enters the Fire. In their view, whoever enters it will remain there forever, and no individual can receive both punishment and reward. The people of the Sunnah and the united community, together with all who follow them, agree that many people will experience both, as established by the mass-transmitted reports from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.

Furthermore, the people of the Sunnah and the united community do not hold that everyone who commits a major sin must be punished, nor do they testify that any particular Muslim will enter the Fire because of a single major sin he has committed. Rather, they consider it possible that Allah will admit a major sinner into Paradise without punishment: because of good deeds, his own or those of others, that erase his major sin; because of afflictions that have expiated it; because of an answered supplication made by him or by someone else on his behalf; or for some other reason.

The advocates of the inevitable fulfilment of threats of punishment among the Khawārij and Muʿtazilah hold that those who commit major sins must be punished, since the texts threatening punishment encompass them. An example is His saying:

“Indeed, those who unjustly consume the property of orphans consume nothing but fire into their bellies, and they will burn in a blazing Fire.”

The Muʿtazilah make the fulfilment of threats of punishment one of the “five principles,” declaring anyone who opposes them an unbeliever. They differ from the people of the Sunnah and the united community by holding that the threatened punishment must be carried out upon those who commit major sins and that they must remain in the Fire forever. For this reason, the Khawārij and Muʿtazilah deny that our Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, will intercede for those who commit major sins—that is, to have them brought out of the Fire.

This is refuted by the mass-transmitted reports from him concerning this matter, such as his saying, may Allah bless him and grant him peace: