By lilly_en_route
On time, certainty, and why the gates are still open💫
For most of my life, I thought of the Day of Judgement as something far away.
A future event.
A looming horizon.
A moment we were all moving toward, yes, but slowly, abstractly, almost theoretically.
We speak about it that way instinctively: one day, eventually, when the time comes.
But recently, a realisation settled into me with such calm clarity that it changed the way I understand everything... not with fear, not with panic, but with a deep, activating peace.
What if the Day of Judgement isn’t “coming” at all?
What if it already exists?
And what if we are not waiting for it... but walking toward something that, in divine reality, is already complete?
This is not a dramatic thought. It is not a mystical escape. It is a recognition... one that the Qur’an itself invites us into, if we read it carefully and allow its grammar to speak.
The Qur’an Does Not Speak From Inside Time
One of the most striking features of the Qur’an is how often it describes future events in the past tense.
Not metaphorically.
Not loosely.
But deliberately.
“The command of Allah has come.”
(Atā amru llāh — Qur’an 16:1)
Not will come.
Not is coming.
Has come.
Again and again, the Qur’an speaks of the Trumpet having been blown, the earth having been crushed, judgement having been decreed, even though, from our perspective, none of this has happened yet.
At first glance, this seems poetic. But it is far more precise than that.
The Qur’an is not narrating events from inside our linear experience of time.
It is speaking from a reality in which time itself is a created dimension.
Allah is not moving through seconds.
He is not waiting.
He is not anticipating.
Time exists within creation.
Allah exists beyond it.
This is why He is called al-Awwal and al-Akhir, not “first” and “last” in a sequence, but outside sequence altogether.
From that vantage point, the entire story of creation is not unfolding.
It is already known.
Already complete.
Already seen in its entirety.
We Experience Time, but Allah Encompasses It
We live one second at a time.
We remember the past.
We anticipate the future.
We feel suspended in a fragile “now” that keeps slipping away.
Allah does not experience reality this way.
In divine knowledge, there is no “before” and “after” the way we understand it. There is no suspense, no uncertainty, no unfolding surprise.
This does not mean life is scripted in a coercive way.
It means life is fully known.
The difference matters.
Allah knowing your ending does not mean He forces your choices.
It means that knowledge, for Him, is not sequential.
To Him, your entire life is present.
To you, it is still being written.
This is where the heart of Islamic theology becomes incredibly subtle and incredibly merciful.
The Script Exists, But the Pen Is Still in Your Hand
One of the most common misunderstandings about divine decree is the idea that if Allah already knows everything, then choice must be an illusion.
But the Qur’an never presents it that way.
Knowledge does not equal compulsion.
Allah’s knowledge encompasses your choices because you will freely make them, not because they are imposed upon you.
Think of it this way:
Allah knows the entire book.
You are still turning the pages.
The page already exists in divine knowledge.
But you still choose every word you write while you are alive.
This is why accountability exists.
This is why reward and consequence exist.
This is why repentance exists.
If the story were forced, repentance would be meaningless.
Duʿāʾ would be meaningless.
Struggle would be meaningless.
Islam does not teach fatalism.
It teaches responsible freedom within divine knowledge.
Why the Prophets Saw the Hereafter as Already Alive
During the Night Journey and Ascension, the Prophet ﷺ was shown Paradise and Hell.
Not as blueprints.
Not as future construction sites.
Not as abstract concepts.
He saw them as living realities.
This matters.
The Miʿrāj was not merely vertical travel.
It was not just movement through space.
It was a movement outside time.
The unseen is not “later.”
It is elsewhere.
We call it “the future” only because we have not reached it yet.
From a divine perspective, Paradise and Hell are not waiting to be built.
They are already prepared.
And when the Qur’an speaks of them, it speaks of them with the certainty of something that exists, not something hypothetical.
Qiyāmah Is Not Coming, but We Are Moving
This is the thought that reshapes everything.
Qiyāmah is not approaching us.
We are approaching it.
Every second that passes is not time drifting away, it is time drawing closer.
The river flows.
The ocean already exists.
This is not meant to induce panic.
It is meant to restore direction.
When you realise that the destination is real and already known to Allah, the present moment becomes weighty, not heavy, but meaningful.
Every breath matters.
Every choice matters.
Every turn back matters.
Not because you are late, but because you are still on the road.
Why Repentance Exists Only Now
One of the most merciful realities in Islam is that repentance belongs exclusively to the human experience of time.
The Prophet ﷺ said that Allah accepts repentance as long as the sun has not risen from the west.
This is not arbitrary.
It means:
Repentance exists only while time still flows forward for you.
Once the veil lifts, once certainty becomes unavoidable, once the unseen becomes seen, there is no more choosing.
From Allah’s perspective, the case is already complete.
From yours, the file is still open.
This is why Allah speaks to us from within our timeline.
Not to terrify us.
But to invite us.
“Fix your story while there are still pages left.”
Why This Realisation Doesn’t Have to Be Scary
For some, thoughts like this provoke anxiety.
But for others, and I include myself here, it produces the opposite.
Calm.
Activation.
Clarity.
That’s because truth, when recognised, doesn’t usually arrive with noise.
Falsehood shocks.
Truth settles.
This realisation doesn’t make life feel futile.
It makes it feel intentional.
You stop rushing.
You stop numbing.
You stop wasting energy on illusions.
You become careful, not fearful.
Certainty Is Not Intensity
In Islamic tradition, certainty (yaqīn) is not defined by emotional highs.
It is defined by stability.
The deepest forms of certainty are often quiet.
Grounded.
Unimpressed by spectacle.
The prophets were not frantic people.
They were not rushed.
They were not chaotic.
They were anchored.
When you understand that time is a corridor, not a void, you walk differently.
You still work.
You still love.
You still hope.
But you no longer pretend that this world is the final room.
Living With This Awareness
This kind of certainty does not demand dramatic change.
It asks for:
-
unhurried prayer
-
sincere, frequent repentance
-
clean actions
-
humility
Not intensity.
Not obsession.
Not withdrawal.
Just alignment.
When certainty arrives, Allah usually asks for steadiness, not performance.
The Gates Are Still Open
Here is the balance Islam insists on holding:
In Allah’s knowledge, your story is complete.
In Allah’s mercy, your pen is still in your hand.
You are not late.
You are not trapped.
You are not done.
You are still breathing.
You are still choosing.
You are still writing.
The Day is not waiting.
But the gates are still open.
And that is not a threat.
It is an invitation. An invitation to experience life - and also make memories and impact at the same time.
