Surah Al-Jinn, Ayah 28

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ does not know when the Hour will be

Allah commands His Messenger to say to the people that he has no knowledge of when the Hour will be and he does not know whether its time is near or far.

قُلْ إِنْ أَدْرِى أَقَرِيبٌ مَّا تُوعَدُونَ أَمْ يَجْعَلُ لَهُ رَبِّى أَمَداً

(Say: "I know not whether which you are promised is near or whether my Lord will appoint for it a distant term.") meaning, a long period of time. In this noble Ayah is an evidence that the Hadith that many of the ignorant people often circulate, which says that the Prophet will not remain under the earth more than one thousand years (i.e., the Hour will be before that period) is a baseless lie. We have not seen it in any of the Books (of Hadith). Verily, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was asked about the time of the Hour and he would not respond. When Jibril appeared to him in the form of a bedouin Arab, one of the questions he asked the Prophet was, "O Muhammad! Tell me about the Hour" So the Prophet replied,

The concluding part of the last verse says:

وَأَحْصَىٰ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ عَدَدًا (...and has comprehensive knowledge of everything by numbers....72:28). In other words, Allah alone encompasses the perfect knowledge of everything and keeps a meticulous count of it. He has the knowledge of the exact number of particles in the mountains. He has the knowledge of the exact number of drops in all the oceans of the world. He has the knowledge of the exact number of drops in every rain. He alone has the knowledge of the exact number of leaves on all the trees in the world. Thus it is made clear that the totality of the knowledge of the Unseen is reserved exclusively for Allah, so that there should be no misunderstanding about the above 'exception' clause.

The question of the Unseen Knowledge is fully discussed under [ 27:65]

قُل لَّا يَعْلَمُ مَن فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْ‌ضِ الْغَيْبَ إِلَّا اللَّـهُ

Say, "No one in the heavens and the earth has the knowledge of the Unseen except Allah." [ 27:65]

The messenger of Truth is apparently a common man. Therefore, the people who are affected by his call turn upon him. They forget that any action against him amounts to action against God Himself. And who can be successful by taking action against God?