accountability and the wisdom and purpose of belief, which are tied to man’s choice and will, would have been negated.
It is for numerous benefits such as these that matters related to the Unseen remain secret. Everyone therefore continually bears in mind both his death and his continued life, and he works both for this world and the hereafter. He is also aware that the end of the world may occur in any age, or that it may continue, and so works for eternal life within the transitoriness of this world, and strives to build the world as though he was never going to die.1
Also, if the occurrence of calamities had been specified, the man who expected one would suffer a calamity perhaps ten times greater than the actual calamity. Divine wisdom and mercy have therefore veiled the time of their occurrence and left it secret, so that the man does not suffer the misfortune. It is because most hidden cosmic events are tied to such instances of wisdom that to give news of the Unseen or to foretell events has been prohibited. In order not to be disrespectful and disobedient in the face of the principle None knows the Unseen save God, those who with dominical leave even, give news of the Unseen other than concerning man’s accountability and the truths of belief, have done so only allusively and indirectly. In fact, the good tidings about the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in the Torah, Gospels, and Psalms, are veiled and obscure, in consequence of which some of the adherents of those scriptures put various meanings on those passages and did not believe them. However, since the wisdom in man’s accountability necessitates that the questions included among the tenets of belief are communicated explicitly and repeatedly, the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition and its Glorious Interpreter (Peace and blessings be upon him) tell of the matters of the hereafter in detail, and of future worldly events only in summary fashion.
Fifth Point: Also, since the wonders of both the Antichrists (Dajjal), which are related to their centuries, have been narrated in connection with them, those wonders have been imagined to proceed from their persons and this has led to the narrations becoming allegorical and their true meanings being concealed. Like, for example, his travelling by aeroplane and railway train.
And, for example, it is well-known that when the Islamic Antichrist dies, the satan who serves him will shout out the news to the whole world2 from ‘Dikili Tas,’ the obelisk in Istanbul, and everyone will hear
Suyuti, al-Fath al-Kabir, i, 190, 202; al-Manawi, Fayd al-Qadir, i, 532, No: 1068; ii, 12, No: 1201.
Muslim, Fitan, 34.