21st Minute
If we consider the present life as a moment of “20” minutes and the 21st minute as an entry in the Hereafter, we can say that man is allowed to make mistakes only for 20 minutes. Then either he has to correct himself or be arrested by death.
Man finds himself free in the present world. He can do whatever he wants to in this world; no one is there to hold his hand. Unaware of his state of affairs, everyone seems to be fearless. Every man listens to his heart and does whatever he wants to do.
However, this state of affairs is wholly temporary. Man has a limited period at his disposal. He can show disobedience within this limited period. His Lord will take him in His remand at the end of this period. After that, he will be compelled to bear the consequences of his disobedience and rebelliousness for all eternity.
It takes two pilots to fly a plane. On 21 July 1983, a plane was flying over the Atlantic Ocean. At the same time, both pilots fell asleep and slept continuously for 20 minutes. They only woke up when a particular alarm started ringing in the pilot’s cabin. This plane was delayed by 12 hours at departure for some reason. The pilots were fatigued because of this unusual incident. They set their engine at a particular speed when they took off the plane. Now the plane started flying at this fixed speed.
Meanwhile, the pilots fell asleep. In the meantime, some disturbance occurred in the control system, and the plane’s speed increased considerably. After that, the particular alarm of the plane started ringing under the mechanical system. The pilots got up because of the alarm and immediately took control of the engine.
A pilot has written about this event in a Journal (Feedback) published in England: “I shudder to think what could have happened.”
If we consider the present life as a moment of “20 minutes” and after that consider the 21st minute as equivalent to entry time in the Hereafter, we can say that nature has allowed human beings to make mistakes only for 20 minutes. If he is not careful, till the end of this time, nature will not allow him to make a mistake after the 20th minute. After 20 minutes, either he has to correct himself or be arrested by death.
