Divine Timing

When does God’s appointed time arrive?

Everything has its appointed time. A fixed moment. This explains why even the greatest act of the Creator, creation itself, was tied by Allah to a span and a schedule:

“Indeed, We created the heavens and the earth and what is between them in six days.”

Allah set for all existence an appointed time by which its outward and inward formation would be completed in six days. He could have created it in a single instant—indeed, beyond time altogether and beyond our comprehension—without even mentioning this duration. But Allah teaches us that everything has an appointed time in which it comes into being and reaches completion. Even the creation of existence itself.

From here, we see how Prophet Musa, peace be upon him, had his own appointed times in every facet of his life. In his journey to Midian, when Prophet Shuʿayb stipulated that he work for him for eight to ten years in exchange for marrying his daughter. Here, Allah raises His prophet through fixed periods. Musa had to live in Midian, in the company of Shuʿayb, for that specific span of time, because he would learn and grow through it.

He had to complete this period without deficiency.

“And when We appointed for Moses forty nights…”

Likewise, Allah could have revealed the Torah to Moses in two or three days. But the wisdom lay in the fulfillment of God’s appointed time, so that Moses could be prepared for the responsibility of conveying the Torah and its teachings. He had to withdraw, commune with God, fast, and separate himself from people for forty days. Simply put: to attain spiritual readiness, he had to pass through forty days to reach the divinely appointed timing.

Similarly, if we look at our beloved Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, we find that he spent thirteen years in Mecca calling to the worship of one God alone, without partners.

He had to complete this appointed time before migrating to Medina: it could not occur a day earlier or a day later. For Allah’s timings are precise, unalterable, and unchanging; they are the appointments of the Mighty, the All-Knowing.

Likewise, in the story of Prophet Nuh, peace be upon him, the span of 950 years of calling had to be completed for God’s appointed time of punishment to be fulfilled:
“So he remained among them a thousand years minus fifty.”

We marvel at the length of Noah’s call and the stubborn rejection of his people. But the greater and longer the denial, the greater the punishment. Thus their punishment came as the Flood. And for the oven to overflow and the time of the deluge to arrive, the appointed time of God—950 years—had to be completed as such.

So is the case with everything in a person’s life, from the smallest matters to the greatest. Sometimes you strive intensely for something, taking every possible means, yet it does not come to pass.

Then suddenly, after a number of years, what you sought is realized.

That is because the appointed time of your Lord has arrived. Your measure of waiting and patience has been fulfilled, and the moment has come.

It is very easy for Allah to grant you what you want at the moment you desire, but the human being does not grasp the concept of appointed times.

Palestine, for example, could have been liberated in 1973—but that was not its appointed time. It could have been liberated during the Intifada—yet that too was not its appointed time. The years decreed for it to remain under occupation must pass in full until God’s appointed time arrives. Thus do God’s events unfold upon the earth—with precise, decisive timings.

But the question remains: when does God’s appointed time arrive?

Allah’s appointed time arrives when you are ready.

When you have passed the test, succeeded, submitted, and refined your soul; when you are no longer hasty and impulsive, imagining that you can achieve whatever you want whenever you want; when you free yourself from the chaos and recklessness of the self, and realize that God has His appointed times.

Not only that, but you come to love the timing God has set. For when God’s appointed time comes, He brings you everything you longed for in a single moment, from where you never expected—just as Prophet Ya’kub, peace be upon him, said:
“Perhaps God will bring them all back to me.”

Lastly, as always, may God’s blessings be upon our master Muhammad, the day he was born, the day he was sent, the day of his night journey, the day God mended his heart, the day Mecca was opened, and the day he showed mercy to its people, and upon his family and companions.

This article was originally published in Arabic on Sotour.net