In answer to the video "The Sick Reason Why Allah Created Humans According to Islam"
When speaking of Hell the Quran says
6:128,11:106-108"they shall be in the fire..abiding therein so long as the heavens and the earth endure, except as your Lord please; surely your Lord is the (mighty) doer of what He intends. And as to those who are made happy, they shall be in the garden, abiding in it as long as the heavens and the earth endure, except as your Lord please; a gift which shall never be cut off".
God attaches the proviso of His will even for those things like heaven and hell which are firmly decreed by Him, "abiding for ever" is made dependent on his pleasure because nothing passes out of His control or authority. He can remove anyone from either heaven or hell, anytime He wishes. Nothing is incumbent upon Him, nothing passes out of His control, His hands are not "tied up" as some among the people of the book provocatively alleged to the prophet 5:64. Even though in that verse 11:106-108 the conditional statements about the length of stay in Heaven/Hell are the same, yet the Quran uses a word that creates a subtle nuance, but with great implications. It refers, only to Heaven as a dwelling place from which the righteous "shall never be cut off" -as it does repeatedly elsewhere such as in 15:48,41:8,68:3,84:25-. This shows that the righteous COULD but WON'T be taken out of it.
The verse keeps in view God's complete control over all matters, but also implies that it is by God's grace that one enters paradise in the first place. In reality none of our deeds are as perfect and faultless so as to grant us a reward of such magnitude. It is due to God's mercy and grace that He overlooks the servant's weaknesses and defects so long as he commits himself to piety and avoids the great sins, reforms himself and does not dwell in a state of transgression in which he stumbled into
4:17-18,53:32"surely your Lord is liberal in forgiving".Allah is liberal in forgiving and accepts the faithfull's services despite their imperfections, and blesses him with rewards. Should He resort to minute accountability no one can dare claim to win Paradise only on the strength of his own deeds
44:51-7"Surely those who guard (against evil) are in a secure place,..and He will save them from the punishment of the hell, a grace from your Lord; this is the great achievement".
The Quran reiterates this principle many times that the reward of the Hereafter is really a divine grace, and God's overlooking His creatures' mistakes.
6:16" Whosoever is spared on that Day, He has certainly been merciful unto him, and that is the manifest triumph".
The righteous believers in the hereafter are depicted as recognizing, upon their entry to heaven, that it in fact is merely a favor from their Lord who warded off the suffering of hellfire from them 52:18-27. Blind justice would otherwise require a certain degree of retribution. Yet He forgives the trespasses and only considers the best of a faithful servant's worldly deeds
39:35"So that Allah will do away with the worst of what they did and give them their reward for the best of what they do".
In contrast with the subtle nuance regarding Heaven as a gift from which the righteous shall never be cut off, the same verse, in the case of Hell, conveys the idea that some could be taken out at anytime. It says, God does "as He intends". It is interesting noting the Quranic pattern of often contrasting in the same passage, a firm statement regarding the everlasting blissful state of the dwellers of heaven, with an ambiguous description of the ultimate faith of the dwellers of hell. It is the case in 6:128,11:106-108 as shown above, as well as 4:56,121-2,64:9-10,98:6-8.
The root KH-L-D/forever or unchanging, is used in 7:176 to mean that the person will stay on earth in the same unchanging condition for a long timespan, not eternally, with that unchanging condition ending when his own life ends.
Abada is equally used both in the Quran and Arabic in general for a very long but ultimately lasting time. As stated in Lane's Lexicon Laa ukalimuhu abada/I will not speak to him ever, with ever/abada referring to a state that shall remain until the end of life or as in 60:4 until the end of a condition "there will be between us and you enmity and hatred for ever/abada until you believe in Allah Alone".
Eminent scholars of the past, such as ibn Taymiyya and ibn Qayyim, have argued that 'eternity' or 'forever' are literal, but that literal aspect is confined to the existence of hell itself. This is strengthened by the fact that not any verse exists that speaks of Hell itself as being eternal, contrary to Heaven. The Quran therefore not only is ambiguous on the timespan of Hell, but also on the fate of those that will finish purging their corresponding punishment therein, whether they will simply be destroyed after or made to enter in to any of the levels of heaven.
In 78:23 the timespan of Hell torture is referred to as ahqaab/ages, where the guilty will experience a 78:26"Requital corresponding". The level and nature of the chastisement will thus be made to parallel with the gravity of the total sins and the far reaching and intricate damages they cause. Such misdeeds may not only be of physical nature, but also spiritual, emotional etc. There is a reason why the Quran calls Hell an evil cradle/mihad 2:206,3:12,197. It will serve as a place of spiritual cleansing, a process that can be of many different and specific aspects as well as a combination of those aspects, from humiliation 46:20 to spiritual frustration to distancing from God's mercy/laan to physical torture, before one is purged of his sins and then his ultimate fate is left to God. In 85:10 for example it speaks of the punishment in hell as separate from the punishment by the fire. Fire will thus not necessarily be the type of corresponding requital for the earthly misdeeds.
Elsewhere, Hell is referred to as the mother/umm 101:9. This powerful image conveys the idea that the sinner's connection with hell is similar to that of a baby with its mother. Just as a baby draws nourishment from his mother for a time, the sinner will be brought up for spiritual progress in the bosom of hell, for a time. There, a kind of fire will reach to the hearts, the place which is the center of spirituality, to cleanse it from its accumulated rust 104:4-9. The Prophet illustrated that notion with his saying
"When one commits a sin, a black speck appears on his heart. If he disowns it and repents, his heart will be purified. But if he repeats the sin, the spot spreads, until it overtakes the entire heart".
This parallels what the Quran says in
83:14"that which they were earning has covered their hearts with rust".
Every severe illness needs a time of painful treatment before recovering. Interrupting the treatment would cause a forceful return of the disease. That is why the Quran speaks that should the unrepented sinners be returned to life before being painfully purged of his wickedness, his spiritual disease, he will inevitably plunge back into a life of evil 6:28. The Quran makes it clear that one's earthly spiritual condition will continue in the hereafter, hence the appropriate treatment of that condition.
It is interesting noting also the use of the word "fitna", implying in classical Arabic the process by which gold is purified through fire. The word is used in the context the hardships humans face in this life, that are actually meant at causing spiritual growth 2:191,29:2,10. The same word is used for the cleansing punishment of hell 37:63. Because one failed going through this difficult refinement process in this world, he will be inflicted with it in the hereafter in a befitting manner. In this life, spiritual refinement is the result of successfully passing the hardships of life with faith in God. This process is impossible in the Hereafter where the veil of the unseen has been lifted. No tests can be issued anymore, neither can one demonstrate sincere penitence, proof of reform, restitution of the harm done to the victim. The only remaining valid purification process is the suffering of the hereafter.
But in order to stress the long timespan of the punishment, in a place where the sinners' requital will be 19:79"lengthened", how does one "lengthen" eternity by the way, the Quran refutes the Jewish notion that the sinners will only dwell in Hell for a short time
2:80"And they say, "The fire will most certainly not touch us for more than a limited number of days." Say [unto them]: "Have you received a promise from God - for God never breaks His promise - or do you attribute to God something which you cannot know?".
And just as the Quran cuts short that false, self-serving and wishful thinking concept of short-term chastisement, so does it leave no room to the idea that the punishment itself will be easily bearable. It does so in 21:46 by describing the horrified reaction of one who would be, on judgement day, while still not having entered hell, lightly touched by a relatively "cool" breeze (as compared to the air inside hell).
None will be able to avert his due stay in Hell as a consequence of moral failings, nor will anyone be able to escape it, bail himself out with riches and avoid a just requital for his deeds 2:167,5:36-37,22:22,32:20. The fact that the punishment of the rejector is an unavoidable reality is pictured in 7:40 which states that the guilty wont enter heaven until the camel passes the eye of the needle, i.e. it is their an unavoidable requital "thus do We reward the guilty".
Again in 41:24,82:16 saying Hell will remain their abode from which they will not be able to absent themselves for an instant regardless of their attitude in it such as bearing the suffering patiently or praying for forgiveness. These verses stress the idea that if someone thinks that in case he does not like the place he will find a way out to escape from it, then he should do away with this conjecture. But in none of these verses is it denied that one may be SET free by God when he has undergone the necessary chastisement, the necessary "trial" with the Fire 51:13-14 or that God may, of His boundless mercy, deliver the sinners when He pleases as stated in 11:107, except for those whom Allah has clearly said that He will not forgive them 4:116. These will have to wait for Allah's justice to be fulfilled in their exceptional case.
Finally, the Quran does not categorically state that Hell is a temporary abode otherwise it would lose its dissuasive strength and people will take the matter "lightly" as the people of the book used to say that Hell will only touch them for a few days 2:80. It must remain a trial and a way, among others, to make the people heed and turn back
101:9-10,104:5,37:62-65,17:60"a trial for men..and We cause them to fear, but it only adds to their great inordinacy".The Quran says concerning such concepts of just requital with Heaven and Hell that it isnt a light matter, that it is well considered by the Wise
4:123"(This) shall not be in accordance with your vain desires nor in accordance with the vain desires of the followers of the Book".It further stresses that evil will be JUSTLY and FAIRLY requited "whoever does evil, he shall be requited with it, and besides Allah he will find for himself neither a guardian nor a helper".
The prophetic hadith leaves hope for even the worst of the worst, that they will eventually be admitted to paradise
"Allah the Exalted will say: The angels have interceded, the prophets have interceded, the believers have interceded, and none remains to intercede but the Most Merciful of the merciful. He will take a handful from the Hellfire and bring people out of it who never did any good and who had been turned into charcoal. He will cast them into a river named the River of Life on the outskirts of Paradise. They will come out as a seed comes cut from the silt carried by the flood. You see it near a stone or tree. Whatever is exposed to the sun is yellow or green, and whatever is under the shade is white...They will come out like pearls with seals on their necks. The people of Paradise will recognize them and say: They are those who have been freed by Allah, whom Allah has admitted into Paradise without any good deeds they have done nor any good they put forward. Then Allah will say: Enter Paradise and whatever you see therein is yours. They will say: O Lord, you have given us favors that you have not given anyone else among the worlds. Allah will say: I have a favor better than this. They will say: O Lord, what thing could be better than this? Allah will say: It is my satisfaction, for I will never be angry with you after this".
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