Despite its brevity, this statement is open to three criticisms:

First: he did not attribute it to Muslim, although Muslim records it in this complete form, as you have seen.

Second: he attributed it to Abu Dawud, although Abu Dawud records it in an abridged form that does not contain, “He says, ‘What a wretched time!’” Rather, he records the other narration, which is also narrated by al-Bukhari and Muslim; nor does he record, “So let none of you say, ‘What a wretched time!’”

Third: he said that al-Hakim graded it authentic according to Muslim’s criteria, whereas in fact he graded it authentic only according to the criteria of al-Bukhari and Muslim. This is correct and accords with the state of the chain of transmission.

Meaning of the hadith:

Al-Mundhiri said: “The meaning of the hadith is that when a calamity befell one of the Arabs, and he suffered a misfortune or something unpleasant, he would revile Time, believing that Time had brought about what had befallen him. This was like the Arabs’ seeking rain through the stellar stations and saying, ‘We were given rain by such-and-such a stellar station,’ believing that the stellar stations had caused it. Thus, this was like cursing the One who acts, whereas there is no doer of anything but Allah, the Exalted, the Creator and Doer of all things. Therefore, the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, forbade them from doing so.

Muhammad ibn Dawud would reject the hadith scholars’ narration, ‘And I am Time,’ with the final r read with a u-vowel. He would say: ‘If that were so, Time would be one of Allah’s names.’ He instead narrated it as, ‘It is I who turn night and day throughout time,’ with the final r of “Time” read with an a-vowel, based on its meaning: ‘Throughout the span of time and ages, I turn night and day.’ Some gave preference to this, but the narration worded, ‘For Allah is Time,’ refutes it. The majority