Will all Muslims go to Hell?

Sam Shamoun

Karim has written a response to my article regarding whether Muslims will enter hell. Trying to rebut his article is difficult to do since it is quite incoherent and hard to follow. Yet we will make an attempt of addressing the main brunt of his criticisms so as to demonstrate that his article really didn’t challenge any of the points we had raised.

Karim says after quoting Suras 3:192 and 19:71:

Verse 3:192 speaks about ‘fire’ , those who will enter the ‘fire’ and Not ‘hell’ will be disgraced, while verse speaks specific about ‘it’ (reference to hell) and not ‘fire’. Entering hell doesn’t necesarry mean that people will be touched or enter litery the fire.

Secondly verse 19:71 used the word ‘wariduhakana’ , verse 3:192 not, verse 3:192 doesn’t say those who ‘wariduhakana’ will be disgraced.

Notice how allah in the quran makes a clear distinction between entering hell and entering fire, which proofs that entering hell in verse 19:71 doesn’t necesarry mean ‘touched by the fire’.

Lets us look at verses 3:191 (which the christians didn’t quote, since it as a verse that exposed their lie) and 3:192:

3:191:

Allatheena yathkuroona Allaha qiyaman waquAAoodan waAAala junoobihim wayatafakkaroona fee khalqi alssamawati waal-ardi rabbana ma khalaqta hatha batilan subhanaka faqina AAathaba alnnari

Those who mention/remember God standing , and sitting, and on their sides, and they think in the skies'/space's and the earth's/Planet Earth's creation, "Our Lord, you have not created that wastefully ,your praise/glory, so protect us (from)/make us avoid the fire’s torture

3:192

Rabbana innaka man tudkhili alnnarafaqad akhzaytahu wama lilththalimeenamin ansarin

Our Lord! any whom Thou dost admit to the Fire, Truly Thou coverest with shame, and never will wrong-doers Find any helpers!

Note: clearly verse 3:191 speaks about the ‘torture of the fire’ , and so verse 3:192 refers to those who are ‘tortured by the fire are covered with shame’

Thus verse 3:192 doesn’t say ‘thou dost wariduhakana the fire’ , so ‘wariduhakana’ in verse 19:71 doesn’t mean that believers get tortured by the fire since verse 19:71 speaks about entering ‘hell/it’ not entering ‘fire’. Secondly all the commentaries and hadith quoted by the christian[sic] missionary in his article proof[sic] that the believers in hell with[sic] NOT gen[sic] tortured by the fire, some say they will walk over a bridge, some say the fire touches them, but the believer doesn’t feel anything and therefor[sic] isn’t tortured (put to shame) , others say the believers will walk next to the fire, but won’t be touched by it etc. All agree that verse 19:71 doesn’t mean believers will first get tortured (covered with shame) , entering hell does not mean this at all. Hell is not only fire, but a unpleasent place with many stones, and every believers once in hell (but not tortured) off[sic] course will hope that he will be taken away from it, but clearly the believers in verse 19:71 aren’t put to shame, since ‘those who are tortured by the fire are covered with shame, and Not[sic] the believers in verse 19:71. So theres[sic] no contradcition[sic] at all between verse 3:192 and verse 19:71, since both mean something different ! The christian missionaries[sic] forced the meaning that ‘entering hell ‘ means ‘torture by the fire’ which is not true ! Also if we for the sake of argument say that ‘it’ in verse 19:71 refers to the hellfire, then stil[sic] the verse nowhere says ‘believers will feel pain /feel it or will get tortured by ‘it’ , the opposite is true.

Also Sulaiman Ibn Murrah said THAT EVERYONE SHALL ENTER IT (hell). Then he placed his fingers near his ears and said, "I would have remained silent had I not heard the apostle of Allah -pbuh- say, ‘There shall not remain a righteous or sinful person but shall enter hell. To the believer the fire will be cool and pleasant as it was to Abraham to the point that hell will be noisy because the believers are cold. Then Allah will save those who have avoided (evil) and greatly torment the sinners in it.’"

(after the day of judgement Allah swt will save those who have avoided evil)

Now cool and pleasent is certainly not a torture , so believers are not tortured by the fire (meaning covered with shame, see 3:191 & 3;192 ) . The commentaries and hadith confirm that the believers in verse 19:71 won’t feel anything and won’t get tortured (covered with shame) by it. Ibn kathirs[sic] tafsir reports the following hadith

RESPONSE:

First, we want to correct Karim’s straw man regarding the assertion that we claimed that the Quran teaches that Muslims will be tortured by the fire(1) since this is the main point that he spent most of his focus on. He even repeats this point near the end of his article:

Nowhere does the quran say that believers will be tortured with fire (covered with shame) on the day of judgement like the unbelievers (which is the case with Firon’s people for example) , so theres no contradiction... It’s clear the believers will not be’[sic] covered with shame/tortured with hell fire ON THE DAY OF JUDGEMENT, what happens after it with some believers who committed sinds[sic], only Allah swt and inscha’[sic] allah swt will forgive them, and i[sic] sincere also hope Allah swt will forgive everyone with a good heart inscha’[sic]allah.

As anyone having carefully read our paper can attest, what we set out to show was that Muslims will have to enter hell according to the Quran. We said nothing about whether Muslims will be tortured in hellfire once they are there. In fact, notice what we said in our reply to Moiz Amjad of the Understanding Islam website:

Mr. Amjad’s own interpretation of the verse doesn’t disprove that believers will enter hell, but rather proves our position; it proves that believers WILL ENTER hell, even though Mr. Amjad’s rendering implies that they will be spared any suffering while there. To put it in another way, Mr. Amjad’s rendering implies that the righteous, or those who kept themselves from doing evil, will not experience any suffering while in hell, but they will still enter in hell nonetheless, precisely what some Muslims of the past believed. See Part 1 for the details. Hence, IRRESPECTIVE OF WHETHER BELIEVERS SUFFER PAIN OR NOT, this point is still clear. Mr. Amjad’s own proposed translation inevitably leads to the fact that Muslims will definitely enter hell.

And:

Be that as it may, Mr. Amjad acknowledges that the text does speak of people actually entering INTO hell, and not simply passing over it as some suggest. Thus, even his own exegesis lends further support to what we have been saying. It demonstrates that the natural reading of the text points in the direction of everyone having to go down into hell, which means that every Muslim must spend some time there as well. Mr. Amjad has been trying hard to deny this last fact, but to no avail. (Source; capital and italic emphasis ours)

But since Karim has decided to attack straw man we will therefore seek to prove that according to the Quran Muslims will indeed experience the torture of hellfire.

This now leads us to our next point, specifically that entering hell is synonymous with entering into the fire. For instance, here is what we discover when we continue reading in Sura 3:

Such as remember Allah, standing, sitting, and reclining, and consider the creation of the heavens and the earth, (and say): Our Lord! Thou createdst not this in vain. Glory be to Thee! Preserve us from the doom of Fire. Our Lord! Whom Thou causest to enter the Fire: him indeed Thou hast confounded. For evil-doers there will be no helpers. Our Lord! Lo! we have heard a crier calling unto Faith: "Believe ye in your Lord!" So we believed. Our Lord! Therefor forgive us our sins, and remit from us our evil deeds, and make us die the death of the righteous. Our Lord! And give us that which Thou hast promised to us by Thy messengers. Confound us not upon the Day of Resurrection. Lo! Thou breakest not the tryst. And their Lord hath heard them (and He saith): Lo! I suffer not the work of any worker, male or female, to be lost. Ye proceed one from another. So those who fled and were driven forth from their homes and suffered damage for My cause, and fought and were slain, verily I shall remit their evil deeds from them and verily I shall bring them into Gardens underneath which rivers flow - A reward from Allah. And with Allah is the fairest of rewards. Let not the vicissitude (of the success) of those who disbelieve, in the land, deceive thee (O Muhammad). It is but a brief comfort. And afterward their habitation WILL BE HELL, an ill abode. S. 3:191-197 Pickthall

Here Allah responds to the prayers of the believers to be preserved from the fire by telling them that they shall enter into gardens, whereas the unbelievers will enter hell as their abode. This basically equates entering the fire with hell and essentially means that believers have been promised that they will not enter hell at all.

And here are a host of references where hell, burning, and fire function essentially as synonyms:

Verily, those who disbelieve, neither their properties nor their offspring will avail them whatsoever against Allah; and it is they who will be fuel of the Fire. Like the behaviour of the people of Fir'aun (Pharaoh) and those before them; they belied Our Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.), so Allah seized (destroyed) them for their sins. And Allah is Severe in punishment. Say (O Muhammad SAW) to those who disbelieve: "You will be defeated and gathered together to Hell, and worst indeed is that place to rest." There has already been a sign for you (O Jews) in the two armies that met (in combat i.e. the battle of Badr): One was fighting in the Cause of Allah, and as for the other (they) were disbelievers. They (the believers) saw them (the disbelievers) with their own eyes twice their number (although they were thrice their number). And Allah supports with His Victory whom He pleases. Verily, in this is a lesson for those who understand. Beautified for men is the love of things they covet; women, children, much of gold and silver (wealth), branded beautiful horses, cattle and well-tilled land. This is the pleasure of the present world's life; but Allah has the excellent return (Paradise with flowing rivers, etc.) with Him. Say: "Shall I inform you of things far better than those? For Al-Muttaqun (the pious - see V.2:2) there are Gardens (Paradise) with their Lord, underneath which rivers flow. Therein (is their) eternal (home) and Azwajun Mutahharatun (purified mates or wives) [i.e. they will have no menses, urine, or stool, etc.], And Allah will be pleased with them. And Allah is All-Seer of the (His) slaves." Those who say: "Our Lord! We have indeed believed, so forgive us our sins and save us from the punishment of the Fire." S. 3:10-16 Hilali-Khan

And, when they will dispute in the Fire, the weak will say to those who were arrogant; "Verily! We followed you, can you then take from us some portion of the Fire?" Those who were arrogant will say: "We are all (together) in this (Fire)! Verily Allah has judged between (His) slaves!" And those in the Fire will say to the keepers (angels) of Hell: "Call upon your Lord to lighten for us the torment for a day!" S. 40:47-49 Hilali-Khan

Verily, the Hour (Day of Judgement) is surely coming, therein is no doubt, yet most men believe not. And your Lord said: "Invoke Me, [i.e. believe in My Oneness (Islamic Monotheism)] (and ask Me for anything) I will respond to your (invocation). Verily! Those who scorn My worship [i.e. do not invoke Me, and do not believe in My Oneness, (Islamic Monotheism)] they will surely enter Hell in humiliation!" S. 40:59-60 Hilali-Khan

Those who deny the Book (this Qur'an), and that with which We sent Our Messengers (i.e. to worship none but Allah Alone sincerely, and to reject all false deities and to confess resurrection after the death for recompense) they will come to know (when they will be cast into the Fire of Hell). When iron collars will be rounded over their necks, and the chains, they shall be dragged along. In the boiling water, then they will be burned in the Fire. Then it will be said to them: "Where are (all) those whom you used to join in worship as partners besides Allah?" They will say: "They have vanished from us: Nay, we did not invoke (worship) anything before." Thus Allah leads astray the disbelievers. That was because you had been exulting in the earth without any right (by worshipping others instead of Allah and by committing crimes), and that you used to rejoice extremely (in your error). Enter the gates of Hell to abide therein, and (indeed) what an evil abode of the arrogant! S. 40:70-76

The Day they will be dragged in the Fire on their faces (it will be said to them): "Taste you the touch of Hell!" S. 54:48 Hilali-Khan

O ye who believe! Ward off from yourselves and your families a Fire whereof the fuel is men and stones, over which are set angels strong, severe, who resist not Allah in that which He commandeth them, but do that which they are commanded. (Then it will be said): O ye who disbelieve! Make no excuses for yourselves this day. Ye are only being paid for what ye used to do. O ye who believe! Turn unto Allah in sincere repentance! It may be that your Lord will remit from you your evil deeds and bring you into Gardens underneath which rivers flow, on the day when Allah will not abase the Prophet and those who believe with him. Their light will run before them and on their right hands; they will say: Our Lord! Perfect our light for us, and forgive us! Lo! Thou art Able to do all things. O Prophet! Strive against the disbelievers and the hypocrites, and be stern with them. Hell will be their home, a hapless journey's end. Allah citeth an example for those who disbelieve: the wife of Noah and the wife of Lot, who were under two of Our righteous slaves yet betrayed them so that they (the husbands) availed them naught against Allah and it was said (unto them): Enter the Fire along with those who enter. S. 66:6-10 Pickthall

And indeed We have adorned the nearest heaven with lamps, and We have made such lamps (as) missiles to drive away the Shayatin (devils), and have prepared for them the torment of the blazing Fire. And for those who disbelieve in their Lord (Allah) is the torment of Hell, and worst indeed is that destination. When they are cast therein, they will hear the (terrible) drawing in of its breath as it blazes forth. It almost bursts up with fury. Every time a group is cast therein, its keeper will ask: "Did no warner come to you?" They will say: "Yes indeed; a warner did come to us, but we belied him and said: ‘Allah never sent down anything (of revelation), you are only in great error.’" And they will say: "Had we but listened or used our intelligence, we would not have been among the dwellers of the blazing Fire!" Then they will confess their sin. So, away with the dwellers of the blazing Fire. S. 67:5-11 Hilali-Khan

Verily, those who put into trial the believing men and believing women (by torturing them and burning them), and then do not turn in repentance, (to Allah), will have the torment of Hell, and they will have the punishment of the burning Fire. S. 85:10 Hilali-Khan

The foregoing shows that when the Quran speaks of entering the fire or the flames this is simply another way of saying that a person has entered hell. These next texts even expressly describe hell as a place of burning:

So of them is he who believes in him, and of them is he who turns away from him, and hell is sufficient to burn. (As for) those who disbelieve in Our communications, We shall make them enter fire; so oft as their skins are thoroughly burned, We will change them for other skins, that they may taste the chastisement; surely Allah is Mighty, Wise. S. 4:55-56 Shakir

Whoever wishes for the quick-passing (transitory enjoyment of this world), We readily grant him what We will for whom We like. Then, afterwards, We have appointed for him Hell, he will burn therein disgraced and rejected, (far away from Allah's Mercy). S. 17:18 Hilali-Khan

And he whom Allah guides, he is led aright; but he whom He sends astray for such you will find no Auliya' (helpers and protectors, etc.), besides Him, and We shall gather them together on the Day of Resurrection on their faces blind, dumb and deaf, their abode will be Hell; whenever it abates, We shall increase for them the fierceness of the Fire. S. 17:97 Hilali-Khan

This in itself sufficiently refutes Karim’s claim that entering hell doesn’t necessarily imply that a person will enter into or be tortured by fire.

In fact, had Karim bothered reading the context of Sura 19:70-72 carefully he would have seen this for himself. Here, once more, are the verses in question:

And surely, WE know best those deserving TO BE BURNT THEREIN. And there is not one of YOU but will come to IT. This is an absolute decree of thy Lord. And WE shall save the righteous, and shall leave the wrongdoers therein, on their knees. S. 19:70-72 Sher Ali

Now what is the IT which everyone will come to? It is none other than the fire itself! Notice how various versions translate verses 70-71:

And certainly We know best those who are most worthy of being BURNED THEREIN. Not one of you but will pass over IT: this is, with thy Lord, a Decree which must be accomplished. Y. Ali

Again We do certainly know best those who deserve most to be BURNED THEREIN. And there is not one of you but shall come to IT; this is an unavoidable decree of your Lord. Shakir

And surely We are Best Aware of those most worthy to be BURNED THEREIN. There is not one of you but shall approach IT. That is a fixed ordinance of thy Lord. Pickthall

then We shall know very well those most deserving to BURN THERE. Not one of you there is, but he shall go down to IT; that for thy Lord is a thing decreed, determined. Arberry

The preceding conclusively shows that Sura 19:71 is expressly stating that believers will indeed enter the fire in order to undergo burning! The Islamic commentators provide further support for this interpretation:

According to Ibn Humayd- Salamah- Muhammad b. Ishaq- Muhammad b. Ja‘far b. al-Zubayr- ‘Urwah b. al-Zubayr, who said: The Messenger of God sent his expedition to Mu’tah in Jumada I of the year 8. He put Zayd b. Harithah in command of the men and said, "If Zayd b. Harithah is killed, Ja‘far b. Abi Talib shall be in command of the men; if Ja‘far is killed, ‘Abdallah b. Rawahah shall be in command… When ‘Abdallah b. Rawahah said goodbye with the other commanders of the Messenger of God who were doing so, HE WEPT. They said to him, "What is making you weep, Ibn Rawahah?" He said, "By God, I have no love of this world or excessive love for you, but I heard the Messenger of God recite a verse from the Book of God THAT MENTIONED THE FIRE [of Hell] - ‘Not one of you there is, but he shall go down to it; that for thy Lord is a thing decreed, determined’ - AND I DO NOT KNOW HOW I CAN COME OUT AFTER GOING DOWN." The Muslims said, "May God accompany you, defend you, and bring you back to us in good health."… (The History of Al-Tabari: The Victory of Islam, translated by Michael Fishbein (State University of New York Press (SUNY), Albany 1997), Volume VIII (8), pp. 152-153; bold and capital emphasis ours)

Here is a companion of Muhammad who wept because he understood that Sura 19:71 clearly meant that he would enter the fire of hell without having the assurance of whether he would come out!

Moreover, some of the above references state that the person who enters hell is entering an evil and ill abode, that the individual has come to "a hapless journey’s end," and has experienced humiliation. Note for instance the following reference:

Those who will be gathered to Hell (prone) on their faces, such will be in an evil state, and most astray from the (Straight) Path. S. 25:34 Hilali-Khan

Basically this means that Allah is going to humiliate all Muslims since he will cause them to enter an evil and ill abode, a hapless journey’s end!

Thus, it is not the torture of the fire which is a sign of disgrace and humiliation but the entrance of hell which is, and since all Muslims enter there this means that everyone of them is destined to be disgraced and shamed by Allah!

But this clearly contradicts the following passage:

Surely you (O mushrikin) and your deities that you worship besides Allah shall be the fuel of hell; therein you shall all enter (waridoona). If those deities would have been true gods, they would not have gotten there; but there they shall abide forever. In there, sobbing will be their lot, and they will not be able to hear anything else. Certainly those for whom the good reward from Us has preceded them will be kept far away from it. They shall not hear even its slightest sound, and they shall dwell forever in the midst of whatever their souls desire. The time of Great Terror (Day of Judgement) will not grieve them, and the angels will receive them with greetings: "This is your Day that you were promised." S. 21:98-103 F. Malik

Allah promises believers that they will not even get near hell nor hear its sound, a blatant contradiction!

Finally, it is apparent that the author doesn’t know what he is trying to argue for since he approvingly cites narrations that say that the believers will not be harmed by the fire, which presupposes that they do enter the fire. Yet Karim also says the following:

Narrated by Imam Ahmed, narrated by Abdel Rahman, narrated by Israel, narrated by Al-Suddi, narrated by Murrah, narrated by Abdallah, who is known as Ibn Mas’ud, regarding (Surah 19:71) ‘Not one of you but will pass through (Waridu-ha) it.’ The prophet said, "All people will enter (Yarud) hell and exit it by their deeds." This was also narrated by Al-Tirmidhi, narrated by Abd Ibn Hamid, narrated by Ubaid Allah, narrated by Israel, narrated by Al-Suddi. This was also narrated through Shu’bah, narrated by Al-Suddi, narrated by Murrah, narrated by Ibn Mas’ud.

So this is enough to proof that ‘it’ in verse 19:71 refers to ‘yarud /hell’ and Not ‘hellfire’ or ‘fire’. There are some weak hadith in tabari from ordinary muslims like ‘ka’b (a jewish convert to islam) wich[sic] say that hellfire will touch the believers, but these aren’t the words of the prophet (saw) and neither the words of Allah swt in the Quran. Islam = Quran and the authentic hadith from OUR PROPHET (saw), and not the opinion of some commentators not based on the words of the prophet,[sic] Neither the prophet (saw) nor Allah swt told tat[sic] believers will get ‘tortured by the fire’ , some commentators and muslims confused[sic] ‘just being in hell’ with ‘torture of fire in hell’ . To say that verse 19:71 contradicts verse 66:7-8 (where allah swt promises that believers won’t be converd with shame) the christian missionaries need to quote a quranic verse which says that the believers ‘will be tortured by the fire’ on the day of judgement (since verse 19:71 doesn’t speak about the torture of fire) . And only those who are tortured by the fire (see verse 3:191 and 3:192) are ‘coverd[sic] with shame’ not those who just ‘ enter hell without being tortured by the fire’ , also the prophet (saw) never said that believers will be ‘tortured by the fire’ , he only said that everyone will enter Yarud (hell) first, but he didn’t mention anything of torture for the believers, so believers are clearly ‘not covered with shame (tortured by the fire) ‘ in Islam.

Also it is narrated that the prophet (saw) in another hadith mentioned in Ibn kathirs tafsir he said:

Narrated by Abdel Razak, narrated by Mumar, narrated by Qatada who said, (Surah 19:71) ‘Not one of you but will pass through it (wurood),’ means to go through. Also, Abdel Rahman Ibn Zaid Ibn Aslam stated regarding (Surah 19:71) ‘Not one of you but will pass through it,’ that Muslims will pass over ("wurood") hell on a bridge, while the infidels will pass through hell. The prophet -pbuh- said, "The men and women who will be passing on the bridge (of Sirat) on judgment day will be many and there will be two groups of angels supplicating and saying ‘O Allah! Save, save.’"

The prophet’s word are islamic verdicts and not the (wit[sic] hall respect) the opinion of muslim like ka’b (a jewish convert) or a commentator, they have opinions, but the prophet’s words are islamic verdicts, only the Word of Allah swt in the Quran and the authentic hadith of the prophet (saw) are islamic verdicts, and again in this the prophet (saw) makes clear that the believers wont[sic] be tortured by the ‘fire’ (covered with shame) . and again theres[sic] no contradiction with verse 66:7-8

And:

... Secondly the hadith of the prophet (saw) tell us two things:

1: believers will be on a bridge over hell (or in hell) on the day of judgement , but they won’t be tortured by the hell fire

2: to the believer the fire will be cool and pleasant as it was to Abraham to the point that hell will be noisy because the believers are cold ,so the believers are not tortured with hell fire.