[Shaykh al-Islam’s Refutation of the Jahmiyyah Doctrine]
The Shaykh (1), may Allah have mercy on him, spoke about the Jahmiyyah (2), the Hadhiliyyah (3), and the Farābiyyah. He gave precedence to the proofs presented by Ahl al-Sunnah, demolished the specious arguments of the innovators, and alluded to some of the evidences showing that divine pleasure prevails over wrath. He—may Allah have mercy on him—said:
People have differed on this issue along three lines (4):
• It is said that both abodes will remain;
• It is said that both will perish; and
• It is said that Paradise will endure while Hell will not.
As for the view that the two abodes will perish (5), we have found no one among the early generations—neither the Companions nor the Successors who followed them in excellence—who ever held it. It is attributed solely to Jahm ibn Ṣafwān and his followers, the Jahmiyyah. This was vehemently rejected by the leading scholars of Islam; indeed, it was one of the grounds upon which they declared them disbelievers, as has been related
(1) His referent is Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyya, which is explicitly named in manuscript “S,” as will be shown on p. 52, note 6.
(2) They are the misguided, innovative followers of Jahm ibn Safwān, who was killed in 128 AH. They denied the names and attributes of Allah, claimed that faith consists solely of knowledge of God and that disbelief is merely ignorance of Him, asserted that Paradise and Hell will be annihilated, and maintained that human actions are compelled, among other deviations. See al-Shahrastānī, al-Milal wa-al-Nihal, vol. 1, p. 86; al-Baghdādī, al-Firaq bayna al-Firaq, p. 211; and al-Asfaraynī, al-Tabṣīr fī al-Dīn, p. 63.
(3) They are the followers of al-Hudhayl al-‘Allāf, one of the early Mu’tazilī masters, who died in 235 AH. His theological scandals were disseminated by scholars as a warning to the community. See al-Baghdādī, al-Firaq bayna al-Firaq, p. 121; al-Shahrastānī, al-Milal wa-al-Nihal, vol. 1, p. 49; and al-Asfaraynī, al-Tabṣīr fī al-Dīn, p. 42.
(4) Allāmah Ibn al-Qayyim relates these statements in his book Ḥādī al-Arwāḥ, chapter 67, p. 340, in a brief paraphrase transmitted from his teacher Ibn Taymiyya.
(5) A collation with the original shows a marginal heading reading “The doctrine of the annihilation of Paradise and Hell,” without indicating its inclusion in the main text.