The Qur'an balances the ever-present experience of Creation's possibility with the experience of judgment: reaping the consequences of our actions here and now. In this sense, "time begins" at any moment that we live in attunement with our divine purpose, the process of our becoming. "Time ends" whenever some event causes us to stop what we're doing and face up to the effects we have caused from a sense of self separate from the One. In this regard, the Qur'an frequently mentions the "day of judgment" (maliki yaumadin). This day can be any day, any moment, any small "death" that our limited self experiences, which can then lead us to reconsider and align ourselves with the Source of Being.

Neil Douglas-Klotz, The Heart of the Qur'an by Lex Hixon