Against Islamic Universalism 381
Al-Ḥarbī first elaborates the magnitude of the problem. He found
the assertion that Ibn Taymiyya supported the passing away of the
Fire in a number of works from the fourteenth century down to the
present.^13 Moreover, he encountered it so often among his contempo-
raries that it seemed that only those who had heard him refute it at his
doctoral defence thought otherwise.^14 Al-Ḥarbī relates a few anecdotes
to underline the severity of the situation. In 1406/1985–1986, a certain
Muḥammad Abū Raḥīm attributed the passing away of the Fire to Ibn
Taymiyya when defending his doctorate. A member of the examining
committee asked Abū Raḥīm where he had obtained his information.
He replied that he had found it in Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya’s Ḥādī
al-arwāḥ. The examiner responded that this matter had been much dis-
cussed and that al-Ḥarbī, who was present at the defence, had already
dealt with it earlier.^15 In a second anecdote, al-Ḥarbī quizzed several
scholars during a hajj season in Mecca. Most of them attributed the
Fire’s passing away or at least the sense of it to Ibn Taymiyya, but
they could not provide relevant evidence. Others preferred not to
comment or encouraged al-Ḥarbī to look in the vast collection of Ibn
T aymiyya’s writings Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā.^16 In a third incident, a teach-
er at the Umm al-Qurā University told al-Ḥarbī that a relative of his
had found Ibn Taymiyya supporting the limited duration of the Fire.
Al-Ḥarbī expressed great interest in seeing the references, but none
were forthcoming.^17
As these anecdotes illustrate, one of al-Ḥarbī’s fundamental com-
plaints is that scholars fail to cite any texts from Ibn Taymiyya sup-
porting an end to the Fire. However, he does point to Ibn Taymiyya’s
disciple Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya and especially his book Ḥādī
13 Ibid., pp. 15–22.
14 Ibid., pp. 4, 9.
15 Ibid., pp. 22–23. It is perhaps this same incident that al-Ḥarbī refers to at another
place in his book. An unnamed researcher defending his doctorate at the Umm
al-Qurā University attributed the passing away of the Fire to Ibn Taymiyya. At
this, one of al-Ḥarbī’s professors, Rāshid al-Rājiḥ, encouraged him to write a
separate treatise on the subject to settle the matter (ibid., p. 9). On yet another
occasion, al-Ḥarbī relates how a certain Fayṣal ʿAbd Allāh argued in a master’s
thesis defense at the Umm al-Qurā University that the Fire would likely pass
away. ʿAbd Allāh explained that this best accords with God’s mercy, pardon
and wise purpose. However, he did not make reference to Ibn Taymiyya or Ibn
Qayyim al-Jawziyya (ibid., p. 22).
16 Ibid., p. 7.
17 Ibid., p. 23.
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