The here and now and the relativity of time.

A whimsical thought for the festive season.

 

It’s Christmas time and I do enjoy this time of year because, within the darkness of winter and shortness of daylight, we have created a festival of light. However this year my mind drifted towards something else: the question of the relativity of time. It started with the meaning of the celebration, the birthday of Prophet Jesus, peace be upon him. It made me think about the new trends within the Muslim community to try to create a buzz around The Mawlid of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, having an Islamic tree and putting gifts under it, as well as the yearly debate around that time of the year, whether celebrating is a bid’ah that should not be followed or a harmless reminder of the blessed event. The amusing thing is that neither date is really correct. It has long been established that Jesus (PBUH) was not born on the 25^th of December. On the other hand, while historians say that Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) was born on the 12^th of Rabi’ al-Awwal, the fact that we follow the lunar calendar means that each year we celebrate his birthday at a different time.

So what is the purpose of celebrations in Islam? I had to compare this event to other celebrations in Islam, and they are basically two. The first one is after the month of Ramadan, which is the month of fasting. The second is after performing pilgrimage. It then occurred to me that what we celebrate has nothing to do with time itself, time is a tool. What we are celebrating is the performing of an act. One can deduce that a meaningful celebration is one that comes as a result of an exerted effort in the here and now. It is an exercise of mindfulness. Being anchored in time, more specifically in the present and not being anchored by time, celebrating dates that don’t carry a sense of personal development or achievement.

This concept draws one’s attention to the relativity of time. And the question is perhaps, what makes it valuable? The fact that time has transformed from its initial purpose as a tool at our service to a subduing force may hold the answer. We are now in a relentless race with a concept we have created to measure our lives. We want to harness it, travel through it, slow it down. We have made it into a goal. And in the process, we shifted the focus from the essence of life, which is being meaningful in our existence to pursuing an illusion that can only produce more illusions…