Heaven and Hell
In the preceding chapter it has been said that the Last Day will be
the Day of Judgment. On that Day the believers who will also have done
good deeds in the world and on whom there will be no punishment will
rejoice. During the entire proceedings of the Day they will rest secure
under the shadow of Divine benevolence and gain immediate admission
into the Paradise. Such of them as well be adjudged worthy of deliverance
but only after they have undergone a spell of punishment will be forgiven
and admitted into the Paradise after they have suffered some of the
agonies of the Day of Reckoning, or, at the utmost, after they have
spent some time in Hell. In any case, those possessing the least amount
of faith will, sooner or later, find their place in Heaven. Only men
who will have departed from the world in a state of infidelity or polytheism
will be doomed to live permanently in Hell. In sum, Heaven is the reward
for faith, fidelity and good doing and Hell for infidelity, polytheism
and revolt against God and transgression against His will.
The superlative, incomparable blissfulness of Heaven and the fearful,
loathsome punishment and torture of Hell have been described in proper
detail in the Quran:
For righteous are Gardens in nearness to their Lord, with rivers flowing
beneath; therein is their eternal home; with Companions pure (and holy);
and the good pleasure of God. For in God’s sight are (all) His
servants. (III: 15)
Verily the companions of Garden shall that Day have joy in all that
they do; they and their associates will be in grove of (cool) shade;
reclining on Thrones (of dignity); every fruit (enjoyment) will be there
for them; they shall have whatever they call for; “Peace!”
a word (of salutation) from a Lord Most Merciful. (XXXVI: 55-58)
There will be there all the souls could desire, all that the eyes could
delight in; and ye shall abide therein (for eye). (XLIII: 71)
(Here is) a Parable of the Garden which the righteous are promised:
in it are rivers of water incorruptible; rivers of milk of which the
taste never changes; rivers of wine of joy to those who drink; and rivers
of honey (pure and clear). In it there are for them all kinds of fruits;
and Garden from their Lord. (XLVII: 15)
No sense of fatigue shall touch them. (XV: 48)
In short, Heaven is the abode of supreme and eternal blissfulness, felicity
and happiness. There will not be the faintest trace of pain, sorrow
or distress in it. Let us now see how will life in Hell be like:
But those whose balance is light, will be those who have lost their
souls; in Hell they will abide. The fire will burn their faces, and
they will therein grin with their lips displaced. (XXIII: 103-4)
For the wrong-doers We have prepared a Fire whose (smoke and flames),
like the walls and roof of a tent will hem them in: if they implore
relief they will be granted water like melted brass, that will scald
their faces. (XVIII: 29) But those who deny (their Lord), for them will
be cut out a garment of Fire; over their heads will be poured out boiling
water. With it will be scalded what is within their bodies, as well
as (their skins). In addition, there will be maces of iron (to punish)
them. Every time they wish to get away therefore, from anguish, they
will be forced back therein, and (it will be said), “Taste ye
the Penalty of Burning!” (XXII: 19-220
Verily the tree of Zaqqum will be the food of the sinful, like molten
brass; it will boil in their insides, like the boiling of scalding water.
(A voice will cry) “Sieze ye him and drag him into the midst of
the Blazing Fire! Penalty of boiling water.” (XLIV: 4348)
And he is given for drink boiling fetid water. In gulps will he sip
it, but never will be near swallowing it down his throat: death will
come to him from every quarter, yet will he not die; and in front of
him will be a chastisement unrelenting. (XIV: 16-17)
Those who reject Our Signs, We shall soon cast into the Fire: as often
as their skins are roasted through, We shall change them for fresh skins
that they may taste the Penalty. (IV: 56)
But enough. Here are hundreds of verses in the Quran that tell the same
story. To take now some of the Traditions of the Prophet:
“Says God, ‘For My faithful servants I have got ready (in
Heaven) things no eye has seen, nor ear heard of nor the thought of
which has ever crossed a human heart’.”
The delicious foods, the luscious fruit, the delightful drinks, the
gorgeous clothes, the magnificent palaces, the splendid gardens, the
delectable lakes, the wonderful houris (celestial brides) and other
innumerable things of divine beauty and joy that will be available in
Heaven are, to be sure, known only to God. We, on our part, believe
in them implicitly and hold them to be absolutely true.
Says another Tradition: “As the dwellers will enter Heaven a heavenly
herald will proclaim, ‘Stay healthy; disease is not going to touch
you here. Live forever; death does exist for you no more. Remain young;
you shall not grow old in Heaven. Be happy always; for you, now, there
is neither pain nor sorrow.”
But the greatest boon that will be conferred on the faithful, who also
practise righteousness, after they have entered their celestial abode,
is that they will see God in all His Divine Splendor. In the words of
the holy Prophet it will be like this:
“When the dwellers of Paradise have entered the home of celestial
bliss God will enquire from them thus: ‘Do you want that I may
bestow a favour upon you over and above the blessings you enjoy?’
The people of the Heaven will answer: ‘Our Lord! Thou hast illumined
our faces, saved us from Hell and granted us the paradise. (What more
can we want)? The veil will then be lifted and they shall see their
Lord unhindered. All the endless joys and blessings of the Paradise
will fade away before the glorious spectacle of the Almighty.”
In another Tradition it is related that once the Prophet while describing
the marvelous pleasures of the Paradise and the extreme agony of the
Hell observed:
“On the Day of Judgment a person will be brought who will have
lived in greatest pomp and luxury in the world but will be condemned
to hell because of his evil deeds. He will be dipped once into the fire
of Hell and then taken out of it immediately and asked, “Have
you ever known comfort?’ The man will reply, ‘No, our Lord.
I swear by Thy name, I have never known what comfort is.’ Afterwards,
another person will be brought who will have led a life of rank misery
and misfortune on the earth but will be found worthy of Paradise owing
to his faithfulness of God and piety. He will be taken to Heaven and
then led out of it immediately and asked, ‘Have you ever known
pain or misery?’. ‘No, our Lord!’ he will reply, ‘I
swear by Thy name, I have never known what pain or misery is?”
In truth, God has provided such wonderful joys and comforts in the Paradise
that a man who has passed his days in the world in utmost distress will
forget all about it as soon as he has had a taste of them. Likewise,
the Hell is such an infernal place that a person who has lived all one’s
life in the world in rare luxury and happiness will at once feel, on
stepping into it, that he had never known what it was to be happy or
comfortable.
The severity and dreadfulness of the chastisement of the Hell can be
imagined from this one Tradition of the sacred Prophet:
“The mildest punishment that will be inflicted on a person in
the Hell is that he will be made to wear a pair of sandals made of fire
which will be so hot as to set his brain boiling as if something was
cooking in a pot on a stove.”
The fare that will be served there has been indicated in the verses
of the Quran we have quoted already. Here, also, are two Traditions
of the Prophet:
“The stinking pus people will be made to drink in Hell is such
that if a bucket of it was thrown into the world the whole world would
be filled with its infernal stench.”
“If a drop of Zaqqum were to fall on the earth it would be enough
to pollute all the articles of food and drink that are found here.”
Brothers, all these things the holy Quran and the sacred Prophet have
told about the shape of things to come after death the Barzakah, the
Resurrection, the Judgement and Heaven and Hell and we have discussed
in this lesson and in the preceding one, are literally correct and true.
There can be no doubting them at all. By the Almighty, they will come
to pass exactly as the Quran and the holy Prophet have taught. We will
see them ourselves, with our own eyes, after death.
The Last Day and Heaven and Hell have been dwelt upon in the Quran and
the Traditions with such emphasis and thoroughness and referred to again
and again a thousand times for no other reason except to arouse in us
a living, genuine anxiety to do all that lies in our power to save ourselves
from the fearful penalty of Hell and attain the cherished, supremely
delightful goal of Paradise.
Brothers, life is transitory, One day we must die. Death is certain,
and so is the Last Day. We will, surely, have to stand before God after
death and answer for our deeds on the earth. What, then, is our eternal
home going to be Heaven or Hell?
There is time still for us to mend our ways, to offer honest repentance
for our misdeeds of the past and make a real, sincere effort for the
attainment of Paradise.
Should, God forbid, the rest of our days in the world be also spent
in neglect and folly, then, be sure, there is nothing in store for us
in the Hereafter save regret and the punishment of Hell.
