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IslamQA: Quantum theory and time travel in Islam

What do you think about quantum theory? Do you think humans can time-travel?

I have read a number of books on quantum theory but I do not know enough about it to express a general opinion. As for time-travel, forward time-travel seems to be possible and unproblematic (if you are on a spaceship that flies near the speed of light, time would travel much slower inside the ship relative to the outside).

But as for backward time-travel, I believe most scientists consider it impossible. From the religious perspective it is problematic because by going back in time everyone else’s free-willed decisions up to that time would be canceled out, since they would have to make them all over again. I believe in a real-time universe as I discuss in this essay, which means that backward time-travel is nonsensical since it would require bypassing God.

Time is merely the fact that some of God’s actions happen after some of His other actions. Traveling backward would literally mean controlling God and making Him undo His own actions, which is naturally absurd.

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