This is like a man against whom a judge rules rightly, or to whom a mufti gives a correct legal opinion, who then begins saying, “May Allah curse whoever issued this ruling or gave this legal opinion!” Yet the ruling or legal opinion may be that of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, so the abuse falls upon him, even though the person uttering it has, in his ignorance, actually attributed the matter to the one conveying it. The one conveying it does perform an act of transmission, unlike time, which Allah makes alternate and directs.

The second interpretation is that of Nuʿaym ibn Hammād and a group of hadith scholars and Sufis who share his view: Dahr is one of the names of Allah Most High, meaning the Eternal, without beginning. They have also reported the wording of certain supplications: “O Dahr, O Dayhūr, O Dayhār!”

This meaning is correct, for Allah, glorified be He, is the First, before whom there is nothing, and the Last, after whom there is nothing. Thus, this meaning is correct; the dispute concerns only whether He may be called Dahr at all. In any case, Muslims unanimously agree—and this is also known through sound reason—that Allah, glorified and exalted be He, is not dahr in the sense of time or anything equivalent to time. For people agree that time consists of night and day. There is likewise an equivalent in Paradise, as the Most High says:

“There they will have their provision, morning and evening.”

They explained this as intervals corresponding to morning and evening in this world. In the Hereafter, Friday is the Day of Increase. Paradise has neither sun nor moon; rather, times are known by other lights, which have been reported to appear from beneath the Throne. Time there is therefore the measure of the movement through which those lights appear.