The Duality of Time Theory

The motion of the Day of Gathering, Friday, came into being through the divine Attribute of Knowledge: so there is no part of the world but that it knows the One Who gives it existence, with regard to its own essence, not the Essence of the One Who gives it existence [II.438.13].

Before the advent of Islam, the Arabs called Friday “Uruba”, the day of beauty and adornment [I.645.25], because it was a distinguished day in which people used to meet and celebrate. But in Islam Friday is called “jumaa”, the Day of Gathering, also because that is the day where people gather in prayer in one mosque. Ibn al-Arabi, however, gives another explanation of the deeper ontological meaning for Gathering: on this Day Allah created the Human Being (Adam) in His Image, so on this Day Allah ‘gathered together’ the form of the Truly Real and the form of all creation in the theomorphic human being, so that is why this Day is called ‘Jumaa’ [I.643.27]. And this special divine gathering of the theomorphic human being has occurred on a specific hour of this Day, which made this whole Day holy, noble and the best of all Days.