“Time” As Understood By Sultan Bahoo
Muhammad Ali Iftekhar | May 15, 2011
Since ancient civilizations such as Babylonians, Mayans, Greeks, Muslim Civilizations and today in modern times there has not been any comprehensive theory that can define, explain and justify the existence of “Time” despite Philosophers and Scientists have long been attempting to find an answer to this mysterious concept.
According to philosophers like G. J. P. Bolland, “The more we consider the time-concept, the more puzzling it becomes.” [1] Further the complexity of the topic can be imagined when of St. Augustine said “And yet what in our usual discourse do we more familiarly and knowingly make mention of that time? And surely, we understand it well enough, when we speak of it: we understand it also, when in speaking with another we hear it named. What is time then? If nobody asks me I know: but if I were desirous to explain it to one that should ask me, plainly I know not.”[2] Sir Isaac Newton has also been unable to comprehend time, as one of his saying goes “I do not define Time, Space, Place and Motion, as being well known to all … absolute, true and mathematical time, of itself, and from its own nature flows equably without relation to anything external, and by another name is called duration.”[3]
Today world’s major institutes of Meta Physics, Philosophy and Science are researching on the very reality and existence of Time. There have been many theories in present time such as parallel time, and relative time, furthermore, the quantum time. All of which tend to explain and justify the existence of Time up to certain extent.
In this article we will explore what Time is, in Sultan Bahoo’s point of view, one of the world’s most famous saints ever to exist, who have provided many insights on topics such as Economics, Politics, Science, Philosophy, Religions, Astronomy and many more.
This paper on time is based on the verses from Quran, sayings of Hadrat Muhammad (PBUH), and sayings of Sultan Bahoo.
The creation of Human Being as explained in Quran is from Allah’s Spirit:
“So, when I have made him and have breathed into him of My Spirit, do ye fall down, prostrating yourselves unto him.”[4]
Hadrat Muhammad (PBUH) said:
“Narrated Abu Hurairah: Allah's beloved Rasool said, Allah said, 'The offspring of Adam abuse Dahr (Time), and I am Dahr (Time); in My Hands are the night and the day!'”[5]
According to Sultan Bahoo:
“Allah asked ‘Am I not you Rabb?’ to the spirits of 18000 universes”[6]
From the above three statements we can create a hypothesis that Time is the ultimate reality, and every living thing consists of Time.
Every living thing has a Body (not necessarily a solid visual body), and Time resides inside that living thing. The moment we came into existence our Time started with its first tick. By tick we mean that our Time started passing. To understand it lets visualize it in this way: the tick is a clock’s hand, which at one end is attached to the center of the clock, and the length of the hand stays within the boundary of the clock. In the same way our tick’s one end is attached to the center of our body which is The Time, and it stays within our Body. By center of the body we do not mean a physical central point of our body, neither there is a hand from the center of our body to the boundaries of our body. We have taken this visualization to understand Time. In this paper we will call the tick inside us as timeHand.
The circular boundary is the Body, the red line coming from the center of the circle to the boundary is timeHand, and the red center of the circle is Time. PointS is the starting and end point of the timeHand. pointP is the present state of timeHand. The area on the anti-clock-wise side between pointP to pointS is the past, and the area on their clock-wise side is the future.
According to the figure, when we come into existence our timeHand starts from pointS, and it travels all the way round till it reaches back to pointS. Once it reaches back to the starting point, our Time ends, and we no longer exist. The time it will take to complete its one round is our life time.
The speed of timeHand is variable, never steady and for now irreversible. The speed of timeHand depends on the energy in our body. The more the positive energy, the less the speed of timeHand, and vice-verse. When we eat, we get positive energy; that makes our timeHand’s movement slow, causing us to have more time to live. On the other hand if we take in poison, it will act as a negative energy for our body, and will decrease our positive energy, causing timeHand to speed up, hence less time to live.
Consider another picture, if we do not take in negative energy, but stop taking in positive energy as well, what will happen? Because our body and we didn’t stop consuming the positive energy available in the body, we will be gradually lowering the level of positive energy in us, causing timeHand to speed up and hence again less time to live. However this effect of speeding up of timeHand will not be quicker compared to taking in of poison scenario. Two physical bodies when exist inside one another, can have positive or negative effect on either or both of them.
Our timeHand keeps moving forward as long as Time is inside timeBody. We cannot leave the timeBody. Because timeBody is not surrounding us, it is surrounding the Time, which resides inside us. Therefore we ultimately get surrounded by the timeBody, until the Time is present in us.
Everything that has Time gets affected by other Times in its surrounding. We have our Time, at the same time we are in this Universe, which has its own Time, timeHand and timeBody; we will call it UTime, UHand and UBody respectively. The more we get away from the UTime, towards the limits of its UBody, the slower we get compared to the region closer to the UTime; and vice-verse. To get an understanding of this concept consider the following example:
In this example UHand is at pintP-1, and after 1 hour UHand will be at pointP. This is same across all levels between UTime and UBody. The difference is, the Time between X’ and Y’ is stretched compared to the Time between X and Y. The distance between both X’-Y’ and X-Y remains same. The figure is only representing the Time and not the Space. Therefore a person traveling from X’ to Y’ will travel 100km in 1 hour, and a person travelling from X to Y will also cover 100km in 1 hour. The difference however is that there is more Time distance between X’-Y’ compared to the time distance between X-Y. Yet both regions allow the travelling of 100km in 1 hour. This is because, the movement in the X’-Y’ region is extremely slow compared to the X-Y region. But no region feels the extreme slowness or fastness. This is because, as whatever the speed may be, it will only be noticed from a position outside the scenario.
The same phenomenon applies to all individual timeHands within the universe. That is, if one is at a distance from UTime his timeHand will be at a slow motion compared to the person closer to the UTime.
Muslims and Christians have faith in the return of Jesus (blessing be upon him), and that he will return as of the same age as he left. This can be justified from our hypothesis as Jesus (BBUH) has just moved to a place which if compared to our earth is further away from the UTime. Due to which his timeHand is slow at the moment, compared to ours. Generations have passed way from the day Jesus (BBUH) disappeared from earth, but he is still alive and will be back in almost the same age because, his timeHand is slow compared to ours.
Based on our hypothesis UTime is the source from which all creations were created. Getting in to UTime will provide us the ability to get to a place where there will be no time passing upon ourselves. Where time can be turned back, and forth however one wished for.
All this has been explained by Hadrat Sultan Bahoo in his writings and poetry, let’s consider few of them, and apply those to our hypothesis:
“When “Kun fa ya kun” (happen so it happens)Commanded, nearby we were Hoo
Was within essence and attribute of Rabb and yet we search Him here Hoo” [7]
Referring to the event in Quran, Hadrat Sultan Bahoo says, when the event was unfolding we were there. Applying it to our theory, we were all once existed within UTime, and it was the result of “Kun-fa-yakun” event that our Time existed and were then poured into our bodies.
“We are struck in our bodies in fact la makan was our dwelling Hoo”[8]
Sultan Bahoo says, we were once at the place which is beyond Space and Time that we experience today; in our context this is the point where UTime is, as the space and the passing of time can only be experienced within UBody, and does not have any effect on the UTime itself. In the second phrase Sultan Bahoo is referring to timeBody expressing that we (the Time) have been captured inside the sculpture of human body.
“Fourteen realms are within the heart where fire has taken up dwelling Hoo”[9]
Further he also explained that the place where Time exists controls and engulfs the entire universe.
Sultan Bahoo did not only elaborated the existence of Time and its properties; he also explained how one can reach the UTime. In fact his all teachings are about getting to UTime.
“Those who have acquired real ishq they dare not mutter Hoo
They remain in dhikr and reflection and restrict their breaths flutter Hoo
nafsi, qalbi, sirri, khafi and ukhfa, dhikr they procure Hoo
I sacrifice upon you Hazrat Bahoo with a single glance, life they secure Hoo”[10]
The teachings of Sultan Bahoo has always been about the Divine Love. He has portrayed love in the exact form that all humans should observe. In the above phrases he says, those who have achieved the heights of the Devine Love, keep it secret within their selves. They only keep practicing the rituals that enable them to get to the limits. They keep travelling their journey, clearing all levels, until they actually get to the absolute reality, the UTime.
According to Sultan Bahoo, one gets to the ultimate reality when one has completely dissolved his Time into UTime, therefore eliminating his Time’s existence. This concept is interpreted by him as being Pershing in the ultimate reality. Sultan Bahoo also explained that one can only get completely perished by contemplation of the ritual Hazrat Sultan Bahoo preached about.
The more one initiates this sacred ritual, the more his Time starts getting in to the UTime. And by the time one has dissolved all of his Time into UTime, making his Time a Utime, one is said to be Perished. One has eliminated his existence and the only Time that his timeBody has is the UTime. In his book Risala Rohee, he further elaborated the concept saying:
“An Arif in Divine Union, whichever direction he looks he cannot see anything other than view of Elahi and he eliminates all signs of otherness from his being and with the Absolute becomes absolute.”[11]
Hadrat Muhammad (PBUH) turned back Time to the Asar prayer for Hadrat Ali. Muhammad (PBUH) only turned the UHand back to a position where Asar Prayer started, some 15-20 minutes back. This was possible for the Prophet as he was at the point where UTime was. This is also the reason why Hadrat Muhammad (PBUH) and Ali (Allah be pleased with him) remembered about the event and others didn’t, because every ones’ else timeHand also got back as they were within the UBody, they were also restored back to the physical positions as they were earlier. But Hadrat Muhammad (PBUH) was at the point of UTime (i.e. Muhammad (PBUH) was completely Perished within the UTime) so he does remember what happened as his timeHand didn’t restored, and as Ali also remembered the event, he was also one of those who were at UTime.
On the night of the popular event in Islam, when the Prophet (PBUH) visited the heavens and returned, for the people on the planet, it was a few minutes journey. This event when viewed from our hypothesis, explains that when Hadrat Muhammad (PBUH) travelled to the heavens our distance from UTime increased, as he himself contained UTime within him; and the distance from him made our time extremely slow, compared to the regions where Hadrat Muhammad (PBUH) were present. And when he returned back, we were again close to UTime, making everything back to normal.
It is very difficult to summarize the teachings of Sultan Bahoo in one article, and explain the methods to get to UTime, therefore we will be closing up with few of his most significant lines regarding getting to the UTime.
“You will find the unique friend if you gamble with your head hence Hoo
Be passionate with Allah and remain exclaiming Hoo Hoo (Divine presence) Hoo
With contemplation of Ism-e-Allah zat restrict your breathing thence Hoo
Called Bahoo ra when my beings immerses in Divine Essence Hoo”[12]
You will only get to the destiny, if you practice the Devine Love at your ultimate capacity, challenging everything that comes in the way of your journey. The limits of this love will be achieved when you contemplate the sacred ritual. You exercise it with each breath you breathe; and when you will dissolve your Time that was separated from the UTime, back into the UTime; that will be the point when you reach your destiny, your ultimate reality.
[1] G. J. P. Bolland, Verandering en tijd, Leiden 1896, p. 19. Philosopher
[2] St. Augustine - Confessions Book XI Chap. XIV
[3] Sir Isaac Newton, Mathematical principles of Natural Philosophy and his System of the World,transl. Motte, ed. Carjori, Berkeley 1934, p. 6
[4] Quran, Surah Al Hijr. (15:29)
[5] Sahih Bukhari
[6] Ain-ul-Faqr by Hazrat Sultan Bahoo
[7] Abiyat-e-Bahoo by Hazrat Sultan Bahoo
[8] Abiyat-e-Bahoo by Hazrat Sultan Bahoo
[9] Abiyat-e-Bahoo by Hazrat Sultan Bahoo
[10] Abiyat-e-Bahoo by Hazrat Sultan Bahoo
[11] Risala Rohee by Hazrat Sultan Bahoo
[12] Abiyat-e-Bahoo by Hazrat Sultan Bahoo
This article first appeared in Mirat-ul-Arifeen Special Edition Part 2