Based on the Book by Dr. Umar Sulaiman
al-Ashqar
Bi'idhnillaah a very important series begins on the list today,
concerned with the subject of al-Jannah and an-Naar - the Paradise and the
Hell-Fire. One of these two will be the end destination, moreover the
eternal abode, for each and every one of us. Therefore it is crucial for
us to reflect on what Allah has prepared for mankind - for those who are
obedient and recognise His favours, and for those who reject His sins and
rebel against Him.It is
my intention with these posts, after seeking the pleasure of Allah azza wa
jall, to touch the hearts of each and every one of you, as the book, on
which this series is based - "The Final Day: Paradise and Hell" by Dr.
'Umar Suleiman al-Ashqar, Professor at the College of Shariah, University
of Jordan - touched mine. To fill your hearts with fear of Allah's
punishment as reading it did mine; To fill your hearts as mine was filled
with Love for Allah subhaanahu wa ta'ala and an incredible yearning for
the beauty and bliss of al-Jinaan, the Gardens; and insha'Allah to put
this dunyaa in perspective and thus to inspire us to devote our lives to
the cause of Allah and His Deen, to work to save our heels from even
feeling the heat of the Hell-fire.So I
ask Allah, for the sake of our own souls, that we read each word
carefully, and deeply reflect upon the Aayaat of Allah and the sayings of
His Messenger, so that insha'Allah we will live our lives, as if we could
see the Fire on one side of us, and the Garden on the other.Surely, as the Prophet sallAllahu 'alayhi was-sallam said, there
is no life but the life of al-aakhirah.
Definition and Explanation
Hell is the abode which Allah (swt) has prepared for those who do
not believe in Him (swt), those who rebel against His (swt) laws and
disbelieve in His Messengers. It is the punishment for His (swt) enemies,
the prison for evildoers.
It is the ultimate humiliation and loss; there is nothing
worse:
"Our Lord! Verily, whom You admit to the Fire, indeed, You
have disgraced him, and never will the Dhaalimoon [polytheists and
wrongdoers] find any helpers" (3:192)
"Know they not that whoever opposes and shows hostility to
Allah and His Messenger, certainly for him will be the fire of Hell to
abide therein? That is extreme disgrace". (9:63)
"The losers are those who will lose themselves and their
families on the Day of Resurrection. Verily, that will be a manifest
loss!" (39:15)
How could Hell be other than we have described, when it is full
of utterly indescribable torment, pain and grief? It is eternal and its
inhabitants will remain there forever. Allah (swt) has condemned them and
their place in the Fire:
"Evil indeed it [Hell] is as an abode and as a place to
dwell" (25:66)
"This is so! And for the Tagheen [transgressors] - will be
an evil final return - Hell! Where they will burn, and worst [indeed] is
that place to rest!" (38:55-6)
Paradise and Hell Have Already Been Created
at-Tahhaawi said, in his book on al-'Aqeedah al-Salafiyyah (correct
belief in accordance with that of the early generations of Islam) that is
known as al-'Aqeedah al-Tahhaawiyyah.
"Paradise and Hell have already been created. They will never
come to an end or cease to exist. Allah (swt) created Paradise and Hell
before the rest of creation, and He (swt) created inhabitants for each of
them. Whoever He (swt) wishes (will enter) Paradise by His grace and
mercy, and whoever He (swt) wishes (will enter Hell) as a result of His
(swt) justice. Every person will behave according to that for which he was
created, and his destiny will be that for which he was created; good deeds
and evil deeds are foreordained for all men".
Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Abul-'Izz al-Hanafi remarked, in his
commentary on
this text:"With regard to his saying that Paradise and Hell have already
been created, Ahl as-Sunnah agree that Paradise and Hell have been created
and are in existence at the present moment. Ahlus-Sunnah continued to hold
this view, until some odd ideas of the Mu'tazilah and Qaadariyyah came
along, which denied that. These groups said: "Allah will create them (ie
Paradise and Hell) on the Day of Resurrection." They said this because of
their false arguments by means of which they seek to improve regulations
on what Allah (swt) should do; (they say) it befits Allah (swt) to do
this, or it does not befit Allah (swt) to do that. They compare Him to
His creation and their actions. This is a kind of anthropomorphism with
regard to deeds; they have allowed the ideas of Jahmiyyah (a sect of
Mu'tazilah named after the deviant, Jahm ibn Safwan) to creep into their
thinking, and have become mu'attalah (those who deny that Allah can see).
They said, "It does not make sense for Paradise to be created before the
time of reward, because it will not be used or inhabited for a very long
time. They rejected the aayaat and reports that contradict these false
notions they seek to project onto Allah (swt). They misinterpreted the
texts and accused those who disagreed with them of going astray and
concocting bid'ah".
Proofs from the Qur'an and Hadeeth in support of this are, for
example:
"Race with one another in hastening towards forgiveness from
your Lord, and Paradise the width whereof is as the width of the heaven
and the earth, prepared for those who believe in Allah and His
Messengers. That is the Grace of Allah, which He bestows on whom He is
pleased with. And Allah is the Owner of Great Bounty".
(57:21)
"...for Paradise as wide as are the heavens and the
earth, prepared for al-Muttaqun" (3:133)
"And fear the
fire, which is prepared for the disbelievers" (3:131)
"And indeed he (Muhammad) saw him (Jibreel) at a second
descent (ie another time), near Sidrat al-Muntahaa (lote tree of the
utmost boundary (beyond which none can pass), near it is the Paradise of
Abode" (53:13-15)
The Prophet (saw) saw Sidrat al-Muntahaa, a tree in Heaven, and
near it, Paradise, as is mention in al-Bukhaari, and Muslim in the hadith
of Anas (ra). At the end of this narrative of al-Israa, the Prophet (saw)
said, "Then Jibreel brought me to Sidrat al-Muntahaa which was
veiled in colours indescribable. Then I entered Paradise, and its lights
were of pearls and its soil was musk".
Muslim, Abu Dawud and Imaam Ahmad report from Abu Hurayrah (ra)
that the Messenger (saw) said, "When Allah (swt) created Paradise
and Hell, He sent Jibreel to Paradise, saying "Go and look at it and at
what I have prepared therein for its inhabitants". So he went and looked
at it and at what Allah had prepared therein for its inhabitants.... then
He sent him to Hellfire saying, "Go and look at it and what I have
prepared therein for its inhabitants" So he looked at it and saw that it
was in layers, one above the other...."
Muslim reports from Aishah (ra) that there was a solar eclipse
in the time of the Messenger (saw) and he said, "Whilst I was
standing here I saw everything that you have been promised, I even saw
myself picking some of the fruits of Paradise, when you saw me stepping
forward. And I saw Hellfire, parts of it consuming other parts, when you
saw me stepping backward".
al-Bukhaari and Muslim report from Ibn 'Abbas the same
incident, "I saw Paradise and I tried to take a bunch of its fruit.
If I had managed to do so, you would have eaten from it until the end of
time. And I saw the Fire of Hell, and I have never seen anything so
horrific or terrifying. I saw that the majority of its inhabitants are
women."
Muslim also reports from Anas that the Prophet (Saw) said,
"By the One in Whose Hand is my soul, if you had seen what I saw,
you would laugh little and cry much." They said, "What did you see, O
Messenger of Allah?", He said, "I saw Paradise and Hell".
The Prophet (saw) also ascended into jannah on the night of
Mi'raj in his 'Isra (night journey): for example*
"...I saw four rivers flowing out from beneath Sidrat al-Muntahaa,
two visible and two hidden." (Muslim, Kitaab al-Imaan, Baab
al-'Israa, 1/150, no.164) * "Whilst I was walking in Paradise I saw
a river whose banks were domes of hollow pearls and I asked, "What is
this, O Jibreel?" He said, "This is al-Kawthar which your Rabb has given
to you". (from Anas ibn Maalik, Sahih al-Bukhaari, Kitaab
ar-Riqaaq, Baab fil-Hawd, Fath al-Baari, 11/464)
*
al-Bukhaari and Muslim report from Jaabir that the Messenger of Allah
said, "I entered Paradise where I saw ar-Rumaysa, the wife of Abu
Talhah. And I heard footsteps and asked, "Who is that?" He (Jibreel) said,
"That is Bilaal". And I saw a palace with women in its courtyard. I asked,
"Whose is this?" They said, It is for 'Umar ibn al-Khattab"
(Mishkaat al-Masaabih, 3/226)
Imaam Ahmed, Ibn Hibbaan and al-Haakim report from Abu Hurayrah
that the Prophet (saw) said, "The children of the believers are in
Paradise, being cared for by Ibraahim (as) [and in the narration
of Abu Nu'aym, ad-Dawylami, and Ibn Asakir it adds- "and Sarah,
until they give them back to their parents on the day of
Resurrection"]
al-Bukhaari and Muslim also report from 'Abdullaah ibn 'Umar
(ra) that the Messenger of Allah (saw) said, "When anyone of you
dies, he will be shown his position morning and evening. If he is one of
the people of Paradise then he will be one of the people of Paradise, and
if he is one of the people of Hell, then he will be one of the people of
Hell, and he will be told, "This is your position, until Allah (swt)
resurrects you on the Day of Resurrection".
According to al-Muwatta of Imaam Maalik and as-Sunaan, Abu
Dawood, "Ka'b ibn Maalik said the Messenger of Allah (saw) said,
"Verily the soul of the believer is a bird hanging on to the trees
of Paradise, until Allah Swt returns it to its body on the day of
Resurrection"
This makes it clear that souls will enter Paradise before the
Day of Resurrection.
As
for the specious arguments of those who say that Hell has not been created
yet, they say: If it was already created now, then it would of necessity
have to come to an end of the Day of Resurrection and everyone in it would
have to perish because Allah says: "Everything will perish save His
Face" (28:88) and "Everyone shall taste death.." (3:185) The
response to this is: If you mean that Paradise does not exist until the
Trumpet is blown and people are resurrected from their graves, then this
is incorrect and is refuted by the evidence quoted above and other proofs
which we have not mentioned here. If you mean that Allah (swt) has not
yet completed the creation of everything that He will prepare for the
inhabitants of Paradise and that He is still creating more and more things
in it, and that when the believers enter Paradise, Allah (swt) will
create even more things in it, then this is true and cannot be refuted,
and the evidence that you give can only mean this, but when you use the
aayah - "Everything will perish save His Face" - as evidence, your
problem is that you misinterpret this aayah. Using it to prove that
Paradise and Hell do not yet exist is like your colleagues using it to
prove that they will both be destroyed and their inhabitants will all
perish! You and your scholars did not understand the aayah properly; only
the leaders (great scholars) of Islaam have understood it properly. They
say that "everything" for which Allah (swt) has decreed destruction and
oblivion "will perish" but Paradise and Hell have been created to last
forever and never pass away, as has the Throne, which forms the roof of
Paradise.
"It was suggested that it meant that everything would perish
except His dominion, or whatever was done for His sake. Another suggestion
was that when Allah (swt) revealed the word: "Whatever is on it will
perish" - the angels said, "The people of earth are doomed", and hoped
that they would remain. Allah said that the people of heaven and earth
would perish and said, "And invoke not any other ilaah along with
Allah, Laa ilaaha illaa Huwaa. Everything will perish save His Face"
(28:88) because He is the Living and does not die. The angels realise that
they too were destined to die. Their words should be taken in the light of
and reconciled with other clear and unambiguous reports that prove that
both Paradise and Hell are eternal".(Sharh
at-Tahaawiyyah, p.479, see also Siddeeq Hasan Khan, Yaqadhah ula
al-'i'tibaar, p. 37 and 'Aqeedah as-Safarini 2/230)
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