Fana al-Nar within Early Kalam and Mysticism. An Analysis covering the eight and ninth century.

The Status Quaestionis is whether there will be a time in the foreseeable future when the Islamic version of Hell (Jahannam) will be empty or close to no longer being inhabited. This eschatological issue was partially addressed by M. Hassan Khalil in Islam and the Fate of Others,1 who continued the analysis which began with the work of the paradigmatic author al-Ghazālī and his Fayṣal al-Tafriqa bayna al-Islām wa al-Zandaqa (The Decisive criterion for distinguishing Islam from Masked Infidelity),2 continued through a study focusing on Ibn ‘Arabī by Ibn Taymiyya, and was to reach its current status with the work of Rashīd Riḍā. This essay, although remarkably informative with regard to al-Ghazālī and Ibn Taymiyya’s analysis, is found wanting in relation to the centuries proceeding the life of the ‘Asharite’s reviver, in particular concerning those authors within Kalām who had previously addressed the annihilation of Hell issue (topic) (Fanā’ al-Nār).