The eminent Muslim scholar and Da`iyah, Sheikh `Abdul-Khaleq Hasan Ash-Shareef, states the following: “First of all, I would like to stress that there is a difference between seeing the Hellfire, and entering the Hellfire. Allah Almighty says, “There is not one of you but shall approach it. That is a fixed ordinance of thy Lord.” (Mariam: 71)
The phrase ‘shall approach it’ is originally ‘wariduha’ in Arabic, and the Arabic root ‘warada’ means to approach, but not to enter. Thus, all of us will ‘see’ the Hellfire when passing on the bridge on the Hellfire known as ‘As-sirat’. Those who are supposed to be punished by Allah are those who will ‘enter’ (not approach or yarid) the Hellfire. Thus, the whole issue becomes clear when we go back to the Arabic meanings and connotation of the word ‘warada’ in Arabic.
The evidence for that is that when Allah mentioned the above mentioned verse He made those who are pious an exception. Allah says, “Then We shall rescue those who kept from evil, and leave the evil doers crouching there.” (Mariam: 72)
Thus, it is true that everyone will ‘see’ the Hellfire, but only those who are destined to punishment will ‘enter’ it.”