Discussion of the error in the statement of those who say that Paradise and the Fire will cease to exist.

And among the benefits of this noble verse is that the people of Paradise are eternal in it, forever and ever; it is not possible for it to cease to exist, nor is it possible for those within it to cease to exist. The people of the Sunnah and the community have reached a consensus on this, and those who denied it among the philosophers who said: "It is impossible for Allah to have a continuous action from eternity and into eternity" — may Allah protect us from that — made Allah one who denies the divine attributes in the beginning and one who denies the divine attributes in the end. Until some of them said — may Allah protect us from that — that Paradise will cease to exist along with what is in it, and a person is raising his mouthful to his mouth when the time of cessation arrives, and he remains holding the mouthful, eating it, so the mouthful remains and his hand is perishing. Yes? As Ibn al-Qayyim said in his *al-Nuniyyah*: "The one who feeds the camel came with a free laugh; likewise, a man with his wife, with his wife, he has intercourse with her, and the time of cessation arrives, and he remains with her forever and ever, perishing." We ask Allah for well-being. In any case, the people of Paradise are eternal in it, by the consensus of the people of the Sunnah, forever and ever. And the Fire is likewise, according to the established position, which is the stronger position: that the Fire does not cease to exist. According to the established position, it does not cease to exist and it remains forever and ever, by the explicit statement of the Lord of the Worlds (Mighty and Majestic). We have explained that Allah explicitly stated this in three verses of the Book of Allah, and we have repeated this many times. We did not think that anyone from the people of the Sunnah and the community would say that it ceases to exist. Our Shaykh, Abd al-Rahman ibn Sa'di (may Allah have mercy on him), was surprised that Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah forgive him) tried to prefer the opinion of its cessation in his book *Shifa al-'Alil*. Our Shaykh said: "This is considered a stumble from this steed and a great error", which he wrote in the margin of the book. There is no doubt that what our Shaykh said is the truth, and that it is surprising that such a stallion among the scholars would go to the extent of strengthening this school of thought, even if he did not affirm that he chose it, but he went to the extent of strengthening it, although it is false by the explicit text of the Qur'an.