Time erases Nothing: when Science and the Qur’an speak the same Language

We commonly assume that time erases everything. Memories, words, and gestures appear to dissolve into the past; however, both contemporary science and the Qur’an articulate a fundamentally different claim: nothing truly disappears. Everything that occurs is preserved, within the human body, within matter itself, and within the structural order of the universe.

Neuroscientific research demonstrates that the human brain retains every experience in the form of neural traces. Even experiences that are no longer accessible to conscious recollection are not lost. Through synaptic plasticity, lived events are encoded and may re-emerge under particular conditions, such as trauma or sudden sensory stimulation. This process can be compared to a pond that has remained undisturbed for years: when a stone is thrown into the water, sediments rise from the bottom—elements that were never absent, but merely unseen. In this sense, the body functions as a biological archive of lived experience.

The Qur’an presents a remarkably parallel perspective, affirming that nothing is forgotten, whether at the human or the cosmic level. A central verse states:“In truth, We give life to the dead, and We record what they have sent ahead and their traces; and all things We have enumerated in a Clear Book” (Surah Ya-Sin 36:12).

This verse indicates that not only actions themselves are recorded, but also their consequences, the “traces” they leave in the world. The concept of the Clear Book (kitāb mubīn) recurs throughout the Qur’an as a representation of a comprehensive order in which all things are known, preserved, and accounted for.

This notion of total preservation is articulated even more explicitly in another passage:“And the Book will be placed, and you will see the guilty fearful of what is in it, and they will say: ‘Woe to us! What is this Book that leaves out nothing, small or great, without recording it?’” (Surah Al-Kahf 18:49).The text underscores that no detail is excluded, including what may appear trivial or insignificant from a human perspective.

In the contemporary technological context, this idea has become almost empirically tangible. Digital actions are continuously recorded, archived, and stored. Similarly, the Qur’an describes an ongoing process of recording, carried out by unseen observers:“When the two receivers record, seated on the right and on the left, not a word does one utter but that with him is an observer ready to record” (Surah Qaf 50:17–18). It further states:“Indeed, over you are guardians, noble scribes, who know whatever you do” (Surah Al-Infitar 82:10–12).This recording is depicted not as automatic or mechanical, but as conscious, deliberate, and exhaustive.

The Qur’an extends this concept further by attributing to the human body itself a function of memory and testimony. On the Day of Judgment, testimony will not be limited to verbal confession; corporeality itself will bear witness:“That Day their tongues, their hands, and their feet will testify against them for what they used to do” (Surah An-Nur 24:24).When individuals question this testimony, the response is described as follows:“They will say to their skins: ‘Why did you testify against us?’ They will say: ‘Allah has made us speak, the One who makes all things speak’” (Surah Fussilat 41:21).

Accordingly, matter is not portrayed as inert or silent; it retains memory and participates in testimony.

Modern physics provides additional conceptual support for this framework. In quantum mechanics, the principle of information conservation suggests that information is not annihilated. Even black holes—once thought to eliminate information entirely—are now understood as systems in which information is preserved in transformed states. From this perspective, the universe may be understood as a vast system of inscription and retention. The Qur’an expresses this ontological principle in theological language:“Not a leaf falls but that He knows it; nor is there a grain in the darkness of the earth, nor anything fresh or dry, but that it is in a Clear Book” (Surah Al-An‘am 6:59). Here, preservation and knowledge extend beyond human action to encompass all dimensions of existence.

The moment at which this universal memory becomes manifest is conveyed through powerful imagery:“And when the scrolls are laid open…” (Surah At-Takwir 81:10). At this point, records are disclosed and rendered visible. Yet the Qur’an emphasizes that this disclosure is not solely judicial in nature, but also merciful:“As for the one who is given his record in his right hand, he will be called to account with an easy reckoning” (Surah Al-Inshiqaq 84:7–8).

Science can describe the mechanisms by which information is preserved, through neural structures, physical fields, and the mathematical architecture of the universe. The Qur’an, by contrast, addresses the more fundamental question of purpose.