hell

Surah 44. Ad-Dhukhan verse 38-46

38. We created not the heavens and the earth, and all between merely in (idle) sport.
39. We created them only for just ends: but most do not know.
40. Surely, the day of sorting out is the time appointed for all of them,
41. The Day when no protector can help his client in anything and no help can they receive.
42. Except those that receive God's mercy: for He is exalted in might and Most Merciful.
43. Surely the tree of Zaqqum
44. will be the food of the sinful
45. like molten brass, it will boil in their insides.
46 Like the boiling of scalding water.

"The only Divine plan is that which allows humankind to shape its own destiny"----Maimonides.

Some people ask why a Merciful and Compassionate God puts people into Hell. People seldom wonder why the same Merciful and Compassionate God created Paradise. The Quran answers, ---Good and Evil are not the same.

Our earth is a place where we determine our destiny. God created Paradise as a place without evil and so, those who have chosen evil of their own free-will, cannot enter it. In order that people will choose paradise instead of hell, the Quran describes hell in the most graphically horrifying terms. We can use these images as a force of deterrence, or, if we are foolish, choose to ignore these warnings. ---its our destiny, and therefore, our choice.

Free-will empowers us, but its powers are also conditional----Epictetus explains"...Some things are within our control and some things are not. It is only after you have faced upto this fundamental rule and learned to distinguish between what you can and cannot control, that inner tranquility and outer effectiveness become possible."

Our ultimate destiny of hell/paradise, is our choice...it is within our control. This choice is a God-given gift to us---but with it comes the responsibility of facing the consequences of choosing wrong belief. What is wrong belief?---Epictetus explains "We are born into essential goodness, endowed with natural intuitions about what is good and worthy and what is not. The appropriate response to bad deeds is pity for the perpetrators, since they have adopted unsound beliefs and are deprived of the most valuable human capacity, the ability to differentiate what's truly good and bad for them. Their original moral intuitions have become distorted, so they have no chance at inner serenity."

How can we prevent ourselves from adopting wrong belief?----A good starting point is an attitude of humility. Rabindranath Tagore said "We come nearest to the Great when we are great in humility". God-awareness (Taqwa), helps remind us of right belief. ---which is, to develop right intentions that create right actions for the benefit all of God's creations.

"of all the causes which conspire to blind man's erring judgment and misguide the mind, what the weak head with strongest bias rules is pride, the never ending vice of fools."----- Alexander Pope.

Surah 38, verses 27-29

27. Not without purpose did we create heaven and earth and all between! The (opposite) were the thoughts of the unbelievers. But woe to the unbelievers because of the fire (of hell)
28. Shall we treat those who believe and work deeds of rightness, the same as those who do mischief on earth? Shall we treat those who guard against evil, the same as those who turn aside from right?
29. (here is) a book which we have sent down to you, full of blessings that all may meditate on its signs, and that people of understanding may receive admonition.



"God puts into hellfire only those who refuse to go anywhere else"---Prophet Muhammed(pbuh)