In sum: the work has been referred to at times as “A Refutation of Those Who Assert the Annihilation of Paradise and Hell.” At other times it has been called “A Treatise on the Annihilation of Hell.” On yet other occasions it has borne the title “Section on the Annihilation of Paradise and Hell, over which people have disagreed in three opinions.”

This last designation is the one that truly corresponds to the substance of the book.

As for the first designation—and the conclusions that Dr. al-Harbi has built upon it—it cannot be accepted, for that title is not of the author’s own making (the author being Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah), it is not uniformly attested in the manuscript copies available to us, and it does not reflect the book’s actual contents, as has been shown.

The second designation comes from an adversary who wrote in the context of rebutting and criticizing Shaykh al-Islam. He restricted the title to one aspect of the contents that he wished to refute, even though the scope of the book is broader. Al-Subkī himself makes this plain in the work cited above, saying:

“I have examined the treatise in question, and he—that is, Shaykh al-Islam—mentioned that there are three opinions concerning the annihilation of Paradise and Hell” (1).

Accordingly, the title that best represents the reality of the book is:

“A Refutation of Those Who Claim that Paradise and Hell Will Perish, and a Clarification of the Opinions on the Matter.”

This is very close to one of the titles found in the Dār al-Kutub al-Miṣriyyah copy mentioned earlier.

For that reason I have adopted it as the title of the book. Allah alone grants success and guides to what is right.