5.— ON THE NATURE OF THE PUNISHMENT OF HELL

The punishment of the ungodly or unbelievers begins in the grave immediately after their bodies are buried. The Muhammadans call this the Sawál i qabr, or the examination of the grave,

54

which is thus described in the traditions. “The prophet of God said, when a dead body is placed in its grave, verily he heareth the noise the people make in walking away; then two black angels come to him with blue eyes, the one is Munkir and the other Nákir, and make him sit up in the grave and ask him about the prophet of God. If the dead person be a Musalmán he will bear witness to the unity of God and the mission of Muhammad, when the angels will say: We knew thou wouldst say so; after which the grave will be expanded 7000 yards in length and 7000 in breadth. After that a light will be given for the grave, and it will be said, Sleep like the bridegroom, till God shall raise thee up from this grave on the day of the resurrection. But if the corpse be that of a hypocrite or unbeliever, it will be asked, what sayest thou about Muhammad? It will answer, I know him not. And the angels will reply, We knew thou wouldst say so. Then the ground will be ordered to close upon it, and the grave will be so contracted as to break the bones of each side, after which an angel will come to it, deaf and dumb, with a mace of iron, with which if a mountain were struck it would turn it to dust. Then the angel will strike the body with the mace, the noise of which (that is, of the striking of the body and the cry of the dead man) will he heard by every thing between the east and the west excepting the genii and man; and it will turn to dust: after which the soul will be returned to it again, and it will be tormented till the day of re-

55

surrection.” (Mishcát, vol. i. pp. 38-40.) The same description is given by the Persian writer of the punishment of the grave.

Another punishment besides that of hell, will be the dreadful heat and profuse perspiration of the people, being all collected in one vast plain waiting for their judgments. This has been referred to already in one of the former traditions, and mention is made of it as well by the Shíás as by the Sunnís. It is described thus in the Mishcát ul Mulsábíh, vol ii. p. 592. “Makdad said: I heard his highness say: the sun will be brought near man, at the day of resurrection, the distance of two miles; and men will perspire agreeably to their actions: some of them to their very heels, and those are such as have done but few good actions; and some of them will perspire to their knees, and some to their waists, and some to their mouths. And in another tradition, on the same page, it is said; “Men will perspire at the day of resurrection to such a degree, that it will go 70 cubits into the earth; and it will be to their mouths like a bridle,” and it will prevent them from speaking.

The description of the various punishments of hell is thus given in their traditions. “Muhammad asked the angel Gabriel about the fire of hell, who replied: O Muhammad, the Almighty commanded that they should blow up with the bellows the fire of hell; and they blew up the fire of hell for a thousand years till it became white. Then they blew it up another thousand years till it became

56

red; and again they blew it up for a thousand years till it became black; and now it is black and dark. And if one drop of the matter, collected from the sweat and the dirt of the people of hell, which, being boiled in the caldrons of hell, is given instead of water to the people in hell, should be poured into the water drunk by the inhabitants of this world, all the world would die of its bad taste. And if one link of the chain, which is 70 cubits long, and laid upon the neck of the people in hell, were to be put upon earth, the whole world would melt from its heat. And if one of the shirts of the people in hell, were to be hung up between heaven and earth, all the people of the world would die from its bad smell. The people of hell after having been cast into it, will use all their endeavours for 70 years to reach the top of it. But when they have at last arrived at the boundary of hell, the angels give them such a blow on the skulls, with their iron maces, that they tumble down again to the bottom of hell. Then they receive a new skin over their body, that the pains of hell may be felt the more by them.” (Ain ul Hayát, leaf 194). And again: “The people of hell cry like dogs and wolves on account of the great pain they are suffering. In the midst of the fire they are hungry and thirsty, and deaf and dumb and blind, and their faces are black; they give them to drink the hot water of hell instead of cooling water; and instead of food they give them to eat the fruit of the Sakkum tree.*

* This is a tree in hell the fruit of which, they say, are devil’s heads.

57

With hooks thay tear their bodies, and with iron maces they are beaten; angels stout and fierce torture them, showing no mercy; they drag them into the fire of hell and chain them together with the devils, and fasten their necks in fetters. They wish to die, but cannot; and after every punishment another punishment, still more severe, awaits them. When the watery matter of hell is brought near them, the skin and flesh of their faces gets boiled, and falling off mixes up with their drink; and when they drink it, it burns and destroys all their entrails.” Again: “There are such in hell of whose sides the angels cut off the flesh with scissors, and throw it into their mouths.” (Hayát ul Kúlúb, vol. ii. leaf 174.) And of others it is said: that “they have sandals of fire on their feet, and the straps to fasten them are likewise fire, the heat of which is so severe that it makes the brain boil in their skulls.” (Ain ul Hayát, leaf 166.) Again: “There is a valley in hell, in which are 330 castles, and in every castle 300 houses, and in every house 40 cells, and in every cell a black serpent, and in the belly of every serpent 330 scorpions, and in the sting of every scorpion 330 buckets of poison. And if only one of these scorpions should pour out his poison on the people of hell, it would be enough to destroy them all.” (Ibid. leaf 365.) About the figures of the people of hell it is said, “Their lower lip hangs down, so that it reaches the navel, and the upper lip reaches up to the forehead.” (Ibid, leaf 166.)

58

It is further said by Abu Hurairah, according to a tradition to be relied upon, “that the distance between an infidel’s ears, in hell fire, is three days journey for a man on horseback galloping all the way.” And in another tradition it is said, “Verily the thickness of an infidel’s skin is 42 cubits; and verily his teeth are like the mountain of Ohud; and his sitting place in hell is the same distance as between Mecca and Medinah.” Mishcát, vol. ii. pp. 635 and 636. To give an idea of the depth of hell they have the following story: “According to a true tradition it is related, that his majesty the prophet said, In the night as I made the journey to heaven, I heard, when on the road, such a fearful sound that I got quite frightened. Gabriel then said, have you heard it, O Muhammad! I said, Yes; He said, this was the stone which has 70 years’ ago been thrown down from the top of hell and now only has reached the bottom.” (Ain ul Hayát, leaf 166.) Quite the same description of hell is given in the Súnní traditions, as contained in the Mishcát, vol. ii. pp. 634 sqq.

We might have added many more traditions of this description, but these are enough to show, what gross materialism the Muhammadans have sunk into in respect to their views of the punishment of sin, and how much they have corrupted, and how grossly misrepresented the ideas and figures of the Scriptures respecting the punishments of the ungodly, of which they no doubt have heard from Christians and Jews. But as

59

the Christians as well as the Jews, at the time of Muhammad, and subsequently, were sunk in great ignorance and materialism, we are not to be surprised at seeing the Muhammadans treading in their footsteps. They have gone, however, much further still, and therefore their description of hell, as well as of paradise, has become such a gross, material and sensual one as is represented in their traditions.

Table of Contents
Answering Islam Home Page