“…We have certainly brought them a Book which We have set out in detail, based on knowledge, as guidance and mercy for a people who believe. Are they, then, waiting for anything other than its taʾwīl? On the Day its taʾwīl comes, those who had neglected it before will say, ‘The messengers of our Lord did indeed come with the truth.’”

Thus Allah declares that He has elaborated the Book—its elaboration being a clarification and differentiation that leaves no room for confusion—and then He says, “Are they waiting,” that is, are they merely expecting, “anything other than its taʾwīl, on the Day its taʾwīl comes,” and so forth.

What is meant is the arrival of the very realities the Qur’an foretells regarding the Resurrection and its portents: the Beast, Gog and Magog, the rising of the sun from the west, the coming of your Lord and the angels in ranks, the records and the balances, Paradise and Hell, and the manifold kinds of bliss and punishment. When these occur they will cry out, “Indeed, the messengers of our Lord came with the truth. So do we have any intercessors who might intercede for us, or could we be returned so that we might act differently from the way we used to act?”

The specific time, measure, and exact nature of these events mentioned in the Qur’an are known only to Allah, for He says, “No soul knows what delights of the eyes have been hidden for them” (32:17), and He says, “I have prepared for My righteous servants that which no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and has never crossed the heart of any human being.” Ibn ʿAbbās said: There is nothing in this world that corresponds to what is in Paradise.