and they also deny the punishment of the grave (1). Concerning such people Allah says, “Those are the ones whom Allah has cursed; He made them deaf and blinded their eyes.”
The offshoots of the Jahmiyyah likewise refuse to accept the testimony of the Companions of the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—in the reports they transmitted from him, nor do they take the Book of Allah as their guide. Some of them are, in certain respects, even worse than the Muʿtazilah, although the Muʿtazilah are, on the whole, their point of origin. Among these sectarians are those who espouse takfīr and the sword just as the Muʿtazilah and the Rāfiḍah do; this is the stance of the Khārijites. Hence it is very often (2) the case that, once they possess power (3), the people of innovation resemble the unbelievers in declaring it lawful to kill the believers and to pronounce them disbelievers—just as is done by the Khārijites, the Rāfiḍah, the Muʿtazilah, the Jahmiyyah, and their offshoots. Within their ranks are some who fight only an armed, defiant faction, such as the Khārijites and the Zaydiyyah, while others strive to kill any opponent they can reach, either through their own authority,
(1) Among the creed of Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jama‘ah is belief in the torment and bliss of the grave for those who deserve them, affirmed without any specification (takyif), since reason cannot comprehend its modality—there is no precedent for it in this life—and divine law does not introduce what reason finds inconceivable, although it may introduce what reason finds perplexing. The return of the soul to the body does not occur in the usual worldly manner but in a way unfamiliar to us. See, by adaptation, Sharh al-Tahawiyya, pp. 450–451.
Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) says in his book al-Ruh, p. 85: “It should be known that the punishment of the grave is the punishment of the barzakh; whoever dies deserving of punishment receives his share of it, whether he is buried or not. If wild beasts devoured him, or he were burned to ashes and scattered in the air, or crucified, or drowned at sea, the torment would reach his soul and body just as it reaches the one interred.” The reports on the reality of grave torment and bliss are mutawatir; only a stubborn denier rejects them. See al-Sunnah by Ibn Abi ‘Asim, vol. 2:415–425; al-Shari‘ah by al-Ajuri, pp. 358–364.
(2) In some manuscripts: kathir.
(3) i.e., the ability to oppose them.