A Description of Hell Fire (Part 5 of 5)

The Horrors of Hell 2 Allah will blacken the faces of the people of Hell: “On the Day (some) faces will turn white and (some) faces will turn black. As for those whose faces turn black. (to them it will be said), ‘Did you reject faith after your belief? Then taste the punishment for what you used to reject.'” (Quran 3:106) Their faces will be such as if the night has covered them: “But they who have earned (blame for) evil doings – the recompense of an evil deed is its equivalent, and humiliation will cover them. They will have from God no protector. It will be as if their faces are covered with pieces of the night – so dark (are they). Those are the companions of the Fire; they will abide therein eternally.” (Quran 10:27) The Fire will surround the unbeliever on all sides just as sins surrounded him like a sheet wound around his body: “Theirs will be a bed of Fire and over them coverings (of Fire).” (Quran 7:41) “On the Day when the torment (of Hell) will cover them from above them and from underneath their feet.” (Quran 29:55) “and surely Hell will surround the unbelievers.” (Quran 9:49) The Fire of Hell will leap up to the hearts. The Fire will penetrate their super-sized bodies and reach the innermost depths: “No! He will surely be thrown into the Crusher. And what can make you know what is the Crushers? It is the fire of God, (eternally) fueled, which mounts directed at the hearts.” (Quran 104:4-7) The Fire will split the entrails as mentioned by the Prophet: “A man will be brought on the Day of Resurrection and thrown into the Fire. Then his entrails will be spilled out into the Fire and he will be forced to walk around and around like a donkey in a treadmill. The people of Hell will gather around him and say, ‘O so-and-so, what is wrong with you? Did you not enjoin us to do good and forbid us to do wrong?’ He will say, ‘I used to order you to do good, but I did not do it and I used to forbid you to do evil, but I used to do it myself.’ Then he will walk around and around like a donkey in a treadmill.”[1] Allah has described the chains, yokes, and fetters of Hell. They will be tied up with chains and dragged with yokes on their necks: “for the rejecters We have prepared iron chains, yokes, and a blazing Fire.” (Quran 76:4) “With Us are fetters (to bind them), and a Fire (to burn them), and a food that chokes, and a penalty grievous.” (Quran 73:12-13) “We will put yokes on the necks of the unbelievers. It would only be requital for their evil deeds.” (Quran 34:33) “when yokes will be put round their necks and the chains, they will be dragged along.” (Quran 40:71) “(The stern command will say): seize him and bind him, and burn him in the blazing fire, further, make him march in a chain, whereof the length is seventy cubits.” (Quran 69:30-32) The pagan gods and all other deities that were worshipped besides Allah, including the sun and the moon, who people thought will be their intercessors with Allah and bringing them closer to Him will be thrown into Hell with them. This will be to humiliate and demonstrate that these false gods have no power, “Indeed, you (disbelievers), and that which you worship other than God,[2] are but fuel for Hell. Verily, you will enter it. Had these (false deities) been (actual) gods, they would not have entered there, but all will eternally abide therein.” (Quran 21:98-99) When the unbeliever will see Hell, he will be filled with remorse, but it will not be of any benefit: “And they will feel regret when they see the punishment; and they will be judged in justice, and they will not be wronged.” (Quran 10:54) The unbeliever will pray for his death when they sense its heat, “And when they are thrown into a narrow place therein bound in chains, they will cry out thereupon for destruction. (They will be told), ‘Do not cry this Day for one destruction but cry for much destruction.’” (Quran 25:13-14) "Their screams will get louder and they will call onto God hoping He will take them out of Hell: “And they will cry out therein, ‘Our Lord, remove us; we will do righteousness – other than what we were doing!’” (Quran 35:37) They will realize theirs sins and the error of stubborn disbelief: “And they will say, ‘If only we had been listening or reasoning, we would not be among the companions of the Blaze.’ And they will admit their sin, so (it is) alienation for the companions of the Blaze.” (Quran 67:10-11) Their prayers will be rejected: “They will say, ‘Our Lord, our wretchedness overcame us, and we were a people astray. Our Lord, remove us from it, and if we were to return (to evil), we would indeed be wrongdoers.’ He will say, ‘Remain despised therein and do not speak o Me.’” (Quran 23:106-108) After that, they will call the keepers of Hell asking them to intercede to God on their behalf for reduction in torment: “And those in the Fire will say to the keepers of Hell, ‘Supplicate your Lord to lighten for us a day from the punishment.’ They will say, ‘Did there not come to you your messengers with clear proofs?’ They will say, ‘Yes.’ They will reply, ‘Then supplicate (yourselves), but the supplication of the disbelievers is not except in error.’” (Quran 40:49-50) Their will even plead for their own destruction to relieve themselves of the pain: “And they will call, ‘O Malik, let your Lord put an end to us!’ He will say, Indeed, you will remain.’” (Quran 43:77) They will be told the punishment will never be reduced, it is eternal: “Then be patient or impatient – it is all the same for you. You are only being recompensed for what you used to do.’” (Quran 52:16) They will weep for a long time: “So let them laugh a little and then weep much as recompense for what they used to earn.” (Quran 9:82) They will weep until no tears are left, then that they will weep blood, which will leave its traces as described by the Prophet: “The people of Hell will be made to weep, and they will weep until they have no ears 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.”[3] As you have seen, the descriptions of Hell in the Islamic scripture are clear and graphic, as are the descriptions of the people who deserve their fate therein. Such is the clarity that any person who believes in Judgment Day and the eternal destinies of the Hereafter must be motivated to at least try not to be of the people thrown inside. The best, and really only, way of avoiding this fate is to seriously search into the true religion God has mandated for humanity. A person should never follow a religion merely because it was that which he was “born into”, nor should they take religion to be a new age fashion. Rather, they should look into the truth about this world and the life to come, and be sure that they have prepared for that judgment from which there is no return, by living a life and system of belief revealed and unchanged from the One High Above. Footnotes:  [1] Saheeh Al-Bukhari, Saheeh Mulim [2] Ibn Katheer, in his tafsir, explains that pious people and prophets from before, who were taken for gods by later generations without their consent, are not included as ‘fuel for the fire’. Only the people who‘ liked to be worshipped’ by their worshippers will be thrown therein, along ‘with the ones who worshipped im’and other non-animate idols. Of people like Jesus, the Quran says: “Those for whom good has preceded from Us will be far removed there-from …” (Quran 21:101) [3] Ibn Majah