Ibn al-Mubārak related—from Sufyān, from an unnamed man, from Khālid ibn Maʿdān—who said:
They will ask, “Did not our Lord promise us that we would come to the Fire?” and He will answer, “You have already passed over it while it was extinguished.”

In another report from Khālid ibn Maʿdān he said:
When the people of Paradise enter Paradise they will say, “Did not our Lord say, ‘Indeed we shall come to the Fire’?” It will be said to them, “You did come to it, but you found it reduced to ashes.”

Ibn Jarīr said: Yaʿqūb narrated to us; Ibn ʿUlayyah narrated to us, from al-Jurayrī, from Abū al-Salīl, from Ghunaym ibn Qays, who said:
They discussed the matter of coming to the Fire, whereupon [Kaʿb] said: “The Fire will be displayed to the people as though it were the flat surface of melted fat (1) until the feet of every creature—righteous and wicked alike—stand level upon it. Then a herald will call out, ‘Hold fast to your followers and release Mine!’ It will thereupon swallow all of its devotees; it knows them even better than a man knows his own child, while the believers will emerge from it with their garments still moist.” A similar report is also narrated from him.

Aḥmad said: Muḥammad ibn Idrīs narrated to us; al-Aʿmash narrated to us, from Abū Sufyān, from Jābir, from Umm Mubashshir, the wife of Zayd ibn Ḥārithah, who said:
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ was in the house of Ḥafṣah and said, “No one who witnessed Badr and al-Ḥudaybiyah will enter the Fire.” Ḥafṣah remarked, “Does not Allah, Exalted is He, say, ‘And there is none of you but will come to it’ (Maryam 19:71)?” She said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ replied, “And then what?—‘Then We will save those who were mindful of Allah and will leave the wrongdoers therein on their knees’ (Maryam 19:72).”

Aḥmad also transmitted it through Abū Muʿāwiyah, from al-Aʿmash, from Abū Sufyān, from Jābir, from Umm Mubashshir, from Ḥafṣah, from the Prophet ﷺ … and he gave the same wording. Muslim has likewise recorded it from Ibn Jurayj, from Abū al-Zubayr, who heard it from Jābir, from Umm Mubashshir … with wording to the same effect, as mentioned earlier (2).

The forthcoming ḥadiths on intercession will explain how the believers cross the Bridge and the differences in their pace across it in proportion to their deeds; part of this has already been cited, and it has been reported from him ﷺ that he will be the first of the prophets to lead his nation across it.

ʿAbd Allāh ibn Salām said: “Muḥammad will be the first of the Messengers to cross the Bridge, then Jesus, then Moses, then Abraham, and the last of them to cross will be Noah (may Allah have mercy on them). When the believers have passed over the Bridge, the angelic keepers will meet them and guide them to Paradise.”

Once they have safely cleared the Bridge and reached its far end, nothing remains for them but to enter Paradise, as will be detailed later.

It is established in Ṣaḥīḥ collections that the Prophet ﷺ said:
“Whoever spends two kinds of property in the path of Allah will be called by the gatekeepers of Paradise, ‘Servant of Allah, this is goodness!’ If he was among the people of prayer he will be summoned from the Gate of Prayer; if he was among the people of charity he will be summoned from the Gate of Charity; and if he was among the people of fasting he will be summoned from the Gate of al-Rayyān.” Thereupon Abū Bakr said, “By Allah, O Messenger of Allah, it causes no harm to anyone to be called from any of them—”