Headings
Introduction
The Allah who we are constantly informed by Muslims apologists requires no Atoning Sacrifice, and “just forgives”, apparently “requires” to actually torture people in Hell before accepting them at all.
The Qur’an suggests it
Surah 19:71 says everyone goes there for a while
“So by your Lord, We will surely gather them and the devils; then We will bring them to be present around Hell upon their knees…Not one of you there is, but he shall go down (“وَارِدُهَا– waridhuha) to it; that for thy Lord is a thing decreed, determined” (Q 19:68,71)
The word for “go down” or “come” “وَارِدُهَا– waridhuha is quite rare in Quranic usage, is used in verb form a couple of times, and participial form a couple times more, and each time with the meaning of “coming”. In fact in the only other participial usage it refers to those disbelievers who are indeed going to Hell forever! I make this word-study because some moderate translations try to use “pass over”, instead of “come” or “enter”. This is that other participial usage:
Indeed, you [disbelievers] and what you worship other than Allah are the firewood of Hell. You will be coming to [enter] (“وَارِدُهَا– waridhuha) it. (Q21:98)
Plus in the verb form, Moses “comes” to the well of Midian, in a parallel of the Biblical narrative (Q28:23)
you can check the full word-study here: https://corpus.quran.com/qurandictionary.jsp?q=wrd#(19:71:4)
Here is the Lexical entry for wa-ra-dha: http://lexicon.quranic-research.net/data/27_w/089_wrd.html
Surah 101- Depends on how your scales tip
The notion is conveyed in surah 101 that all those whose scales are tipped the wrong way are dumped into Hell, seemingly forever.
“Then as for him whose balance (of good deeds) will be heavy, 7. He will live a pleasant life (in Paradise). 8. But as for him whose balance (of good deeds) will be light, 9. He will have his home in Hawiyah (pit, i.e. Hell). 10. And what will make you know what it is? 11. (It is) a hot blazing Fire!” (Q 101:6-11)
Only a few/Unintentional sins are Forgiven
To start with, not all Muslim’s sins are forgiven anyway, in fact few are. Safe to assume that this might have Hellish consequences. his verse states that only unintentional sins are forgiven:
“The repentance accepted by Allah is only for those who do wrong in ignorance [or carelessness] and then repent soon after. It is those to whom Allah will turn in forgiveness, and Allah is ever Knowing and Wise.” (Q 4:17)
Just to add to the confusion, this is then also contradicted by other verses that state that all (except major sins) will be forgiven eg. 39:53, 53:32, and 4:48 that shirk is unforgiveable, which is then also contradicted in other verses.
The Hadith are Mixed
Muhammed was apprehensive of his own Outcome
‘A’isha reported: The Prophet entered my house when a Jewess was with me and she was saying: Do you know that you would be put to trial in the grave? The Messenger of Allah trembled (on hearing this) and said: It is the Jews only who would-be put to trial. ‘A’isha said: We passed some nights and then the Messenger of Allah said: Do you know that it has been revealed to me:” You would be put to trial in the grave”? ‘A’isha said: I heard the Messenger of Allah seeking refuge from the torment of the grave after this.” (Muslim 584)
He asked protection from various punishments: (Bukhari 6375, 8379) “Narrated ‘Aisha: The Prophet used to say, “O Allah! I seek refuge with You from laziness and geriatric old age, from all kinds of sins and from being in debt; from the affliction of the Fire and from the punishment of the Fire and from the evil of the affliction of wealth; and I seek refuge with You from the affliction of poverty, and I seek refuge with You from the affliction of Al-Masih Ad-Dajjal. O Allah! Wash away my sins with the water of snow and hail, and cleanse my heart from all the sins as a white garment is cleansed from the filth, and let there be a long distance between me and my sins, as You made East and West far from each other.”
A proportion of Muslims experience Hell
This is an important Hadith, VERY long, hence I have only included excerpts that are relevant here. You will notice that only Muhammed “and his apostles”, whatever that means pass over the bridge over Hell without becoming entrapped. This certainly does not sound that the average lay-Muslim is out of trouble:
“Narrated Abu Huraira:…On the Day of Resurrection, people will be gathered…only this nation (Muslims) will be left with its hypocrites…Allah will call them, and As-Sirat (a bridge) will be laid across Hell and I (Muhammad) shall be the first amongst the Apostles to cross it with my followers. Nobody except the Apostles will then be able to speak and they will be saying then, ‘O Allah! Save us. O Allah Save us.’ There will be hooks like the thorns of Sa’dan [??] in Hell. Have you seen the thorns of Sa’dan [??]?” The people said, “Yes.” He said, “These hooks will be like the thorns of Sa’dan [??] but nobody except Allah knows their greatness in size and these will entangle the people according to their deeds; some of them will fall and stay in Hell forever; others will receive punishment (torn into small pieces) and will get out of Hell, till when Allah intends mercy on whomever He likes amongst the people of Hell, He will order the angels to take out of Hell those who worshipped none but Him alone. The angels will take them out by recognizing them from the traces of prostrations, for Allah has forbidden the (Hell) fire to eat away those traces. So they will come out of the Fire, it will eat away from the whole of the human body except the marks of the prostrations. At that time they will come out of the Fire as mere skeletons. The Water of Life will be poured on them and as a result they will grow like the seeds growing on the bank of flowing water. Then when Allah had finished from the Judgments amongst his creations, one man will be left between Hell and Paradise and he will be the last man from the people of Hell to enter paradise. He will be facing Hell, and will say, ‘O Allah! Turn my face from the fire as its wind has dried me and its steam has burnt me.’…”
-Bukhari 806, this “last man standing” as a long conversation with Allah which is not relevant here.
Again, Aisha seems has a conversation with Muhammad which seems to cast doubt over whether anyone will really have an easy ticket to Heaven upon their deaths
Narrated `Aisha: Allah’s Messenger, said, “None will be called to account on the Day of Resurrection, but will be ruined.” I said “O Allah’s Messenger! Hasn’t Allah said: ‘Then as for him who will be given his record in his right hand, he surely will receive an easy reckoning? (84.7-8) — Allah’s Messenger said, “That (Verse) means only the presentation of the accounts, but anybody whose account (record) is questioned on the Day of Resurrection, will surely be punished.” (Bukhari 103)
Finally this one states that the believers will cross the Bridge over Hell at varying speeds according to how good they were. Some receive no injury, some minor, some serious injury. This “injury” must mean an injury received from Hell, and therefore signify the believer suffering the torments of Hell to varying degrees, but described figuratively. If its not figurative, then it’s hard to know what the purpose of this “rite of passage” is, that is, if “Allah” had willed that no Muslim suffer the torment of Hell, then why are they receiving these injuries anyway:
Saheeh al-Bukhaari (7439) and Muslim (183) “it is narrated from Abu Sa‘eed al-Khudri:……Then the bridge will be laid across Hell.’ We said, “O Messenger of Allah! What is the bridge?’ He said, ‘It is a slippery (bridge) on which there are clamps and (hooks like) thorns which are wide at one side and narrow at the other and have bent ends. A plant with such thorns is found in Najd and is called al-Sa’daan. Some of the believers will cross the bridge as quickly as the wink of an eye, some others as quick as lightning, a strong wind, or fast horses or she-camels. So some will be safe without any harm; some will be safe after receiving some scratches, and some will fall down into Hell (Fire). The last person will cross by being dragged (over the bridge).” Muslim added: Abu Sa‘eed said: I heard that the bridge is narrower than a hair and sharper than a sword.
In this hadith Mohammed asserts that 70,000 of his followers will not taste Hellfire. This is a paltry number in light of population figures for Islam today and across the ages.
Imaam al-Bukhaari narrated in his Saheeh from Ibn ‘Abbaas that the Prophet said: “I was shown the nations, and some Prophets passed by with a few followers, and some Prophets passed by with no followers. Then I was shown a great multitude, and I said, ‘What is this? Is this my ummah?’ It was said, ‘No, this is Moosa and his people.’ It was said, ‘Look at the horizon.’ There I saw a huge multitude filling the horizon. And it was said, ‘Look there, and there, on the horizons of the sky.’ There was a multitude filling the horizons. It was said, ‘This is your ummah, and of these, seventy thousand will enter Paradise without being brought to account.’” Then he went inside, without explaining further. The people started to discuss what he had said, saying, “We are the ones who have believed in Allaah and followed His Messenger; we are they” or, “It is our children who were born in Islam whilst we were born in Jaahiliyyah.” The Prophet heard about what was being said, so he came out and said: “They are the ones who do not seek ruqya, do not believe in bad omens and do not use branding; they put their trust in their Lord…”
The Commentaries are Mixed
Ibn Abbas explains Q. 11:107-108 (which seems to say that there are exception to the permanence of Hell) this way:
(Abiding there) they will stay in the Fire forever (so long as the heavens and the earth endure) for as long as the heavens and the earth remain, from the moment they were created until the moment they lapse (save for that which thy Lord willeth) and your Lord has willed that they will abide in the Fire forever; it is also said: those who are damned will abide therein forever for as long as the heavens, the earth and the children of Adam subsist, except those whom Allah wills to change from damnation to felicity by His saying: (Allah effaceth what He will, and establishes [13:39]); it is also said that this means: they will abide in the Fire for as long as the heavens and the earth subsist: the heaven of the Fire and the earth of the Fire unless Allah wills to get the people who believed in Allah’s divine Oneness out of it, those whose wretchedness was caused by a sin less than disbelief. Allah will enter these into Paradise because of their pure faith. (Lo! thy Lord is Doer of what He will) as He will. (Tanwîr al-Miqbâs min Tafsîr Ibn ‘Abbâs)
“There is not one of you shall come to it that is but shall enter hell. Inevitability already decreed by your Lord something which he made he decreed. He will not alter it” -Tafsir al Jalalyn on 19:71.
Ibn Kathir, on the other hand, states on 19:71 that only those with serious sins endure temporary hellish torture, and quotes another hadith stating that the martyrs at a certain Mohammedan battle are assured of not tasting hellfire.
Summary- To be Tortured or Not to Be?
“Allah just forgives” is at the very least, a massive over-simplification of the matter. The Qur’an gives no indication of any such notion, and it should not be pre-supposed. It is quite well -known for “improving” traditions to arise in subsequent years, examples of this are the sinlessness of Muhammad, the Second Coming of Jesus, the allegation of corruption against the Judeo-Christian Scriptures among others. All in all, total confusion reigns over the matter of whether believers spend time in Hell or not and for how long, and whether and how it is that Hell can be avoided altogether. As usual the hadith seem to contradict the Qur’an and the Muslim believer is bound to feel rather left in the lurch here as to whether they will be tortured or not.
ts’s obvious that there’s total confusion among Muslims as to whether they will be tortured or not, and they have no clue how to escape from that torture. Surah 101 just says that if their scales tip, and their bad deeds outweigh their good deeds, then they will literally go to Hell, period. I’m starting to understand why even Muhammed was terrified of what his outcome would be.
