In that ḥadīth the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—says, “The Fire did not touch their faces,” and a similar wording occurs in the next narration: “except for the bright, shining faces.” From these wordings Ibn Abī Jamrah inferred that anyone who dies a Muslim yet did not pray would never be taken out of Hell, for he would possess no distinguishing mark.

Al-Ḥāfiẓ therefore responded (11/457): “Rather, such a person will be removed in the Divine ‘handful,’ in view of the general statement, ‘They never performed any good at all,’ which is cited in the ḥadīth of Abū Saʿīd that will appear in Kitāb al-Tawḥīd”—that is, this very ḥadīth.

What escaped al-Ḥāfiẓ—may Allah have mercy on him—is that the same ḥadīth contains yet another rejoinder to Ibn Abī Jamrah. When Allah first allows the believers to intercede for their brothers who used to pray, fast, and so forth, they bring them out of the Fire by means of the identifying mark. In the subsequent rounds of intercession they draw out large numbers of people among whom, obviously, there are no worshippers; rather, each person possesses a measure of goodness proportionate to his faith.

This is perfectly clear and, God willing, obvious to all. ⦗33⦘