For this reason they went on to say, “Nothing destroys us except time,” meaning that only the passing of nights and days brings about our extinction. Thus they attributed annihilation to Time itself in a tone of condemnation. They voiced this claim out of sheer ignorance and conjecture, not on the basis of knowledge or proof, for sound evidence overturns and nullifies it. Hence Allah answered them: “They have no knowledge of this; they only speculate.” Every statement that rests on neither knowledge nor proof is a false, rejected statement.
All rational proofs testify that whatever takes place in the universe must have a Wise and All-Powerful Disposer—and that is Allah. Consequently, anyone who reviles Time and ascribes events to it shares with the polytheists and the naturalists this blameworthy trait, even if he does not share their underlying creed.
In the Two Ṣaḥīḥs and elsewhere it is reported from Abu Hurayrah that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “Allah, Exalted is He, says: ‘The son of Adam offends Me by cursing Time, yet I am Time; I alternate the night and the day.’” In another wording: “Do not curse Time, for Allah is Time.”
This ḥadīth makes it clear that whoever curses Time has harmed Allah—glorified be He—for the insult actually targets the One who directs and creates every occurrence, while Time is merely a created vessel, a setting that has no power to dispose of anything. For that reason Allah said, “I am Time; I alternate the night and the day.” His words “I alternate the night and the day” explicate His statement “I am Time.” Likewise, the phrase “for Allah is Time” means that Allah is the disposer who governs Time and everything else. Therefore, the person who abuses Time is in fact abusing its Creator—Allah, majestic and exalted.
Some of the early scholars said: “It was the habit of the pre-Islamic Arabs to disparage Time—that is, to curse it when calamities struck. Whenever hardship or affliction befell them they would say, ‘The lashes of Time have smitten them,’ or, ‘Time has annihilated them,’ or, ‘Alas for Time!’ Thus they attributed actions to Time and vilified it, even though the true agent is Allah. When they ascribed the hardships that had reached them to…"