ʿAbbās. If what is meant by that is those who accepted Islam during their earthly lives, then the matter is not so, for the address concerns only those who had been allies of Satan (1) and the jinn with whom they mutually found enjoyment. These jinn are counted among the Muslims, and everyone who has embraced Islam is someone about whom Allah had prior knowledge that he would do so. The person who put forward this view seems to have imagined that the statement is directed to people while they are still alive, yet it is actually addressed to them on the Day of Resurrection. And if he intended that they will become Muslims while in Hell and will therefore be brought out of it, this contradicts what the Qur’an affirms in several places.

ʿAbd Allah ibn Masʿūd said:

“A time will certainly come upon Hell when there will be no one left in it; that will be after they have remained in it for ages. These are the unbelievers.” A similar report is related from Abū Hurayrah. (2)

Al-Baghawī commented, “Its meaning, according to the Ahl al-Sunnah—if the report is sound—is that no one who possesses faith will remain in it.” (3)

Thus it is said: they did not intend what has been alleged. After they have remained therein for ages—these being the unbelievers—Allah, Exalted is He, says:

“Indeed, Jahannam has been lying in wait, a home for the transgressors. They will abide therein for ages. There they will taste no coolness nor any drink except scalding water and pus—an appropriate recompense. Indeed, they did not expect a reckoning, and they utterly rejected Our signs.” (4)

This description applies to those who belied Allah’s signs: “utterly rejected” (kidhdhāban) is an emphatic verbal noun that intensifies the denial. I have found no well-known report from any Companion that opposes this. Rather, it is Abū Saʿīd and Abū Hurayrah who transmitted the hadith of the slaughtering of death (5) and the narrations concerning intercession and the release