Allah the Exalted said: “Then We will save those who feared Allah.” We know that *thumma* in Arabic indicates sequence with a delay.

The questioner : His saying, the Exalted: . We know that *thumma* indicates sequence and delay; does this mean that the Sirat is very long, and that it takes a long time, so that the salvation means?

The Shaykh : This is not explicitly stated in some texts that some people cross the Sirat like lightning, and some like a swift horse, and so on, and some on their bellies. This crossing undoubtedly differs from person to person. But take the fastest crossing; it does not contradict the crossing, nor does it contradict the wisdom mentioned by Fakhr al-Din al-Razi in his *Tafsir al-Kabir* that one of the wisdoms of the believers entering, whom faith saves from being touched by the Fire with punishment, is that they see those who used to mock and ridicule them in this world being punished. So our Lord (Mighty and Majestic) relieves the hearts of a group of believers with this vision. It is as if a person, as I sometimes say, likes to go out by car in heavy rain; the rain falls heavily and abundantly around the car, and we are not affected by it inside, so we see this beautiful divine scene. So the believers on the Day of Resurrection: . So the wisdom of this crossing is what was mentioned just now. It does not contradict at all that they cross the Sirat by passing through the Fire, and this is the most correct opinion. Because, first, it contradicts what you pointed out regarding the completion of the verse: . Because if they did not enter it, then there is no meaning to the salvation here. This is the apparent meaning first. Then come the texts of the Sunnah, as is their custom with the Book, clarifying what may need clarification from the verses of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) in His Book. There in *Sahih Muslim*, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said one day: . None of these will enter the Fire. His wife Hafsah (may Allah be pleased with her) heard the hadith and said: How, O Messenger of Allah, when our Lord says: ? It is something that must happen; so he (peace be upon him) said to her: ; . Two things are very clear from this hadith:
The first thing: that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) denied that the people of Badr and the companions of the tree who pledged allegiance to him under the tree would enter the Fire with the entry of punishment, as we mentioned just now. But this denial was difficult for Hafsah because it contradicts the generality of His saying, the Exalted: .
The second thing: what we benefit from this hadith is that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) approved his wife Hafsah’s understanding of the verse; that it means entering. And so a contradiction arose in her mind between what she understood from the verse, and I do not say between the verse and the hadith, but the contradiction arose between what she understood from the verse and the hadith she heard from the Messenger (peace be upon him). So the answer from the Messenger was a lenient and easy answer: ; ; meaning that the people of Badr and the people of Hudaybiyyah are among those whose salvation from being touched by the Fire with punishment is certain. This is an explicit hadith on the subject that prevents us from interpreting the verse with other interpretations other than the first interpretation...
Answer: No, the Sirat is in Hell, a bridge in Hell through which people pass.
Among the other interpretations is that they , meaning they pass around it. And each has its evidence from the perspective of Arabic language argumentation. Each has a viewpoint, and there is no discussion from the Arabic perspective. Here the importance of the Muhammadan Sunnah appears; because, as it is said today, it puts the dots on the letters, performing a filtering operation. This interpretation is linguistically correct, but it is not intended here. This interpretation, which is the first one, is the intended one here with evidence from the Sunnah, which I mentioned just now, the hadith of Hafsah (may Allah be pleased with her). From these hadiths is what the two Shaykhs narrated in their *Sahihayn* from the hadith of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . – meaning: a Muslim couple – . The *tahillah al-qasam* is this passing through Hell, but it does not harm them.
And there is a hadith more explicit than all that preceded, but it is not permissible for us to mention it except with an explanation of its weakness. In terms of its meaning, it agrees with the two previous hadiths, but in terms of its foundation and its chain of narration, its chain is weak. The narrator of the hadith – and I have forgotten his name now – said: We were in a gathering and we mentioned the previous verse: . The people of the gathering differed in the three opinions, and the gathering ended with the disagreement. He said: So I met Jabir ibn Abdullah al-Ansari and I related to him the disagreement regarding the verse. What he did was put his two fingers in his ears, saying: May they be deaf if I did not hear the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say: . A beautiful hadith, but what do we do? Knowledge does not help us except to mention it with an explanation of its weakness.
Other than that?