We die and we live; we die and our children live. Or some die and some live. Or we may be dead, like drops in the loins, and then we live after that. Or both may happen to us: death and life; they mean by this: life in this world and death afterward, and there is no life beyond that. It has been read: 'we live,' with the 'n' pronounced. And it has been read: 'except for a time that passes.' And they do not say this out of knowledge, but out of conjecture and guesswork. They claimed that the passing of days and nights is what affects the demise of souls, and they deny the Angel of Death and his taking of souls by the command of Allah. They attributed every incident that occurs to time and fate, and you see their poetry expressing complaints about time. Among them is his saying, blessings and peace be upon him: 'Do not curse time, for Allah is time.' This means: for Allah is the one who brings about events, not time.