Cycle of Time and Unchangeable Fate

In the beginning of “The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate,” Fuwaad simply describes alchemy as turning “base metal into gold,” however, one official definition of alchemy is also, “a seemingly magical process of transformation, creation, or combination” (Oxford Languages). Even though in the story Bashaarat claims that the past and future are the same and cannot be changed, each person that travels to the past and/or future ends up transforming or changing, not what happens, but themselves. Furthermore, the short story shows how time is an endless cycle that is unescapable, and that fate (Allah) and karma are unchangeable as well.

In “The Tale of the Fortunate Rope-Maker,” the humble Hassan eventually becomes rich by heeding to everything his older self said, while in “The Tale of the Weaver Who Stole from Himself,” Ajib starts an endless cycle of “bad karma” by always stealing from himself. However, even though the younger Ajib will always hold the idea that he is the one that brought on his own downfall, the older, wiser, Ajib knew that by the younger Ajib “stealing” the gold, he was repaying back his own debt. As Bashaarat claims, “Allah rewards those he wishes to reward and chastises those he wishes to chastise” (Chiang 25). In other words, your past, future, and fate are already sealed/chosen by Allah, and you can do nothing to change it. We see this when Fuwaad tries to go to the past to save his ex-wife Najya. Even though Fuwaad tries his best and thinks that he has enough time to save her, because of Allah’s will he is ultimately unable to.

Through these stories, we can see that even though time is an endless unchangeable cycle, even if you had a “bad” past or future, by knowing more about it you can transform your mindset. For example, even though Fuwaad practiced repentance and atonement as best as he could for 20 years, that did not ease the suffering and guilt he felt over his wife’s death. However, when he went to the past and learned his wife’s dying message, he suddenly felt relief. As he says, “my journey to the past had changed nothing, but what I learned had changed everything” (Chiang 56). Overall, the story is not about changing the past or the future, but about accepting it and learning from it.


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