Question:
Please send your thoughts on the below if possible….There is a discussion on social media groups of Malaysia about recent speech on Al-Hikam given at Masjid Putra by Shaykh Ali Juma,Egypt.
Few scholars have objected to a statement made during the speech probably from Shaykh Ibn al-Arabi(RA) to the effect that “the dwellers of Hell will adapt to their surroundings”…
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1GsRmEzNPQ
Reply:
Narrations about the extinction of Hellfire, its emptying of inmates and its becoming green with plants are reported from some of the Salaf al-Ṣāliḥ among the major Ṣaḥāba such as ʿUmar b. al-Khaṭṭāb, Ibn Masʿūd, Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī, Abū Hurayra and ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿAmr b. al-ʿĀṣ, and among the major Tābiʿīn such as al-Shaʿbī, al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī, Ibrāhīm al-Nakhaʿī and others in the Tafsīrs of Ṭabarī and others. These are weak reports that contradict the manṣūṣ; and the consensus of Ahl al-Sunna wal-Jamāʿa has formed over the unmitigated khulūd of ahl al-nār and of their punishment in Hellfire. Yet Ibn Taymiyya and his school, for example Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya in Ḥādī al-Arwāḥ, Ibn Abī al-ʿIzz in Sharḥ al-Ṭaḥāwiyya, and Muḥammad Rashīd Riḍā in Tafsīr al-Manār zealously defended that position.
Shaykh Muḥyī al-Dīn Ibn al-ʿArabī did not go that far. He knew of those reports – as he also cited them – but his own position is more Qurʾān-centered, and also more literal. Namely,
(i) that Hellfire will not be extinguished; that Hell will not be emptied of its inmates; and that their skins will keep getting changed to endure renewed punishment. However, at some point,
(ii) that Allah’s mercy will also encompass them in the end, since it is established that His mercy overtakes and encompasses everything, as explicitly stated in the Quran (Anʿām 6:12, 6:54, Aʿrāf 7:156, Ghāfir 40:7) and the Sunna (Musnads, Ṣaḥīḥayn, Sunan). How would His mercy encompass them in the end? In the manner alluded to in your phrase, “the dwellers of Hell will adapt to their surroundings.” That is the Akbarī view, and it is not based on “human psychology” as suggested by one objector, but on the ṣarīḥ of the muḥkam verses of the Qurʾān, that MERCY ULTIMATELY PREVAILS.
Thus it is the well-established foundation and principle of all-encompassing divine mercy that motivated both positions, the Taymiyyan and the Akbarī. These two controverted positions were only attempting a reconciliation of the evidence. Nevertheless, it has been said that both positions go against the Consensus, so it is better to steer clear of such a discussion. We do prefer peace of mind, clarity of proof, and consensus. Note well, however, that we do not mean, by that word, a “consensus” of ʿawāmm muftis and the ignorant masses (those who actively fight against the ʿaqīda of Ahl al-Sunna wal-Jamāʿa including in parts of southeast Asia today). We mean the sawād al-aʿẓam of the ulama of Ahl al-Ḥaqq which predominantly includes the Ashʿarīs, the Māturīdīs and the Sufis.
My advice for anyone that wishes to disagree with Shaykh Ali Jumuah on this particular point, is to go ahead. Disagree — but move on. It is a normal and obvious disagreement that was discussed before, and there is a small niche of specialized literature about it that is continuing to grow as we speak. It is not for the general public to discuss, but for adab-imbued muttaqī ulama who have the Umma’s well-being at heart. It should not become an opportunity for uneducated people to become angry with a respected elder authority, or with Sufis in general. Do not let untrustworthy muftis and rabid anti-Sufis sow rebellion or incite the general public against Shaykh Ali Jumuah and Ibn ʿArabī. There are hadiths warning about end-time half-scholars devoid of adab.
It is enough benefit if everything else Shaykh Ali Jumuah said is correct. He is not maʿṣūm, nor was Shaykh Muḥyī al-Dīn Ibn ʿArabī maʿṣūm, nor were Shaykh Aḥmad ibn Taymiyya and his school maʿṣūm. Some of their respective defenders even claimed that Ibn ʿArabī and Ibn Taymiyya never took those positions, and that they were inauthentically attributed to them. This denial is found on both sides. That is why it is a fruitless exercise to discuss what they all said of controversial matters, because we cannot even be certain they said it in the first place. Just take from their books what the Umma already agrees on, and leave the rest.
Let us take what leaves no doubt and avoid what is controversial, per the Hadith to that effect. But also, let us firmly keep good opinion of Shaykh Ali al-Jumuah as a trusted educator and defender of Ahl al-Sunna wal-Jamāʿa, who has been standing in the face of the two bāṭils of anti-madhhabism and atheism for decades. If he has overemphasized Allah’s mercy, then it is only because Allah Himself emphasizes His own mercy in His Book and in the Sunna of the Seal of Messengers, upon him blessings and peace.
The most important and final goal is that we all especially hope to be subsumed under Allah’s mercy, and we all – without exception – fear Allah’s punishment. “No one with one iota of kibr will enter Jannah” (Hadith). “None of you will enter Paradise through your deeds, but only through Allah’s mercy, including myself” (Hadith). We are all – without exception – counting on that mercy. WAllahu aʿlam.
Hajj Gibril Haddad
