What is the meaning of the saying of Allah the Exalted, “And there is no one among you but will pass over it”? Does that mean that the disbeliever and the Muslim must pass over it?
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The questioner : What is the meaning of the saying of Allah the Exalted: [Maryam 19:71], does that mean that the disbeliever and the Muslim must pass over it?
The Shaykh : Yes, as for the disbeliever passing over the Fire, that is a clear matter with no doubt in it, as Allah the Exalted said regarding Pharaoh:[Hud 11:98]. As for the believers, regarding the saying of Allah the Exalted: [Maryam 19:71], the people of exegesis differed regarding the meaning of “passing over” here. Some of the exegetes said: The meaning of “passing over” is the people passing over the Sirat, because the Sirat is established over Hellfire, so if the people pass over it, this is passing over Hellfire even if they are not inside it. And “passing over” comes to mean being near a thing, as in the saying of Allah the Exalted: [Al-Qasas 28:23], meaning he was near its surroundings, and the meaning is not that he entered into the middle of the water.
And some of the exegetes said: The meaning of “passing over” is entering it, entering the Fire, but whoever enters it from among the non-sinners, he does not feel it, so it becomes for him coolness and peace, as it was for Ibrahim, meaning: as the fire of this world was coolness and peace for Ibrahim, and Allah knows best.
And there is none of you except he will come to it
وَإِنْ مِنْكُمْ إِلَّا وَارِدُهَاThe Shaykh : Yes, as for the disbeliever passing over the Fire, that is a clear matter with no doubt in it, as Allah the Exalted said regarding Pharaoh:
He will precede his people on the Day of Resurrection and lead them into the Fire; and wretched is the place to which they are led.
يَقْدُمُ قَوْمَهُ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ فَأَوْرَدَهُمُ النَّارَ وَبِئْسَ الْوِرْدُ الْمَوْرُودُAnd there is none of you except he will come to it. This is upon your Lord an inevitability decreed.
وَإِنْ مِنْكُمْ إِلَّا وَارِدُهَا كَانَ عَلَى رَبِّكَ حَتْمًا مَقْضِيًّاAnd when he came to the well of Madyan
وَلَمَّا وَرَدَ مَاءَ مَدْيَنَAnd some of the exegetes said: The meaning of “passing over” is entering it, entering the Fire, but whoever enters it from among the non-sinners, he does not feel it, so it becomes for him coolness and peace, as it was for Ibrahim, meaning: as the fire of this world was coolness and peace for Ibrahim, and Allah knows best.