392 Jon Hoover
God in the perfection of His wisdom and power chooses some things
- such as angels, prophets, communities, places, nights and days – over
others. Likewise, God in his wisdom creates the fair, for whom is fit-
ting only what is fair (ṭayyib), and the foul, for whom is fitting only
what is foul (khabīth). While the fair and the foul are mixed together
in this present world, God will distinguish the fair from the foul in the
hereafter, placing the fair in the Garden and the foul in the Fire. It is in
this context that Ibn al-Qayyim pens the passage quoted above, which
offers no hope that the foul might one day become fair. The possibility
of universal salvation is not broached.^53
Al-Ḥarbī’s second quotation comes from Ijtimāʿ al-juyūsh. The bulk
of this book consists of quotations from the Koran, the Hadith and
other texts brought together to prove that God is on His Throne. The
passage in question comes from a creedal statement attributed to the
two Hadith scholars Abū Zurʿa al-Rāzī (d. 264/878) and Abū Ḥātim
al-Rāzī (d. 277/890), not to be confused with the Ismāʿīlī scholar of the
same name (d. 322/933). In addition to affirming that God is on His
throne, this statement mentions numerous other doctrines not relevant
to the topic of the book, among them that the Garden and the Fire
“both will never pass away”.^54 Al-Ḥarbī reckons that Ibn al-Qayyim’s
citation of this statement without comment indicates his approval.^55
This is perhaps more than one can safely conclude because Ibn al-
Qayyim appeals to this text for other purposes and also does not com-
ment on a great deal else that he quotes in this book.
The third piece of evidence that al-Ḥarbī cites comes from Ibn al-
Qayyim’s Ṭarīq al-hijratayn, a large work outlining human need for
and fulfilment in God. About one-third of the way through the book is
a several-page section explaining that God in His wise purpose created
the two abodes of the Garden and Hell. The first abode is for those
seeking God’s good pleasure, and it is the place of everything good and
fair. The second is for those who rouse God’s anger and wrath, and it
is the place for everything evil and foul. Then comes the key line that
al-Ḥarbī quotes, “These two abodes are the two abodes of permanence
(dārā al-qarār)”.^56 The text continues on to distinguish the two abodes
53 Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, Zād al-maʿād, pp. 42–68.
54 Idem: Ijtimāʿ al-juyūsh al-islāmiyya ʿalā ghazw al-muʿaṭṭila wal-jahmiyya, Bei-
rut 1404/1984, p. 145.
55 Al-Ḥarbī, Kashf al-astār, p. 50.
56 See Koran (40:39).
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