Against Islamic Universalism 393
in several ways, affirming all the while that everything occurs in accord
with God’s wise purpose and His sundry other attributes.^57
There is a significant point about Ṭarīq al-hijratayn that al-Ḥarbī
does not make. Whereas Ḥādī al-arwāḥ, Shifāʾ al-ʿalīl, and Mukhtaṣar
al-Ṣawāʿiq elaborate substantial arguments from God’s attributes –
especially God’s wise purpose – for the passing away of the Fire, there
is no hint of these in Ṭarīq al-hijratayn. The duration of the Fire is
never put in question, and the reader is left to understand that God’s
wise purpose entails that those who incur God’s vengeance will do so
forever. Al-Ḥarbī also does not notice that the last major section of
Ṭarīq al-hijratayn is of considerable interest. Here, Ibn al-Qayyim
outlines 18 levels of humans and jinn in the hereafter, ranging from
God’s messengers at the top in the Garden on down to hypocrites
and other unbelievers at the bottom in the Fire. In this section, the
length of punishment in the Fire for unbelievers is never discussed. It
is simply assumed that their eternity destiny is the Fire.^58 It is apparent
that the subject matter of Ṭarīq al-hijratayn provides Ibn al-Qayyim
ample opportunity to bring up the controversy over the Fire’s dura-
tion. However, he does not do so, and he gives the reader no reason
to doubt that the chastisement of unbelievers in the Fire will continue
forever.
Al-Ḥarbī’s fourth quotation comes from Ibn al-Qayyim’s al-Wābil
al-ṣayyib, and it is his clearest piece of evidence.^59 Al-Wābil al-ṣayyib is
devoted to the remembrance (dhikr) of God, and the passage in ques-
tion occurs in a brief commentary on the difference between a mono-
theist (muwaḥḥid) and an associator. According to Ibn al-Qayyim, an
associator cannot enter the Garden because monotheism (tawḥīd) is
the only key (miftāḥ) to the Garden. If the sins of some monotheists
have not been completely removed by the time of their deaths, they
must first spend some time in the Fire to be cleansed before entering
the Garden.^60 Ibn al-Qayyim then elaborates on the Fire:
As for the Fire, it is the abode of what is foul in words, deeds, foods
and drinks and the abode of those who are foul. [God – Most High is57 Al-Ḥarbī, Kashf al-astār, pp. 50–51; Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya: Ṭarīq al-hijra-
tayn wa-bāb al-saʿādatayn, ed. by Abū Ḥafṣ Sayyid Ibrāhīm b. Ṣādiq b. ʿImrān,
Cairo 1991, pp. 135–140 (quote on p. 135).
58 Ibid., pp. 331–405.
59 Al-Ḥarbī, Kashf al-astār, pp. 51–52.
60 Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya: al-Wābil al-ṣayyib min al-kalim al-ṭayyib, ed. by
Sayyid Ibrāhīm, Cairo 1991, pp. 19–20.
Brought to you by | Nanyang Technological University
Authenticated