that a single ḥiqb is seventy thousand years; each day of those years is like a thousand of the years you count (1).

Hishām also transmitted from al-Ḥasan that he said:

‘No one knows what the aḥqāb are. Yet one ḥiqb is seventy thousand years, each day thereof being like a thousand of the years you count (2).’

Al-Ḥasan’s statement, ‘Allah knows best what the aḥqāb are; no one knows what they are,’ implies that they do have a fixed number—known only to Allah. For if they had no number at all, everyone would know that they are without number ⦗16/b⦘. What al-Ḥasan related from ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, as mentioned earlier (3), confirms this.

Al-Ḥasan’s other remark, ‘No number is mentioned there except eternity,’ is likewise accurate, for they will abide therein forever, never leaving it so long as it exists. Thus al-Ḥasan’s statements corroborate one another.

Their everlasting stay in the Fire is a fact, just as Allah has informed.

Al-Suddī said regarding the verse ‘abiding therein for aḥqāb’: ‘Seven hundred ḥiqb; each ḥiqb is seventy years; each year consists of three hundred and sixty days; each day is like a thousand of the years you count (4).’

ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAmr said, ‘A ḥiqb is forty years (5).’

Scholars have differed concerning the aḥqāb: are they fixed and limited? There are two opinions. According to al-Suddī and others, they are indeed fixed and measured; this is also the view of al-Zajjāj and others, although al-Zajjāj explained: ‘The meaning is that they will remain in it for aḥqāb during which they will taste neither coolness nor drink (6).’