Chapter
7: Jahannum (Hell)
This is an abode which clearly
symbolises the boundless Wrath of Almighty Allah. Just as there is no limit to
his Mercy and Grace, which cannot be understood by the human mind, similarly
there is no limit to his Wrath. All the pain, suffering and torment that a person
can imagine is unparallel compared to the Wrath of Allah. That which has been
mentioned in the Qur’an and Hadith concerning the wrath of Allah is being
briefly explained in this discussion, so that Muslims may read this and seek
refuge from the Wrath of Allah, and so that they should abstain from those
practices which will lead them towards hellfire.
It has been mentioned in the Hadith
Shareef that when a person sincerely seeks refuge from hell then Jahanum
requests Almighty Allah to grant him refuge. The Qur’an has warned us on many occasions
to fear Hell and to stay away from those things which lead one towards hell. In
order to educate us, our beloved Rasool صلی
اللہ تعالی علیہ وسلم
would often ask refuge from the fire of Hell. The flames
and ignitions of
Jahanum will be as high as huge mansions. When leaping into the sky, the flames
will seem like a caravan of yellow camels. Man and stone are the fuel of
Jahanum. The fire of the world is only one portion of the seventy portions of
the fire of hell. The lowest form of punishment in Jahanum is that a person
will be made to wear shoes of fire, which will cause his brains to boil like a
copper pot boils. He will assume that he is facing the worst punishment,
whereas he will be facing the least punishment. Almighty Allah will ask him if
he had the entire earth, would he exchange it in return for refuge from this torment.
He will reply in the positive. Almighty Allah will say that when he was in the
spine of Hazrat Adam علیہ السلام
then all that He asked of him was to
obey one thing and that was never to make kufr (infidelity) but he did not take
heed to this. The fire of Jahanum has been fuelled for a thousand years, until
it became red. It was then fuelled for a further thousand years until it became
white. It was then fuelled again for another thousand years until it turned
black. It is now completely black and dark, wherein there is no sign of light.
Hazrat Jibra’eel علیہ السلام
took an oath to the Prophet صلی اللہ تعالی علیہ وسلم saying,
‘If the doors of Jahanum are opened
even equivalent to the point of a needle, then all the people on earth will die
due to the intensity of the heat.’
He then swore an oath and said,
‘If the warden of Jahanum had to
appear to the people, then all of them would die due to his fierce appearance.’
He also took an oath and said,
‘If one linkage from the chains of
an inmate of hell had to be placed on a mountain, it would tremble, not being able
to withstand its intensity, until it will ultimately sink deep into the farthest
earth.’
The fire of this world is so intense
and none will dispute its intensity. In hot weather it is extremely difficult
to stand near a fire. The fire of this world begs Almighty Allah never to
re-enter it into the fire of hell, yet amazingly man seems to have no fear and
does all that which will lead him into hellfire. Man seems not to fear that
fire, which the fire itself fears. Almighty Allah alone knows the depth of
Jahanum. It has been mentioned in the Hadith Shareef, that if a pillar of rock
is thrown into Jahanum from the edge of hell, then even after travelling for a distance
of 70 years. It will not reach the bottom of hell, whereas if a person throws a
ball from the heights of the sky in the morning, it will reach earth by
nightfall. Hell has numerous abysses, levels and wells. There are certain
dungeons in hell from which hell itself seeks refuge more than 70 times daily
and even more times than this. There are many torments which the kaafirs will
face in Jahanum. The Angels will beat them with such heavy iron rods, that if
one rod has to be placed on earth, all the humans and Jins together will notbe
able to lift it off the ground. There are enormous snakes and scorpions in
hell. The scorpions are as thick as the necks of camels and the snakes are more
venomous that can be imagined. Their stings and bites are so venomous and
painful, that the pain and effects felt from it, will last for a thousand
years. The inmates of hell will be fed water which is as hot as oil and which
has been boiled to its highest intensity. When they bring the water close to
their mouths, the intense heat will cause the skin on their faces to fall off. This
boiling water will be poured over their heads. When they are thirsty, the pus
that emanates from the body of the inmates of hell will be given to them to
drink. They will be fed thorny fruits. The foul smell of these fruits will be
so intense, that if one piece of it falls onto earth, it will disturb the
entire cycle of humanity. When they are hungry, they will be given these fruits
to eat. When they eat it, its thorny nature will cause it to be lodged in the
throat, causing them suffocation. They will beg for water, so they will be
given such extremely hot water, which will cause the skin on their faces to fall
into it. When this water reaches their bowel, it will cause the intestines to
disintegrate and flow out of the body. They will rush towards water like
exhausted camels run around in search of water in the intense heat. When the
kufaar become weary of the punishment, they will consult with one another and
decide to call out to Hazrat Maalik علیہ السلام, the gate keeper of Hell. They will say,
‘Please ask your Lord to end our
lives, so that we may be spared from this torment.’
Hazrat Maalik علیہ السلام
will not reply to them for a
thousand years. After a thousand years pass, he will say,
‘Do not call out to me. Call out to
Him, Whom you have disobeyed.’
They will then call out to Almighty
Allah with His Merciful and Compassionate Names for a thousand years. Almighty
Allah will not reply to them for a thousand years. After this time, He will
say,
’Be off. Remain in Jahanum and do
not call out to me.’
Disillusioned, the kufaar will
shriek and wail like donkeys. They will cry so bitterly that deep scars will
form on their faces. They will cry rivers of tears and when their tears are no
more, they will cry blood and pus instead of tears. There will be so much of
blood and pus that ships would be able to sail in them. The inmates of hell
will be so hideous that if one inmate of hell has to be brought to earth, all
the people on earth will die due to his repulsiveness and foul odour. The bodies
of the inmates of hell will be inflated to such an extent that to travel from
one shoulder to the other shoulder will take 3 days on a fast horse. Their
skins will become 42 yards thick and their tongues will hang out of their
mouths for a distance of up to 2 miles. Those who pass by will trample on their
tongues. When an inmate of hell sits, he will occupy space that is equivalent
to the distance between Makkah and Madinah. Their faces will be twisted and
disfigured to such an extent that their upper lip will stretch over the top of
their heads and their lower lip will hang over their navels. The appearance of
the kufaar in Jahanum will not be the appearance of humans because Almighty
Allah created humans in the best of moulds, and more so because it is the
example of the appearance of the beloved Rasool صلی اللہ تعالی علیہ وسلم. The appearance of the inmates of hell will
be as has been explained above. Finally, the kufaar will be placed into caskets
of fire equivalent to their heights. A lock made from fire will be placed onto
the casket. Thereafter this casket will be placed into another casket of fire
with fire between it.
This too will have a lock placed on
it. It will then be placed into a third casket of fire, locked and then thrown
into the depths of Hell. Every inmate of hell incarcerated in a casket will
assume that he is the only one left in hell. This will be the most intense
punishment and it will be forever. When the Jannatis enter Jannat and those
that are to remain in hell are in hell, then death will be brought forth on a
bridge between heaven and hell, in the form of a ram. All the dwellers of
heaven and inmates of hell will be summoned. The Jannatis will fear that they
are to be removed from Jannat and the inmates of hell will think that they have
received refuge from hell. They will be asked if they recognised the ram, and
all will answer in the positive, confirming that it is ‘Death’.
The ram will then be slaughtered and an announcement will be made: ‘Death is no more. O Dwellers of Paradise! Remain therein
forever, and O inmates of hell! Death is no more; so linger therein forever.’ The Dwellers of Paradise will be ecstatic with happiness
and the inmates of hell will be devastated with sadness forever.
نَسْألُ
اللہَ الْعَفْوَ وَالْعَافِیَۃَ فِي الدِّیْنِ وَالدُّنْیَا وَالآخِرَۃِ.
‘We pray that Almighty Allah pardons us and
favours us with His Mercy in this world and in the hereafter’ Aameen
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