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	The following has been taken from the book “The Great Muslim Scientist and Philosopher   Imam Jafar Ibn Mohammed As-Sadiq (A.S.)”.  Translated and published by Kaukab Ali Mirza.  This is only one chapter of fifty-three in the book.  I would highly recommend that you contact  the author and purchase the book.  It is well worth the small investment! Contact the author at  10 Tangreen Ct., #404  Willowdale, Ontario Canada M2M 4B9 Book is Copyright (C) by Kaukab Ali Mirza  ISBN 0-9699490-1-4

Time, Jafar as-Sadiq (A.S.) has said, is the distance between two known events. It has no independent existence.

It is only we, who feel that it exists.

Time is a very old subject, which was discussed by Greek philosophers and is still being discussed today. Greek philosophers, who believed in the physical existence of time have said that it is composed of very small particles. Those particles were so small that they could not be seen or touched.

They were always on the move. They came from one side and went to the other. No one could feel their movement, but the changes made by their movement were noticeable in all the plants and animals.

They said that time was of two kinds. There was one type in which particles moved and passed away, making changes in plants, animals and humans. There was another kind of time whose particles did not move. They were just like the particles of sand and dust, which had settled down at the bottom of a pit and remained motionless. That motionless and stationary time was known as eternity.

In their opinion mobile time was for all creations and motionless time was for the gods. Since gods were subject to motionless time there was no change in them at all and they always remained in the same condition. Since human beings were subject to mobile time they were always in a state of change and would remain so till they joined the ranks of gods and came under motionless time.

Greek philosophers, who were known as gnostics, believed that even plants and animals could come under
motionless time and become gods.

Zeno, the famous Greek philosopher, whose followers were known as Stoics (because they were taught by him in Stoa Poikile, meaning painted portico) said that if someone wanted to come under motionless time and join the ranks of gods he should suppress his passions and feelings and remain cool, calm and collected under all circumstances.

He said that in a democratic country the people cannot have full freedom simply by passing laws. It can be achieved only after they fight big battles with themselves, conquer and kill their passions and crush their desires which tempt them to trample upon the rights of others.

Another Greek philosopher by the name of Epicure, who was born about one hundred and fifty years after Zeno has said that it is possible to come within immobile and motionless time and join the ranks of gods by having all the pleasures and enjoyments of life, but within certain limits.

The Greek philosopher, Diogenes, who was contemporary to Epicure, was of the opinion that if someone desired to enter into motionless time, he should give up every comfort and luxury of life and live in a tub. He should have no worldly possessions at all. He should throw away everything including his wooden bowl and drink water by his hands like children.

One point which attracts our attention is that there is no difference between the gnosticism of Greece and that of eastern countries. In both the places self denial and suppression of one's desires are the only way to join the ranks of gods.

How strange it is that similar philosophies appeared in two different and distant places. There were no cultural contacts between them before Achaemenians came to power in Iran.

Therefore, it cannot be said that Greeks borrowed those ideas from the East or the East took inspiration from the Greeks.

Confucius of China, Buddha of India and Zoroaster of Persia did not say that one should kill his inner self if he wanted to join the ranks of gods. It may be said that such ideas originated in the minds of those, who were weak and had no worldly power. But we find among the gnostics some very strong and powerful persons, who could have done what they wanted. They also subscribed to the idea that one should mortify his passions and desires in order to join the ranks of gods.

Greek philosophers, who did not believe in the physical existence of time, have said that it is the distance between two given movements. This distance would appear as time only to an intelligent and sensible being. Animals do not feel the presence of time. It has, therefore, no physical existence.

Some Greek philosophers contradicted that idea and said that animals had sense of time, otherwise they would not be punctual. Their punctuality might be due to hunger, thirst, dawning of the day or setting of the sun.

In later periods also many philosophers refused to believe in the physical existence of time, but they did believe in the existence of space.

Many scholars of the 19th century did not believe in the physical existence of space. They held the view that space depended upon the presence of matter. If there was matter, there was space, otherwise not. What we see as space is matter itself. The above view is shared by some modern scholars also.

They say that it seems to us that aeroplanes fly from one place to another, while actually they fly through matter itself.

It is hard to believe that rockets which go to different planets fly in matter. There are no air particles two to three thousand kilometres above the surface of the earth which means there is no matter. It is empty space, which has nothing but electromagnetic waves, light waves and the waves of gravitation.

The scholars who deny the existence of space, contend that the distance between the sun and its satellites is just like the distance between the nucleus of an atom and its electrons.

Since the vast empty space inside an atom is matter, the space between the sun and its satellites is also matter. A very strong proof that this space is matter is that it is filled with the waves of gravitation, which are nothing but a kind of matter.

In the 18th century it was discovered that matter and energy are two manifestations of one and the same thing. If there is any difference it is in their properties only. In the beginning of the 20th century some scholars defined matter as a kind of condensed energy and energy as a kind of flowing matter.

The philosophers who believed that space has no independent existence say that the universe is not like a cinema hall which has a limited number of seats. If all seats are occupied there is no room for newcomers. In the universe there are millions of galaxies which have created their own space. If another million galaxies are born today they would create space for themselves. If there is more matter there is more space.

When space travel became a reality, physicists were able to get more information about matter. It was first believed that only hot objects radiated infrared rays, but the satellites which rotated round the earth proved that radiation comes from the north and south poles as well.

It is now conclusively proved that everything radiates infrared rays except those objects whose temperature is absolute zero (-273.15 C or-459.67 F). At this temperature molecules of matter come to a standstill. Scientists have not been able to create absolute zero temperature and study matter when the movement of its molecules is suspended.

Since every animate and inanimate object emits infra red rays it has become quite impossible to hide the movement and deployment of armies from the enemy. Every object, big or small, can be seen, even in the darkness of night, by the help of field glasses, fitted with lenses, sensitive to infrared rays.

Issac Ossinoff, the Russian scientist, who emigrated to the United States, has propounded a new theory about space. He says that space is nothing but matter and its waves.

According to this theory, matter is a collection of nuclei of atoms that emits rays. These rays are most dense near the nuclei and become less dense away from it but their speed remains the same.

The nucleus of an atom can be compared to a lamp, which has a bright light. The further away we move from the lamp, the dimmer the light becomes till it totally disappears from our sight The light waves, however, are still there and are travelling at a speed of 300,000 kilometres per second. They will continue their journey in a straight line till they come near the sun.

The gravitational pull of the sun would bend them, but because of their high speed they pass by the sun and cross our solar system. They pass by many other suns as well. Their journey ends only when they come within the gravitational field of a black hole which would swallow them up.

Black holes are stars which have collapsed and lost their electrons. Their field of gravitation is so intense and strong that even light waves cannot escape from them. That is why they are called black holes.

According to the theory of Dr. Ossinoff light waves create space. They themselves are space. If they stop flowing, the space would disappear from our sight. Light waves never stop flowing. Even in the darkness of night we are immersed in a flood of different kinds of waves, including light waves, which we do not see. Some of the waves even pass through our bodies, e.g. the waves of gravitation.

Scientists do not know how energy can be converted into matter. This is a secret of creation, which has not been unravelled as yet. Conversion of matter into energy is a common place thing. We convert matter into energy every day in factories, aeroplanes, boats and cars.

It is not known how our sun, which is one of the great wonders of creation, came into being but we know that it does not convert energy into matter. In our sun hydrogen, which is a kind of matter, is converted into helium, which is another kind of matter. In this way a tremendous amount of energy is produced.

When we see that matter is converted into energy we think that energy can also be converted into matter. However, this is only an hypothesis. We are not sure that it happens in nature or it can be done by us.

We must pay homage to Imam Jafar as-Sadiq (AS) peace be upon him, who said 1,200 years ago that space has no physical and independent existence and is also subject to change. To a little boy the courtyard of his small house would seem quite big.

However, if he leaves the house and comes back after an absence of 20 years, the same courtyard would look very small.

He would wonder why the courtyard, which was so big has become so small.

How wonderful it is that his theories of time and space correspond exactly to the modern theories of physics, although they have not been expressed in the scientific terminology of today.