله ، وبعد

In the Qur’aan, Allaah تعالى mentions:

وَقَالُوا مَا هِيَ إِلَّا حَيَاتُنَا الدُّنْيَا نَمُوتُ وَنَحْيَا وَمَا يُهْلِكُنَا إِلَّا الدَّهْرُ

{And they say: "There is nothing but our life of this world, we die and we live and nothing destroys us except al-Dahr* (the time).}

[Surah al-Jaathiyah (45): 24]

*The word al-Dahr means: “A long period of time”, “era”, “eon”, “epoch” etc.

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Narrated Abu Hurairah: Allaah’s Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم said:

❝Allaah said: {The son of Aadam displeases Me by abusing the time, whereas I am Myself the time. In My Hand lay all the things and I am the One who causes the revolution of the day and night.}❞

[Saheeh al-Bukhaaree (4826, 6181, 7491), Saheeh Muslim (5580, 5581, 5582, 5583, 5584), Sunan Abu Dawood (5274)]

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The statement of Allaah تعالى: “I am Myself the time”, means: I am the one who controls and manages time, this is evident from the Hadeeth itself: “and I am the One who causes the revolution of the day and night”

[Sharh Saheeh Muslim by Shaikh Ibn al-`Uthaymeen]

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Regarding this issue, people can be divided into three categories:

1) Those who condemn or blame Time, using phrases like:

a) What a bad day!

b) It is a black day!

c) Black Wednesday! (Or any other day of the week) [In the year 2010 and 2011, there were floods in Jeddah, and there was loss of lives and damages to the properties. On both the occasions it happened to be on Wednesday, and hence this phrase was being used in the media.]

Shaikh Ibn al-`Uthaymeen رحمه الله said: “If a person merely curses time because bad things are happening to him, then it is Haraam (prohibited). But if he believes that time is what causes things to alternate between good and bad then this is Shirk Akbar (Major Shirk) because when a person attributes events to something other than Allaah, this means that he believes that there is another creator alongside Allaah.”

[Paraphrased from al-Qawl al-Mufeed `alaa Kitaab al-Tawheed]

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2) Then there are those who go to the other extreme by (intentionally / unintentionally) attributing the good things to Time:

a) Time cures…

b) Time heals…

(Note: There is a difference between saying, “Time heals / Time is a healer” and “with time, it will heal.”)

c) Some even go as far as to say: “O such-and-such month, be easy on me.”

This also falls under Shirk Akbar (Major Shirk).

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3) As for the third, they do not attribute good or bad to Time. They only relay the information on what has happened or is happening:

a) Ayyaam al-Jaahiliyyah (the days of ignorance).

b) We were facing difficulty today.

Shaikh Ibn al-`Uthaymeen رحمه الله said: “Where the intention is to only convey the information without blaming or condemning. This is permissible, such as when a person remarks, “We are suffering from the heat (or the cold) today” and the like, because deeds are judged according to their intentions, and in this case a person is merely describing what is happening without expressing discontent.”

[Paraphrased from al-Qawl al-Mufeed `alaa Kitaab al-Tawheed]

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Imaam Ibn Katheer رحمه الله said, in his Tafseer of the Aayah:

وَقَالُوا مَا هِيَ إِلَّا حَيَاتُنَا الدُّنْيَا نَمُوتُ وَنَحْيَا وَمَا يُهْلِكُنَا إِلَّا الدَّهْرُ

{And they say: “There is nothing but our life of this world, we die and we live and nothing destroys us except al-Dahr (time).} [Surah al-Jaathiyah (45):24]

Imaam al-Shaafa`ee, Abu `Ubaidah and others said, in their commentary on the Hadeeth of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم:

“Do not curse al-Dahr (the time) for Allaah is al-Dahr (time).”

The Arabs in days of the Jaahiliyyah, when some difficulty, trial or disaster befell them, would say: ‘Woe to time’, attributing those events to time and cursing it. But the One Who brought those events to pass is Allaah, so it was as if they were inveighing against Allaah عز وجل because in fact He was the One Who caused those things to happen. So it was forbidden to inveigh against time in this manner, because Allaah is Time, i.e., He is the One Who is controlling it, but the Arabs were attributing those events to Time.

This is the best of the comments made in the Tafseer of this Hadeeth, and this is what is meant. And Allaah knows best. 

[Abridged from Tafseer Ibn Katheer (45): 24]