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

And what interpretation could rightly be presented for the tradition of the Tablet,[1] or the tradition of the Sealed Scroll? And what of the report transmitted by Jābir (b. ʿAbd Allāh al-Anṣārī) concerning the Scroll of Fāṭima عليها السلام? And how could it not be known that what the Scholar عليه السلام said: “six days,” or “six months,” or “six years,” was something indeterminate?! Without any doubt, it is possible that a matter whose time may conceivably extend from six days to six months, and from six months to six years, may just as conceivably extend for years beyond that. Is this not understood? If he عليه السلام intended to specify the time, then it is known that he did not specify it; and if he intended to obscure it, then it is no wonder that he should obscure it to the greatest extent within his power and conceal it with the utmost effort possible to him, for a matter concerning which one trusted for his knowledge speaks with uncertainty between six days and six years can have been intended for nothing other than obfuscation and concealment. And were it not for questions being thrust upon them when answering was disadvantageous, no verdict would ever have been issued except according to its true reality, nor any statement except in its proper tenor.