Does crossing the Sirat require a long time, based on the saying of the Exalted: “Then We will save those who feared Allah”?

The questioner : Regarding the saying of the Exalted: , we know that *thumma* implies sequence and delay. Do we understand from this that the Sirat is very long and that it takes a long time, so that the salvation means...?

The Shaykh : It is explicitly stated in some texts that some people cross the Sirat like lightning, some like a swift horse, and so on, and some on their bellies. This crossing undoubtedly differs from person to person. However, taking the fastest crossing, this does not contradict the crossing, nor does it contradict the wisdom mentioned by Fakhr al-Din al-Razi in his great tafsir. One of the wisdoms of the believers entering [the Fire], 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, as I sometimes say, I prefer going out by car in heavy rain; the rain falls heavily and abundantly around the car, and we are not affected by it, so we see this beautiful divine scene. Likewise, the believers on the Day of Resurrection . So the wisdom of this crossing is what was mentioned earlier. It never contradicts crossing the Sirat that they pass through the Fire. This is the most correct opinion because, first, it contradicts what you pointed out regarding the completion of the verse , because if they had not entered it, there would be no meaning to the salvation here. This is the apparent meaning. 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. In Sahih Muslim, it is narrated that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said one day: . No one from these people 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: , which is something that must happen?” He (peace and blessings be upon him) said to her: , . It is very clear from this hadith two things:
The first thing: The Messenger of Allah (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 earlier. But this denial was difficult for Hafsah because it conflicts with the generality of the saying of the Exalted: .
The second thing: What we benefit from this hadith is that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) approved his wife Hafsah’s understanding of the verse that it means entering. Therefore, a conflict arose in her mind between what she understood from the verse—I do not say between the verse and the hadith—but rather between what she understood from the verse and the hadith she heard from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). So the answer from the Messenger was a lenient and easy one: , . This means that the people of Badr and the people of Hudaybiyyah are among those intended by their salvation from being touched by the Fire with punishment. This is an explicit hadith on the subject that prevents us from interpreting the verse with an interpretation other than the first one. The answer is that the Sirat is a bridge in Hellfire through which people pass. Among the other interpretations is that they , meaning they pass around it. Each has its evidence from the perspective of reasoning with the Arabic language; 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 and performs a filtering operation. This interpretation is linguistically correct but not intended here. This interpretation, which is the first one, is the intended one here with evidence from the Sunnah that I mentioned earlier, the hadith of Hafsah (may Allah be pleased with her). From these hadiths is what the two Shaykhs (al-Bukhari and Muslim) narrated in their Sahihs 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 breaking of the oath is this passing through Hellfire, but it does not harm them. There is a hadith more explicit than all that precedes, but it is not permissible for us to mention it except with an explanation of its weakness. In terms of meaning, it aligns with the two previous hadiths, but in terms of its structure and its chain of narration, its chain is weak. The narrator of the hadith said, and I have forgotten his name now, “We were in a gathering and we mentioned the previous verse . They differed on the three opinions and the gathering ended in disagreement. He said: ‘Then I met Jabir ibn 'Abd Allah al-Ansari and I recounted to him the disagreement regarding the verse. What he did was put his two fingers in his ears and say, ‘They are deaf if I did not hear the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say: .’” It is a beautiful hadith, but what can we do? Knowledge does not help us except to mention it with an explanation of its weakness, unlike the others.