Fuel for the Fire
Religion has actually convinced people that there's an invisible man living in the sky who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever 'til the end of time! But He loves you!
George Carlin
Comedian
Fuel for the Fire
The Qur'an and Hadiths inform us that Hell (Jahannam) is a real place prepared by Allah as an abode of eternal torture for:
· those who do not believe in Him
· those who do not follow His and His messengers’ laws
· those who reject His messengers
- those who worship a different God(s)
The horrors, pain, anguish, and punishment of this place are all vividly depicted in Islamic scriptures, repeated over and over again, with an obsessive fervour that has surely achieved its goal of indoctrination using fear of the unknown.
There are well over three hundred verses in the Qur’an that speaks directly about the attributes of hell and its inhabitants. Hell has already been created by Allah, so it exists in the present time and will continue to exist forever. According to Muhammad when we die we are guided to either the gates of Heaven or Hell and there we wait until the day of resurrection at which time our bodies will be restored to enable awareness of either sensual pleasures or lasting torment.
How long do we spend in Hell? Today some apologists, with the aim of concealing the gruesome nature of Hell, claim that Hell is not eternal but lasts as a punishment only for a period, commensurate with the sins performed while on earth. They use verses 78:21-26 of the Qur’an to make their claim:
Surely hell lies in wait, A home for the rebellious. Living therein for ages. They shall not taste therein cool nor drink but boiling and intensely cold water. A fitting recompense (for them).
Here the word ‘ages’ is used which, according to some, could mean one lifetime, or just a few years. However ages could also mean a time period like the Ice Age, or Bronze Age or Elizabethan Age. Since this is supposedly spoken by Allah, and according to Allah in the Qur’an one of his days is equal to 50,000 human years, ‘ages’ for Allah could very well be billions of human years. This verse is also interpreted, by scholars, to apply only to Muslims who have committed sins, ‘rebellious’, who will go to hell as ‘recompense’ for their sins and then be eligible for release. Whichever way we look at this verse, it is awfully vague; one we would hope the creator of the universe would be more precise about when imparting such a critical piece of information to His creation.
However we do not have to dig too far in Allah’s book for clear-cut statements on just how long those who enters its gates shall have to spend in hell’s inferno.
Q4:168-9 Surely those who disbelieve Allah will not forgive them nor guide them to a path. Except the path of hell, to abide in it forever, and this is easy to Allah.
Q43:74 The sinners will be in the Punishment of Hell, to dwell therein for always.
Q33:64 Surely, God has cursed the disbelievers, and has prepared for them a flaming Fire wherein they will abide forever.
Q2:167 Thus will Allah show them their deeds as (nothing but) regrets. Nor will there be a way for them out of the Fire.
Q2:206 And when it is said to him, guard against the punishment of Allah; pride carries him off to sin, therefore hell is sufficient for him; and certainly it is an evil resting place.
Q4:56 Those who disbelieve in Our communications, We shall make them enter fire; so oft as their skins are thoroughly burned, We will change them for other skins, that they may taste the chastisement; surely Allah is Mighty.
Q5:37 They will long to leave the Fire, but never will they leave there from; and theirs will be a lasting doom.
Q9:68 Allah has promised the hypocritical men and women and the unbelievers the fire of hell to abide therein; it is enough for them; and Allah has cursed them and they shall have lasting punishment.
Qu34:51-52 Couldst thou but see when they are terrified with no escape, and are seized from near at hand, And say: We (now) believe therein. But how can they reach (faith) from afar off.
Q11:15-16 Those who desire the life of the present and its glitter. These are they for whom there is nothing but fire in the hereafter
Q72:23 And whosoever disobeys God and His Messenger, then surely, for him is the fire of Hell, he shall dwell therein forever.
Q98:06 Those who disbelieve, among the Christians, Jews and Polytheists, will be in Hell-Fire, to dwell therein (for good). They are the worst of creatures.
The verses above clearly state that hell is a region where the residents will abide or dwell therein forever. It is a lasting doom. A place from which there is no way out. A magical realm where the inmates’ skins are continuously burnt, then replaced ensuring pain can be felt again and again and again.
There is no escape from Hell because it is securely guarded by nineteen angels, led by Malik.
Q43:77 They will cry: “O Malik! would that thy Lord put an end to us!” He will say, “Nay, here ye must remain!”
Begging for their tormented existence to be terminated, the inhabitants of Hell will be turned down by the head angel who insists they must remain and be tortured.
Who exactly are these inhabitants? Many Muslims today claim Hell is only for those who consciously reject Islam or those who have committed serious crimes including blasphemy against Allah and His messenger. Throughout the Qur’an though, Allah is very specific in stressing the qualification of those who will enter the gates leading to the fire. He says in verse 19:70 We do certainly know best those who deserve most to be burned therein.
Being a true Muslim requires that you believe/worship both Allah and Muhammad. There are over seventy five verses that link unbelievers/disbelievers with Hell. Here is a small sample:
Q2:24 Be on your guard against the fire of which men and stones are the fuel; it is prepared for the unbelievers.
Q2:39 Those who disbelieve in and reject My communications, they are the inmates of the fire, in it they shall abide.
Q3:12 Say to those who disbelieve: You shall be vanquished, and driven together to hell; and evil is the resting-place.
Q3:131 And fear the Fire which is prepared for the disbelievers.
Q3:151 We will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve, because they set up with Allah that for which He has sent down no authority, and their abode is the fire….
Q18:102 Surely We have prepared hell for the entertainment of the unbelievers.
Q21:98 Surely disbelievers and the false gods ye worship besides Allah are the firewood of hell; to it you shall come.
Q40:70-72 Those who reject the Book and that with which We have sent Our Messenger; but they shall soon come to know when the yokes and chains are round their necks; they shall be dragged along into boiling water, then in the fire shall they be burned
Q48:13 And whoever does not believe in Allah and His Messenger, then surely We have prepared burning fire for the unbelievers.
As would be expected the sinful will be inmates. Though their sins would be finite their punishment will be infinite:
Q2:81 Whoever earns evil and his sins beset him on every side, these are the inmates of the fire; in it they shall abide.
Anyone who tries to hide part of the Qur’an from others will be eating fire:
Q2:174 Surely those who conceal any part of the book that Allah has revealed and take for it a small price, they eat nothing but fire into their bellies
The apostates of course who according to Sharia are to be killed in this world will be required to go to hell for their main punishment:
Q2:217 …whoever of you turns back from his religion (apostate), then he dies while an unbeliever-- these it is whose works shall go for nothing in this world and the hereafter, and they are the inmates of the fire; therein they shall abide.
Even a Muslim who marries an idolater without converting them will be tempting the fire:
Q2:221 And do not marry the idolatresses until they believe; and do not give (believing women) in marriage to idolaters until they believe; these invite to the fire (Hell)
Those who deal in interest (usury) will be owners of the fire:
Q2:275 Those who swallow down usury cannot arise except as one whom Shaitan has prostrated by (his) touch does rise. … Such are rightful owners of the Fire; they shall abide in it.
The Jews who are accused of killing the prophets (the killing of Jesus) will taste the torment of Hell:
Q3:181 Indeed, Allah has heard the statement of those (Jews) who say: “Truly, Allah is poor and we are rich!” We shall record what they have said and their killing of the Prophets unjustly, and We shall say: “Taste you the torment of the burning (Fire).”
The ‘Peoples of the Book’, a term used by Muhammad to describe Jews and Christians, along with those worshipping multiple gods shall be in the fire because they are the worse humans that Allah has created. Jews and Christians will take the place of sinful Muslims in Hell.
Q98:8 Surely those who disbelieve from among the followers of the Book and the polytheists shall be in the fire of hell, abiding therein; they are the worst of men.
SM37:6668 Allah's Messenger said: There would come Muslims on the Day of Resurrection with as heavy sins as a mountain, and Allah would forgive them and He would put in their place the Jews and the Christians.
Worshippers of idols, especially female ones, take Satan as their friend, they cannot visit mosques and will find no protection from the fires of Hell:
Q4:117-121 They invoke in His stead female deities; they pray to none else than a rebellious Satan. …Satan makes them promises, and creates in them false desires; but Satan's promises are nothing but deception. … These are they whose abode is hell, and they shall not find any refuge from it.
Q9:17 The idolaters have no right to visit the mosques of Allah while bearing witness to unbelief against themselves, these it is whose doings are null, and in the fire shall they abide.
Women will form the majority of the inhabitants of Hell. When asked why, Muhammad said it was because they curse too much, are ungrateful to your husbands, lack commonsense, fail in religion and rob wisdom from the wise.
Sahih Bukhari 62:124 - Muhammad said “I stood at the gate of the Fire and saw that the majority of those who entered it were women.”
Sahih Muslim 1:142 - Muhammad said “O womenfolk, you should ask for forgiveness for I saw you in bulk amongst the dwellers of Hell.”
During Jihad in the way of Allah, should a Jihadi experience a change of heart and turns away from his mission or he stays at home, he will incur the wrath of Allah and be fodder for the fire:
Q8:16 And whoever shall turn his back to them (disbelivers) on that day-- unless he turn aside for the sake of fighting or withdraws to a company-- then he, indeed, becomes deserving of Allah's wrath, and his abode is hell; and an evil destination shall it be.
Q9:81 Those who were left behind were glad on account of their sitting behind Allah's Messenger and they were averse from striving in Allah's way with their property and their persons, and said: Do not go forth in the heat. Say: The fire of hell is much severe in heat.
Those who go beyond the limits of Allah or Muhammad, contravening their laws and prohibitions (such as not eating halal slaughtered animals or eating pork, drinking alcohol, gambling, neglecting the five daily prayers, not following Allah’s laws of inheritance, etc.) will be forced to enter the fire:
Q4:14 And whoever disobeys Allah and His Messenger and goes beyond His limits, He will cause him to enter fire to abide in it, and he shall have an abasing chastisement.
Those who kill a Muslim will have Allah’s wrath sent upon him/her. No mention of hell or Allah’s wrath is mentioned for the killing of non-Muslims:
Q4:93 And whoever kills a believer intentionally, his punishment is hell; he shall abide in it, and Allah will send His wrath on him and curse him and prepare for him a painful chastisement.
Anyone opposing Allah or his messenger or have set up equals to compete with Allah will not fare too well in the hereafter:
Q9:63 Do they not know that whoever acts in opposition to Allah and His Messenger, he shall surely have the fire of hell to abide in it? That is the grievous abasement.
Q14:30 And they set up equals with Allah that they may lead (people) astray from His path. Say: Enjoy yourselves, for surely your return is to the fire
Q17:39 …do not associate any other god with Allah lest you should be thrown into hell, blamed, cast away.
Hypocrites in Islam are those who, though they call themselves Muslims, knowingly follow unacceptable lifestyles that in some ways violate the doctrine. For such Muslims, most commonly referred to today as moderate Muslims, their destination is also the abode of Hell:
Q4:140 ….surely Allah will gather together the hypocrites and the unbelievers all in hell.
Q9:73 O Prophet! strive hard against the unbelievers and the hypocrites and be unyielding to them; and their abode is hell, and evil is the destination.
Q48:6 He may punish the hypocritical men and the hypocritical women, and the polytheistic men and the polytheistic women. On them is the evil turn, and Allah is wroth with them and has cursed them and prepared hell for them, and evil is the resort.
Painters and by extension sculptors and artists in general will be tormented in hell by the images they created, which would have punishing souls breathed into them.
SM24:5270 Allah's Messenger said: The most grievously tormented people amongst the denizens of Hell on the Day of Resurrection would be the painters of pictures. The soul will be breathed in every picture prepared by him and it shall punish him in the Hell.
According to the Qur’an, Allah deliberately causes some people to follow the wrong path. These individuals, forced into straying, are referred to as blind, deaf and dumb, they will be humiliated by being gathered on their faces and their burning boosted should the flames in any way allay slightly.
Q17:97 And whomsoever Allah guides, he is the follower of the right way, and whomsoever He causes to err, you shall not find for him guardians besides Him; and We will gather them together on the day of resurrection on their faces, blind and dumb and deaf; their abode is hell; whenever it becomes relieved We will add to their burning.
To reason that the Day of Judgment may simply be a myth would not be a wise point of view according to Allah:
Q25:11 They deny the hour of the judgment to come: but We have prepared a blazing fire for such as deny the hour.
All in all everyone except for a select group who rigidly follow the prescribed laws of Islam, do not contravene any prohibitions, pray the required number of times, fasts when prescribed and believe the words of Muhammad, will be going to Hell for eternity. No matter how good a person they may have been, how much love and charity they gave or what benefits they contributed to society, their destination is the same as the cruelest of individuals; all because of their lack of faith in Allah and his messenger due either to reasoning or circumstances of birth.
Hell itself, though already exists, is brought near, by angels on the Day of Judgment. It is so deep that Allah cannot give a definitive distance and it comprises many levels so varying punishments can be administered.
Q18:100 And We will bring forth hell, exposed to view, on that day before the unbelievers.
Q89:23 And Hell will be brought near that Day…
SB 40:6810 Allah's Messenger said: The hell would he brought on that day (the Day of Judgment) with seventy ropes and every rope would be controlled by seventy angels.
Sahih al-Jami’ - If a stone as big as seven pregnant camels was thrown from the edge of Hell, it would fly through it for seventy years, and yet it would not reach the bottom.
The Prophet said: “The sun and moon will be two rolled-up bulls in Hell on the Day of Resurrection” (Silsilah al-ahadeeth)
Q4:145 Surely, the hypocrites will be in the lowest depths of the Fire.
The lower the level of Hell, the greater is the intensity of heat. The hypocrites will suffer the worst punishment and will reside in the lowest part of Hell. Therefore Muslims who do not follow the religion as prescribed will suffer the most in Hell.
However Muhammad spoke of the lightest punishment in Hell as recorded in Sahih Bukhari: “The person who will receive the least punishment among the people of Hell on the Day Resurrection will be a man, a smoldering ember will be placed under the arch of his foot. His brains will boil because of it.”
There are seven gates leading to Hell, each for a different grade of sinners.
Q15:43-44 And surely, Hell is the promised place for them all. It has seven gates, for each of these gates is a class of sinners assigned.
Q39:71 The Unbelievers will be led to Hell in crowd: until, when they arrive, there, its gates will be opened.
Q39:72 It is said (unto them): Enter ye the gates of hell to dwell eternally therein. Thus hapless is the journey's end of the scorners.
Residents will be thrown into the crusher which is the fire roused by Allah made into a vault over them preventing escape from the pit.
Q104:4-8 He shall most certainly be hurled into the crushing disaster. What will make you realize what the crushing disaster is? It is the fire of the wrath of Allah kindled to a blaze … It shall be made into a vault over them.
It is very interesting to know what will keep the fire burning eternally. The Qur’an tells us:
Q66:6 O you who have believed, protect yourselves and your families from a Fire whose fuel is people and stones...
Q2:24 … fear the Fire, whose fuel is men and stones, prepared for the disbelievers.
Q3:10 (As for) those who disbelieve, surely neither their wealth nor their children shall avail them in the least against Allah, and these it is who are the fuel of the fire.
Even the false gods that people worshipped will be fuel for the fire. One would have to assume that Allah believes these false Gods exist. Otherwise they cannot be fuel for the fire.
Q21:98-99 Verily ye, (unbelievers), and the false gods that ye worship besides Allah, are (but) fuel for Hell! Had these been gods, they would not have come to it and all shall abide therein
Allah also informs us of the garments specifically tailored for those who did not worship him:
Q22:19 … Those who disbelieve, for them are cut out garments of fire and boiling water shall be poured over their heads
Q14:49-50 And you will see the guilty on that day linked together in chains. Their shirts made of pitch and the fire covering their faces
The fire of Hell will be seventy times hotter than the fire we are familiar with on earth. There will be no shade and it will never extinguish.
Sahih Muslim 40:6811 Allah's Apostle said: The fire which sons of Adam burn is only one-seventieth part of the Fire of Hell. His Companions said: By Allah, even ordinary fire would have been enough (to burn people). Thereupon he said: It is sixty-nine parts in excess of (the heat of) fire in this world each of them being equivalent to their heat.
Q77:30-31 Depart ye to a Shadow of smoke ascending in three columns neither having the coolness of the shade nor availing against the flame.
Q2:86 … their chastisement shall not be lightened nor shall they be helped.
Food for the inmates of Hell is described in the Qur’an as follows:
Q88:6-7 No food will there be for them except from a bitter, thorny plant which neither nourishes nor avails against hunger.
Q44:43-46 Indeed, the tree of zaqqum is food for the sinful, like murky oil, it boils within bellies, like the boiling of scalding water.
Q37:64-67 It (zaqqum) is a tree that-grows in the bottom of the hell. Its crop is as it were the heads of devils… Then on top of that they will be given a mixture made of boiling water.
Muhammad expounds on the nature on this zaqqum tree as recorded by Tirmidhi: “If a drop from zaqqum were to land in this world, the people of earth and all their means of sustenance would rot. So how must it be for one who must eat it?”
The drinking of the boiling water will not be pleasant on the bowels and the eating of the thorny zaqqum will choke them:
Q47:15 …They will be given to drink boiling water, so that it cuts up their bowels to pieces.
Q14:16-17 Hell is before him and he shall be given to drink of festering water. Which he sippeth but can hardly swallow, and death cometh unto him from every side while yet he cannot die.
Q73:13 And food that chokes and a painful punishment
Above Allah says there is no food other than the fruit of the zaqqum tree. However, elsewhere He claims there is nothing for the people of Hell except the festering puss that oozes out of their skin. Maybe it is the juice of the people of Hell.
Q38:57 So let them taste it, boiling and intensely cold (drink).
Q69:36 Nor hath he any food except the filth from the washing of wounds
Muhammad further describes this ‘juice’ in Sahih Muslim 23:4962 Every intoxicant is forbidden. Verily Allah the Exalted and Majestic, made a covenant to those who drank intoxicants to make their drink Tinat al-Khabal (in Hell). They said: Allah's Messenger, what is Tinat al-Khabal? He said: It is the sweat or the discharge of the denizens of Hell.
With torment so great the dwellers of Hell will be willing to give up their dearest possessions to escape it:
Q3:91 Surely, those who disbelieve and die while they are unbelievers, the earth full of gold shall not be accepted from one of them, though he should offer to ransom himself with it, these it is who shall have a painful chastisement, and they shall have no helpers.
The chastisement will involve much humiliation and degradation for the residents. They will be flung down and dragged on their faces which will be turned black, insinuating that having a black face is demeaning, in addition to being shackled and chained:
Q22:90 They will be flung down on their faces into the Fire, …
Q23:104 The Fire will burn their faces, their lips displaced.
Q33:66 The Day their faces will be turned over in the Fire…
Q54:48 The Day they are dragged into the Fire on their faces. It will be said: ‘Taste the touch of Hell.’
Q69:30-33 Lay hold on him, put a chain on him, cast him into the burning fire, then thrust him into a chain the length of which is seventy cubits. Surely he did not believe in Allah, the Great.
Q40:71-2 When the shackles and chains are around their necks; they will be dragged in boiling water; then in the Fire they will be filled (with flame).
Q76:4 Surely We have prepared for the unbelievers chains and shackles and a burning fire.
Q10:27 … their faces will be covered with pieces from the depth of darkness of night: they are companions of the Fire: they will abide therein eternally!
Q3:106 On the day some faces shall turn white {those going to heaven} and some faces shall turn black {those Hell bound}; to those with black faces it shall be said: ‘Taste the chastisement because you disbelieved.’
The verse above implies that those entering Heaven will be transformed to white skinned beings whereas those going to Hell will become black. This does tie in conveniently with Muhammad’s description of houris (vergins) in Paradise who he mentions will be fair skinned. The Islamic afterlife would somehow seem to involve some form of ethnic cleansing.
Off course the Qur’an is insightful enough to point out that the unbeliever will experience great remorse when confronted with the fires of Hell. But it is resolute in pointing out that such feelings of repentance will avail them not. For them there shall never be forgiveness or compassion. The unbeliever will pray for relief, cry out for help and even beg to be destroyed, but will be told the punishment will never be reduced, it is eternal:
Q10:54 And they will feel regret when they see the punishment;
Q25:13 And when they are cast, bound together into a constricted place therein, they will plead for destruction there and then!
Q35:37 And they shall cry therein for assistance: ‘Our Lord, take us out, we will do good deeds’ And the Lord will say ‘Did We not give you long enough life that you would receive caution? And there came to you the messenger; therefore taste; because for the unjust, there is no helper
Q23:106-108 They will say: Our Lord! Our misfortune overwhelmed us, and we became a people astray! Bring us out of this. He will say, ‘Stay despised therein and do not speak to Me.’
Q40:49-50 And those in the Fire will say to the keepers of Hell, ‘Beg your Lord to lighten for us a day from the punishment.’ The keepers will say: ‘Did there not come to you your messengers with clear signs?’ They will say, ‘Yes.’ The keepers will reply, ‘Then pray (as ye like)! But the prayer of those without faith is nothing but (futile wandering) in (mazes of) error!’
According to Muhammad in a hadith recorded by Ibn Majah: “The people of Hell will be made to weep, and they will weep until they have no tears left. Then they will weep blood until they have, as it were, channels in their faces, if ships were put in them, they would float.”
To add insult to injury Allah informs us that believers reclining on their thrones in Paradise will amuse themselves by looking down on the kuffar in Hell, mocking them as they are being tortured:
Q7:44 The Companions of the Garden will call out to the Companions of the Fire: "We have indeed found the promises of our Lord to us true: Have you also found Your Lord's promises true? They shall say, "Yes"; but a crier shall proclaim between them: "The curse of Allah is on the wrong-doers"
Some apologists, those appalled by the infinite torturous punishments designed by Allah for the unbelievers, now speculate that good people regardless their of acceptance of Allah are destined for a place called Al'A'raf, the Heights. This notion is justified based on the following verses of the Qur'an:
Q7:46 Between them {those in heaven and those in hell} shall be a screen, and on the heights will be men who would know every one by his marks: they will call out to the Companions of the Garden, "peace on you": they shall not have yet entered it, though they hope.
Q7:47 When their eyes shall be turned towards the Companions of the Fire, they will say: "Our Lord! send us not to the company of the wrong-doers."
Q7:48 The men on the heights will call to certain men {in Hell}, whom they will know from their marks, saying: "Of what profit to you were your hoards and your arrogant ways?
Q749 "Behold! are these not the men whom you swore that Allah with His Mercy would never bless? Enter ye the Garden: no fear shall be on you, nor shall ye grieve."
Allah here describes an area where there is a barrier between Heaven and Hell, where men (no mention of women being there) are gathered to be subsequently judged. Those at the wall can speak to those already in Paradise as well as see the suffering of those in Hell. Verse 46 states "they have yet to enter paradise though they hope" whilst verse 47 has those waiting, pleading not to be sent to the fire. Therefore they are simply awaiting their fate based on the judgment of Allah, hoping for Paradise whilst begging not to be amongst those of the fire.
This wall is described in Q57:13 So a wall will be put up between them, with a gate therein. Within it will be Mercy and outside it will be Wrath and Punishment! Al-A'raf is essentially a barrier between Paradise and the Fire, a wall that has a gate. It is not a place for those who miss out on heaven because of ignorance of Islam. Verse 48 has the men on the Heights taunting those in Hell reminding them of their arrogant ways by denying Allah and his messenger, whilst verse 49 points out that those entering Paradise are the same men whom the arrogant mocked as being credulous enough to believe the message of Allah.
The Qur’an and Hadiths have abundant descriptions of Paradise and Hell, their attributes, the qualifications for entering them and the activities of those who will reside within. However for the Heights there is absolutely no mention of any of these traits; just the fact that it is a screen or wall between the two eternal abodes where those on the Day of Judgment will await ruling on their eternal fate.
The descriptions of Hell in Islamic scriptures are clear and graphic. A place of eternal torment with punishments in no way justifiable as commensurate with the alleged deeds performed in this finite lifetime. To carry out chastisements so horrific, principally for the crime of not accepting on blind faith, Allah and his messenger or contravening the many prohibitions or laws Muhammad laid down, is tantamount to the cruelest torture conceivable by the human mind.
Hell is essentially a great psychological weapon used as a tool by Islam (and Christianity) to inculcate a fear of the unknown and infuse blind faith into the masses, with the ultimate aim of power and control.