The disbelievers will only come to faith when the punishment is laid bare before their very eyes.

I asked, “Then what of the people who say that a believer will never enter the Fire?” He replied, “No one enters the Fire except one who, by that moment, is a believer.” I said, “And the disbeliever?” He answered, “They will believe on that Day.” I asked, “How is that so?” He cited the Almighty’s words:

‘When they saw Our might they cried, “We believe in Allah alone and we renounce all that we used to associate with Him.” Yet their belief, once they had seen Our might, did not benefit them…’ (Qur’an 40:84–85).

Abū Ḥanīfah—may Allah have mercy on him—said: “Whoever kills a soul without right, or steals, or commits highway robbery, or practices debauchery, or persists in sin, or fornicates, or drinks wine, or becomes intoxicated is still a believer—albeit a sinful one—and not a disbeliever.”