20908638 the Concept of Time in Islam

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The Concept of Time in Islam

Author(s): Gerhard BöweringSource: Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 141, No. 1 (Mar., 1997), pp. 55-66Published by: American Philosophical SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/987249

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TheConceptof Timein Islam*

GERHARDBOWERING

Professor f IslamicStudies

YaleUniversity

Today the world of Islam s estimated o count almost one billion

people, one fifth of humanity.Islamoccupiesthe center of the globe.It stretches like a broad belt across the map from the Atlantic to the

Pacific, encirclingboth the "haves"of the consumer North and "have-

nots" of the disadvantagedSouth. It sits at the crossroads of America,WesternEurope,andRussiaon one side and blackAfrica,India,andEast

Asia on the other. Islamis not contained in any national culture;it is a

universal orce. Stretchingfrom Morocco to Mindanao,it is built of five

geographicalblocks, the Muslims of black Africa, the Arab world, the

Turco-Iranianands, he Muslimsof SouthAsia,andthe inhabitantsof theIndonesianarchipelago.

Islam is also at a crossroads n history, destined to play an inter-

national role in politicsand to become the most prominentworld religionin the decades o come. In the seventhcenturyof the Common Era,Islam

entered he globalscene with Muhammadat aturning point in time. With

spectacular conquest and organic growth, it expanded through the

centuriesand becamestretched aut in a bow of tension between striving

for God andstruggle or dominion. As we enter the third millennium ofthe Common Era, Islam looks back nostalgicallyat its medieval glory,when the Judaeo-ChristianWest studied at its feet, and sees funda-

mentalism as the fulcrum of its future in the strugglefor preeminencewith the secular andtechnologically superiorWest.

How does Islamunderstand he ideasof pastandfuture,of time and

temporality, in which it strives to realize its eternal destiny? Picture

yourself in a downtown McDonald's taking a short lunch break at the

officeor grabbinga bite to eat between errands.Now pictureyourself inan Arab coffee house nursingan espressoafteryour siesta.We all knowfrom lived experiencethat these two settings carrywith them quite dif-

*Read3 November 1995

PROCEEDINGSFTHEAMERICANHILOSOPHICALOCIETY,OL.141,No. 1. 1997.

55



GERHARDBOWERING

ferent sensesof time. In the first scenario, time pushesrelentlesslyonward;n thesecond, t lazilywinds tswayforward n the afternoon

sun. Movefrom fast food to edification f a more intellectual ortandcheck heentryon thephilosophy f time n amajor ncyclopedia.What

youwill find here s learned rticlesontrastinghe linearprogression ftimepredominantn Western ulturewith the cyclicalconceptof time

prevalentn India.Bothconceptions,we are old,belong o thedefiningcharacteristicsf these two culturalworlds.Withregardo Islam heir

geographicaleighbor, owever,he same ources f referencedentifynosuchcharacteristicotionof time.1

Does theworldofIslam,occupyinghecenterof theglobe,possessaconceptof timecharacteristicallytsown,orcanthe Islamicnotion oftime be exhaustivelyexplainedby a cluster of borrowings rom its

neighbors ndcultural ncestors?s thereaunityto the Islamicnotion of

time, or is Islama universal ultureencompassingmanylanguages ndethnicgroups, achwithits own notionof time? Can oneonlyspeakofa spectrumof ideason time in Islamor arethereconstants hatwould

provideparametersefining

slamauthentically

s areligion

andculture?On theonehand,are heredistinct ndperduringlementsnthe Islamicnotionof time thatchallengehecurrent lash-of-civilizationheories oarticulate definitionof Islamiccivilizationupon which to base theiraxioms?On theotherhand,dodevelopmentsn the Islamicconceptoftime reveal he monolithic laims f Muslimundamentalismo restuponan idealized ndhomogenized ision of thepast?

ThesearchordefiningharacteristicsfIslamic ulture ndreligion

might beginwith

many notions, includingmonotheism,revelation,prophethood,rreligiousaw.Ihavechosen heconceptof timefortworeasons:irst, imeappearso provide moreneutral ointof comparisonthanothermorereligiously harged otions; econd, ime isnot limitedto oneparticularieldof Islam,but can betracedn a broadcross-sectionof Islamicwritings.2Time is pervasiven Islamichistory,centralto

1. The abbreviationof journal itles followsJ. D. Pearson,IndexIslamicus,London 1958.

El (reprint1987)stands for TheEncyclopaedia fIslam(ed. M. T. Houtsma et al., Leiden1913-38;repr. Leiden 1987),El(new edition)for TheEncyclopaedia fIslam (ed. H.A.R.

Gibb et al., Leiden 1960-),Elr for Encyclopaediaranica (ed. E. Yarshater,New York

1982-),ER for TheEncyclopedia fReligion (ed. M. Eliade,New York 1987)and EREfor

TheEncyclopedia fReligionand Ethics(ed.J. Hastings,Edinburgh1908-26;reprintNew

York 1980).

2. There is no scholarlymonographon time in Islam or on time in Islamicmysticism.F. Rosenthal,SweeterThanHope,Leiden 1983,pp. 1-58,S. Pines, Beitrdge ur islamischen

(continued...)

56



THE CONCEPTOF TIME N ISLAM

languageand poetry, indispensablen Islamicastronomyand music,constitutive or Islamicritualandlaw, and crucial n Islamictheology,cosmology,andphilosophy.Fromthegreatrangeof thesefieldsI wouldliketo select ourpoints ormyreflectionsn thepresent aper:hevisionoftime n theQur'anandMuslimradition,heatomism f timepeculiarto Islamic heology,the paradigm f time prevalent n the medieval

mystical hilosophy fIslam, nd herhythmofthe Muslim alendarhat

provideshe basis or Islamichistoriography.Inthepre-Islamicra,Arab imewascharacterizedyfatalism, ahr,

whicheraseshumanworks withouthope for life beyonddeath.3Also

calledhe"days"r the"nights,"ahr s the causeofearthlyhappinessnd

misery; t is death'sdoomandthe measure f destiny;t changes very-thing, and nothing resistsit. While dahrheld sway like fate, it could be

transcended by a moment marked out in tribal memory and often

preserved n poetry. Dahr wasthuspunctuatedby the Days of the Arabs,

ayyam al-cArab,4he days of vengeance in combat and tribal prowess,when memorableeventsplacedmarkers n the recollection of the course

of events.

The Qur'an rejectsthe pre-Islamicfatalism of dahr. Instead, it

explains time from the perspectiveof a transcendentmonotheism pro-

mising paradiseandthreateningeternaldamnation.Justasthe pre-IslamicArabshad their days of victory andvengeance,so Allah had His days ofdeliverance and punishment. God's personalcommand, "'Be!'and it is,

kunfa-yakun" bliterated he spell of fate. God gaveHis command whenHe formedthe first humanbeingandmade the heavensandthe earth.Hedeterminesthe

beginningof a

person'slife andcallseach individual

to a2. (...continued)Atomenlehre, rafenhainichen936,andNouvelles tudesurAwhadal-zamanAbu-l-Barakatl-BaghddI,aris1955,ncludeground-breakingbservationsn "time"n Islam.E.Behler,DieEwigkeit erWelt,Miinchen 965,offersathoroughhistorical nalysis fthe controversy n the beginnings f the worldandits eternity n ArabicandJewishmedievalphilosophy. Somehelpfulspecificarticleson aspectsof "time"n Islamareenumeratedn G. B6wering,"Ideas f Time in PersianSufism,"ran30 (1992), 86;

reprintedn Classicalersian

ufismromitsOriginsoRumi,editedby L. Lewinsohn,London-NewYork1993,p. 203.

3. T. Noldeke, "Vorstellungener Arabervom Schicksal,"Zeitschriftur Volker-

psychologiendSprachwissenschaft(1885),130-35;. Pedersen,"The slamicPreacher:wa z mudhakkir,ass"GoldziherMem.1 (1948): 26-51;H. Ritter,DasMeerderSeele,Leiden1955,pp.43-44.

4. E. Mittwoch,"Ayyimal 'Arab,"EI(newedition),1:793-94;W. Caskel,"Aijam l-

'Arab,"slamica supplement1930),1-99.

57



GERHARDBOWERING

finalaccount fterdeath.There snoplace n theQur'an forimpersonaltime;eachperson'sdestiny s in the handsof the God who createsmale

and female,giveslife andbringsdeath,andgrantswealthandworksdestruction.God is activeevenin a person's leep,for "God akesthe

soulsunto Himselfat thetimeof theirdeath,and hatwhich hasnot died

in itssleep.Hekeeps hoseon whomHe hasdecreed eath,butlooses he

otherstill a stated erm."5Fromthe "Be!"f aperson's reation o the

time ofdeath,human xistenceallsunderhedecree f God:Allahis the

Lordof each nstant;whatHe hasdeterminedappens.Muslim

tradition,or

Hadith,amplifiedhe divinedetermination

includedn the Qur'an,and ransformedMuhammad'stresson divine

omnipotence nto a rigidpredeterminism. avingdahrfromQur'aniccondemnation,Hadithidentifieddahr with God througha powerfuldivine utterance nd warnedagainst landering ahr hrougha famous

sayingoftheProphet.6n order o establishhatAllah'sunalterableecree

isinvariablyulfilled, nother trand fHadithntroduceshenotion that

everything hathappenss written n aheavenlybook.Whileeach em-

bryo is still in the womb, an angelwrites down the dailyration,theworks, hemomentsofmiseryorhappiness,nd he hour of deathof theman or womanit will become.7Combiningpre-Islamicotions of all-

pervasive ime with the ideaof God'sdecree n the Qur'an, Muslimtraditionsaw time as a seriesof predeterminedventsbindingdivine

omnipotence o the certainoccurrence f each nstantof aperson'sife

span.8Unavoidable s fateand rreversiblestime,each nstanthappenedsolelythroughGod'sveryown action.

The most commonIslamic ermfortime,zaman,does not appearin the Qur'an,nor doesqidam,ts counterpartor eternity.The Arab

lexicographers,owever,hadagreat arietyofterms or time. Ingeneral,theydistinguishedahr, ime fromthebeginning f the world o itsend,fromzaman,alongtimehavingbothbeginning ndend;casr,aspanof

time;bin,a periodof time,little or much;dawmn,duration;mudda,a

spaceofduration;waqt,amoment ntime; an,presentime;awan time

5. Qur'an 39:42.

6. Cf. A. J. Wensinck, Concordance t indicesde la traditionmusulmane,8 vols., Leiden

1936-88,1: 50, 101;2: 92,155.

7. H. Ringgren, Studies n ArabianFatalism,Uppsala 1955, pp. 117-18; dem, "Islamic

Fatalism," n:FatalisticBeliefs,ed. H. Ringgren,Stockholm 1967,pp. 57-59.

8. For the implicationsof these strandsof Hadithon Islamicdoctrinesof predestination,seeJ. van Ess, ZwischenHadiitund Theologie,Berlin 1975,pp. 75-81.

58



THE CONCEPT OF TIME IN ISLAM

or season;yawm, a time, whether night or day; and sia, a while or an

hour. Abad was duration without end and azal duration without

beginning,to which qidam, ime without beginning,correspondedto its

primary sense as distinct from sarmad,incessant continuance. Kulld ,

perpetual existence, was implicit in the Qur'anic day of eternity, the

entrance o dr al-kulfid, aradise.9 t is obvious that these distinctions do

not reflect a quasi-technical sageof each term to the exclusion of others,but ratheran approximatelypredominantmeaningthat often blendswith

the neighboring terms in the actual literary use. When it came to

translatingGreek philosophical texts into Arabic, the most commonly

employed correspondenceswere chronos, ranslatedby zaman, aion bydahr,kairosby waqt, anddia'stasisby mudda.10

Throughthe exposureof Greekthought, the philosophersof Islam

becamefamiliarwith two powerful andmutually opposed philosophicalnotions of time. For those who followed the Aristotelianview, time was

an accidentof motion, while for those who espousedthe Plotinian con-

cept, time had no extra-mental reality; rather it was the stream of

consciousness of a thinking mind, a durationexisting independently of

motion. Aristotle had attemptedto prove the eternity of the universefrom the nature of time. In the Plotinian view, time did not come intoexistence with the creation of the universe, but existed from eternity asthe durationof God's infinite consciousness.

While Islamic philosophical notions of time oscillated between

Aristotelian motion and Plotinian duration, it was the atomism of

Democritus that appealedmost strongly to the creatorsof normativeIslamic

theology.Atomic

theory openeda

wayto link the

immutabilityof reality with the observablechangesand manifold forms in naturebydescribing reality as composed of simple and unchangeable minute

particles, called atoms. The atoms and their accidentsexist for only aninstant. In every instant, God is creatingthe world anew; there are nointermediatecauses. God can be thought of as continually creatingthe

9. For details on these terms, see, e.g., E.W. Lane,An Arabic-EnglishLexicon,London

1863-93.10. S. Pines, Beitragezur islamischenAtomenlehre,Berlin 1936, pp. 49-51 (Ibn Sina [d.

428/1037] refines the terminology by the distinction of 7.amn, dahr,and sarmad). See

also T. J. DeBoer, "Zaman,"El(reprint1987),8: 1207-9;W. Hartner, "Zaman,"El(reprint

1987), 8: 1209-12;A. J. Wensinck, "Mikat,"EI (reprint 1987), 5: 492-93; D. Pingree,"Kamar," I (newedition),3: 517-18;S. van den Bergh, "Abad,"El (newedition), 1:2; E.

Schmitt, Lexikalische Untersuchungenzur arabischen Ubersetzungvon Artemidors

Traumbuch,Wiesbaden1970,pp. 13-19.

59



GERHARDBOWERING

universe romnothing."SubvertingGreek"materialistic"tomism, heMuslim heologiansmadeatomismaninstrument f divineprovidenceand held that eachmoment within time is the direct creationof the

eternallyactive God. Of itself, creation s discontinuous;t appearscontinuous o usonlybecause f God'scompassionateonsistency.

Islamicatomismmay be illustrated y the famousexampleof a

person ngagednwriting.12llahcreateswithin hehumanbeing irst hewill and hen thecapacityo write,creating oth will andcapacityanewinevery nstant.ThenGodcreates, new nevery nstant, he movementof thehand,and

inally,hemotionof the

penconcurrentwithit.

Everyinstantandaction n the processof writing s independentromeveryother; all stagesof the processissue from God alone. It is only in

appearancehat there is a coherentaction of writing.Similarly,a self-consistentworld in spaceandtime,workingharmoniously,s only an

appearance. heone true actor s God alone.The linkof causalityhat

appearso rule heworld andhuman ifebecomes ubordinateo Allah,and naturalcausesgive way to divine will. As a rule, God does not

interrupthe

continuityof

events, houghHe is able o

interveneatanymomentby what is commonlytermeda miraclebut simplymeansan

interruptionof His customaryactivity.Atomismwas not only most

congenial o a visionof Godacting nstantaneouslyn the worldasthesoletruecause,talsoprovedmostcloselyakin o Arabic rammar, hichlacksgenuineverbsfor "tobe"and "tobecome."NeitherdoesArabic

employ the tenses of past,present,and future.Instead, t usesverbal

aspectsof completeandincomplete,marking he degree o which an

action has beenrealizedor is yet to be realizedwithoutdistinguishingpreciselybetweenpresentandfuture.

WhileMuslimphilosophersnd heologiansought o explainime,the mysticsof Islamset out to experiencet. For the Sufimysticsthe

paradigmof time is suspendedbetweentwo days,the Day of PrimalCovenantat thedawnof creationandtheDayof FinalJudgmentwhenthe world comes to its catastrophicnd. Time resemblesa parabolastretching rominfinityto infinity,an arcanchored n eternityat its

11. S. van den Bergh, "Djawhar,"I (newedition),2:493-94; . Pines,Beitrage urislamischenAtomenlehre, erlin 1936,pp. 94-102;L. Massignon,"Timein Islamic

Thought," n: Manand Time.Papersrom the EranosYearbooks,d. J. Campbell,Princeton, 957,pp. 108-14;C.Baffioni,Atomismo antiatomismonelpensieroslamico,

Naples 982, p.79-114;f.alsoH.S.Nyberg,"Muctazila,"I reprint987), :787-93;.VanEss,"Muctazilah,"R,10:220-29;R M.Frank,"Ashariyah,"R,1:449-55; f.AlsoS.SamburskyndS.Pines,TheConcept f Time nLateNeoplatonism,erusalem,971.

12. T.J.De Boer,"Atomic heory:Muhammadan,"RE,2:202-3.

60




originandend,whichreaches ts apex n amystic'secstaticmomentof

memoryandcertitude.TheearlySufisdiscoveredhe decisivereligiousmoment orhumanitynpreexistence,henall humanbeingsheardandunderstoodGod's self-revelationor the first time at the very birthofcreation.3By recognizing he preexistentialoriginof all humanity on the

Day of Covenant,the Sufis establisheda dimensionof time that tracesthe

present moment back to eternity in the past and balancesthe eschato-

logical thrust of the Qur'an from the presentto eternity in the future,reachedat the Day of Judgment.

Through

a distinct meditational

technique,

known as dikr,recollection of God, the mystics return to their primeval origin on the

Day of Covenant,when all of humanity (sym-bolically nshrined n their

propheticalancestorsaslight particlesor seeds)swore an oath of allegianceand witness to Allah as the one and only Lord.14Breakingthrough to

eternity,the mysticsrelive theirwaqt,theirprimevalmoment with God,here and now, in the instant of ecstasy, even as they anticipate their

ultimatedestiny.Sufi meditationcaptures ime by drawing eternity from

itsedges

inpre-

andpost-existence

into the moment ofmystical

experience.The medievalSufi, Ibn al-CArabi,nalyzedthe concept of time on

the basis of the Prophet's tradition that Allah is time or dahr.15 ust as

God's being is everlasting,so is God's time; it is eternity, beginninglessand endless. Human beings,who are called in Sufi languagesons of their

moments, may also be understood as being, not having, time or waqt.Human time is momentary. Each moment is the reflection of God's

eternityin the person'sreceptivityto the divine action at each and everyinstant.Seen in this way, there are two levels of time: that of God, dahr,andthat of humanbeings,waqt.Yet both levels areinconsistent with our

ordinaryconceptionof time, becauseGod'stime stretchesout to eternitywhile the time of humans shrinks to a mere instant, a dot withoutduration. Caught between these two modes, divine everlastingnessandmortal momentariness, we human beings construct a notion of time,

13. G.Bowering,TheMystical ision fExistencen Classicalslam,Berlin1980,pp. 145-75;"The slamicCase,"n:TheOther ide fGod, d.P.Berger,New York1981,pp. 131-

53;R.Gramlich, DerUrvertragn derKoranauslegungzuSure7, 172-173),"erIslam60 (1983), 05-30.

14. L. Gardet,"Dhikr," l (newedition), :223-27;G.B6wering,"Dekr," Ir,7:229-33;idem,MysticalVision,201-7.

15. G. B6wering,"Ibnal-Arabi'sConceptof Time,"n:Gott st schonundErliebtdieSchonheitFestschriftiirAnnemariechimmel),d. A. GieseandJ.C.Biirgel,Bern1994,pp.71-91.

61



GERHARDBOWERING

zaman or chr6nos, that is imaginaryand subjective,though inspired bythe realandobjectivetime of dahr andwaqt.

The imaginary zaman can be understood through two principalmodels:that of cosmology and that of relativity.The cosmologicalmodel

is based on an image of the universe that is largely derived from the

Ptolemaic system of the spheresand the story of creation known from

Scripture. Its central notion is the idea of the complete day, yawm, a

sequence of night and day, which complement each other like male and

female or like activityandpassivity.Night andday come into being with

the revolutionof the spheres settingthe universe in motion, but become

discernible only through the creation of the sun and its course. In the

model of relativity,however,God andthe world areseen asthe two terms

of aquasi-temporalelationbetween Creatorandcreatures.Time viewed

from the side of God is real but has no existence apart from God.

Perceivedfrom the vantageof humanbeings,time is imaginaryandlacks

any existence of its own. Whether conceived from the human or the

divine side, time is amere relation.Yet this mere relation is infinite, justlike

empty space.It can be divided into ever smaller or

largertime-

segments in a duration that has neither beginning nor end. There is,

however, an implicit link between our imaginarytime and God's real

time, which can be aptlydescribedby one of Ibn al-CArabi'simages:Any

point alonga circlemay be seen as the point separatingpast from future.

While havingno extensionwhatsoever, hispoint of the "now" s stillpartof the actualextentof the circularine. In otherwords,althoughaproductof our imagination, ime is, in eachmoment, the virtual and actualobject

of interaction with eternity. Eternity belongs to God alone, but God'screatureparticipates n the presentmoment.

The theocentric vision of time in Qur'an and Hadith, the

theologicalatomismof time governedby aneternallyactiveGod, and theSufi paradigmof time coupled with imaginaryrelativitygive expressionto the vertical dimension of Islamic thought: the individual's

overpowering dependence on the Creator. The horizontal dimension,one's autonomousself-realizationthroughone's earthlyinteractionswith

otherhumanbeings,seems to be diminished n thesetheoreticaldoctrinesof time. The picture changesdramatically,however, when the focus isshifted to the immensely practical aspects of Muslim thought. Islam

possessesa strongsense of law andritualon the one handand of the orderof history and society on the other. One of the most characteristic

orderingprinciplescreatedby Islam to define its ritual and measureits

history was the Muslim calendar, its own measure of time in the

62



THE CONCEPT OF TIME IN ISLAM

horizontal ealm.16

LongbeforeMuhammad,he Arabsobserveda solaryearandat

times also followeda lunarreckoning.Theiracquaintance ith a solaryear sindicated ythe Arabmonths,named or definite easons, uchasthe deadof winter or the grazing eason,as well asby the festivalsandmarkets.17heArabs,however,hadno firmlyestablished alendar r auniform method of countingthe years,but reckonedon the basis of

particularvents,suchasthe fire of Abraham,hebuildingof theKaCba,the tribal migrationromtheTihama,orthedeathof apre-Islamicordof Mecca.18 he inhabitants f Meccaknew two mostnotablestartingpoints,thesacrilegious arof Fijar, oward heend of the sixthcenturyC.E.,foughtover tribalcontrolof the traderoutes,and"theyearof the

elephant,"nwhich heexpeditionedbythekingof Yemen o curb hecommercialowerof theMeccansanctuaryndedndisastern about554C.E.Thepre-Islamicrabsalsousedacycleoftwenty-eightimeperiods,reckonedaccordingo the settingof a starandthe heliacal isingof its

opposite,whichsuited henomadsnpredicting eriodsof rainandgood

pasturegrounds.19heyalsolearned o

distinguishhe mansionsof the

moonandadjusthemto their imeperiods nd he solarzodiac, herebyfollowingatypeof lunisolar earwiththedaybeginning tsunset.20

The lunaryear,peculiaro Islam,wasestablishedhenMuhammad

gavea solemn addressduringhis last pilgrimageo Mecca. In it, he

arrangedor the yearto consistof twelvelunarmonths. He alsopro-claimed hedivinenjunctiongainstntercalation,hich s theprocedureofcorrelatinghecycleof lunarmonthswiththesolaryearof theseasons

by insertinga thirteenthmonthinto a lunar

yearatcertainntervals.21

Muhammad'smotiveforthe interdiction f intercalation,itedin the

16. The standardreference to Muslim calendars s B. Spuler andJ. Mayr, Wiistenfeld-Mahler'scheVergleichungs-Tabellen,iesbaden1961.

17. M. Hifner, "Die altsudarabischen Monatsnamen," in K. Schubert (ed.),Vorderasiatischetudien:Festschriftiir Viktor Christian,Wien 1956, pp. 46-54; A.F.L.

Beeston,Epigraphic outhArabianCalendars ndDating, London 1956,pp. 10-25.

18. A. Fischer,"Tagund Nacht' im Arabischenund die semitischeTagesberechnung,"

AbhandlungendersichsischenGesellschafter Wissenschaften7 (1909),741-58.

19. R.B. Serjeant,"Star-CalendarsndanAlmanachfrom South-WestArabia,"Anthropos49 (1954),433-59.

20. A. Sprenger,"UberdenKalenderderArabervor Muhammad,"ZDMG 13 (1859), 139-

59.

21. A. Moberg,An-nasi' in derislamischenTradition,Lund 1931.

63



GERHARD BOWERING

Qur'an as anexpression f unbelief,22 ayhave beentwofold. On theonehand, heinterdictionnflinchinglymaintained llah'sruleoverthe

orderoftime,manifestedndobservedn nature hrough heappearanceof themoon'screscent.On theotherhand, t deprivednArabclanof itstraditionalrightsto proclaimpubliclythe intercalaryyears and to

preservehe pagan estivalsandmarketswithinthe seasonsof the solar

year.TheProphet'snterdictionilled wo birdswith one stone.First, t

drew he believers way rompagan ultsand urned hem to Allah,thetrue creator, cause, and preserver of all things. Second, it allowed

Muhammad o wrest economicpowerawayfrom tribal nterestgroupsby

detachingthe festivalsfrom their paganmoorings in the seasons.

Not simply a matter of adjustingthe lunar year to the seasons,intercalationalso hadanimpacton tribalwarfare.The Qur'an upheldthe

Arab tribal custom of four inviolable months that were not to be

disturbedby internecinebattles.One month fell in the middle of the year,but the otherthree followed one anotheras a block of time at the turn of

the year.Sincethe intercalarymonth was most likely inserted at the end

of the year,it either

interruptedhe time block of the inviolable

months,or changedthe statusof a sacredmonth to profane.23n either case, the

intercalarymonth disturbed he sacredorder of time. This manipulation

appearedo Muhammad's yes as a sacrilegiousntervention in the divine

order because t facilitatedwarfareand bloodshedwithin a period of time

ordained to be an inviolable season.

While Muhammad introducedthe Muslim lunaryear, he did not

establish the uniform Muslim calendar. Its innovation is traditionally

attributedto cUmar, the second caliph. According to tradition,cUmarcalled a councilto resolvethe confusion of reckoningtime in the light of

difficulties with raising taxes and collecting tribute. After lengthydiscussions he decisionwas made to adoptthe standardMuslim calendar

that remains in use today. A coin struck at Damascus during CUmar's

reign and, shortly thereafter,a papyrus of Egypt and a tombstone of

Cyprus providesolid evidencefor the calendar's xistence.24 Tmar'srole

in its uniform establishment,however, may be overstated n the sources

since early Muslim biographers and historians continued to quotedifferent sets of datesin randomfashion.

With the increasing conquests of Islam, the standard Muslim

calendar, based on the observation of a pure lunar year, no longer

22. Cf. Qur'in 9:37;cf.J. Fick, "Zuan-nasi' (Koran9,37),"OLZ 36 (1933), 280-83.

23. R. Paret,Der Koran,KommentarundKonkordanz,Stuttgart1971,pp. 202-3.

24. A. Grohmann,ArabischeChronologie,Leiden 1966,pp. 9-36.

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respondedo allcircumstancesf a vastempire.A consistentalendarwas

requiredor the administration f stateand the collectionof taxesand

tribute.This need edto the concurrent se ofdifferentypesof calendar.The popularunaryear,basedon the actualobservation f the moon's

crescent,wassupported ythescholars f law andreligion.TheMuslim

astronomers,owever, stablished mathematicallyomputed tandardlunar calendarof 354daysthat addedone dayto the last month in an

irregularequence fleapyears.Theastronomerslsosubstitutedniformhours of equal ength or the formerlyvariable oursof the day,twelve

during heperiodof daylightandtwelveduringnighttime.By contrast,Muslim rulersresorted o a kindof adaptedSassanianolarcalendar.25Thismakeshift djustment asrequiredo overcome heincongruity fthe lunarcalendarwiththe agriculturalycle,whichcreatedperiodsof

manyyearswhen the tax camedue before he cropscouldbeharvested.Onewayto resynchronize ith the lunar alendar asto dropa taxyearevery thirty-twoyears.Overthe centuriesa numberof attemptsweremadeby Muslim rulers o administerhe empireefficientlyby intro-

ducingolarcalendarshatfixed he

beginningf the calendar

earat the

vernalequinox.26AsIcome o myshortconclusion,ourealize hatI stressedherole

of atomismnmyreflections n Islamicheoriesof timeandhighlightedthepracticalmplicationsnIslamic istoryof thecalendarhatmeasurestime. Seeingthe theoretical ide as the verticaldimensionof Islamic

thoughtand hepracticalideas tshorizontal imension,slamappearedascategoricallyheocentric n tyingthe individualrrevocablyo God,while

being immenselydownto earth n

determininghe courseof itscommunal istory.Thepowerful tomisticonceptionof timeexpressedthe vertical imension f theindividual smarked yaseriesof flashesofexistencewith momentarybreakthroughso eternity n ecstasy.Theseflashes oreshadowedhe finalmomentthatfreezes ime in irreversible

ultimateness, hentheindividualtandsalonebeforeGod in the trialofthe lastjudgment.At the same imeit recalled he momentwhenall of

humanityheardGod'sself-revelationor the first time at the dawnof

creation. In the horizontaldimension,however,the communityofbelievers, galaxy findividualtoms,wasforcefullyonscious fshapingits owntemporalrameworkthrough he calendar sit begana newandultimate raof humanhistory.

25. R. Abdollahy, "Calendars, I. IslamicPeriod,"EIr,4: 668-74.

26. For the conversion of Islamic dates to those of the Common Era, cf. J. Mayr,"IslamischeZeitrechnungen,"MSOS30 (1927), 203-5.

65



GERHARDBOWERING

I wonderwhether oufeltallthewhileas fyouwererelaxingn anArab coffee house or being pushed throughthe fast food line at

McDonald's. o consoleyourselves, owever,pleasenote that I havenottalkedaboutthe intricateimingof ritualprayern Islam, he complexliteratureon timein Islamicastronomy,he work of al-Birini'sChro-

nology,al-Tisi'sworkon the duodecennial nimal ycle,the reflec-tionsof Islamic istoriansntheiruseoftime nannals ndbiographies,rtherole time playsin poeticalmeter and musicalmode. I also neglectedaspects f timebroughto lightbyanthropologistsndsociologistsn the

myriadethnic traditions f Islam.One thing,however,I hopeto have

conveyedo you:thereareparametersf Islamic imethatgive tscultureand religioncohesion andstructuren theory andpractice.The four

points of analysis selected n elaborating n Islamicconceptof time

integrateross-culturalorrowingwithoriginalnspiration. he visionofIslamheyreflect s notamonolithic halanxmoving hroughhistorybutrathera dynamicreligion mparting distinct orm andcontent to itscivilization.

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Documents

20908638 the Concept of Time in Islam