“But when they see it close at hand, the faces of those who disbelieved will be distressed, and it will be said, ‘This is what you were calling for.’”

There are many similar passages in the Quran. Likewise, He says:

“Or do they say, ‘He has fabricated it’? Say, ‘Then produce a surah like it, and call upon whomever you can besides Allah, if you are truthful.’”

“Rather, they have denied that which they have not fully grasped in knowledge and whose fulfilment has not yet come to them.”

What they were promised in the Quran has not yet come to them, but it will. Tafsīr is full knowledge of it, whereas ta’wīl is the very thing they were promised, when it comes to them. They denied the Quran without fully grasping it in knowledge, and before its ta’wīl had come to them. Yet people may fully grasp it in knowledge before its ta’wīl comes to them. The Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, fully grasps what Allah has revealed to him, even though its ta’wīl has not yet come.

A hadith relates that when the verse beginning with His words, “Say, ‘He has the power to send punishment upon you from above you,’” was revealed, the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: “It will surely come to pass, but its ta’wīl has not yet come.”

Allah Most High says:

“Your people have denied it, though it is the truth. Say, ‘I am not a guardian over you.’”

“Every announcement has its appointed fulfilment.”

Some have said: “A point at which it is settled, a reality, and an endpoint it reaches, revealing whether it is true or false, truthful or a lie.”

Muqātil said: “Every announcement Allah makes has a time and place in which it comes to pass, without fail or delay.”

Ibn al-Sā’ib said: “Every word and deed has a reality. Whatever pertains to this world you will come to know, and whatever pertains to the Hereafter will