Why Eternal Hellfire? (1)

Question:
The concept of eternal hellfire is quite confusing. I’ve been struggling for years to understand it but, still, I see a big question mark in this regard. I wrote a lengthy letter to Javed sahib, last year, requesting him to guide me in this matter. When I met him, we had a limited time. He tried to answer me in a minute or so and then referred to his Imaniyaat part of Mizaan which he just finished writing at that time. I read it but it couldn’t satisfy me as the very matter is not discussed in detail there. Perhaps, "the best" (yet not fully satisfying) answer I’ve found so far is in Moiz Amjad sahib’s book: Frequently Asked Questions About the Hereafter.

Actually, I have no problem with the punishment. Punishment is necessary if God is Just but the problem lies with the intensity and time span of the punishment. Think for a moment that a person "knowingly" commits most horrible of sins all through his lifetime (raping, killing, kufr etc. etc.). My intellect says that such a person should be given punishment for all these sins with their physical, psychological, social etc. etc. impacts and then be given death. Now please try to visualize in your mind the very person after spending 1000 years in a dirty filthy and extremely painful place of hell - he’s screaming, weeping, asking for forgiveness etc. etc. For how long, Sir? Wouldn’t he be able to get what he deserved even in 1000 years or, for instance, make it 10,000? Even an ordinary man like me after watching a criminal in severe punishment for just six months would say: Now please stop it and give him death - finish it!

This eternal punishment is the only religious concept that my inner-self just throws out every time I meditate about it. May you please somehow help me grasp it?

Response:
I can understand your anxiety on the question of eternity of hellfire. I am sure everyone has problems doing it. The following points have helped me in coming to terms with it:

i) The concept of the hereafter belongs to the domain of verses which are metaphorical (mutshabihaat). We can therefore not know the true nature of their reality.

ii) Even in our civilized world, we don’t compare the time taken to commit crime with the time a criminal is punished. I mean, a murder takes only a few seconds to happen, but the acceptable punishment lasts for years. It is not quite as much the time taken to commit a crime which matters; it is the nature and seriousness of the crime and the criminal instincts of the individual that matters.

iii) God Almighty has given a hint that the hell may not last for ever. Although it is just a hint, it helps overcoming the problem you have pointed out.

iv) God is Just, Kind, Knowledgeable, and Wise. In all these matters if He is much better than us. If He would decide about the punishment of someone, it will have to be correct.

Views: 1172