so one says to him, “Your answer ‘I do not know’—is it just or unjust?” If he replies, “It is just,” then say, “Consider this: whatever is just in this world, is it not also just in the Hereafter?” If he says, “Yes,” ask him, “Do you believe in ʿadhāb al-qabr (the punishment of the grave), in Munkar and Nakir, and in qadar—its good and its evil—as all being from Allah Most High?” If he answers, “Yes,” then ask, “Are you a believer?” Should he again say, “I do not know,” tell him, “May you never know, nor understand, nor ever prosper.”

I said: Whoever claims that Paradise and Hellfire are not created, say to him, “Are they something or are they nothing?” Allah the Exalted has said, “He created every single thing” (Q 25:2), and He has said, “Indeed, We have created all things according to a precise measure” (Q 54:49), and He has said, “The Fire—to which they are exposed morning and evening” (Q 40:46). If he contends that the two will perish, say to him: Allah has described their bliss, saying, “whose fruit is never cut off, nor withheld” (Q 56:33). Anyone who says that they will vanish after their inhabitants have entered them has disbelieved in Allah Most High, for he has denied their everlasting abiding.