The Reasons for Differences in Transmitted Narrations & the Requisites for Confusion and Uncertainty

So, were it not for what He intended by way of repulsion and of making the term seem near to the doer of good and evil deeds—and likewise the reward and the retribution—the Prophet صلى الله عليه وعلى آله would have made known that what the misguided community would be brought to would occur before the advent of the Hour, and that what Allāh had promised him concerning the people of his House—namely, that He would cause them to prevail over all other religions—would come to pass before its advent. In accordance with this did the Apostles pass on and the chosen ones proceed, each of them presenting the Resurrection and the Hour as near and bringing glad tidings of the swiftness of requital in retribution and reward. And were information concerning everything, according to its true reality, to have been given beforehand, and the appointed term for every period fixed and laid out in advance, it would have been incumbent by the right of the Apostolate and the duty of notification upon ʿĪsā عليه السلام to command those whom he knew would live to the time of the Apostle of Allāh صلى الله عليه وعلى آله to restrict themselves to what he enjoined upon them during his own days, trusting that Muḥammad’s Sacred Law would abrogate the prior Sacred Laws, and knowing that he was the best of the Prophets and the Master of the Apostles. And the people of every interval would have committed horrific sins and countless offences; instead, they remained in a state of expecting imminent retribution or reward, and due to that Allāh repelled some people by means of others. This custom is likewise put into practice among the Imams عليهم السلام, operative throughout their days and established among them.