How can we reconcile the hadiths that mention that the last to enter Paradise is he who crosses the Sirat and does not enter Hell, and the hadiths that mention that he is the last to exit Hell and enter Paradise, bearing in mind the hadith of one who says that believers die in Hell and emerge from it without a word?

Several hadiths have been narrated regarding the last person to enter Paradise and the last person to exit Hellfire, among them hadiths from Ibn Mas'ud, Abu Dharr, and Abu Hurayrah. These hadiths describe different states for this person, such as crawling out of Hellfire, or suffering from its effects, or having his minor sins presented to him and his evil deeds replaced with good ones.

There might appear to be some contradiction in these hadiths, which scholars have interpreted in several ways: They describe different states of one person. They describe multiple individuals, either based on salvation from the Sirat (bridge over Hell) or from Hellfire itself. Or they represent two types of people, not two individuals, and the singular refers to a group. The separate hadiths might refer to the same man, with each narrator mentioning a part of his state, which included his prolonged stay in Hellfire, followed by Allah's favor upon him.

As for the statement that believers die in Hellfire and turn into charcoal, this is incorrect, as there is no death in Hellfire or Paradise. The intention is their burning and the blackening of their complexions due to the effect of the fire, as in the hadith: "Then they will emerge, having been scorched and turned into charcoal." Then they will be cast into the River of Life and will grow therein.