And if fulfilment pertains to the whole Book and means what we have described, the difficulty is removed, and this becomes comparable to His words:

“They ask you about the Hour: when will it arrive? Say, ‘Knowledge of it rests only with my Lord. None but He will reveal it at its appointed time. It weighs heavily upon the heavens and the earth.’”

Up to His words:

“Knowledge of it rests only with Allah.”

Likewise, He says:

“People ask you about the Hour. Say, ‘Knowledge of it rests only with Allah.’ And what will make you know? Perhaps the Hour is near.”

He thus states that knowledge of it rests only with Allah. This means knowledge of its precise time and true nature; otherwise, we already know those attributes of it that He has told us about. Knowledge of the Book’s fulfilment is therefore like knowledge of the Hour, and the Hour is itself part of its fulfilment. This is clear and evident. That knowledge of the Hour rests with Allah does not preclude our knowing what we know of its attributes and circumstances, or our explaining the texts that describe its circumstances. The same applies here.

If, however, the pronoun refers to what is ambiguous, as many people maintain, this is because the promised rewards and threatened punishments described in the reports are ambiguous, unlike commands and prohibitions. Hence the words found in transmitted reports:

“Acting upon what is clear in it and believing in what is ambiguous in it.”

For the purpose of a report is that it should be believed. The promised rewards and threatened punishments described in such reports contain the ambiguity we have mentioned, unlike commands and prohibitions.

Hence some scholars have said that “the ambiguous” comprises parables, promises and warnings, while “the clear” comprises commands and prohibitions. The latter are distinct and not confused with anything else: they concern things we do, which we know through actual experience, and things we refrain from doing, which we must necessarily be able to conceive.