This hadith is explicit proof that the disbelievers will abide eternally in the Fire, and that it will not cease to exist along with those in it, contrary to the view held by some. For if it were to cease to exist along with those in it, they would die and find relief; yet this contradicts the hadith. Those among our eminent scholars who adopted the view that it will cease to exist failed to notice this, as well as other supporting texts from the Quran and the sunnah. Imam al-Sanʿani refuted this view in a sound scholarly manner in his book, Rafʿ al-Astār li-Ibṭāl Adillat al-Qāʾilīn bi-Fanāʾ al-Nār (“Lifting the Veils to Refute the Evidence of Those Who Maintain That Hell Will Cease to Exist”). I have prepared a critical edition of it, documented its hadiths, and prefaced it with a comprehensive and beneficial introduction. It is currently in press and will soon be in the hands of readers, Allah willing.

1552 — “To proceed, O assembly of Quraysh: you will remain in charge of this affair so long as you do not disobey Allah. But if you disobey Him, He will send against you one who will strip you as this twig is stripped”—while he had a twig in his hand.

Ahmad (1/458) recorded it: Yaʿqub narrated to us; my father narrated to us, from Salih, who said: Ibn Shihab narrated to me that ʿUbayd Allah ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿUtaybah related that ʿAbd Allah ibn Masʿud said: “While we were with the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, there were nearly eighty men of Quraysh with us, all of them Qurashis. By Allah, I had never seen the faces of men more handsome than theirs were that day. They mentioned women and spoke about them, and he joined their conversation, until I wished that he would stop. Then I went to him, and he recited the testimony of faith and said”—then he mentioned the report—“and he stripped his twig, whereupon it became white and smooth.”

I say: Its chain of transmission is authentic according to the criteria of both al-Bukhari and Muslim. Al-Haythami said in Majmaʿ al-Zawaʾid (5/192): “Ahmad, Abu Yaʿla, and al-Tabarani in al-Awsat recorded it. Ahmad’s narrators are the narrators of the Sahih, and Abu Yaʿla’s narrators are trustworthy.” Al-Qasim ibn al-Harith also narrated it from ʿUbayd Allah, but said: “From Abu Masʿud al-Ansari.”