Can we say: All these seventy-two sects are in the Fire, abiding therein forever?
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The questioner : May Allah reward you with good. As for whether these sects are abiding in the Fire forever or not, that is another question, meaning, is it permissible...?
The Shaykh : As for whether they are all abiding in the Fire forever or not, we cannot say that. Whoever is a disbeliever, or whose innovation leads him to disbelief, is abiding in the Fire forever. As for those below that level, they do not abide forever. As for matters of independent legal reasoning, you cannot pin them down, because the people of the Sunnah themselves engage in independent legal reasoning on matters they consider foundational, such as the punishment of the grave, and what is weighed: is it the deed, the doer of the deed, or the scrolls of deeds? They differ on various things. Is the Sirat finer than hair and sharper than a sword, or is it a known path like other roads? These are matters from which no group is free; no group is free from them.
The Shaykh : As for whether they are all abiding in the Fire forever or not, we cannot say that. Whoever is a disbeliever, or whose innovation leads him to disbelief, is abiding in the Fire forever. As for those below that level, they do not abide forever. As for matters of independent legal reasoning, you cannot pin them down, because the people of the Sunnah themselves engage in independent legal reasoning on matters they consider foundational, such as the punishment of the grave, and what is weighed: is it the deed, the doer of the deed, or the scrolls of deeds? They differ on various things. Is the Sirat finer than hair and sharper than a sword, or is it a known path like other roads? These are matters from which no group is free; no group is free from them.