Question:
Assalam u alayekum syyedi sheikh hisham!
What is the correct meaning of the word saa’at mentioned in islamic texts.does it refer to one hour,one minute,one second or any other time period.
Looking for your affectionate guidance.
Shukran ya syyedi.
Answer:
`Alaykum as-Salam,
Literally in Arabic sa`a means a span of time within one’s day and in modern Arabic it is the word used for the 60-minute hour; but in the Qur’an al-Sa`a – with the definite article “denoting perfection” (Abu Zahra) – is one of the many names of the Day of Judgment and is synonymous with it, so it is an infinite span of time and the beginning of eternity. At the same time it is the very last hour of the life of this world and there is no hour after it. So it is a border-time between this world and the next. “It was named al-Sa`a because of its proximity” (Tafsir al-Sam`ani), “because it is rushing to its time of occurence” (Haqqi), “because with it Allah announces the end of the world” (Mutawalli Sha`rani), and Allah knows best.
Hajj Gibril Haddad
