IbnTaymiyyah.Com

Ibn Taymiyyah on the Eternity of Paradise and Hellfire: Part 4
Posted by Abu.Iyaad on Monday, January, 09 2012 and filed under Doubts and Misconceptions
Key topics: Hellfire

Ibn Taymiyyah (rahimahullaah) said (Majmoo al-Fataawaa 18/37):

هَذَا الْخَبَرُ بِهَذَا اللَّفْظِ لَيْسَ مِنْ كَلَامِ النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ وَإِنَّمَا هُوَ مِنْ كَلَامِ بَعْضِ الْعُلَمَاءِ . وَقَدْ اتَّفَقَ سَلَفُ الْأُمَّةِ وَأَئِمَّتُهَا وَسَائِرُ أَهْلِ السُّنَّةِ وَالْجَمَاعَةِ عَلَى أَنَّ مِنْ الْمَخْلُوقَاتِ مَا لَا يَعْدَمُ وَلَا يَفْنَى بِالْكُلِّيَّةِ كَالْجَنَّةِ وَالنَّارِ وَالْعَرْشِ وَغَيْرِ ذَلِكَ . وَلَمْ يَقُلْ بِفَنَاءِ جَمِيعِ الْمَخْلُوقَاتِ إلَّا طَائِفَةٌ مِنْ أَهْلِ الْكَلَامِ الْمُبْتَدِعِينَ كَالْجَهْمِ بْنِ صَفْوَانَ وَمَنْ وَافَقَهُ مِنْ الْمُعْتَزِلَةِ وَنَحْوِهِمْ وَهَذَا قَوْلٌ بَاطِلٌ يُخَالِفُ كِتَابَ اللَّهِ وَسُنَّةَ رَسُولِهِ وَإِجْمَاعَ سَلَفِ الْأُمَّةِ وَأَئِمَّتِهَا

This narration with this wording is not from the speech of the Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam), but it is from the speech of some of the Scholars. The Salaf of the Ummah, its leading Imaams and all of Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jamaa'ah are united that from the created things are those that will never disappear and will never expire completely such as Paradise and Hellfire, the Throne and other than that. And no one spoke of the expiration of all of the created things except a faction from the innovating people of kalaam, such as al-Jahm bin Safwaan and whoever agreed with hiim from the Mu'tazilah and their likes. This is a futile saying which opposes the Book of Allaah, the Sunnah of His Messenger and the consensus of the Ummah and its leading Imaams.

Comments

Same as what we said previously:

This is very clear and explicit in that Ibn Taymiyyah, along with the Muslim majority and the leading Imaams of the religion, holds belief in the eternity of Paradise and Hellfire, and this establishes that any other claim is simply from the wishful thinking and the lies of the Sufi saint-worshippers who wish to tarnish the reputation of Ibn Taymiyyah because he - after the Ummah passing through centuries of drifting away from the way of the Salaf - Ibn Taymiyyah supported the way of the Salaf, promoted it and brought back the connection between it and the Ummah. Naturally, when a people build a paradigm, and schools of thought and doctrines and creeds that clash with the way of the Salaf, this will bring animosity and hatred towards anyone who challenges that paradigm and this is what happened to Ibn Taymiyyah, as is alluded to by Imaam al-Dhahabi in his biographical accounts (refer to the downloadable PDF in this article for the relevant citations and discussion of the matter).