Is Hellfire Eternal?
The View of Ibn Taymiyyah and Ibn al-Qayyim
Ibn Taymiyyah (d. 728 AH) and Ibn al-Al-Qayyim (d. 751 AH) both held a very unconventional opinion with regards to the duration of Hellfire. Unlike Jannah which is eternal, according to them, there will come a time when Hellfire will cease to exist.
Ibn Al-Qayyim had a much lengthier discussion on this topic with both textual and theological proofs. The theological discussion is something of much benefit, as he explores the purpose of the Hereafter and the relationship of Allah’s Attribute of Mercy with His other Names and Attributes.
Whether you agree with his end conclusion or not, you can still benefit and draw lessons from this thought-provoking discussion and apply it to other spheres of da’wah.
The books that include the discussion on Fanaa an Naar written by Ibn Al-Qayyim are Hadi al-arwah ila bilad al-afrah (The Guide of the Souls to the Land of Celebration) and Al-Sawaa’iq al-Mursalaati alaa al-Jahmiyyah wa al-Mu’tazila (The Thunderbolts Sent to to the Jahmiyya and Mu’tazila). The latter is not in existence in its original form, however the Mukhtasir (summary) of that work is available. There is also a treatise that is disputably attributed to Ibn Taymiyyah on the topic, called Al-Radd alaa man Qala Fanaa al-Jannat wa al-Naar (The Refutation of the One who says that Jannah and Hellfire will Cease to Exist).
1. Textual Evidences
Statements Attributed to Companions
There are two main statements from companions in which Ibn al-Qayyim derived textual proof for the non-eternality of Hellfire.
Umar bin al-Khattab is reported to have said:
“Even if the People of the Fire (Ahlun Naar) stayed in the Fire like the amount of sand of ‘Alij, they would have, despite that, a day in which they would come out.”
Abu Huraira is reported to have said:
“There will come to Hell a day when no one will remain in it.”
Descriptions of Paradise & Hellfire in the Quran
Another of Ibn Al Qayyim's textual evidences stems from the difference in the way the Quran describes the duration of the inhabitants of Paradise and Hellfire.
The duration of Paradise are described in ways that the duration of Hellfire is never described as. These descriptions are statements such as “never-ending” or “continuous”.
Hellfire is never described as never ending, which, unlike Paradise, allows us to question its eternality. Ibn Al-Qayyim says that the difference between the two’s description is “dhahir” (apparent).
Furthermore, there are 3 Ayaat in the Quran which point to the temporal nature of Hellfire.
“...He will say, “The Fire is your residence, wherein you will abide forever, except for what Allah wills. Indeed, your Lord is Wise and Knowing.” (Surah An’aam: 128)
“(They will be) abiding therein as long as the heavens and the earth endure, except what your Lord should will. Indeed, your Lord is an effecter of what He intends.” (Surah Hud: 107)
“In which they will remain for ages (Ahqaba).” (Surah Naba: 23)
2. Theological Arguments
The Names of Allah and Connections to His Essence
Paradise comes from Allah’s Mercy whereas Hellfire is Allah’s punishment. Mercy (rahma) is ascribed to Allah’s essence, as it is one of His Names (al-Rahman), which are eternal. Allah is eternally Merciful and since Paradise stems from Allah’s Mercy, it will also be eternal.
However, Allah’s punishment is not a Name of Allah. Allah isn’t al-Mu’aqib (The Punisher), which means that He doesn’t need to punish continually out of his essence. This distinction is shown in Surah Hijr.
“(O Muhammad), inform My servants that I am the Forgiving, the Merciful. And that My punishment is a painful punishment.” (Surah Hijr: 49-50)
Although this does not establish for a fact that Hellfire is non-eternal, it shows us that, unlike Paradise, which is necessarily eternal because it stems from Allah’s eternal Names and Attributes, there is a possibility (mumkin) that Hellfire will cease to exist.
Related to this point, Ibn Al-Qayyim mentions that Allah’s mercy encompasses everything and so it will also eventually encompass the hellfire. As it is mentioned in the Hadith, “Allah’s Mercy will outstrip His Wrath”. This would point to the fact that eventually Allah’s wrath, which is manifested through the Hellfire, will be overcome by His Mercy. This gives more support to the idea that Hellfire will be temporary.
All of Allah's Actions Have Wisdom
The next point that Ibn Al-Qayyim makes is that all of Allah’s actions have Wisdom and anything He creates is not created without purpose or wisdom.
Paradise is created out of Allah’s Mercy as a reward for the believers. Allah’s Mercy is eternal and therefore the believers will experience Allah’s Mercy eternally in Paradise without any end.
Ibn Al-Qayyim posits that Hellfire has been created to instil fear into the believers in this world and as a purification and treatment for evil and impurities in the next life. He makes an analogy to a surgeon who uses fire to purify his patient’s skin of diseases. Once the fire has gotten rid of the contaminants, the doctor no longer needs to burn the patient.
To Allah belongs the highest example, but likewise, the Hellfire’s purpose is to cleanse and to purify the sins of its inhabitants. Once this purification process is complete, there is no more reason for Hellfire to exist. According to him, it is impossible for shirk and kufr to remain after such long periods of punishment.
Therefore, once the purpose of Hellfire has been fulfilled, it necessarily must cease to exist. This is because, as mentioned earlier, nothing exists except Allah created it for a purpose and wisdom, once the purpose and wisdom has been fulfilled, that thing will cease to exist.
Names of Allah that Indicate Justice
One may argue that Allah is al-Muntaqim (the Avenger), therefore, one of Allah’s Names and that which is part of His essence is that He punishes those who do evil.
However, as mentioned above, once there is no more evil, the punishment will cease to exist. This is because Allah is described as punishing for the sake of evil. Once the evil is gone, there is no need for punishment.
Even with regard to the Names of Allah that indicate His punishment, vengeance and justice, Ibn Al-Qayyim argues that His Forgiveness is more beloved to Him than His vengeance. His Mercy is more beloved to him than His punishment and His Kindness is more beloved to Him than His justice.
This does not diminish His perfection in the Attributes of Justice and Vengeance in anyway. Part of the perfection of Justice is to also Have Mercy. It is out of the Justice of Allah, that He is so Merciful. This concept will become clear when we explore the arguments that Christians make in regards to the Islamic view of God’s Mercy and Justice.
The Christian Narrative - Salvation through Crucifixion
As mentioned in the introduction, Ibn Al-Qayyim’s theological discussion can help in other facets of da’wah. Many times Christians will argue with Muslims in regard to the concept of salvation and as to which narrative seems to reflect God’s ultimate perfection.
The Christian will argue that salvation through the crucifixion is the epitome of the perfection of God’s Justice and Mercy and that the Islamic narrative shows deficiency in God’s Justice. Their argument centres around the fact that when someone sins and disobeys God, there needs to be a payment for that sin to be forgiven. It is not just for God to simply just forgive this person without any payment.
They will also make mention of the fact that this was the way of obtaining salvation from one’s sins in the past with the children of Israel. They had to sacrifice in order for God to forgive them. Once the sacrifice was made, that meant proper justice was meted out and so God could then forgive. This, to them, outlines God’s perfect justice. As for God’s perfect Mercy this is manifested in the crucifixion event, where out of His Love for mankind, sent His only Son to be sacrificed on the cross as a payment for the sins of mankind.
According to them, this combines both God’s perfect Justice and perfect Mercy. The Justice is in the fact there is a payment made for the sins. Whenever you and I commit a sin, God’s justice demands there be a payment, and that payment is the sacrifice of God’s Son. The Mercy is in the fact that God sent His own Son to be sacrificed and go through pain and torture so that He could forgive all of mankind for their sins.
Exalted is Allah above all that they invent and associate with Him!
The Islamic Narrative - True Mercy and Justice
The Islamic narrative is vastly different in that Allah forgives sins out of His Mercy without any payment, all the person needs to do is repent and ask for this forgiveness. The Christian will argue and say, there is no Justice in this if there is no payment. The rebuttal to this in light of Ibn Al-Qayyim’s theological arguments is that in Islam, Allah’s Mercy and Justice are not at odds with each other but rather they work together in harmony and are interconnected.
It is out of Allah’s perfect Justice that He is the Most Merciful. It is out of Allah’s perfect Justice that those who do not repent and turn away from Allah will be punished. It is also out of Allah’s Justice that those who seek to come closer to Him and repent for their sins will be forgiven and shown Mercy.
The Islamic view of God actually does more justice (pun intended) to His perfect Mercy and Justice than the Christian View. This is because according to the Christian concept of God, His attribute of Mercy is limited by His attribute of Justice. He is not able to forgive unless there is a payment made. Furthermore His mercy is not eternal, because according to them, He has shown his perfect Mercy to mankind after Jesus. Where was the Mercy of God before Jesus, when only God’s Justice was manifest?
As mentioned by Ibn Al-Qayyim, Allah’s Mercy and Kindness is more beloved to Him than His Punishment and Justice and this fact is something that comes out of Allah’s Justice. It would not be fair and just to creation, for Allah’s Mercy not to outstrip His Wrath. This is because we are, by human nature, imperfect creatures who are necessarily going to sin and make mistakes. So for Allah to emphasize His Justice more than His Mercy would in reality not be Just at all. True Justice and perfection of Justice of Allah is to be more Merciful because of the deficient nature of the Human being.
So in reality, when examining the two concepts of God, it is clear that the Islamic concept properly displays both God’s perfect Justice and eternal Mercy. This discussion is an example of how Ibn Al-Qayyim’s arguments can help us in refute other religions and ideologies.
The Hadith of Allah's Mercy
Another point he brings for people to ponder upon is the Hadith of Allah’s mercy,
Abu Huraira reported that the Messenger of Allah (SAW), “Allah Almighty has divided mercy into one hundred parts. He kept 99 parts and sent down one part to earth.” (Adab al-Mufrad)
Ibn Al-Qayyim says that in this world, from just this 1 part of Mercy, He provides for the disbeliever clothing, housing, family, wealth and health. All of these great blessings despite the fact they rebel against Allah. Imagine then, in the Hereafter when Allah’s mercy will be 99 times multiplied, do you not think this will cause the punishment to cease?
Phrases used to Describe Eternality
Moving forward, we see a bulk of his discussion is spent in understanding the verses which describe Hellfire as being forever and that the inhabitants will never leave.
“And they will never emerge from the Fire” (Surah Baqarah: 167)
He interprets this as they will remain in the Fire forever, for as long as it exists. It is similar to saying “you will be in jail forever”, however it isn’t in reality eternity, just as long as you are alive. Therefore, these verses do not contradict Ibn Al-Qayyim’s conclusions on the extinguishing of the Fire.
Furthermore, it is clear from other verses and ahadith that Allah is able to cease punishment if He wills. For example, we know that anyone with an atoms weight of faith will enter into paradise. However, there are verses and ahadith which talk about dwelling in hellfire “khaalideena fiha” (dwelling forever) or “abadan” (perpetually) if a believer commits a major sin.
“But whoever kills a believer intentionally - his recompense is Hell, wherein he will abide eternally (Khalideena Feeha), and Allah has become angry with him and has cursed him and has prepared for him a great punishment.” (Surah Nisaa: 93)
Abu Huraira narrates that the Prophet SAW said:
“Whoever purposely throws himself from a mountain and kills himself, will be in the Fire falling down into it and abiding therein perpetually forever (abadan)...” (Sahih al-Bukhari)
In these cases, if a believer commits these acts, it is part of our belief that one day they will be saved from the fire. This is proof that Allah can cease punishment if there is a reason. With regards to the disbelievers, that reason will be the immense Mercy of Allah which encompasses everything. So this shows that two terms “khalideena feeha” and “abadan” which are used to describe Hellfire in the Quran do not definitively establish eternality.
Allah's Promise Compared To Allah's Threat
Ibn Al-Qayyim also brings to the table an interesting discussion on the wa’d (promise) and wa’eed (threat) of Allah. Paradise is Allah’s promise and Hellfire is Allah’s threat. Ibn Al-Qayyim says that in the Quran, it says in many places that Allah will never break his promise, however it never says He will never break his wa’eed (threat). He said it is possible for Allah not to fulfill his threat, and in fact it would be an act of forgiveness and generosity.
References
These are not all of the arguments made by Ibn al-Qayyim and Ibn Taymiyya rather it is just a brief summary. For all of Ibn al-Qayyim’s and Ibn Taymiyyah’s proofs you can either refer to their works mentioned in the beginning or look into Islamic Universalism: Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya’s Salafi Deliberations on the Duration of Hell-fire by Jon Hoover. Everything in this discussion, except for the tangent on christian polemics was taken from the article by Hoover and a pHD dissertation by Mohammad Hassan Khalil entitled, Muslim Scholarly Discussions on Salvation and the Fate of ‘Others’.
“Surely your Lord does whatsoever He wills.” (Surah Hud: 107)