Eschatological Time and the Living Cosmos: Resurrection and New Physics

By T.O. Shanavas, New Age Islam 14 July 2025 This article explores the Qur’anic doctrine of resurrection and return through the integrated lens of Islamic theology (including classical tafsīr and panpsychic interpretations) and modern scientific cosmology. It argues that resurrection is simultaneously a supernatural act that transcends ordinary nature, but also the culmination of the same divine command (al-Amr) that continuously sustains the cosmos. Drawing upon insights from relativity, quantum cosmology, and Qur’anic metaphysics, the chapter reframes eschatological time as a profound disclosure of divine presence, in which consciousness awakens, perceived time undergoes a transformative collapse, and all creation returns to its origin. The Qur’anic eschaton is portrayed not as a mere end, but as the final realization of the Living Cosmos—animated, aware, and inherently ordered toward reunion with God. ----- 1. Introduction: From Cosmic Becoming to Eschatological Awakening In the Qur’anic cosmology, creation is not a one-time event frozen in the past, nor is the eschaton a distant rupture disjointed from the present. Rather, both origin and return unfold within a continuum of divine command (al-Amr) that transcends linear temporal causality. The phrase Kun Fa-Yakūn (“Be, and it is”) encapsulates this metaphysical truth: God’s will is not bound by time, yet all temporal reality unfolds from it. The eschaton—the resurrection (Al-Baʿth), gathering (Al-Ḥashr), and return (Al-Rajʿ)—is the culmination of that same command, understood not as an interruption of nature but as the fulfilment of its inward trajectory. This article explores Qur’anic eschatology through a synthesis of classical Islamic theology and contemporary cosmology, showing that the end of perceived time is not annihilation but the awakening of a cosmos always oriented toward divine return. It argues that resurrection is not merely physical reanimation, but a restoration of cosmic consciousness and divine justice. Time, in this view, is not absolute, but emergent and potentially collapsible—a stage for the deeper reality of al-Amr, which operates beyond conventional causality and yet sustains all created causality. (Time: The New Physics and The Qur’an | T.O. Shanavas, New Age Islam | New Age Islam | Islamic News and Views | Moderate Muslims & Islam) 2. Time and Collapse: The End of Measured Becoming Qur’anic imagery of the eschaton frequently involves the collapse of the created order: the heavens rolled like scrolls (Q 21:104), the earth transformed into another (Q 14:48), mountains pulverized like wool (Q 101:5). These vivid signs are not merely poetic or apocalyptic flourishes—they reflect a deep metaphysical reality: the unravelling of time and space as contingent frameworks that had temporarily housed the unfolding of al-Amr (the Divine Command), which itself belongs to the realm of non-material, timeless being. In Islamic theology, time is not viewed as an absolute or autonomous entity. Rather, it is understood as a created modality of perception—a relational framework that makes change intelligible to creatures, but not to the Creator. Classical scholars such as Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī taught that time was created alongside matter and motion, and that God’s will is not subject to the sequences and limitations of temporal flow. (Ref: Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī, Tafsīr al-Kabīr, vol. 20, on Q 36:79 and Q 30:11.) This view resonates in a striking way with Einsteinian relativity, which demonstrates that time is not an independent backdrop but is interwoven with space and influenced by gravitational fields—non-uniform, flexible, and relative to the observer’s frame of reference. When the Qur’an proclaims that the Hour (as-Sāʿah) will come Baghtatan (“suddenly,” Q 7:187), it is not merely describing a temporal surprise; it signals the collapse of conventional causal sequence itself. At that moment, what we perceive as time ceases to function, and all that was dispersed across temporal succession is reassembled in the immediate presence of divine judgment. Classical commentators often took this suddenness as literal and ontological: God’s command manifests without delay, cause, or preparation, (REF: Razi on Q 36:82 (Kun Fa-Yakūn), and Q 7:187 (Baghtatan). See also Ibn Kathīr’s Tafsīr on Q 54:1 and Q 101:1–5.) a view consistent with the idea that divine causality transcends all created processes. The Qur’an’s cosmology, when considered alongside modern physics, reveals profound resonances with this vision of time. In black hole theory, spacetime curvature becomes so extreme at the singularity that classical time ceases to function—a state echoing the Qur’anic description of temporal collapse during the Hour (Sāʿah.) Similarly, Loop Quantum Cosmology posits that time is not fundamental but emerges from quantum geometry; it dissolves entirely at the cosmological “bounce point” between cycles. (REF: https://www.quantamagazine.org/singularities-in-space-time-prove-hard-to-kill-20250527/) Ibn ʿArabī’s metaphysical language mirrors this: the world of appearance (ʿālam Al-Shahāda) is a veil over the deeper truth of al-Amr, and death—and by extension, resurrection—is a lifting of this veil. (REF: Ibn ʿArabī, Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya, vol. 3, 320–325; William C. Chittick, The Sufi Path of Knowledge, 138–140. ) On the Day of Resurrection, not only do bodies rise, but “your sight this Day is sharp” (Q 50:22)—an awakening from fragmented temporality into a total unveiling of the Real. Thus, eschatological time is not merely the final moment in a linear chronology, but the collapse of chronology itself—a return from measured becoming to the divine now. What remains is not duration, but presence; not decay, but realization. 3. The Echo of al-Amr: Resurrection as Re-command Modern scientific theories offer unexpected conceptual parallels to this eschatological logic. In Loop Quantum Cosmology, some models suggest the universe undergoes cycles of contraction and expansion—a quantum bounce rather than a singular creation event. (REF: Loop quantum cosmology - Wikipedia ) Just as creation follows laws embedded in the universe’s quantum structure, so too its rebirth could follow patterns of recurrence encoded in the very nature of space-time. The Qur’an’s notion that God simply “commands again” (Q 36:81–83) aligns with this paradigm: the structure is latent; the command reactivates it. In Islamic metaphysics—particularly in the teachings of Ibn Arabi—resurrection is understood as the renewal of divine self-disclosure (Tajalli). (REF: William C. Chittick, The Sufi Path of Knowledge: Ibn al-ʿArabī’s Metaphysics of Imagination (Albany: SUNY Press, 1989), 107–112.; Ibn ʿArabī, Al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya, vol. 3, 305–320. )In Islamic theology, God’s Names (such as al-ʿAlīm, the All-Knowing; al-Raḥmān, the Most Merciful; al-Khāliq, the Creator) represent aspects of the divine essence, each articulated in relation to creation. Each Name manifests a distinct attribute of God, and every created being embodies one or more of these Names in a partial and limited way. ( . Michel Chodkiewicz, An Ocean Without Shore: Ibn ʿArabī, the Book, and the Law (Albany: SUNY Press, 1993), 33–48; Ibn ʿArabī, Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam, ed. Abū al-ʿAlāʾʿAfīfī (Beirut: Dār al-Kitāb al-ʿArabī, 1946), 64–67.) For example: * The sun reflects light and power (al-Nūr, al-Qadīr). * A mother embodies mercy (al-Raḥmān). * A scholar manifests knowledge (al-ʿAlīm). * Mountains express majesty and firmness (al-Jalīl, al-Matīn). Creation, therefore, is not separate from God’s attributes; it is the very arena in which the Divine Names are made manifest. In Ibn ʿArabī’s terminology, creation itself is tajallī—a continuous process of divine self-disclosure. The Divine Names “descend” into the world by becoming actualized in the myriad forms and phenomena of existence. Yet no single entity can manifest all the Names; each being reflects only a facet of the Infinite. Creation, then, is nothing other than the manifestation of the Divine Names. The Day of Resurrection marks the final and complete unveiling—a moment when every veil is lifted, and all beings return to the station from which they originated. This return is not merely the mechanical reconstitution of bodies, but a cosmic recommencement of being itself: a renewed Tajallī of the Divine in its most unmediated form. Resurrection, then, is not merely the reversal of death. It is the completion of the original divine word. The same command that said “Be” now says “Return”—and all creation, conscious and unconscious, responds. This is why the Qur’an portrays the resurrection as both instantaneous and inevitable: it is simply the second phase of the same act. 4. Witnessing and the Resurrection of Consciousness In the Qur’an, resurrection is not only a physical phenomenon but a comprehensive awakening of consciousness—a disclosure of truth in which perception itself is transformed. The Qur’an frequently describes the Day of Resurrection as a moment when beings see clearly: “We have removed from you your covering, and your sight this Day is sharp” (Q 50:22). This lifting of veils (Kashf) signifies the shift from temporal obscurity to existential lucidity. The human being, once clouded by distractions and distortions, now sees with the clarity of divine proximity. More strikingly, the Qur’an teaches that all faculties—ears, eyes, even skin—become witnessing agents: “Their hearing and their eyes and their skins will testify against them of what they used to do” (Q 41:20–21). And again, “That Day, it will report its news, because your Lord has inspired it” (Q 99:4–5), referring to the earth itself. Classical commentators like al-Qurṭubī and al-Ṭabarī interpret these verses as both literal and metaphorical: the witnessing of body parts and the earth represents a universal consciousness embedded in creation that becomes fully active in the Hereafter. This return to awareness is not a new imposition but the restoration of fitrah, the primordial awareness with which every soul was created (Q 30:30) (REF: Al-Qurṭubī, al-Jāmiʿ li-aḥkām al-Qurʾān, vol. 13, on Q 41:20–21; al-Ṭabarī, Tafsīr, vol. 24, on Q 99:4–6.) Ibn ʿArabī and later metaphysicians deepen this perspective, describing resurrection as the actualization of latent consciousness present in all things. In his framework, existence is inherently layered with perception, though in varying degrees. The eschaton (the final event in the divine plan) is the moment when this perception is no longer obscured or diminished; the self is not merely raised in body but is awakened in soul, experiencing a full unveiling of consciousness. Ibn ʿArabī’s metaphysics thus resists a strict dualism between body and spirit, emphasizing that human experience is always simultaneously spiritual and bodily, and that the resurrection is the culmination of this unity. Modern reflections on consciousness, especially in some interpretations of quantum theory and panpsychist philosophy, offer intriguing conceptual parallels. The observer effect in quantum mechanics, for instance, has led some to suggest that reality is shaped by observation; consciousness is not peripheral to the universe but structurally involved in its becoming.(Ref: Wikipedia). Similarly, in the Qur’anic model, resurrection is the cosmic event of witnessing, in which all things, from stars to stones to souls, testify to their truths. This eschatological witnessing is not punitive alone—it is revelatory. It discloses the inner coherence of the moral and spiritual cosmos. As everything speaks—bodies, time, space, and self—the divine balance (mīzān) becomes visible. And this, the Qur’an suggests, is justice: not imposed from above but emerging from the very being of the universe once it is fully awake. 5. Return to the Origin: From Temporal Dispersion to Divine Presence The Qur’an repeatedly emphasizes that all of creation is in a state of return: “To Him you will be returned” (Q 2:156, 10:4, 36:83). This return (Rajʿah) is not merely a spatial reversal or a journey through time—it is an ontological realignment, a metaphysical convergence of dispersed being back into divine unity. The cosmos, born through the singular act of al-Amr, gradually unfolds into multiplicity—of forms, species, perceptions, and histories. Yet this multiplicity remains suspended in divine knowledge and will, and it is destined to contract back into that knowledge. The Qur’an captures this cycle with striking clarity: “It is Allah who begins creation, then repeats it, and that is easy for Him” (Q 30:27). “The command belongs to Him in the beginning and the end” (Q 28:70). Classical exegetes like al-Rāzī and al-Qurṭubī note that the return is not a return to a past state of ignorance or disorder, but a return to a perfected state of awareness—a reunion with the truth that was always inscribed in creation. This is not a regression, but a teleological return, the fulfilment of what was always intended. Resurrection (baʿth) is the vertical axis of this return—its most dramatic manifestation—but the process is already in motion within every soul and every system of the universe. This theological vision aligns powerfully with contemporary cosmological ideas, such as the cyclic universe or quantum bounce models, where the cosmos does not necessarily end in a final entropy, but could contract and re-emerge in a new phase. In a theological reading, this suggests that the cosmos is structured not merely for survival, but for spiritual recursion—for return. The Qur’an teaches that even the non-human cosmos glorifies God and longs for return. The heavens, the earth, the mountains, and even animals are said to know their prayer and their glorification (Q 24:41, 22:18). In the eschaton, their voices will no longer be hidden: the whole cosmos becomes articulate in praise and testimony. In this moment, the Living Cosmos ceases to be veiled by time and matter; it becomes transparent to the divine presence. Return (Rajʿah) also completes the Fitrah of each being. That which was created with the instinct to seek God is now brought fully into the presence of the One it sought. The Qur’anic cosmos is thus not a closed, meaningless system, but an open teleological arc—from unity, through dispersion, and back to unity. From al-Amr, to time, and back again. 6. Conclusion: The Living Cosmos and the Final Disclosure In the Qur’anic vision, the universe is not merely a backdrop for human testing or a machine to be discarded at the end of time. It is a living, conscious, and morally responsive cosmos, animated at every level by al-Amr, the divine command. From its origin to its end—and beyond—creation is a manifestation of divine will and a participant in divine return. Eschatology, in this framework, is not a rupture but a revelation. The resurrection is not a new miracle but the recommencement of the same command that gave birth to the world. “His command, when He intends a thing, is only that He says to it: ‘Be!’—and it is” (Q 36:82). This command does not expire, and neither does the universe’s ability to respond to it. As modern cosmology explores models in which time is non-linear, collapsible, or cyclic, and as contemporary philosophy entertains the idea of a conscious or participatory universe, the Qur’anic account of eschatology emerges as a deeply relevant theological counterpart. The collapse of time, the reassembly of consciousness, and the moral unveiling of all beings—these are not primitive myths but expressions of the universe’s inward orientation toward God. This chapter has argued that the eschaton marks the final disclosure of the Living Cosmos: * Time folds into timelessness. * Consciousness awakens from forgetfulness. * Multiplicity converges into unity. * The veil lifts, and what remains is presence—the presence of the Creator to the created, and of the created to the truth of their origin. The Qur’anic resurrection is thus not only a hope for justice and mercy—it is a cosmological fulfilment. In that moment, everything speaks, everything returns, and everything reveals what it was always becoming. This is the completion of al-Amr—not as an interruption of nature, but as its innermost purpose, now manifest. ----- T.O. Shanavas is a native of Kerala, but is now based in the USA. He is the author of “Islamic Theory of Evolution The Missing Link Between Darwin and The Origin of Species.” Co-author of the book, And God Said, "Let There Be Evolution!": Reconciling The Book Of Genesis, The Qur'an, And The Theory Of Evolution. Edited by Prof. Charles M. Wynn and Prof. Arthur W. Wiggins. URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islam-science/eschatological-living-cosmos-resurrection-physics/d/136168 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism