Continuation of the explanation of the author's statement: And his saying (… and He has prepared for him a great punishment).
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The Shaykh : And if he died without repentance, but he was a believer, namely the killer, then he will never remain in the Fire forever. Rather, he will be punished according to the measure of his sins, and then he will be brought out, even though the apparent meaning of the verse is eternal abode.
Now, if someone were to say: If you say this, then what is the benefit of this warning? If you say that this is a cause, but the absence of a barrier is necessary, and that if he is a believer, he will not remain forever?
It was said that the answer to that is: Some people say that this is regarding the disbeliever who kills a believer, but this statement is of no value, because the disbeliever’s reward is Hell, where he will remain forever, even if he did not kill a believer[Al-Ahzab 33:64-65].
Some of them said: This is regarding the one who considers killing permissible. In that case, the one who considers killing permissible has no barrier preventing him from eternal abode, because the one who considers killing a believer permissible is a disbeliever. Imam Ahmad was astonished by this answer. He said: "How is this? If he considers killing permissible, he is a disbeliever, and he remains in the Fire forever, even if he did not kill him". Is that correct or not? This answer does not hold up.
Now, some of them said: This phrase is on the condition of a stipulation, so his reward is Hell, where he will remain forever, if He punishes him. His reward, if He punishes him, means it is possible that He does not punish him. We said: If so, what is the benefit of His saying? As long as He punishes him, we are now asking: If He punishes him, is this his reward? If you say this, it means he has become one who remains in the Fire forever, so the problem returns and we have not escaped it.
What else do we have? We have the first opinion we referred to, that this is a cause, but if a barrier is found, the cause does not take effect. Just as we say: Kinship is a cause for inheritance. If the relative is a slave, does he inherit or not? He does not inherit. We say this act is a cause for eternal abode, and if the doer is a believer, he does not inherit [eternal abode]. But a problem is raised to us: What if he is a believer? He does not remain forever. We say, but a problem is raised to us: What is the benefit?
We say: The benefit is that the person who intentionally kills a believer has done the cause by which he would remain in the Fire forever. In that case, the existence of a barrier is possible, is it not? It may exist or it may not exist, so he is in danger. For this reason, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:Sahih al-Bukhari 6862 If he touches forbidden blood, and may Allah protect us, his religion may become narrow after he was in spaciousness, and his chest was open with it. His religion may become narrow until he exits from it. And on this basis, the warning here is in terms of the outcome, because it is feared that this killing will be a cause for his disbelief, and in that case, he will die upon disbelief and remain forever. So, is this verse, on this assumption, mentioning the cause of the cause, or not? It mentions the cause of the cause. How is it the cause of the cause? Intentional killing is a cause for a person to deviate and disbelieve, and disbelief is a cause for eternal abode in the Fire. Yes, and I think if a person reflects on this, he will find that there is no problem in it. And we end the discussion here.
The student: ...?
The Shaykh : The third: That it is one of the verses of warning. This was said, yes, but if we say that it is in the category of warning, it is very problematic, because we would have to say: Is Allah the Exalted truthful in what He said or not?
The student: ...?
The Shaykh : It is not correct.
The student: ...?
The Shaykh : Up to this point, we attribute it to this, not to the category of eternal abode, because then the statement of the news would not be truthful, and this is a problem.
Now, if someone were to say: If you say this, then what is the benefit of this warning? If you say that this is a cause, but the absence of a barrier is necessary, and that if he is a believer, he will not remain forever?
It was said that the answer to that is: Some people say that this is regarding the disbeliever who kills a believer, but this statement is of no value, because the disbeliever’s reward is Hell, where he will remain forever, even if he did not kill a believer
(64) Indeed, Allah has cursed the disbelievers and prepared for them a Blaze. (65) Abiding therein forever, they will not find a protector or a helper.
إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَعَنَ الْكَافِرِينَ وَأَعَدَّ لَهُمْ سَعِيراً خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا أَبَداً لا يَجِدُونَ وَلِيّاً وَلا نَصِيراًSome of them said: This is regarding the one who considers killing permissible. In that case, the one who considers killing permissible has no barrier preventing him from eternal abode, because the one who considers killing a believer permissible is a disbeliever. Imam Ahmad was astonished by this answer. He said: "How is this? If he considers killing permissible, he is a disbeliever, and he remains in the Fire forever, even if he did not kill him". Is that correct or not? This answer does not hold up.
Now, some of them said: This phrase is on the condition of a stipulation, so his reward is Hell, where he will remain forever, if He punishes him. His reward, if He punishes him, means it is possible that He does not punish him. We said: If so, what is the benefit of His saying
So his reward is Hell
فَجَزَاؤُهُ جَهَنَّمُWhat else do we have? We have the first opinion we referred to, that this is a cause, but if a barrier is found, the cause does not take effect. Just as we say: Kinship is a cause for inheritance. If the relative is a slave, does he inherit or not? He does not inherit. We say this act is a cause for eternal abode, and if the doer is a believer, he does not inherit [eternal abode]. But a problem is raised to us: What if he is a believer? He does not remain forever. We say, but a problem is raised to us: What is the benefit?
We say: The benefit is that the person who intentionally kills a believer has done the cause by which he would remain in the Fire forever. In that case, the existence of a barrier is possible, is it not? It may exist or it may not exist, so he is in danger. For this reason, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
A faithful believer remains at liberty regarding his religion unless he kills somebody unlawfully.
لا يزال المؤمن في فسحة من دينه ما لم يصب دماً حراماًThe student: ...?
The Shaykh : The third: That it is one of the verses of warning. This was said, yes, but if we say that it is in the category of warning, it is very problematic, because we would have to say: Is Allah the Exalted truthful in what He said or not?
The student: ...?
The Shaykh : It is not correct.
The student: ...?
The Shaykh : Up to this point, we attribute it to this, not to the category of eternal abode, because then the statement of the news would not be truthful, and this is a problem.