Saba (Sheba)

29. “And they say: ‘When will this promise be (fulfilled) if you are truthful’?”

30. “Say: ‘You have the appointment of a day from which you cannot hold back any while, nor can you bring it on’.”

Hereafter is an important Day and its time of occurrence is not changeable.

In view of the fact that in the former verses this meaning was pointed out that Allah will gather all people in Hereafter and will judge between them, in this verse there has been suggested a question from the side of some of the deniers of Resurrection in the following form:

“And they say: ‘When will this promise be (fulfilled) if you are truthful’?”

The deniers of Resurrection used to ask this question very frequently from the Prophet of Islam (S) or from other prophets. It was sometimes for perceiving the matter, and perhaps most often for mockery, implying that when will this resurrection that you repeatedly emphasize on come if you are truthful?

This matter points to this fact that a truthful person should know all the details of the matter he informs of. He must be aware of its qualifications, its time, and its place. In answer to them the Prophet (S) was commanded to say its time is in the Knowledge of Allah.

And also we recite in many verses of the Qur’an that no one knows the time of Hereafter but Allah, and this is of the wisdom of Allah in order that human beings always spend time in the state of ‘being prepared’ and ready.

Moreover, the luck of knowledge of details is usually not a hinder for the faith in universals. For example, from the sound of the bell of the house you are acknowledged that someone is at the door, though you do not know any detail about that person whether the one is a male or a female, how old he is and how much he knows.

The lack of your knowledge unto these things does not damage your knowledge and faith that a person rang the bell of the house. Yes, we have knowledge about the Hereafter, though we do not know its time.

The Qur’an always restrains to give a clear answer to this question and to define the time of the occurrence of Hereafter, and it emphasizes that this is one of the things the knowledge of which is with Allah and none but He is aware of it.

So, in the next verse, this very meaning is reiterated in a different sentence.

It says:

“Say: ‘You have the appointment of a day from which you cannot hold back any while, nor can you bring it on’.”

This concealment of the date of the occurrence of the Hereafter, even unto the Prophet of Islam (S), as it was also pointed out before, is for the sake that Allah desires people to have a kind of freedom of action accompanied with the constant state of ‘being ready’, since if the date of Hereafter were defined, and its time was far, everybody would live in ignorance, pride and unawareness, and when its time was near, they would lose the freedom of action and their deeds would have the emergency state, and in both cases the man’s training aims would remain barren (fruitless).

It is for this reason that the date of the occurrence of Hereafter is concealed to all. It is in the same manner the night of Qadr, the night which has the virtue of one thousand months, or the date of the reappearance of Hadrat Mahdi (as).

The content of Surah Ta-Ha, No. 20, verse 15 which says:

“Verily the Hour (of doom) is coming, (but) I will to keep it hidden so that every soul may be rewarded for its endeavour.”

is a tender hint to this very meaning.

In the meanwhile that they considered that the Prophet (S), who informed of the Hereafter should know the exact date of it, was their ultimate mistake, and it was the reason of the lack of their knowledge from the duty of the prophecy.

He was commanded only to convey the Message and to give warning and glad tidings, but the question of Hereafter relates to Allah, and it is He Who is aware of all its details, and He has given to His Prophet (S) that part of the training issues that He had decided to be necessary for him.

Here, there arises a question and it is that the holy Qur’an, threatening the opponents about the appointed time of Hereafter, says:

“…you cannot hold back any while…”,

but why does it also say:

“…nor can you bring it on”?

What effect does it have in the goal of the Qur’an?

In answer, two points must be noted to. The first is that mentioning these two with together points to the decisiveness and exactness of the date of something. Just in the same way that we say so and so matter, sooner or later, has a decisive appointed time.

The second is that a group of obstinate pagans always put the Prophet (S) in pressure that why the Hereafter did not come, and in other words, they made haste for it, whether in mockery or other than it. The Qur’an tells them not to haste; its date is the same that Allah has appointed.