Pre-islamic Age of Ignorance: They disbelieved in Allah (swt) and used to say that it is time that kills us, not Allah. The Holy Qur’an reports this situation as follows. They said: Life is only what we live in this world. We die and we live. Only time destroys us. They have no knowledge in this matter. They only think.[583]

ISLAM: The life of this world is nothing but play and amusement. The real life is the life in the Hereafter. If only the disbelievers realised this.[584]

Imam al-Ghazali[585] divides the philosophers before him into three groups. These are: Dehriyyûn (Materialists), Tabîiyyûn (Naturalists) and İlahiyyûn (Metaphysicians). Following this distinction, al-Ghazali summarises their ideas in a short and sharp manner as follows: These are a group of the most ancient philosophers. They denied the existence of a creator who governs the universe and is all-powerful. They claimed that the universe was not created by a creator, but that it existed spontaneously from time immemorial, that the living creature came into existence from semen and semen came into existence from the living creature, and so on eternally, and they are heretics.

Atheism is one of the varieties of Atheism. Atheism is analysed in two stages: negative and positive: Negative atheism sees the existence of God as possible in principle, but rejects it on the grounds that there is no visible justification for its existence; positive atheism does not see the existence of God as possible.

In negative atheism there is no claim, only a denial. In positive atheism, on the other hand, there is both a denial and a counterclaim. The negative atheist says, “God may exist, but I will not accept this claim unless it is proved that God exists.” The positive atheist says, “God may exist, but I will not accept this claim unless it is proved that God exists. The positive atheist, on the other hand, takes the approach, “It is absolutely impossible for God to exist.” Since both of them are united in rejecting the concept of God as a result, they are defined under the title “Atheism”. According to these approaches, they are different from the atheists we have discussed in terms of denying the resurrection. According to the category, they are negative atheists.

Time worshippers are also present in almost every sphere of life. These people can be ideologically communist or capitalist. A positive atheist is only a product of communist ideology. As a result, both of them short-circuit[587] their lives in this world and the hereafter because they live as if they “do not exist” in spite of the existence of the Creator. For this reason, it has been reported that they will be humiliated in this worldly life and will suffer severe torment in the Hereafter.

Allah (swt) says:

And those before them also belied the Prophet, and a chastisement came upon them from where they did not realise. Allah made them taste disgrace in the life of this world. Surely the punishment of the Hereafter is greater. If only they knew.[588]

Dehr, in the dictionary, means the beginning of time, the life of the world, century, age. The Dehrites or Dehriyya are a group of people who take time as a basis and believe in the eternity of time and matter, and accept that the events in the world occur only by the laws of nature.

[583] Surah Al-Jaziya, Verse 24

[584] Surah Ankebut, Verse 64

[585] B. 1058- D. 1111

[586] Imam al-Ghazali, Al-Munkizu Mine’d-Dalal, Trans. A. Subhi Furat, Dalâletleri Hidâyete, pg.48

[587] The voltage arising as a result of the positive and negative ends of the batteries touching each other

[588] Surat al-Zumar, Verses 25-26