hell

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<em>Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim</em><br />

<em>Alhamdulillahi rabb al-'alamin was salatu was-salamu 'ala 
nabiyyina muhammad wa 'ala alihi wa ashabihi wa man tabi'ahum bi ihsanin
 ila yawm ad-din, amma b'ad</em>:<br />

The Companions of our Prophet Muhammed (<em>sallallahu 'alayhi wa salam</em>)
 used to gather to remember death so that they would benefit their souls
 by increasing in fear of Allah and strive to gain His pleasure. If this
 was the case of the <em>Sahabah</em> and they were the best of generations, the most pious and God-fearing of this <em>Ummah</em>, then what about us? Surely, it means that we need to engage in the remembrance of Allah - <em>the Most Perfect, the Most High</em> - even more. After all, we are in far more need of this act of worship than they were.<br />

Let us begin at the end of a man's life, in his last moments. He is 
lying on his death bed and his family are at his side. His father is 
calling for the doctor. His wife asks him: "To whom are you leaving 
us?". The man's little daughter asks him, "Why do you not answer me?", 
and his small boy cries but nobody responds to him. This is the 
situation Allah, <em>the Most High and the Most High</em>, has informed us about:<br />

<div style="margin-left: 2em;">
<span class="quran">"Nay, when the soul 
reaches the throat, and it is said: 'Who will cure him now?' The dying 
person concludes that this is the time for departing. The leg joins the 
other leg."</span> [<em>Al-Qur'an</em> 75:26-29]</div>
They place him in his shroud, his leg joins his other leg. Then he is
 carried upon the shoulders and taken to a dark hole. If he was a 
transgressing criminal he cries out: "Woe to it! Where are you taking 
it?"<br />

<div style="margin-left: 2em;">
<span class="quran">"The drive that day will be to your Lord."</span> [<em>Al-Qur'an</em> 75:30]</div>
Then he is lowered into this ditch and dirt is thrown upon him until he is sealed in it. If he was a criminal, Allah - <em>the Most Perfect and the Most High</em> - says:<br />

<div style="margin-left: 2em;">
<span class="quran">"So he neither believed nor did he pray. Rather he belied and turned away."</span> [<em>Al-Qur'an</em> 75:31-32]</div>
This transgressor will remain in his grave alone, there will be 
no-one to sit with him and no-one to keep him company. He will feel the 
heat of the fire, smell its foul odour, and be tortured therein. This 
man's grave will sqeeze in upon him so much so that the bones of his rib
 cage will cross each other. Despite all this punishment and all this 
torture and pain, he will hope that the hour will never be established. 
For this man knows that the hour is far worse and of he will be in 
greater loss on that Day.<br />

The man hears <em>'as-Sakhah'</em> from within his grave, and what is <em>'as-Sakhah'</em>?
 It is the second blowing of the trumpet. This is when all that is in 
the graves shall be raised and ressurrected. So the criminal will cry:<br />

<div style="margin-left: 2em;">
<span class="quran">"'Woe to us, who has 
woken us from our resting place?' It will be said: 'This is what the 
Ever-Merciful promised and the messengers where truthful.' "</span> [<em>Al-Qur'an</em> 36:52]</div>
The earth will be torn away from above him. This man will see the 
heavens being cleft assunder, the stars falling and being scattered, the
 oceans in their greatness bursting forth, burning, the graves will at 
that time bring forth their contents.<br />

<div style="margin-left: 2em;">
<span class="quran">"Every person shall know what he has sent forth of good and bad deeds at that moment."</span> [<em>Al-Qur'an</em> 82:1-5]</div>
Then he will raised up and driven to the crowding place: <em>'al-Mahshar'</em>.<br />

<div style="margin-left: 2em;">
<span class="quran">"That day, the mother 
who is nursing her child will become careless of it, the mother who is 
carrying her child will drop her load. That day, mankind will appear as 
if they are drunk yet they they are not drunk. Indeed the punishment of 
your Lord is great."</span> [<em>Al-Qur'an</em> 22:1-2]</div>
The mother will come to her son and say: "Oh my son, my breast was a 
container for you, my womb was a container for you. Oh my son I seek 
from you a <em>hasanah</em> (merit) that I may approach Allah with. My 
son, do not be greedy towards me". In the world this son would have 
sacrificed his life, rather many lives for merely the happiness of his 
mother so how does he treat her now? He responds to her plea: "Get away 
from me! Leave me! Indeed I am in need of this merit more than you."<br />

<div style="margin-left: 2em;">
<span class="quran">"So when <em>as-Sakhah</em>
 comes. That day a man will flee from his brother, from his mother and 
his father, from his wife and his children. That day every man shall 
have enough to make him careless of others."</span> [<em>Al-Qur'an</em> 80:33-37]</div>
So mankind will wait in this crowding place for 50,000 years, after which Allah, <em>the Most Perfect and the Most High</em>,
 will come to judge them. So He will call the criminal and say to him, 
"Oh so and so, did I not give you of the cold water to drink? Did I not 
give you a healthy body? Did I not give you many bounties? What have you
 done with all that which I bestowed upon you?" So the man replies, "I 
have done nothing my Lord."<br />

So he lies to his Lord on that day. Allah says: "Where are the 
witnesses!" So the Angels come and bear witness that this criminal did 
not pray in those moments of prayer, he drank, fornicated, lied, cursed 
and insulted. He turned away from belief and was proud and arrogant. So 
the criminal says to his Lord, "I do not accept accept a wintness except
 one from myself." His Lord replies to him, "And you have that?"<br />

<div style="margin-left: 2em;">
<span class="quran">"The day when we shall 
seal their mouths, there hands will speak to us and their legs will bear
 witness to that which they used to earn."</span> [<em>Al-Qur'an</em> 36:65]</div>
So he turns to his skin and says to it: it was only for you that I was arguing.<br />

<div style="margin-left: 2em;">
<span class="quran">"Nay, when the earth is
 shaken a true shaking and your Lord comes with the Angels in rows. That
 day the Fire will be brought near. That day man will remember but how 
will that remembrance avail him? He will say, 'Woe to me! Would that I 
had put forth something for this life.' "</span> [<em>Al-Qur'an</em> 89:21-24]</div>
This man then remembers. This criminal remembers that when he heard 
the call for prayer and he did not respond to it. He remembers when he 
woke and the sun had already risen yet he had not prayed al-fajr. This 
man remembers when he abused this one, when he slandered that one, when 
he earned that unlawful wealth, when he struck this one and killed that 
one. This criminal remembers every sin with which he disobeyed Allah 
with. That day all his remorse and regret amounts to nothing. Then Allah
 will say, "Sieze him and fetter him. Then throw him into the blazing 
fire. Then put a chain which is 70 cubits long through him. Indeed he 
did not used to believe in Allah, <em>the Most Perfect, the Most High</em>."<br />

The Angels will then drag him upon his face into the fire. As he 
enters it he will see his friends from the world already present.<br />

<div style="margin-left: 2em;">
<span class="quran">"Every time a nation enters it curses it sister nation."</span> [<em>Al-Qur'an</em> 7:38]</div>
So he is greeted with curses and given a wretched abode in which to 
abide. The fire encompasses him from all sides roasting, burning his 
skin completely,<br />

<div style="margin-left: 2em;">
<span class="quran">"Whenever their skins have been done (burnt away) we replace them with new skins so that they may taste of the punishment."</span> [<em>Al-Qur'an</em> 4:56]</div>
Their food in the fire is <em>ad-Dari'</em> (a thorny plant).<br />

<div style="margin-left: 2em;">
<span class="quran">"No food will they have except Ad-Daree'. It neither nourishes nor removes hunger."</span> [<em>Al-Qur'an</em> 88:6-7]</div>
When they eat it they choke due to the thorns. So when they are 
choking they ask to be rescued with water, so they are rescued with an 
intensly boiling water which grills their faces when they appoach it. 
When they drink from the water, due to its heat, it cuts their 
intestines and causes them an increased pain. They eat from <em>az-Zaqqum</em>. They eat a bitter fruit which cannot be tasted.<br />

<div style="margin-left: 2em;">
<span class="quran">"Indeed the tree of <em>Zaqqum</em>
 will be the food of the sinners. Like boiling oil, it will boil in the 
belies, like the boiling of scalding water. It will be said : Drag, 
sieze him and drag him into the midst of the blazing fire. Then pour 
upon his head the torment of boiling water. Taste! You were pretending 
to be the Mighty the Generous."</span> [<em>Al-Qur'an</em> 44:43-49]</div>
Due to this intense pain, suffering and anguish they are experiencing they call upon the guardian of hell-fire,<br />

<div style="margin-left: 2em;">
<span class="quran">"They call, Oh Malik let your Lord destroy us."</span> After many years he responds to them with two words, <span class="quran">"You are staying."</span> [<em>Al-Qur'an</em> 43:77]</div>
After all of this, they have one last chance and they call upon their
 Lord, "Oh our Lord we were indeed astray! Oh our Lord we were indeed 
misguided, we did fall short. Return us to the world so that we can do 
good instead of that which we used to do."<br />

Allah replies to them, "Rot in it and do not speak to me. After this they do not speak nor do they utter."<br />

They are then called from afar, "Oh dwellers of the fire, do you know
 what this is?" They reply, "Yes that is death in the form of a ram." 
Death is then slaughtered in a place between <em>al-Jannah</em> and <em>an-Nar</em>. It is said to the dwellers of the fire, ever-lasting life without death.<br />

As for the other group, the ones who obeyed their Lord in this world, let us describe briefly their fate:<br />

When he is placed into his grave it is widened and made spacious for 
him. He smells the sweet fragrance of Al-jannah and feels some of its 
comforts. He sleeps in his grave like a bride on her wedding night who 
no-one shall awaken except her beloved. When the cry comes he is 
gathered to the crowding place and waits there for 50,000 years. This 
time passes as if it were the time between <em>dhuhr</em> and <em>'asr</em>.
 Then the Lord of the worlds comes to make judgement, so He calls His 
slave saying, "Oh my slave, do you not remember that sin, do you not 
remember this sin." So the slave replies, "My Lord I have perished!" So 
Allah replies to him, "I hid it in the world for you and this day I 
forgive it." This good man is handed his book in his right hand. Due to 
his happiness he runs to the people and says "Take it; read my book. 
Indeed I used to think I would meet my accounting."<br />

<div style="margin-left: 2em;">
<span class="quran">"So he will be in a content life."</span> [<em>Al-Qur'an</em> 69:19-21]</div>
Then he will be crowded from a group of <em>al-Jannah</em>. The <em>Jannah</em>
 has eight gates and between each gate is a distance that would take 40 
years to traverse. There comes a day when the gates are crowded. So as 
this slave of Allah enters <em>al-Jannah</em> he is greeted with <em>salam</em> (peace). He sees before him 4 rivers:<br />

<div style="margin-left: 2em;">
<span class="quran">" ... In it are rivers 
of water, the taste and smell of which are not changed. Rivers of milk 
of which the taste never changes, rivers of wine delicious to those wo 
drink and rivers of clear and pure honey ... "</span> [<em>Al-Qur'an</em> 47:15]</div>
He has therein a house and he knows this house as he knows his 
dwelling in this life. His house is made from bricks of gold and silver.
 In it he has wives from the <em>Hur al-'Ayn</em>.<br />

<div style="margin-left: 2em;">
<span class="quran">"And <em>Hur al-'Ayn</em>, like untouched, unseen, precious pearls. A reward for what they used to do."</span> [<em>Al-Qur'an</em> 56:22-24]</div>
<div style="margin-left: 2em;">
<span class="quran">"Indeed we have created them a special creation, made them virgins, loving only their husbands of equal age."</span> [Al-Qur'an 56:35-37]</div>
Every time they cohabit with their husbands they return to being 
virgins. Outside this house he has a tent, in it he has wives. When he 
goes to one of them, the other does not see him.<br />

In <em>al-Jannah</em> the righteous slave has everything he desires, wishes and wants. He neither feels extreme heat nor the bitter cold:<br />

<div style="margin-left: 2em;">
<span class="quran">"They will see there neither the excessive heat of the sun nor the bitter cold."</span> [<em>Al-Qur'an</em> 76:13]</div>
There is not a tree in <em>al-Jannah</em> except its trunk is made of gold. When he requires its fruit he does not need to get up from his place, since it comes to him:<br />

<div style="margin-left: 2em;">
<span class="quran">"The bunches of fruit thereof hang low, within reach."</span> [<em>Al-Qur'an</em> 76:14]</div>
<div style="margin-left: 2em;">
<span class="quran">"They are served by youthful boys who never age. If you were to see them you would think them scattered pearls."</span> [<em>Al-Qur'an</em> 76:19]</div>
So he resides therein, tranquil and at ease. No pain, no ill feeling 
and no foul speech. Life without death, lasting with no end.<br />

These are not mere stories that we tell to amuse ourselves or scare 
one another, rather they are the destinies of the ones who obey Allah 
and those who disobey. Allah calls His slaves to repentance many times 
in every day so avail these opportunities. Repentance has only three 
conditions, that you be sincere to Allah, that you leave the sin and 
that you make a firm resolve that you never return to the sin.<br />

So be the children of the Hereafter and not the children of this life; a party in Paradise and a party in the Hell-fire.<br />

(s) Transliteration of a translation of a <em>khutbah</em></div>