CHAPTER II General Aspects of Ibn Arabi's View of Time and Days
Time, if you investigate what it comes down to, is something verifiable;
Yet it is known (only) through (human) imaginations (awham),
Its power is like Nature in its effects,
Though the essence of both is non-existing.[28]
Through it all things are determined,
While it itself has no existing essence by which it could be judged.
[I.291.1-7]
We have seen in the previous chapter that time is one the most important perennial problems in physics and cosmological philosophy. For the same reason, we find that Ibn Arabi considers that a good understanding of time is the prime key to human spiritual realization. In this chapter we shall look at the various relevant aspects of Ibn Arabi's view of time. We want to give here some general descriptions of his ideas on time, and we shall focus on the important issues in the following chapters. For this reason there are many cross-references to following chapters where these ideas are explained in more detail.