وَقَالُوا۟ مَا هِىَ إِلَّا حَيَاتُنَا ٱلدُّنْيَا نَمُوتُ وَنَحْيَا وَمَا يُهْلِكُنَآ إِلَّا ٱلدَّهْرُ ۚ وَمَا لَهُم بِذَٰلِكَ مِنْ عِلْمٍ ۖ إِنْ هُمْ إِلَّا يَظُنُّونَ Qur’an Al-Jathiya (45:24)Waq a loo m a hiya ill a h ay a tun a a l dduny a namootu wana h y a wam a yuhlikun a ill a a l ddahru wam a lahum bi tha lika min AAilmin in hum ill a ya th unnoon a
I.e., by accident, or as an outcome of blind forces of nature.
Cf. xxiii. 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.