Will Every Person Enter Hellfire? Surah Maryam 19:71 Explained
Surah Maryam 19:71 states: “There is not one of you but will come to it.” Critics and those unfamiliar with the Islamic sciences sometimes use this verse to claim that Islam teaches all believers will enter Hellfire. This note presents the complete tafsir of the verse, the two scholarly opinions on the meaning of the word wurud (coming), the supporting hadith on the bridge over Hell, and the theological framework established by the surrounding verses.
The Verses
“And there is not one of you but will come to it — this is upon your Lord an inevitability decreed. (71) Then We will save those who feared Allah and leave the wrongdoers therein on their knees. (72)”
The address in verse 71 is general — it encompasses all of creation without exception, the pious and the sinful alike. This is confirmed by verse 72, which distinguishes between two groups after the coming: those who feared Allah who will be saved, and the wrongdoers who will be left therein. If the coming were exclusive to wrongdoers, there would be no need for the distinction in verse 72.
The Meaning of Wurud: Two Scholarly Opinions
The central question is the meaning of wurud — translated as “coming to it.” The word in Arabic does not automatically mean entering. The scholars of tafsir held two positions.
The First Opinion: Coming Means Reaching Without Entering
The first and stronger opinion is that wurud means reaching the place of water — coming to it — without necessarily drinking from it or entering it. This is established by Arabic usage:
“And when he reached the water of Madyan, he found there a group of people watering.”
The word warda here — from the same root as wurud — means he reached the water, not that he entered it or drank from it. Similarly, the classical Arabic poets used the same construction to mean arriving at a water source and pitching camp there, not drinking from it: “And when they reached the water, its brimful blue, we put down the staffs of the camper” — meaning when they arrived at it and set their tents, not that they had taken from its water.
On this first opinion, the meaning of Surah Maryam 19:71 is that all people — pious and sinful — will approach the Fire and see it. The bridge stretches over Hell and everyone passes over it. The believer sees the Fire from which Allah has saved him, praises Allah, and acknowledges His mercy. Allah bestows His favour upon His believing servants by showing them the Fire so that they may understand what faith has delivered them from, as He said:
“So whoever is drawn away from the Fire and admitted to Paradise has attained his desire.”
The Second Opinion: Coming Means Entering
The second opinion holds that wurud here means entering the Fire itself. Proponents of this view cite:
“He will precede his people on the Day of Resurrection and lead them into the Fire.”
Here awradahum al-nar clearly means he will admit them into the Fire — an entering, not merely a reaching. Proponents also cite verse 72 itself: if the believers merely reached the Fire without entering it, Allah would not have said “leave the wrongdoers therein” — the word fiha (therein) suggests all entered and then the wrongdoers were left inside while the believers were extracted.
On this second opinion, the believers enter the Fire in a manner analogous to what happened with Ibrahim, peace be upon him:
“We said: O fire, be coolness and safety upon Ibrahim.”
Allah is the creator of all things and of the nature of all things. He alone is able to strip any created thing of its nature and govern it otherwise. He did not extinguish the fire to save Ibrahim — He left it burning in its natural state and yet it did not burn him, so that the miracle would be manifest before everyone’s eyes. Likewise, He froze the water for Musa peace be upon him while it remained water, stopping its flow until every part became like a great mountain. There is therefore no objection on this second opinion to the believers entering the Fire in the manner of Ibrahim — entering it and passing through it safely — while Allah then saves them and leaves the wrongdoers in it. That would be more painful and humiliating for the wrongdoers, to see the believers pass through the same fire unharmed.
The Hadith of the Bridge
Narrator: Abu Sa’id al-Khudri | Context: Narrated in explanation of Surah Maryam 19:71
The bridge is laid across Hell itself. Everyone crosses it — this is the passing over described in the verse. The differentiation occurs on the bridge: the believers cross safely at varying speeds according to their deeds; others are scratched, detained, or fall in. This hadith supports the first opinion — that wurud refers to passing over the bridge that spans the Fire, not to entering the Fire itself.
The Meaning of Hatman Maqdiyya
The verse describes this coming as hatman maqdiyyan — an inevitability decreed.
Hatm is something that inevitably occurs, over which the servant has no control and cannot prevent. A man may say to his friend: “I decree that you visit me tomorrow” — but he does not own any of the means to make that visit happen. He does not know whether he will live until tomorrow. He does not know whether circumstances will change. He decrees nothing that is his to decree.
The One who decrees is the One who owns and controls all of the means such that nothing can go against His will. As for the objection: who decreed upon Allah? — Allah decreed upon Himself, and no external power decreed upon Him:
“Your Lord has prescribed upon Himself mercy.”
The decree here is further confirmed by the word maqdiyyan — meaning a decree from which there is no return and which no one can change. It is a final judgment. This finality is illustrated by the revelation of Surah Al-Kafirun:
“Say: O disbelievers, (1) I do not worship what you worship, (2) Nor will you worship what I worship, (3) Nor will I worship what you worship, (4) Nor will you worship what I worship, (5) To you be your religion, and to me mine. (6)”
When the disbelievers of Mecca proposed that each side worship the other’s deity for a year — seeking a middle ground between faith and disbelief — Allah severed relations with them in a final and definitive manner. The severance here is not like the severing of diplomatic relations between two countries, which may be restored by reconciliation. It is a decree with no middle ground and no return. The denial in Surah Al-Kafirun is repeated — present tense and future tense both — so that no one could imagine that this separation might later be reversed. Those who thought the repetition was redundant received it without contemplation. After this surah came the declaration of pure monotheism:
“Say: He is Allah, the One.”
There is no second to Him to amend His decree. His word and His judgment are final, with no going back and no amendment.
The Final Distinction
“Then We will save those who feared Allah and leave the wrongdoers therein on their knees.”
Jithiyyan — on their knees — comes from the root jatha, yajthu, meaning to sit on one’s knees. It is a posture of humiliation and subjugation. The wrongdoers are not merely left in the Fire — they are left in it in a state of complete abasement, kneeling, unable to rise.
The contrast with the believers is total: those who feared Allah are saved — extracted, rescued — while those who wronged themselves and others remain kneeling in the Fire they chose.