This ḥadith circulated among those scholar-imams without the least objection on their part. These very men, however, were known for censuring anyone who departed from the sunnah (1)—whether he belonged to the Khawārij, the Muʿtazilah, the Murjiʾah, or the Jahmiyyah.

Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal used to say, “The aḥādīth of Ḥammād b. Salamah are the shajâʾ (2)—the bone that sticks in the throats of the innovators” (3).

Such figures are among the greatest standard-bearers of the sunnah. They condemned innovations far less serious than this; therefore, had they regarded this statement as an innovation conflicting with the Quran, the sunnah, and consensus—as some people assume—they would surely have rejected it.

ʿAbd b. Ḥumayd cited the tradition in his exegesis of the Almighty’s words, “abiding therein for ages” (4), in order to explain the view of those who say that these “ages” (aḥqāb) have a terminus and will come to an end—they are not like provision, of which there is no end. There is no doubt that the one who voiced this view—namely ʿUmar—and those who conveyed it from him intended by it the general class of the inhabitants of Hell who truly belong to it.

As for people who are punished for their sins, these scholars and others knew that such individuals will ultimately depart from the Fire; they will not remain in it for a stretch comparable to the sand of ʿĀlij, nor anything even approaching that.

Al-Ḥasan himself used to relate the ḥadith concerning intercession for the people of tawḥīd (monotheism), and he has mentioned it