It is the time that does not exist. It has neither a beginning nor an end; it is perpetual. It is the present moment. This present is continuous. The cosmos persists under the rule of this present moment. Allah's decree in the cosmos also continues within the rule of time. In summary, both the past and the future are always under the rule of the present moment. (Futūḥāt, III, 529)
Azal (eternity without beginning) consists of the concept of qabliyyah (priority, anteriority). It is that by which it is said that Allah, exalted is He, is judged according to the necessity of His perfection. Otherwise, azal is not used in the sense of Allah’s priority over contingent beings by a long duration. As mentioned earlier, for those who do not possess maʿrifa (experiential knowledge of God) regarding Allah, their understanding of azal in this second way is a deficiency on their part. The Exalted One is far above this.
His azaliyyah (eternality without beginning) existed before our existence, and it exists even now. Just as there has been no change in His azaliyyah up to now, there will not be any until eternity. (Insān, I, 60)
Abad (eternity without end) consists of the concept of Allah’s baʿdiyyah (remaining after all else). This is a judgment reached by the necessity of the existence of His Essence. For His existence subsists by His own Essence. Therefore, it is also true that He is everlasting. Since there was no nonexistence before Him, unlike the possible (contingent) being, and since His existence subsists by His Essence and does not require anything else, the judgment that He is everlasting both before and after the possible being is established. For the possible being, even if it has no end, since there was nonexistence before it (that is, it did not exist before its existence), it is subject to interruption. Everything that has nonexistence in its past is referred back to what preceded it. In this case, it must be judged that before the existent (being), there is absolute nonexistence or nothingness; otherwise, in that ḥāl (spiritual state), it would be equal to the Real (al-Ḥaqq) in terms of baqāʾ (subsistence), which is muḥāl (impossible). If the state of the possible being were not so, it would not be correct to say that Allah remains after every existent. (Insān, I, 61)