What Does “Nabaʾ” Mean in the Verse “For Every Message There Is a Fixed Time”?

Every report (nabāʾ) that comes from the divine realm has a reality: that reality is either already manifest or will one day come to light, and the truth of the report will become clear. In this noble verse, *nabāʾ* refers in particular to the reports concerning the Day of Resurrection. Every such report has its appointed term and destination, its own specified place and time, when it will reach its fulfilment and its truth will be made manifest. Surely, all of God’s promises will come to pass.

**Al-Aḥzāb 22:** وَ لَمَّا رَأَ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ الْأَحْزَابَ قَالُوا هَذَا مَا وَعَدَنَا اللَّهُ وَ رَسُولُهُ وَ صَدَقَ اللَّهُ وَ رَسُولُهُ وَ مَا زَادَهُمْ إِلَّا إِيمَانًا وَ تَسْلِيمًا

When the believers saw the enemy confederates, they said, “This is what God and His Messenger promised us; God and His Messenger spoke the truth.” And seeing them only increased them in faith and submission.

**Yā Sīn 52:** قَالُوا يَا وَيْلَنَا مَنْ بَعَثَنَا مِنْ مَرْقَدِنَا هَذَا مَا وَعَدَ الرَّحْمَنُ وَ صَدَقَ الْمُرْسَلُونَ

They will say, “Woe to us! Who has raised us from our resting place?” This is what the All-Merciful promised us; the messengers spoke the truth.

**Al-Ṣāffāt 37:** بَلْ جَاءَ بِالْحَقِّ وَ صَدَّقَ الْمُرْسَلِينَ

Rather, he brought the truth and affirmed the truthfulness of all the messengers.

**Al-Zumar 33:** وَ الَّذِي جَاءَ بِالصِّدْقِ وَ صَدَّقَ بِهِ أُولَئِكَ هُمُ الْمُتَّقُونَ

Those who bring the truth and affirm it are the truly God-fearing. This applies both to the one who brought the truth, such as the Prophet of Islam, and to those among his community who affirmed him: they are all truly God-fearing.

**Al-Naḥl 1:** أَتَىٰ أَمْرُ اللَّهِ فَلَا تَسْتَعْجِلُوهُ سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَىٰ عَمَّا يُشْرِكُونَ

God’s decree has come; do not seek to hasten it. Glorified and exalted is He above what they associate with Him.

**Al-Aḥzāb 63:** يَسْئَلُكَ النَّاسُ عَنِ السَّاعَةِ قُلْ إِنَّمَا عِلْمُهَا عِنْدَ اللَّهِ وَ مَا يُدْرِيكَ لَعَلَّ السَّاعَةَ تَكُونُ قَرِيبًا

People ask you about the Hour. Say, “Knowledge of it rests with God alone. What could make you know? Perhaps the Hour is near.”

**Al-Maʿārij 7:** وَ نَرَاهُ قَرِيبًا

And We see it as near.

You are being led, bridled, to meet your reckoning on the Day of your gathering. How excellent a judge is God, and how excellent a guarantor is Muhammad. The appointed meeting is the Resurrection. Before long, you will be turned away; at the Hour, you will regret what you have done. Every report has its appointed term; soon you will know upon whom punishment will come.

*Dalāʾil al-Imāma* (modern edition), p. 117

Narrated from Abū Jaʿfar (peace be upon him), concerning the verse “Every report has its appointed term”: he said, “Every report has a reality, and you will come to know …” Concerning the words “Every report has its appointed term,” he said: “Every report has its appointed time …”

*Biḥār al-Anwār* (Beirut edition), vol. 9, p. 205

From a saying of the Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him): “… the traces of Prophethood, the channel through which the Sunna flows, and the place to which the final outcome returns. He perishes who makes false claims, and he is disappointed who invents lies. He loses who sells the Hereafter for this world. Every report has its appointed term, and all that is to come is near.”

*Biḥār al-Anwār* (Beirut edition), vol. 75, p. 3