Jahannam
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Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
, Jahannam () is the place of punishment for evildoers in the
afterlife The afterlife or life after death is a purported existence in which the essential part of an individual's Stream of consciousness (psychology), stream of consciousness or Personal identity, identity continues to exist after the death of their ...
, or
hell In religion and folklore, hell is a location or state in the afterlife in which souls are subjected to punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history sometimes depict hells as eternal destinations, such as Christianity and I ...
. This notion is an integral part of
Islamic theology Schools of Islamic theology are various Islamic schools and branches in different schools of thought regarding creed. The main schools of Islamic theology include the extant Mu'tazili, Ash'ari, Maturidi, and Athari schools; the extinct ones ...
, Thomassen, "Islamic Hell", ''Numen'', 56, 2009: p.401 and has occupied an important place in Muslim belief. Lange, "Introducing Hell in Islamic Studies", 2016: p.3 The concept is often called by the proper name "Jahannam", but other names refer to hell and these are also often used as the names of different gates to hell. The term "Jahannam" itself is used not only for hell in general but (in one interpretation) for the uppermost layer of hell. The importance of Hell in Islamic doctrine is that it is an essential element of the Day of Judgment, which is one of the six articles of faith (belief in God, the angels, books, prophets, Day of Resurrection, and decree) "by which the Muslim faith is traditionally defined". Other names for Jahannam include "the fire" (, ''al-nar''), "blazing fire" (, ''jaheem''), "that which breaks to pieces" ( ''hutamah''), "the abyss" (, ''haawiyah''), "the blaze" (, ''sa’eer''), and "place of burning" ( ''Saqar''), which are also often used as the names of different gates to hell. Punishment and suffering in hell, in mainstream Islam, is physical, psychological, and spiritual, and varies according to the
sins In religious context, sin is a transgression against divine law or a law of the deities. Each culture has its own interpretation of what it means to commit a sin. While sins are generally considered actions, any thought, word, or act considere ...
of the condemned person. Its excruciating pain and horror, as described in the
Qur'an The Quran, also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation directly from God ('' Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which consist of individual verses ('). Besides ...
, often parallels the pleasure and delights of
Jannah In Islam, Jannah (, ''jannāt'', ) is the final and permanent abode of the righteous. According to one count, the word appears 147 times in the Qur'an. Belief in the afterlife is one of the Iman (Islam)#The Six Articles of Faith, six article ...
(paradise). Thomassen, "Islamic Hell", Numen, 56, 2009: p.405 Smith & Haddad, ''Islamic Understanding'', 1981: p.86 Muslims commonly believe that confinement to hell is temporary for Muslims but not for others, although there are disagreements about this view and Muslim scholars disagree over whether Hell itself will last for
eternity Eternity, in common parlance, is an Infinity, infinite amount of time that never ends or the quality, condition or fact of being everlasting or eternal. Classical philosophy, however, defines eternity as what is timeless or exists outside tim ...
(the majority view), or whether God's mercy will lead to its eventual elimination. The common belief among Muslims holds that Jahannam coexists with the temporal world, just as Jannah does (rather than being created after Judgment Day). Hell is described physically in different ways in different sources within Islamic literature. It is enormous in size, and located below Paradise. It has seven levels, each one more severe than the one above it, but it is also said to be a huge pit over which the resurrected walk over the bridge of
As-Sirāt () is, according to Islam, the bridge over which every person must pass on the () in order to enter (). It is not mentioned in the Quran, but described in the Hadith. is said to be thinner than a strand of hair and as sharp as the shar ...
.Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ, k. al-riqāq 52; Muslim, Ṣaḥīḥ, k. al-īmān 299; quoted in , Lange, "Introducing Hell in Islamic Studies", 2016: p.12 It is said to have mountains, rivers, valleys and "even oceans" filled with disgusting fluids; and also to be able to walk (controlled by reins), and to ask questions, much like a sentient being.


Sources

Different sources used by (or related to) Islam give different descriptions of hell, its torments, location, inhabitants and their sins, etc.


Pre-Islamic: Hebrew Bible, New Testament, and Babylonian Talmud

In the Hebrew Bible, '' Gei-Hinnom'' or ''Gei-ben-Hinnom'', the "Valley f the Sonof Hinnom" is an accursed Valley in
Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
where
child sacrifice Child sacrifice is the ritualistic killing of children in order to please or appease a deity, supernatural beings, or sacred social order, tribal, group or national loyalties in order to achieve a desired result. As such, it is a form of human ...
s took place. In the canonical Gospels,
Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...
talks about Gehenna as a place "where the worm never dies and the fire is never quenched" ( Mark 9:48). In the apocryphal book of
4 Ezra 2 Esdras, also called 4 Esdras, Latin Esdras, or Latin Ezra, is an apocalyptic book in some English versions of the Bible. Tradition ascribes it to Ezra, a scribe and priest of the fifth century BC, whom the book identifies with the sixth-ce ...
, written around the 2nd century BCE, Gehinnom appears as a transcendental place of punishment. This change comes to completion in the
Babylonian Talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the centerpiece of Jewi ...
, written around 500 CE. It can be thought that the narrative of Hell in Islam is largely shaped by the offerings of
human sacrifice Human sacrifice is the act of killing one or more humans as part of a ritual, which is usually intended to please or appease deity, gods, a human ruler, public or jurisdictional demands for justice by capital punishment, an authoritative/prie ...
s by passing it over fire or burning it to Molech, which the
Torah The Torah ( , "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () ...
describes as taking place in the
Gehenna Gehenna ( ; ) or Gehinnom ( or ) is a Biblical toponym that has acquired various theological connotations, including as a place of divine punishment, in Jewish eschatology. The place is first mentioned in the Hebrew Bible as part of the border ...
(Jeremiah 7; 32–35). While the Gehenna gives its name to Hell, the fire used for the offerings turns into Hellfire, and Molech turns into
Malik Malik (; ; ; variously Romanized ''Mallik'', ''Melik'', ''Malka'', ''Malek'', ''Maleek'', ''Malick'', ''Mallick'', ''Melekh'') is the Semitic term translating to "king", recorded in East Semitic and Arabic, and as mlk in Northwest Semitic d ...
, the guardian of Hell in the Qur'anic narrative. (Q.43:77)


Qur'an

According to Einar Thomassen, much of how Muslims picture and think about Jahannam comes from the Qur'an. He found nearly 500 references to Jahannam in it, using a variety of names. Thomassen, "Islamic Hell", Numen, 56, 2009: p.402 The following is an example of the Qur'anic verses about Hell: :Surely the day of decision is (a day) appointed: :The day on which the trumpet shall be blown so you shall come forth in hosts, :And the heaven shall be opened so that it shall be all openings, :And the mountains shall be moved off so that they shall remain a mere semblance. :Surely hell lies in wait, :A place of resort for the inordinate, :Living therein for ages. :They shall not taste therein cool nor drink :But boiling water and filth, :as a corresponding recompense. :Surely they did not feared the account, :and they rejected Our messages as lies. :And We have recorded everything in a book, :So taste! For We will not increase you in anything except torment. (Q.78:17–30) Among the different terms and phrases mentioned above that refer to Hell in the Qur'an, Fire (''nār'') is used 125 times, Hell (''jahannam'') 77 times, and Blazing Fire (''jaḥīm'') 26 times, or 23 by another count. The description of Jahannam as a place of blazing fire appears in almost every verse in the Qur'an describing Hell. One collection Smith & Haddad, ''Islamic Understanding'', 1981: p.85-86 of descriptions of Hell found in the Qur'an include "rather specific indications of the tortures of the Fire": flames that crackle and roar; fierce, boiling waters, scorching wind, and black smoke, roaring and boiling as if it would burst with rage. Hell is described as being located below Paradise, having seven gates and "for every gate there shall be a specific party" of sinners (Q.15:43–44). Thomassen, "Islamic Hell", Numen, 56, 2009: p.407 The Qur'an also mentions wrongdoers having "degrees (or ranks) according to their deeds", (which some scholars believe refers to the "specific parties" at each of the gates); and of there being "seven heavens ˹in layers˺, and likewise for the earth" (Q.65:12), (though this doesn't indicate that the seven layers of earth are hell). The one mention of levels of hell is that hypocrites will be found in its very bottom.


Disbelievers

According to Thomassen, those specifically mentioned in the Qur'an as being punished in Hell are "most typically" disbelievers (''kāfirūn''). These include people who lived during Muhammad's time, the polytheists (''mushrikūn''), or enemies of Muhammad who worshiped idols (Q.10:24), and the "losers", or enemies of Muhammad who died in war against him (Q.21:70), as well as broad categories of sinners: the apostates (''murtaddūn''; Q.3:86–87), hypocrites (''munafiqūn''; Q.4:140), self-content (Q.10:7–8, 17:18), Thomassen, "Islamic Hell", ''Numen'', 56, 2009: p.404 polytheists (''mushrikūn''; Q.4:48,116), and those who do not believe in certain key doctrines of Islam: those who deny the divine origin of the Qur'an (Q.74:16–26) or the coming of Judgement Day (Q.25:11–14).


Committers of major sins

In addition are those who have committed serious criminal offenses against other human beings: the murder of a believer (Q.4:93, 3:21), usury (Q.2:275), devouring the property of an orphan (Q.4:10), and slander (Q.104), particularly of a chaste woman (Q.24:23).


Biblical and historical individuals

Some prominent people mentioned in hadith and the Qur'an as suffering in Hell or destined to suffer there are:
Pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian language, Egyptian: ''wikt:pr ꜥꜣ, pr ꜥꜣ''; Meroitic language, Meroitic: 𐦲𐦤𐦧, ; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') was the title of the monarch of ancient Egypt from the First Dynasty of Egypt, First Dynasty ( ...
(Firʿawn; the pharaoh of
The Exodus The Exodus (Hebrew language, Hebrew: יציאת מצרים, ''Yəṣīʾat Mīṣrayīm'': ) is the Origin myth#Founding myth, founding myth of the Israelites whose narrative is spread over four of the five books of the Torah, Pentateuch (specif ...
; Q:10:90-92), the wives of
Noah Noah (; , also Noach) appears as the last of the Antediluvian Patriarchs (Bible), patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible (Book of Genesis, chapters 5–9), the Quran and Baháʼí literature, ...
and Lot (Q:66–10), and Abu Lahab and his wife, who were contemporaries and enemies of Muhammad (Q:111).


Punishments

The punishments of Hell described in the Qur'an tend to revolve around "skin sensation and digestion". Its wretched inhabitants sigh and wail, their scorched skins are constantly exchanged for new ones so that they can taste the torment anew, drink festering water and though death appears on all sides they cannot die. They are linked together in chains of 70 cubits, wearing pitch for clothing and fire on their faces have boiling water that will be poured over their heads, melting their insides as well as their skins, and hooks of iron to drag them back if they should try to escape, Quran 67:7 and their remorseful admissions of wrongdoing and pleading for forgiveness are in vain. Hell's resemblance to a prison is strong. Inmates have chains around their necks (Q.13:5, 34:33, 36:8, 76:4, etc.), are "tethered" by hooks of iron (Q.22:21), and are guarded by "merciless angels" (''zabāniyyah''; Q.66:6, 96:18). Its inmates will be thirsty and hungry "constantly". Their fluids will include boiling water (Q.6:70), melted brass, and/or be bitterly cold, "unclean, full of pus".Gwynne, Rosalind W. 2002. "Hell and Hellfire." ''Encyclopaedia of the Quran'', 2: :416a In addition to fire (Q.2:174), it has three different unique sources of food: #''Ḍari'', a dry desert plant that is full of thorns and fails to relieve hunger or sustain a person ( Q88:6); #''Ghislin'', which is only mentioned once (in Q69:36, which states that it is the only nourishment in hell); #Heads of devils hanging from the tree of Zaqqum that "springs out of the bottom of Hell". (These are mentioned three or four times: Q.17:60 (as the "cursed tree"), Q.37:62-68, Q.44:43, Q.56:52.) Psychological torments are humiliation (Q.3:178) and listening to "sighs and sobs". (Q.11:106). There are at least a couple of indications that physical rather than "spiritual or psychological" punishment predominates in jahannam according to scholars Smith and Haddad. For example, the Quran notes that inmates of jahannam will be denied the pleasure of "gazing on the face of God", but nowhere does it state "that this loss contributed to the agony" the inmates experience. While the Quran describes the regret the inmates express for the deeds that put them in hell, it is "for the consequences" of the deeds "rather than for the actual commission of them". Smith & Haddad, ''Islamic Understanding'', 1981: p.66


Hadith

There are "scores" of narrations or "short narratives traced back to the Prophet or his Companions" from "the third/ninth century onwards", that "greatly elaborate" on the Quranic image of hell. Lange, "Introducing Hell in Islamic Studies", 2016: p.6


Organization, size, and guards

Similarly to how the Qur'an speaks of the seven gates of Hell, "relatively early" narrations attest that Hell has seven levels. This interpretation became "widespread" in Islam. The
bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...
(''ṣirāṭ'') over Hell that all resurrected souls must cross is mentioned in several narrations. Some hadith describe the size of hell as enormous. It is so deep that if a stone were thrown into it, it would fall for 70 years before reaching the bottom (according to one hadith). Another states that the breadth of each of Hell's walls is equivalent to a distance covered by a walking journey of 40 years. According to another source (Qurṭubī) it takes "500 years" to get from one of its levels to another.Qurṭubī, ''Tadhkira'', 93; quoted in Lange, "Introducing Hell in Islamic Studies", 2016: p.14 Traditions often describe this in multiples of seven: hell has seventy thousand valleys, each with "seventy thousand ravines, inhabited by seventy thousand serpents and scorpions". According to one hadith, hell will be vastly more populous than Paradise. Out of every one thousand people entering into the afterlife, nine hundred and ninety-nine of them will end up in the fire. (According to at least one scholarly salafi interpretation, the hadith expresses the large disparity between the number of saved and damned rather than a specific literal ratio.) Malik in Hadith quotes Muhammad as saying that the "fire of the children of Adam umanswhich they kindle is a seventieth part of the fire of ''Jahannam''." He also describes that fire as "blacker than tar". In book 87 Hadith 155, "Interpretation of Dreams" of ''Sahih al-Bukhari'', Muhammad is reported to have talked of angels guarding hell, each with "a mace of iron", and describes Jahannam as a place
"built inside like a well and it had side posts like those of a well, and beside each post there was an angel carrying an iron mace. I saw therein many people hanging upside down with iron chains, and I recognized therein some men from the Quraish".


Punishments

Hadith Hadith is the Arabic word for a 'report' or an 'account f an event and refers to the Islamic oral tradition of anecdotes containing the purported words, actions, and the silent approvals of the Islamic prophet Muhammad or his immediate circle ...
s introduce punishments, reasons and revelations not mentioned in the Quran. In both Quranic verses and hadiths, "the Fire" is "a gruesome place of punishment that is always contrasted with ''
Jannah In Islam, Jannah (, ''jannāt'', ) is the final and permanent abode of the righteous. According to one count, the word appears 147 times in the Qur'an. Belief in the afterlife is one of the Iman (Islam)#The Six Articles of Faith, six article ...
'', "the Garden" (paradise). Whatever characteristic "the Garden offered, the Fire usually offered the opposite conditions." Rustomji, ''The Garden and the Fire'', 2009: p.117-8 Several hadith describes a part of hell that is extremely cold rather than hot, known as Zamhareer. According to Bukhari, lips are cut by scissors. Other traditions added
flogging Flagellation (Latin , 'whip'), flogging or whipping is the act of beating the human body with special implements such as whips, rods, switches, the cat o' nine tails, the sjambok, the knout, etc. Typically, flogging has been imposed ...
. An Uighur manuscript also mentions drowning, stoning and falling from heights. Based on hadiths, the sinners are thought to carry signs in accordance with their sins.Christian Lange ''Locating Hell in Islamic Traditions'' BRILL 978-90-04-30121-4 p. 12-13


Inmates and their sins

Hadith describe types of sinners populating hell. Seven sins doom a person to Hell, according to reports of ''as-Saheehayn'', (i.e. the reports of the two most esteemed Sunni hadith collections: al-Bukhaari and Muslim): "Associating others with Allah ('' shirk'' or
idolatry Idolatry is the worship of an idol as though it were a deity. In Abrahamic religions (namely Judaism, Samaritanism, Christianity, Islam, and the Baháʼí Faith) idolatry connotes the worship of something or someone other than the Abrahamic ...
);
witchcraft Witchcraft is the use of Magic (supernatural), magic by a person called a witch. Traditionally, "witchcraft" means the use of magic to inflict supernatural harm or misfortune on others, and this remains the most common and widespread meanin ...
; killing a soul whom Allah has forbidden us to kill, except in cases dictated by
Islamic law Sharia, Sharī'ah, Shari'a, or Shariah () is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition based on scriptures of Islam, particularly the Qur'an and hadith. In Islamic terminology ''sharīʿah'' refers to immutable, intan ...
; consuming orphans' wealth; consuming ''
riba ''Riba'' (, or , ) is an Arabic word used in Islamic law and roughly translated as " usury": unjust, exploitative gains made in trade or business. ''Riba'' is mentioned and condemned in several different verses in the Qur'an3:130
'' (usury); fleeing from the battlefield; and slandering chaste, innocent women." According to a series of hadith,
Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...
claims the majority of the inhabitants of hell will be women, due to an inclination for gossip, conjecture, ungratefulness of kind treatment from their spouses and idle chatting. The
Salafi The Salafi movement or Salafism () is a fundamentalist revival movement within Sunni Islam, originating in the late 19th century and influential in the Islamic world to this day. The name "''Salafiyya''" is a self-designation, claiming a retu ...
Muslim scholar ʿUmar Sulaymān al-Ashqar (d. 2012) reaffirms the arguments of al-Qurṭubī, that women have an attachment to the here and now, inability to control their passions; but allows that despite this, many women are good and pious and will go to Paradise, and some are even superior to many men in piety. However, other hadith imply that the majority of people ''in paradise'' will be women. Since the number of men and women are approximately equal, al-Qurṭubī attempts to reconcile the conflicting hadith by suggesting that many of the women in Hell are there only temporarily and will eventually be brought reside in Paradise; thereafter the majority of the people of Paradise would be women.at-Tadhkirah, al-Qurtubî, p. 475 Other people populating hell mentioned in hadith include, but are not limited to, the mighty, the proud and the haughty. Einar Thomassen writes that this almost certainly refers to those too proud and haughty to submit to God, i.e. unbelievers (the literal translation of Muslim is one who submits to God). Sahih Muslim quotes Muhammad as saying that suicides would reside in Jahannam forever. According to the hadith collection '' Muwaṭṭaʾ'' of Imam Mālik (711–795), Muhammad said: "Truly a man utters words to which he attaches no importance, and by them he falls into the fire of Jahannam." Al-Bukhari in book 72:834 added to the list of dwellers in Jahannam: "The people who will receive the severest punishment from Allah will be the picture makers". Use of utensils made of precious metals could also land its users in Jahannam: "A person who drinks from a silver vessel brings the fire of Jahannam into his belly". As could starving a cat to death: "A woman was tortured and was put in Hell because of a cat which she had kept locked till it died of hunger." At least one hadith indicates the importance of faith in avoiding hell, stating: "... no one will enter Hell in whose heart is an atom's weight of faith."


Eschatological manuals

"Eschatological manuals" were written after the hadith, they compiled the hadith on hell, and also developed descriptions of Jahannam "in more deliberate ways". While the Quran and hadith tend to describe punishments that nonbelievers are forced to give themselves, the manuals illustrate external and more dramatic punishment, through devils, scorpions, and snakes. Manuals dedicated solely to the subject of Jahannam include Ibn Abi al-Dunya's ''Sifat al-nar'', and al-Maqdisi's ''Dhikr al-nar''. Other manuals—such as texts by
al-Ghazali Al-Ghazali ( – 19 December 1111), archaically Latinized as Algazelus, was a Shafi'i Sunni Muslim scholar and polymath. He is known as one of the most prominent and influential jurisconsults, legal theoreticians, muftis, philosophers, the ...
and the 12th-century scholar
Qadi Ayyad Abū al-Faḍl ʿIyāḍ ibn Mūsā ibn ʿIyāḍ ibn ʿAmr ibn Mūsā ibn ʿIyāḍ ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Mūsā ibn ʿIyāḍ al-Yaḥṣubī al-Sabtī (Camilo Gómez-Rivas, Islamic Legal Thought: A Compendium of Muslim Jurists, ...
– "dramatise life in the Fire", and present "new punishments, different types of sinners, and the appearance of a multitude of devils," to exhort the faithful to piety. His hell has a structure with a specific place for each type of sinners. According to Leor Halevi, between the moment of death and the time of their burial ceremony, "the spirit of a deceased Muslim takes a quick journey to Heaven and Hell, where it beholds visions of the bliss and torture awaiting humanity at the end of days". In ''The Soul's Journey After Death'',
Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyya Shams ad-Dīn Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr ibn Ayyūb az-Zurʿī d-Dimashqī l-Ḥanbalī (29 January 1292–15 September 1350 CE / 691 AH–751 AH), commonly known as Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya ("The son of the principal of he scho ...
, a theologian in the 14th century, writes explicitly of punishments faced by sinners and unbelievers in Jahannam. These are directly related to the wrongdoer's earthly transgressions.


Inmates and their sins

In addition to those who engage in traditional sins of wine drinking, fornication, sodomy, suicide, atheism (''dahriyya''); hell is where those "who sleep during prayer (or speak of worldly matters during it), or deny the doctrine of predestinarianism or assert absolute free-will ( Qadarites), are punished. Lange, "Introducing Hell in Islamic Studies", 2016: p.18 Another tradition consigns to the seven different levels of hell, seven different types of "mischievous" Islamic scholars. Government authorities are also threatened with hell, but often in "oblique ways".


Location and topography


Location

There are many traditions on the location of paradise and hell, but not all of them "are easily pictured or indeed mutually reconcilable". Lange, "Introducing Hell in Islamic Studies", 2016: p.131 For example, some describe hell as in the lowest earth, while one scholar (Al-Majlisī) describes hell as "surrounding" the earth. Lange, "Introducing Hell in Islamic Studies", 2016: p.131, note 79 Islamic scholars speculated on where the entrance to hell might be located. Some thought the sea was the top level, or that the sulphourus well in Hadramawt (in present-day Yemen), allegedly haunted by the souls of the wicked, was the entrance to the underworld. Others considered the entrance in the valley of Hinnom (surrounding the
Old City of Jerusalem The Old City of Jerusalem (; ) is a walled area in Jerusalem. In a tradition that may have begun with an 1840s British map of the city, the Old City is divided into four uneven quarters: the Muslim Quarter, the Christian Quarter, the Arm ...
). In a Persian work, the entry to hell is located in a gorge called ''Wadi Jahannam'' (in present-day
Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...
).


Seven levels

Einar Thomassen writes that the seven levels of hell mentioned in hadith "came to be associated" with the seven names used in the Quran to refer to hell, with a category of inmates assigned to each level. #''Jahannam'' was reserved for Muslims who had committed grave sins. #''al-Laza'' (the blaze) #''al-Hutama'' (the consuming fire) #''al-Sa'ir'' #''al-Saqar'' (the scorching fire) #''al-jahim'' (the hot place) #''al-Hawiya'' (the abyss) for the hypocrites. "Various similar models exist with a slightly differing order of names", according to Christian Lange, and he and A. F. Klein give similar lists of levels. ''Al-Laza'' and ''al-Saqar'' are switched in Lange's list, and there is no accompanying type of unbelievers for each level. In A. F. Klein's list, it is the names of the levels that's not included, and instead of a level for Zoroastrians there is one for "witches and fortunetellers". Another description of the layers of hell comes from "models such as that recorded by al-Thalabi (died 427/1035)" corresponding to "the seven earths of medieval Islamic cosmology"; the place of hell before the Day of Resurrection.al-Thaʿlabī: ''Qiṣaṣ al-anbiyāʾ'', Cairo 960 quoted in "Christian Lange p. 12-13" This idea derives from the concept of "seven earths", each beneath the surface of the known world, serving as a sort of
underworld The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld. ...
, with hell at its bottom. Sources Miguel Asin Palacios and Patrick Hughes, Thomas Patrick Hughes describe these levels as: # ''Adim'' (surface), inhabited by mankind and jinn. # ''Basit'' (plain), the prison of winds, from where the winds come from. # ''Thaqil'' (region of distress), the antechamber of hell, in which dwell men with the mouth of a dog, the ears of a goat and the cloven hoof of an ox. # ''Batih'' (place of torrents or swamps), a valley through which flows a stream of boiling sulphur to torment the wicked. The dweller in this valley have no eyes and in place of feet, have wings. # ''Hayn'' (region of adversity), in which serpents of enormous size devour the infidels. # ''Masika''/'' Sijjin'' (store or dungeon), the office where sins are recorded and where souls are tormented by scorpions of the size of mules. In ''tafsir'', this place is sometimes considered the lowest place instead. # ''As-Saqar'' (place of burning) and ''Athara'' (place of damp and great cold) the home of
Iblis Iblis (), alternatively known as Eblīs, also known as Shaitan, is the leader of the Shayatin, devils () in Islam. According to the Quran, Iblis was thrown out of Jannah#Jinn, angels, and devils, heaven after refusing to prostrate himself bef ...
, who is chained, his hand fastened one in front of and the other behind him, except when set free by God to chastise his demons. A large number of hadith about Muhammad's tour of hell during the miʿrāj, describe the various sinners and their torments. A summary of the uppermost level of hell, "reserved for deadly sins" and "subdivided into fourteen mansions, one close above the other, and each is a place of punishment for a different sin", was done by Asin Palacios:
The first mansion is an ocean of fire comprising seventy lesser seas, and on the shore of each sea stands a city of fire. In each city are seventy thousand dwellings; in each dwelling, seventy thousand coffins of fire, the tombs of men and women, who, stung by snakes and scorpions, shriek in anguish. These wretches, the Keeper enlightens Mahomet, were tyrants. In the second mansion beings with blubber lips writhe under the red-hot forks of demons, while serpents enter their mouths and eat their bodies from within. These are faithless guardians, devoured now by serpents even as they once devoured the inheritances committed to their trust. Lower down usurers stagger about, weighed down by the reptiles in their bellies. Further, shameless women hang by the hair that they had exposed to the gaze of man. Still further down liars and slanderers hang by their tongues from red-hot hooks lacerating their faces with nails of copper. Those who neglected the rites of prayer and ablution are now monsters with the head of dogs and the bodies of swine and are the food of serpents. In the next mansion drunkards suffer the torture of raging thirst, which demons affect to quench with cups of a liquid fire that burns their entrails. Still lower, hired mourners and professional women singers hang head downwards and howl with pain as devils cut their tongues with burning shears. Adulterers are punished in a cone-shaped furnace... and their shrieks are drowned by the curses of their fellow damned at the stench of their putrid flesh. In the next mansion unfaithful wives hang by their breasts, their hands tied to their necks. Undutiful children are tortured in a fire by fiends with red-hot forks. Lower down, shackled in collars of fire, are those who failed to keep their word. Murderers are being knifed by demons in endless expiation of their crime. Lastly, in the fourteenth and lowest mansion of the first storey, are being crucified on burning pillars those who failed to keep the rule of prayer; as the flames devour them, their flesh is seen gradually to peel off their bones.Asin Palacios, Miguel. 1968. ''Islam and the Divine Comedy''. Trans. H. Sutherland. London: Frank Cass. 1968 (First published 1926.) 13–14


Three Valleys

The three valleys in Jahannam described in the Quran on separate occasions are: # ''Ghayy'' # ''Wayl'' # ''Saqar'' Of these valleys, Ghayy is for those who postpone their prayers to the time of the next prayer, Wayl is for worshippers who neglect their prayers, and Saqar (also described as one of the seven levels above) is for those who did not pray, did not feed the poor, waded in vain dispute with vain talkers, and denied the Day of Judgement until they died.


Pit

In addition to having levels, an important feature of Judgement Day is that hell is a huge pit over which the bridge of
As-Sirāt () is, according to Islam, the bridge over which every person must pass on the () in order to enter (). It is not mentioned in the Quran, but described in the Hadith. is said to be thinner than a strand of hair and as sharp as the shar ...
crosses, and from which sinners fall making their arrival in hell (see "Eschatological manuals" above) Christian Lange writes "it made sense to picture ell as a vast subterranean funnel, spanned by the Bridge, which the resurrected pass on their way to paradise, Lange, "Introducing Hell in Islamic Studies", 2016: p.12 with a brim (''shafīr'') and concentric circles leading down into a central pit at the bottom (''qaʿr'')."al-Qurṭubī: ''Al-Tadhkira fī aḥwāl al-mawtā wa-umūr al-ākhira'', ed. Aḥmad Ḥijāzī al-Saqqā, 2 vols in 1, Cairo 1980. ii, 108. quoted in Christian Lange p.12 But along with a pit and levels, hell also has mountains, rivers, valleys and "even oceans" filled with "fire,
blood Blood is a body fluid in the circulatory system of humans and other vertebrates that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells, and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells. Blood is com ...
, and pus". Lange, "Introducing Hell in Islamic Studies", 2016: p.15


Sentience

Along with being a pit and a series of levels, some scholars, like al-Ghazali and the thirteenth-century Muslim scholar Al-Qurtubi, describe hell as a gigantic sentient being, rather than a place. In ''Paradise and Hell-fire in Imam al Qurtubi'', Qurtubi writes, "On the Day of Judgment, hell will be brought with seventy thousand reins. A single rein will be held by seventy thousand angels...". Based on verse 67:7 and verse 50:30, Jahannam inhales and has "breaths". Islamicity notes "the animalistic nature" of "The Fire" in Quranic verse 25:12: "When the Hellfire sees them from a distant place, they will hear its fury and roaring". According to verse 50:30, God will ask Jahannam if it is full and Jahannam will answer: "Are there any more (to come)?"


Inmates


Humans

Thomassen writes that in Islamic thought, there was "a certain amount of tension" between the two "distinct functions" of hell: to punish disbelievers/non-Muslims and to punish anyone who committed serious sins Thomassen, "Islamic Hell", ''Numen'', 56, 2009: p.412—both of which could draw support from Quranic verses and hadith. Factors involved in who will be consigned to hell are: *Unforgiveableness of unbelief. According to Smith and Haddad, perhaps "almost the only point on which Muslim thinkers completely agreed" was that it was "certain that the one unpardonable sin, that for which the pain of the Fire is assured, is refusal to testify to the '' tawẖīd'' (the indivisible oneness) of God, called either ''
kufr ''Kāfir'' (; , , or ; ; or ) is an Arabic-language term used by Muslims to refer to a non-Muslim, more specifically referring to someone who disbelieves in the Islamic God, denies his authority, and rejects the message of Islam a ...
'' (unbelief) or '' shirk'' (worshiping other besides the one God). Smith & Haddad, ''Islamic Understanding'', 1981: p.22 *God's mercy. "The tendency has been to suggest that even grave sinners may hope for God’s mercy, as long as they have professed belief and are Muslims", based on (two types of) Quranic verses: **"Indeed, Allah does not forgive associating others with Him ˹in worship˺ but forgives anything else of whoever He wills..." (Q.4:48), **"Whoever commits evil or wrongs themselves then seeks Allah's forgiveness will certainly find Allah All-Forgiving, Most Merciful" (Q.4:110); Thomassen, "Islamic Hell", ''Numen'', 56, 2009: p.411 **"So whoever does an atom's weight of good will see it" (Q.99:7–8) (and would be recompensed). *That all human beings "are responsible" for their actions in this world, and all (even Muslims) face a "real possibility" of going to hell, (Q.19:71); This theme "has continued to play an important role throughout the history of Islam"; *God's freedom to send to Paradise or Hell, whoever he chooses, **"We do certainly know best those who deserve most to be burned therein" (Q.19:70); **"Indeed, Allah does not forgive associating others with Him ˹in worship˺ but forgives anything else of whoever He wills". (Q.4:48); *What sins are considered grave enough to merit damnation ("There is no fixed canon of mortal sins in Islamic theology"); Thomassen, "Islamic Hell", ''Numen'', 56, 2009: p.410 *Whether if grave sins such as
usury Usury () is the practice of making loans that are seen as unfairly enriching the lender. The term may be used in a moral sense—condemning taking advantage of others' misfortunes—or in a legal sense, where an interest rate is charged in e ...
, murder of another Muslim, are not unpardonable in themselves, they are sufficiently serious that those that commit them cease to be Muslims and become guilty of unbelief, a sin that ''is'' unpardonable. ("Famous" issue in the theological debates of early Islam between ''Khawarij'', ''Murji'a'', ''Mutazila'', ''Ash'ari''). "Ultimately" the view of the
Ash'ari Ash'arism (; ) is a school of theology in Sunni Islam named after Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari, a Shāfiʿī jurist, reformer (''mujaddid''), and scholastic theologian, in the 9th–10th century. It established an orthodox guideline, based on ...
te school prevailed in "classical Islamic theology": God was free to judge as he chose, but on the other hand all believers can feel assured of salvation. This left the issue of how/whether to punish sinful Muslims (to "ensure ... moral and religious discipline" and responsibility for individual actions). One solution was to reserve for Muslims the highest level of hell with the most lenient punishments, but a "more common" solution was to make the stay of Muslims in hell temporary. The issue of whether People of the Book are a variety of believers or unbelievers destined for hell is also discussed. In two places in the Quran, almost identical verses seem to indicate they are saved: *"Surely those who believe, and those who are Jews, and the Christians, and the Sabians, whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day and does good, they shall have their reward from their Lord, and there is no fear for them, nor shall they grieve" (Q.2:62; cf. 5:69) But there "exists a strong exegetical tradition" that claims these verses were abrogated by a later verse indicating a much less pleasant hereafter: *"...whoever desires a religion other than Islam, it shall not be accepted from him, and in the hereafter he shall be one of the losers." (Q.3:85)Acar, Ismail. 2008. "Theological Foundations of Religious Tolerance in Ismal: A Quranic Perspective." In J. Neusner and B. Chilton (eds.), ''Religious Tolerance in World Religions'', West Conschocken, PA: Templeton Foundation Press, 297–313, esp. 299–304 Thomassen, "Islamic Hell", Numen, 56, 2009: p.414


Jinn, devils, and angels

According to Islam, the jinn are obligated to follow the
Islamic law Sharia, Sharī'ah, Shari'a, or Shariah () is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition based on scriptures of Islam, particularly the Qur'an and hadith. In Islamic terminology ''sharīʿah'' refers to immutable, intan ...
(''sharīʿa''). The pairing of humans and jinn as subjects of God's judgement is settled in the Quranic phrase "''al-ins wa-l-jinn''" ("the humans and the jinn"). Both are created to "serve" (abada'') God (51:56), both are capable of righteous and evil deeds (11:119). The Quran confirms that hell will be filled with both sinful humans as well as sinful jinn. The fate of Satan is less clear. Some say, he and his offspring are already chained in hell (''Sijjin''), others say he and his hosts will be the first to enter hell, while yet others say, the devils will all perish at Judgment Day. Since Satan and the devils are created from fire, some scholars suggest that they will not burn in fire, but suffer from the intense cold of intense cold (''Zamharīr''). A popular opinion among
Shia Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political successor (caliph) and as the spiritual leader of the Muslim community (imam). However, his right is understood ...
s is, that the
Mahdi The Mahdi () is a figure in Islamic eschatology who is believed to appear at the Eschatology, End of Times to rid the world of evil and injustice. He is said to be a descendant of Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad, and will appear shortly before Jesu ...
will kill Iblis. In some manuals of Islamic eschatology, the Angels of divine justice will seize and kill Iblis, instead. Although there is a disagreement about the exact fate of the devils, most agree that the devils are damned to hell. An exception are the
Murji'ah Murji'ah (, English: "Those Who Postpone"), also known as Murji'as or Murji'ites (singular Murji'), were an early Islamic sect. The Murji'ah school of theology prioritized the importance of one's professed faith over the acts, deeds, or rituals th ...
who argue that even Satan might be restored to his former glory. Instead of devils, angels punish the sinners and guard the entrances to hell.Marshall, David, ed. Death, Resurrection, and Human Destiny: Christian and Muslim Perspectives. Georgetown University Press, 2014. p. 86 These angels were created from the fires of hell, and therefore, do not suffer wherein. They are described as subordinates of God and thus, their punishment is ultimately just.


Timeline

Quranic verses suggest that Judgment Day, Paradise and Hell are not "conceived to lie" off in some indefinite future, but "immediately ahead; it is ''now'', or almost there already". It is also a common belief among Muslims that hell, like paradise, is not awaiting the destruction of earth and arrival of Judgment Day, but "coexists in time" with the temporal world, having already been created. The basis of this belief was the Quranic statement "hell ''has been'' prepared (''uʿiddat'') for the unbelievers", and also hadith reporting that Muhammad had seen the punishment of sinners in hell during his miraculous '' miraj'' journey on a winged creature.


Eternal or temporary

The common belief among Muslims (as indicated above) is that duration in hell is temporary for Muslims but not for others.A F Klein ''Religion Of Islam'' Routledge 2013 page 92 This combines in Jahannam two concepts: an eternal hell (for unbelievers), and a place (an "outer level" of hell was sometimes called ''al-barrāniyya''), Lange, "Introducing Hell in Islamic Studies", 2016: p.14 resembling the Christian Catholic idea of
purgatory In Christianity, Purgatory (, borrowed into English language, English via Anglo-Norman language, Anglo-Norman and Old French) is a passing Intermediate state (Christianity), intermediate state after physical death for purifying or purging a soul ...
(for believers eventually destined for heaven after punishment for their sins). Several verses in the Quran mention the eternal nature of Hell or both Paradise and Hell, or that the damned will linger in hell for ages. Two verses in the Quran (6:128 and 11:107) emphasize that consignment to hell is horrible and eternal — but include the caveat "except as God (or your Lord) wills it", which some scholars considered an exemption from the eternity of hell, which suggests to some that Jahannam will be destroyed some day, so that its inhabitants may either be rehabilitated or cease to exist. The concept of hell's annihilation is referred to as ''fanāʾ al-nār''. Thomassen writes that "several types of concerns" weigh "against the idea of an eternal hell in Islamic thought": belief in the mercy of God; resistance to the idea that Muslims—even great sinners—would "end up together with the disbelievers in the hereafter"; and resistance to the idea that "something other than God himself might have eternal existence". Thomassen, "Islamic Hell", Numen, 56, 2009: p.413 The
Ulama In Islam, the ''ulama'' ( ; also spelled ''ulema''; ; singular ; feminine singular , plural ) are scholars of Islamic doctrine and law. They are considered the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious knowledge in Islam. "Ulama ...
(Islamic scholars) disagree on this issue. According to Christian Lange, "the majority" of theologians agreed that Hell like Paradise "was eternal".
Ahmad ibn Hanbal Ahmad ibn Hanbal (; (164-241 AH; 780 – 855 CE) was an Arab Muslim scholar, jurist, theologian, traditionist, ascetic and eponym of the Hanbali school of Islamic jurisprudence—one of the four major orthodox legal schools of Sunni Islam. T ...
argued the eternity of hell and paradise are proven by the Quran, although earths and heavens (sun, moon, stars) will perish. In modern times Shia cleric Sayyid Mujtaba Musavi Lari argues against the idea that hell will not last for eternity. Contrarily, for Muʿtazilis the eternity of paradise and hell posed a major problem, since they regard God as the only eternal entity. Egyptian Hanafi author
al-Tahawi Abū Jaʿfar Aḥmad aṭ-Ṭaḥāwī () (853 – 5 November 933), commonly known as at-Tahawi (), was an Egyptian Arab Hanafi jurist and Traditionalist theologian. He studied with his uncle al-Muzani and was a Shafi'i jurist, before then chan ...
writes that God punishes sinners in proportions to their offense in accordance with his justice, afterwards release them in accordance with his mercy.
Ibn Taymiyya Ibn Taymiyya (; 22 January 1263 – 26 September 1328)Ibn Taymiyya, Taqi al-Din Ahmad, The Oxford Dictionary of Islam. http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195125580.001.0001/acref-9780195125580-e-959 was a Sunni Muslim schola ...
(d.728/1328) also argued for a limited abode in hell, based on the Quran and God's attribute of mercy (in more recent times ''fanāʾ al-nār'' has been supported by Rashīd Riḍā (d. 1936), İzmirli Ismail Hakkı (d. 1946) Yūsuf al-Qarādāwī (d. 2022)). How optimistic Muslims were about whether they and the rest of humanity would avoid hellfire, or at least long durations of it, varied considerably. The idea of the "demise of hell" (
ibn Taymiyya Ibn Taymiyya (; 22 January 1263 – 26 September 1328)Ibn Taymiyya, Taqi al-Din Ahmad, The Oxford Dictionary of Islam. http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195125580.001.0001/acref-9780195125580-e-959 was a Sunni Muslim schola ...
, Yemenite ibn al-Wazir (d. 840/1436)) meant (or at least meant to these theologians) that God would provide for "universal salvation even for non-Muslims". Lange, "Introducing Hell in Islamic Studies", 2016: p.8 At the other end of the theological "spectrum" were fearful "renunciants" such as al-
Hasan al-Basri Abi Sa'id al-Hasan ibn Yasar al-Basri, often referred to as al-Hasan al-Basri, was an ancient Muslim preacher, ascetic, theologian, exegete, scholar, and judge. Born in Medina in 642,Mourad, Suleiman A., “al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī”, in: ''Encyc ...
. Though Hasan was so faithful he was considered a "pious exemplar" of his age, he still felt great anxiety as to whether he would be among those fortunate enough to spend 1,000 years suffering in hell before being released to Jannah.


Doctrines and beliefs


Sufism

Many prominent Sufis preached "the centrality of the love of God" for which focus on eternal reward was a "distraction". Rabi'a al-'Adawiyya aka
Rabia of Basra Rābia al-Adawiyya al-Qaysiyya (; 801 CE) or Rabia Basri was a Saints in Islam, poet, one of the earliest Sufi mystics and an influential religious figure from Iraq. She is regarded as one of the three preeminent Qalandar (title), Qalanda ...
(died 801), is said to have proclaimed to passersby
"O God! If I worship You for fear of Hell, burn me in Hell, and if I worship You in hope of Paradise, exclude me from Paradise. But if I worship You for Your Own sake, grudge me not Your everlasting Beauty".
Similarly, Bāyazīd Basṭāmī (d. 234/848) proclaimed the fire of "God's love" burns a thousand times more intensely than hellfire. Others did not take literally the Quran's verses on Paradise and Hell as physical places where believers are rewarded with pleasure and sinners tortured with pain. According to ibn ʿArabī, Hell and Paradise are psychological states of the soul manifested after its separation from the body. He believed Hell and Paradise are only the distance or closeness from God, respectively, in the mind of resurrectant. The torments of Hell wrong-doers endure are actually their conception of their distance from God, created by their sinful indulgence in their earthly desires and the illusion of things other than God as existent. But distance from God is also only illusory, because everything other than God is an illusion, since "everything is a form of the degrees of the Divine Existence". So in fact, Hell and Paradise are just as real as the current world, which is unreal in comparison to God. Many ideas attributed Ibn Arabi have been rejected by Wahhabis. For example, the Wahhabi Ahmad ibn Idris debated in detail with the ex-Wahhabi Nasir al-Kubaybi about sins committed by him and his students, and deviations that are said to have been propagated by Ibn Arabi. For Ahmad ibn Idris, Nasir al-Kubaybi explained that no human except the Prophet is protected from sins, and he also said that individuals' actions are to be judged in line with Qur'an and Sunnah only, and regarding Ibn Arabi, he fiercely defended the stance that Ibn Arabi was a Muslim of sound faith and whatever contradicted this was in fact not from him. Many other prominent Sufis too had more conventional attitudes, such as
al-Ghazali Al-Ghazali ( – 19 December 1111), archaically Latinized as Algazelus, was a Shafi'i Sunni Muslim scholar and polymath. He is known as one of the most prominent and influential jurisconsults, legal theoreticians, muftis, philosophers, the ...
, who warned Muslims,
"your coming unto it (hellfire) is certain, while your salvation therefrom is no more than conjecture. … fill up your heart therefore with a dread of that destination."
Moreover, Abd Al-Aziz Al-Dabbagh gave precise details of the locations of the two abodes in terms of Islamic Cosmology, while noting that the ignorance of existence of the two abodes at present alone suffices to lead someone to Hell, and Shaykh Rifai attributed its bottom level to oppressors. Abdulqadir Jilani said that through the blessings of his students' association with him none of them were going to enter Hell, Abu Madyan Al-Ghawth in Hikam likened working for other than God to the past behavior of Hell's inhabitants.


Non-Sunni schools


Twelver Shia

According to a major Shia Islam website, al-Islam.org, Hellfire is the eternal destination of unbelievers, although another essay on the site states that there is a set of unbelievers known as ''‘Jahil-e-Qasir’'' (lit. ‘inculpable ignorant’), who "will attain salvation if they are truthful to their own religion" because the message of Islam either didn't reach them, or reached them in an incorrect form. For those Muslims "who have committed a certain number of lesser sins and offences, they shall either spend an appropriate amount of time in hellfire or receive the kindness and forgiveness of God". Al-Islam also states: "According to the Qur`an and ahadith, heaven and hell exist at present. However, they will become fully apparent and represented only in the Hereafter ...".


Isma'ili

Isma'ili Ismailism () is a branch of Shia Islam. The Isma'ili () get their name from their acceptance of Imam Isma'il ibn Jafar as the appointed spiritual successor (Imamate in Nizari doctrine, imām) to Ja'far al-Sadiq, wherein they differ from the ...
authors (such as Abu Yaqub al-Sijistānī) believe resurrection, heaven and hell do not involve physical bodies, but what is spiritual. Suffering of hell came from failure to be enlightened by the teachings of the Isma'ili Imam, but such suffering does not require resurrection. Lange, "Introducing Hell in Islamic Studies", 2016: p.10 According to one source, they do not believe hell will last for eternity, based on their interpretation of Quranic verse 11:106.5 ''What are Ismaili Views on the Afterlife, Paradise, and Hell?''
Ismaili Gnosis, 29 May 2017.
Instead, they believe hell to be a possible station of the soul's journey to its perfection in afterlife.


Ibadis

According to Interfaith Alliance, Ibadis believe sinning Ibadis and all non-Ibadis are doomed to hell.5 ''Starter Facts About Ibadi Islam''
Interfaith Alliance, June 2018.
According to Islamic studies professor Gavin Picken, Ibadis believe non-Ibadis and Ibadis who committed major sins without repenting will remain in hell forever.


Ahmadiyya

According to the
Ahmadiyya Ahmadiyya, officially the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at (AMJ), is an Islamic messianic movement originating in British India in the late 19th century. It was founded by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835–1908), who said he had been divinely appointed a ...
movement (by way of their official website), the places of Paradise and Hell are actually images of man's own spiritual life during lifetime, hell is a manifestation of his sins. Contrary to the belief that sinners or at least unbelieving sinners will spend eternity in hell, "there are numerous passages in the Holy Quran showing that those in hell shall ultimately be taken out". Whereas the word "abad" used in the Quran has been translated as "eternity", it should be translated as "a long time", and the actual purpose of suffering in hell should not be thought of as punishment of sinners, but the purging of "the evil effects of their deeds done in this life" for the sinners "spiritual advancement". This is because in the afterlife, Muslims and Non-Muslims, even those "who never did any good deeds", will eventually be taken out of hell.


Modernism, postmodernism

According to Smith and Haddad, "The great majority of contemporary Muslim writers, ... choose not to discuss the afterlife at all". Islamic Modernists, according to Smith and Haddad, express a "kind of embarrassment with the elaborate traditional detail concerning life in the grave and in the abodes of recompense, called into question by modern rationalists". Smith & Haddad, ''Islamic Understanding'', 1981: p.100Smith/Haddad, ''Islamic Understanding'', 100, quoted in Christian Lange, p.19 Consequently, most of "modern Muslim Theologians" either "silence the issue" or reaffirm "the traditional position that the reality of the afterlife must not be denied but that its exact nature remains unfathomable". The beliefs of Pakistani modernist
Muhammad Iqbal Muhammad Iqbal (9 November 187721 April 1938) was a South Asian Islamic philosopher, poet and politician. Quote: "In Persian, ... he published six volumes of mainly long poems between 1915 and 1936, ... more or less complete works on philoso ...
(died 1938), were similar to the Sufi "spiritual and internalized interpretations of hell" of ibn ʿArabī, and
Rumi Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī (), or simply Rumi (30 September 1207 – 17 December 1273), was a 13th-century poet, Hanafi '' faqih'' (jurist), Maturidi theologian (''mutakallim''), and Sufi mystic born during the Khwarazmian Empire ...
, seeing paradise and hell "primarily as metaphors for inner psychic" developments. Thus hellfire is actually a state of realization of one's failures as a human being", and not a supernatural subterranean realm. Egyptian modernist Muhammad ʿAbduh, thought it was sufficient to believe in the existence of an afterlife with rewards and punishment to be a true believer, even if you ignored "clear" (''ẓāhir'') hadith about hell. Some postmodernists have found at least one ''
sahih Hadith terminology () is the body of terminology in Islam which specifies the acceptability of the sayings (''hadith'') attributed to the Prophets in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad by other early Islamic figures of significance such as the compa ...
'' (authentic) hadith on hell unacceptable—the tradition of Muhammad stating, "most people in hell are women" has been explained as an attempt to "legitimate social control over women" (Smith and Haddad), Smith & Haddad, ''Islamic Understanding'', 1981: p.163 or perpetuate "the moral, social, political, sectarian hierarchies" of medieval Islam (Lange).


Comparison with other religions


Christianity


Bible

Some of the Quranic
parable A parable is a succinct, didactic story, in prose or verse, that illustrates one or more instructive lessons or principles. It differs from a fable in that fables employ animals, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature as characters, whe ...
s describing the sufferings in hell resemble those of the Christian
New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...
. The
Book of Revelation The Book of Revelation, also known as the Book of the Apocalypse or the Apocalypse of John, is the final book of the New Testament, and therefore the final book of the Bible#Christian Bible, Christian Bible. Written in Greek language, Greek, ...
describes a "lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death", which most
Christians A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...
believe to be a description of Hell, comparable to ''Jahannam'' as "the fire". While the Quran describes ''Jahannam'' as having seven levels, each for different sins, the Bible (as regards the issue of levels), speaks of the "lowest Hell (
Sheol Sheol ( ; ''Šəʾōl'', Tiberian: ''Šŏʾōl'') in the Hebrew Bible is the underworld place of stillness and darkness which is death. Within the Hebrew Bible, there are few—often brief and nondescript—mentions of Sheol, seemingly descri ...
)". It also refers to a "bottomless pit", comparable to the lowest layer of Jahannam in most Sunni traditions.


Christian popular culture

Just as Hell is often depicted as the seat of the devil in Christian culture (though not in the bible itself), so too some Islamic scholars describe it that way. Al-Tha'alibis (961–1038) in his Qisas Al-Anbiya and
Al-Suyuti Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti (; 1445–1505), or al-Suyuti, was an Egyptians, Egyptian Sunni Muslims, Muslim polymath of Persians, Persian descent. Considered the mujtahid and mujaddid of the Islamic 10th century, he was a leading Hadith studies, muh ...
s ''Al-Hay'a as-samya fi l-hay'a as-sunmya'' describes Iblis as chained to the bottom of hell, commanding his hosts of demons from there. Also in the poetry of
Al-Ma'arri Abu al-Ala al-Ma'arri, ,(December 973May 1057), also known by his Latin name Abulola Moarrensis; was an Arab philosopher, poet, and writer from Ma'arrat al-Nu'man, Syria. Because of his irreligious worldview, he is known as one of the "forem ...
, Iblis is the king of Jahannam. These depictions of Iblis as lord of hell simultaneously chained at its very bottom influenced
Dante Dante Alighieri (; most likely baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri; – September 14, 1321), widely known mononymously as Dante, was an Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer, and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called ...
's representation of
Lucifer The most common meaning for Lucifer in English is as a name for the Devil in Christian theology. He appeared in the King James Version of the Bible in Isaiah and before that in the Vulgate (the late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bib ...
and gave rise to the Christian depiction of hell as the seat of the devil. '' Inferno'' by Dante also shares the Islamic idea of dividing hell into multiple "circles". According to the Divine Comedy, each layer corresponding to another sin, with Satan inside a frozen area at the very bottom. As with Christian popular understanding of hell, ''ʿKitāb al-ʿAẓama'', a popular cultural work, describes hell as inhabited not only by the '' Zabaniyya'' (guarding angels), but also by devils (''shayatin''), dwelling in the fourth layer of hell and rising up from coffins to torture the sinners. As evident from late Ottoman poetry, the notion of Iblis ruling hell remained in Islamic popular tradition until modern times. In one of Ğabdulla Tuqay's works, Iblis' current abode in hell is compared to working in factories during
Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...
. When Iblis gets weary about Hell, he remembers his time in Heaven. According to
Salafi The Salafi movement or Salafism () is a fundamentalist revival movement within Sunni Islam, originating in the late 19th century and influential in the Islamic world to this day. The name "''Salafiyya''" is a self-designation, claiming a retu ...
shaikh Osama al-Qusi, Iblis scolds the inhabitants of hell from a ''
minbar A minbar (; sometimes romanized as ''mimber'') is a pulpit in a mosque where the imam (leader of prayers) stands to deliver sermons (, ''khutbah''). It is also used in other similar contexts, such as in a Hussainiya where the speaker sits and le ...
'', how they could have listened to him, knowing it is his nature to deceive them. Notably, Iblis' temporary rule over Jahannam depends always on God's power and hell is still a form of punishment for Iblis himself. ("We have appointed only ˹stern˺ angels as wardens of the Fire." according to Q.74:31) Einar Thomassen points out that Iblis is chained to the floor of hell as punishment, whereas Malik is head of the 19 angels who guard hell, indicating it is the angels who are in charge and not the devils.Gwynne 2002:417


Christian Liberalism

In modern times some Christians and Christian denominations (such as
Universalism Universalism is the philosophical and theological concept within Christianity that some ideas have universal application or applicability. A belief in one fundamental truth is another important tenet in universalism. The living truth is se ...
) have rejected the concept of hell as a place of suffering and torment for sinners on the grounds that it is incompatible with a loving God. There are also symbolic and more merciful interpretations of hell among Muslims.Mouhanad Khorchide, Sarah Hartmann ''Islam is Mercy: Essential Features of a Modern Religion'' Verlag Herder GmbH 2014 page chapter 2.4 Muslims Mouhanad Khorchide and Faheem Younus write that since the Quran states that God has "prescribed to himself mercy", and "... for him whose scales (of good deeds) are light. Hell will be his mother," suffering in Jahannam is not a product of vengeance and punishment, but a temporary phenomenon as the sinner is "transformed" in the process of confronting the truth about themselves. The idea of annihilation of hell was already introduced earlier by traditionalistic scholars, such as Ibn Taimiyya. However, according to at least one source—Christian evangelist Phil Parshall, who spent several decades observing and writing about Muslims in Asia—this has not been the common view of Muslims; Parshall writes that he "never met a Muslim who has attempted to undercut the bluntness and severity of their doctrine of hell."


Judeo-Islamic sources

Arabic texts written by Jews in
Judeo-Arabic Judeo-Arabic (; ; ) sometimes referred as Sharh, are a group of different ethnolects within the branches of the Arabic language used by jewish communities. Although Jewish use of Arabic, which predates Islam, has been in some ways distinct ...
script (particularly those which are identified with the Isra'iliyyat genre in the study of
hadith Hadith is the Arabic word for a 'report' or an 'account f an event and refers to the Islamic oral tradition of anecdotes containing the purported words, actions, and the silent approvals of the Islamic prophet Muhammad or his immediate circle ...
) also feature descriptions of Jahannam (or Jahannahum). These seem to have been strongly influenced by the Islamic environment in which they were composed, and may be considered as holding many of the same concepts as those today identified with
Islamic eschatology Islamic eschatology includes the afterlife, apocalyptic signs of the End Times, and final Judgement. It is fundamental to Islam as life after death is one of the six Doctrines of Islam. Resurrection is divided into Lesser Resurrection (''al-q ...
. A Judeo-Arabic version of a popular narrative known as ''The Story of the Skull'' (whose earliest version is attributed to Ka'ab al-Ahbar) offers a detailed picture of the concept of Jahannam. Here, ''Malak al-Mawt'' (the Angel of Death) and a number of sixty angels seize the soul of the dead and begin torturing him with fire and iron hooks. Two black angels named Nākir and Nakīr (identified with Munkar and Nakir in
Islamic eschatology Islamic eschatology includes the afterlife, apocalyptic signs of the End Times, and final Judgement. It is fundamental to Islam as life after death is one of the six Doctrines of Islam. Resurrection is divided into Lesser Resurrection (''al-q ...
) strike the dead with a whip of fire and take him to the ''lowest level'' of Jahannam. Then, they order the Earth to swallow and crush the dead inside its womb, saying: "Seize him and take revenge, because he has stolen Allāh's wealth and worshipped others than Him". Following this, the dead is brought before the dais of God where a herald calls for throwing the dead into Jahannam. There he is put in shackles sixty cubits long and into a leather sackcloth full of snakes and scorpions. The Judeo-Arabic legend in question explains that the dead is set free from the painful perogatory after twenty-four years. In a final quote alluding to Isaiah 58.8, the narrative states that "nothing will help Man on the last day except good and loving actions, deeds of giving charity to widows, orphans, the poor and the unfortunate." Some Jewish sources such as Jerahmeel provide descriptive detail of hell-like places, divided into multiple levels; usually Sheol, which is translated as a grave or pit, is the place where humans descend upon
death Death is the end of life; the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. Death eventually and inevitably occurs in all organisms. The remains of a former organism normally begin to decompose sh ...
.


Zoroastrianism

Like Islam,
Zoroastrianism Zoroastrianism ( ), also called Mazdayasnā () or Beh-dīn (), is an Iranian religions, Iranian religion centred on the Avesta and the teachings of Zoroaster, Zarathushtra Spitama, who is more commonly referred to by the Greek translation, ...
, holds that on Judgement Day all resurrected souls will pass over a bridge over hell (
As-Sirāt () is, according to Islam, the bridge over which every person must pass on the () in order to enter (). It is not mentioned in the Quran, but described in the Hadith. is said to be thinner than a strand of hair and as sharp as the shar ...
in Islam, Chinvat Bridge in Zoroastrianism), and those destined for hell will find it too narrow and fall below into their new abode.


Hinduism

In terms of a finite hell, as asserted by some Sufi thinkers, conceived as a circulation of beginning and reset, the cosmology resembles the
Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...
notion of an eternal cosmic process of generation, decay, and destruction. A detailed description of the journey of the soul and the punishments of Hell (
Naraka Naraka () is the realm of hell in Indian religions. According to schools of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism, ''Naraka'' is a place of torment. The word ''Neraka'' (modification of ''Naraka'') in Indonesian language, Indonesian and Malaysian langu ...
) are detailed in the ''
Garuda Purana The Sanskrit text ''Garuda Purana'' () is one of 18 Mahapurana (Hinduism), Mahapuranas in Hinduism. The ''Garuda Purana'' was likely composed in the first millennium CE, with significant expansions and revisions occurring over several centuries ...
''.


Buddhism

Some descriptions of Jahannam resemble
Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
descriptions of
Naraka Naraka () is the realm of hell in Indian religions. According to schools of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism, ''Naraka'' is a place of torment. The word ''Neraka'' (modification of ''Naraka'') in Indonesian language, Indonesian and Malaysian langu ...
from
Mahayana sutras The Mahayana sutras are Buddhist texts that are accepted as wikt:canon, canonical and authentic Buddhist texts, ''buddhavacana'' in Mahayana, Mahayana Buddhist sanghas. These include three types of sutras: Those spoken by the Buddha; those spoke ...
in regard of destroying inhabitants of hell physically, while their consciousness still remains and after the body is destroyed, it will regenerate again, thus the punishment will repeat. However, according to Buddhist belief, beings in Hell have a limited lifespan, as with all beings trapped in the cycle of Samsara; they will ultimately exhaust their bad
karma Karma (, from , ; ) is an ancient Indian concept that refers to an action, work, or deed, and its effect or consequences. In Indian religions, the term more specifically refers to a principle of cause and effect, often descriptively called ...
, experience death, and be reborn in a higher
realm A realm is a community or territory over which a sovereign rules. The term is commonly used to describe a monarchical or dynastic state. A realm may also be a subdivision within an empire, if it has its own monarch, e.g. the German Empire. Etymo ...
.


See also

*
Barzakh Barzakh (Arabic: برزخ) is an Arabic word meaning "obstacle", "hindrance", "separation", or "barrier". In Islam, it denotes a place separating the living from the hereafter or a phase/"stage" between an individual's death and their resurrect ...
*
Gehenna Gehenna ( ; ) or Gehinnom ( or ) is a Biblical toponym that has acquired various theological connotations, including as a place of divine punishment, in Jewish eschatology. The place is first mentioned in the Hebrew Bible as part of the border ...
*
Salvation Salvation (from Latin: ''salvatio'', from ''salva'', 'safe, saved') is the state of being saved or protected from harm or a dire situation. In religion and theology, ''salvation'' generally refers to the deliverance of the soul from sin and its c ...


References


Explanatory notes


Citations


Books and journal articles

*Asin Palacios, Miguel, 1968, ''Islam and the Divine Comedy'', Trans. H. Sutherland, London: Frank Cass (First published 1926) * * * * * * * * *


External links

* * {{Hell Conceptions of hell