24 Preface وَقالوا ما هِيَ إِلّا حَياتُنَا الدُّنيا نَموتُ وَنَحيا وَما يُهلِكُنا إِلَّا الدَّهرُ ۚ وَما لَهُم بِذٰلِكَ مِن عِلمٍ ۖ إِن هُم إِلّا يَظُنّونَYusuf AliAnd they say: “What is there but our life in this world? We shall die and we live,1 and nothing but time can destroy us.” But of that they have no knowledge: they merely conjecture:Cf. 23:37, and n. 2896. The additional touch here, “And nothing but Time can destroy us”, suggests the materialist philosophy that Matter and Time are eternal backwards and forwards; and possibly also that though each individual perishes, the race lasts till Time destroys it. This is not knowledge but conjecture. Why not accept light from Him Who knows all.