5 Preface يُدَبِّرُ الأَمرَ مِنَ السَّماءِ إِلَى الأَرضِ ثُمَّ يَعرُجُ إِلَيهِ في يَومٍ كانَ مِقدارُهُ أَلفَ سَنَةٍ مِمّا تَعُدّونَYusuf AliHe rules (all) affairs from the heavens to the earth: in the end will (all affairs) go up1 to Him, on a Day, the space whereof will be (as) a thousand years of your reckoning.How could the immense mystery of Time behind our ideas of it be enforced on our minds better? Our Day may be a thousand or fifty thousand years, and our years in proportion. In the immense Past was God’s act of creation: it still continues, for He guides, rules, and controls all affairs: and in the immense Future all affairs will go up to Him, for He will be the Judge, and His restoration of all values will be as a Day or an Hour or the Twinkling of an eye; and yet to our idea it will be a thousand years!