Assalamu alaikum dear brother,
So sorry I didn't quote the important verse. The hadith is supposed to create confusion.
And they say: "What is there but our life in this world? We shall die and we live, and nothing but time can destroy us." But of that they have no knowledge; they merely conjecture." (sura Jathiah: 24)
The kafirs meant that time will pass and one day they will die, that's why they said that and didn't believe in hereafter. But Allah says they have no knowledge about time ! I think this verse indirectly says that Allah is Time. Because a latter verse says;
Say, "It is Allah Who gives you life, then gives you death, then He will gather you together for the Day of Judgement." But most people don't understand." (verse 26)
At present the previous verse simply refers to people like Stephen Hawking, who believes in the 4D and denies afterlife. But how can we say that Stephen Hawking, who spends his whole life researching on time and space, doesn't know anything about time ?! Stephen himself gives the answer !
One may say that time had a beginning at the big bang, in the sense that earlier times simply would not be defined. (A Brief history of Time, Chapter 1)
See, he admits that he can't define the earlier time! Now, tell me, who existed before the creation of the universe? Allah!
We call the 4D time because it changes things and keeps everything in motion. But then how did this 4D come about? There has to be a first cause. And Hawking says in the same para in chapter 1; An expanding universe does not preclude a Creator, but it does place limits on when He might have carried out His job! So if anyone told Stephen that God is the earlier time he just mentioned, it would make more sense.
God can't be the 4D because that's just a creation. The real Time would be the earlier One Which caused the 4D and the whole universe to come in existence, and Which still exists, controls everything (including the 4D) and will remain forever. Perhaps in that sense Allah says, "I AM Time." But this doesn't have to mean that Allah is an incorporeal Being. His actual appearance is unknown and unimaginable, just like Hawking says, "can't be defined.." !!
And Allah knows best........
To answer atheists you will have to read their books just like you will have to read the bible to answer Christians. And another way to convince them is to show them the overwhelming mathematical and scientific miracles of the Quran, as they worship science instead of Allah and it was impossible for an illiterate Arab to write such a Glorious book !!
Salam,
Sadat Tahmeed