another, nor loved and prayed for in one respect while subject to wrath and cursed in another. In their view, it is inconceivable that the same person should enter both Paradise and Hell; rather, whoever enters one cannot enter the other. Hence they denied that anyone could leave Hell or that intercession could be made for any of its inhabitants.
It is reported that the extreme Murji’ah agreed with them on this principle, but took the opposite position, saying that those who commit major sins enter Paradise and do not enter Hell.
As for Ahl al-Sunnah wa-l-Jamā‘ah, the Companions and those who followed them in righteousness, and the other Muslim groups—hadith scholars, jurists, and practitioners of speculative theology, including the Murji’ah among the jurists, the Karrāmiyyah, the Kullābiyyah, the Ash‘ariyyah, and the Shī‘ah, both their Murji’ah and non-Murji’ah groups—they say:
Allah may punish a person in Hell and then admit him to Paradise, as the authentic hadiths explicitly state. Such a person has evil deeds for which he was punished and good deeds on account of which he entered Paradise. All agree that he has both disobedience and obedience to his credit. These groups did not disagree about his fate; rather, they disagreed over what to call him.
The Murji’ah, both Jahmī and non-Jahmī, said that he is a believer whose faith is complete. Ahl al-Sunnah wa-l-Jamā‘ah hold that he is a believer deficient in faith; otherwise, he would not have been punished. Likewise, all Muslims agree that he is deficient in righteousness and piety. But may he be called a believer without qualification? There are two views on this, and the correct approach is to distinguish between contexts.
If the question concerns worldly rulings, such as whether freeing him would fulfil an obligation of expiation, the answer is that he is a believer. The same applies if the question is whether he is included in passages addressed to believers. But if the question concerns his standing in the Hereafter, the answer is:
A person of this kind is not among the believers