..Forwarded Messages and Forgotten Questions.. A Scientific Look at Time and Tradition

Like many others, I receive messages on WhatsApp every Friday — sometimes greetings for feasts, other times prayers. When you have a large network of acquaintances, friends, and saved contacts, these messages can reach dozens, even hundreds. But these are not personally written messages; they are forwarded from others, unchanged and impersonal. They don’t invite a response — but they do invite reflection. Why send a message you didn’t write, to someone who likely won’t read it, every single Friday or occasion? What meaning or benefit does that carry?

 

In a conversation with “the Dreamers of Tomorrow”, we explored this phenomenon and moved on to a broader topic: the repetitive sharing of posts (“resharing”) without checking their authenticity. We sometimes end up spreading false news or unintentionally supporting massive networks of disinformation created by those who wish to sow negativity in society.

 

All I ask is this: verify any post before forwarding it to your entire contact list. Use your knowledge, intelligence, and awareness. Some posts do more than just spread fake news — they distort words, add fake images, and fabricate entire narratives with deliberate intent.

 

One idealistic young woman said: “I think the Friday messages that get sent without much thought have become part of our social behavior — almost a marker of religious devotion. But is there a spiritual value to Friday for Muslims, Saturday for Jews, or Sunday for Christians? What’s the origin of this pattern? What is the connection between religion and the days of the week?”

 

 I replied: I believe it is a circumstantial, organizational relationship, not a divine one. I had just finished reading “My Own Universe” by James Bailey, followed by “Physics of the Future” by Michio Kaku, and “The Elegant Universe” by Brian Greene, as well as Stephen Hawking’s “Brief Answers to the Big Questions”. These books left me puzzled about the nature of time and the things we take for granted on Earth — which are, in cosmic terms, entirely relative. I delved into the expansion and contraction of time, its relation to light speed and gravity — once mere scientific theories, now supported by astronomical discoveries and mathematical equations.

 

So when I looked at the dozens of forwarded posts about the sanctity of a specific hour or day, with claims that God is more likely to respond to prayers at that time, I found myself questioning: what is the significance of “the day”? Any day? Why do people believe in a concept so extremely relative — even just on Earth, from the North Pole to the South? How much more relative is Earthtime compared to Mars, Saturn, or a planet in another galaxy?

 

I wanted to share this invitation to think beyond the local (in this case, Earth) to the cosmic.

 

Another young woman asked, “Can you explain more?”

 

I said: I invite you to think, and reflect until we arrive at interpretations worth considering. If Einstein’s theory of relativity shows that time changes with speed and space — and that near light speed, time shrinks and mass diminishes, and at the speed of light matter vanishes and time stops — then I can understand things I was once asked to believe purely on faith, not reason.

 

 A young man added, “Like what, doctor? And what’s the connection to all the Friday greetings on social media?”

 

I replied: I’m reflecting on the relativity of time and recalling certain verses in the Qur’an that stopped me in my tracks: “Indeed, a day with your Lord is like a thousand years of what you count.”

 

I also added: My new book “Dare to Think”, just released by Dar Al Maaref, tackles similar topics to enhance understanding and help distinguish between the human and the divine.

 

Science is beautiful, & Questioning is the root of knowledge.

 

To those who believe that the mind went on vacation after ancient scholars interpreted scripture over a thousand years ago — and that faith in the unseen without proof is the only path to God — I say: God gave us reason so we can reflect, think, and seek through the knowledge that begins His book. What distinguishes us from other creatures is this very awareness of His gift to us. ———

 

The first young man asked: “Back to the days of the week — where did their names come from?”

 

 I answered: In many cultures, the names of the days of the week were derived from the classical planets in Hellenistic astronomy, which in turn were named after contemporary gods. This system was first developed by the Sumerians, then adopted by the Babylonians, and eventually integrated into Roman imperial culture. The seven-day week entered early Christianity through the Hebrew calendar. Saturday remained the sacred seventh day for the Jews, and Sunday for Christians.

 

The Babylonians named days after the five known planets, with the sixth day for the Moon and the seventh for the Sun: Diana as the Moon (Monday) Mars (Tuesday) Mercury (Wednesday) Jupiter (Thursday) Venus (Friday) Saturn (Saturday) Apollo as the Sun (Sunday) Later, Arabs adopted the sevenday week from other nations; prior to that, they didn’t count in weeks.

 

In a third phase, the Arabic names of the days were assigned as we know them today: (Saturday - as-sabt, Sunday - al- ahad, Monday - al-ithnayn, Tuesday - ath-thulatha, Wednesday - al-arba‘a, Thursday - al-khamis, Friday - al-jum‘a). The names from Sunday to Thursday reflect their numerical order, with Sunday being the first. “Al-jum‘a” (Friday) comes from the Arabic root meaning “to gather,” originally referring to congregation, especially for prayer.

 

The Qur’an later confirmed the designation of Friday as the weekly day for communal worship. So in Latin and English, the days were named after celestial bodies and, in some eras, after mythical figures. Since English evolved through Greek, Latin, and Old Germanic, the influence of these languages is reflected in the names of the days of the week. I concluded: all these names simply mirror cultural expressions from different eras. The week didn’t always exist — it came into being. It started as five days, became seven, and the names changed based on their era’s dominant culture. Yet in the end, it’s a human invention — one with its own history and merit. Some people assume — or even believe — that the repetition of day names or their calendar positions hold religious meaning, as if time itself repeats, and the day or month returns exactly as it was. But this is not the case.

 

Given the Earth’s orbit around the Sun, the motion of the entire solar system, and its orbit around something greater, the entire cosmic system is in constant movement. A return to the same cosmic alignment on the same Earth-day or month or year is impossible. By the same logic, the Creator, who is closer to us than our jugular vein, does not operate by a schedule for hearing our prayers. Weekly and daily divisions are for human life — not for God — because He assumingly exists in every moment, in every place, and beyond time. But from another rational perspective: prayer is the release of positive energy aimed toward goodness and those we love.

 

 If we collectively choose a specific time for unified prayer, that energy could intensify. When crowds chant in a football stadium for their team, it creates a collective energy that alters the players’ chemistry, empowering them — hence the saying: “The home ground plays with its team.” Perhaps communal prayer, like the Friday prayer for Muslims, Saturday for Jews, and Sunday for Christians, serves to generate positive collective energy toward good outcomes.