Suleiman Hani – Why is Hellfire Eternal in Islam

			If one's place in the Hellfire is eternal, how is that a fair punishment? Especially considering
whatever somebody did in this life was for limited time. And nobody presents q&a with Solomon,
honey? It's an excellent question. We have to say a few things to to set the foundation here first,
not all scholars agree that the Hellfire is eternal. The majority of scholars do hold that opinion.
And there are some scholars This opinion is attributed to a number of them, including Immanuel Kant,
rahamallah, and others. And it is the belief that either we don't know whether or not Hellfire is
eternal, or that eventually after who knows how many years or centuries that eventually the Hellfire
		

			will cease to exist, including its inhabitants. These are not the temporary inhabitants that end up
in the in paradise. These are the inhabitants who deserve and again, Allah knows best who deserves
it, who deserve the punishment Now, for those who argue the case that it is eternal and it is
justified rationally. Yeah, what is the justification here? The first before you get into the
justification. So we're taught that there are some scholars who hold the opinion that there is a
situation of people to face oblivion? Yes, okay. And those scholars essentially believe that
eventually the Mercy of Allah subhanaw taala prevails over his wrath according to an authentic
		

			hadith, okay, transmitted by number of companions. So eventually a time will come in which that
punishment runs out the purification, meaning for the crime, the punishment for the crime is over,
but they are also not deserving of entering paradise, so they cease to exist altogether alongside
the hellfire. Okay, that is a minority opinion. But there are a lot of scholars, especially
contemporary scholars who now hold that view. And to be very frank, for those who struggle with this
topic. And rationally, it is not a struggle, but emotionally it could be for those who struggle with
this topic of eternal versus non eternal, knowing that there is an opinion out there and it is a
		

			legitimate opinion out there that some scholars believe that the Hellfire is not eternal or that we
don't know and we leave it to Allah subhanaw taala as judgment he is a Rahim he is also a techie.
And he's all wise. And he allows he is he is the one in authority here. We leave it to him knowing
that might help preserve some people's Eman and Allah subhanaw taala knows best. Okay, so what's the
argument of those who hold the opposite where it is eternal, and there's no BELIEVE IN THOSE WHO and
they are the majority who believe that the Hellfire is eternal based on the general text of the
Quran that's, I don't want to say literal, because also the other opinion claims that the ayat of
		

			the Quran some of them indicate there may be an exception to the eternality of the Hellfire. And it
goes back to terminology that's beyond the scope of this, but those who rationally justify it, how
do they do so? One thing that they argue is that Allah subhanaw taala is Al Hakim, therefore he
knows what is worthy of a punishment for a particular crime. Some people here in this world are
abused in so many ways, and hurt in so many ways, that they feel that the one who oppress them
deserves a punishment for X number of years. Now, again, this is our perspective, it's relative.
It's subjective, it's not factual yet, in terms of this is the perfect judgment. This is the perfect
		

			wisdom. We are not the perfect judges, right. We have our own feelings, thoughts, beliefs and
assumptions. So it is the idea that it is worthy of an ongoing punishment. The second is Allah's
knowledge that if these people came back to this world, they would go back to California again, they
will go back to rejecting the messengers and the messages from God. And therefore the punishment is,
is in proportion to basically their ongoing disbelief when I would do what I do the man who run as
Allah says, if they were brought back, they would go back to what they used to do before. The third
is this idea that
		

			you know, when you talk about before you go into the third points, I also feel like that people who
committed wrongdoings however, atrocious or not, and they land in the hellfire, and if Allah were to
grant them permission to come back to earth to live life as they are,
		

			like, that's not a test anymore.
		

			This is true, right? It's like, like, how can you pass a test to which you got the answers to That's
cheating?
		

			This is true. I get that analogy. Yeah.
		

			But like,
		

			so But does that idea go counter to the opinion of like, whatever you're going to lead into?
		

			Does it counter the idea of knowledge of them coming back? Or like no, if like, if they come back,
right, and they would just fall right back into
		

			you know, because because at the end of the day, like you have all of these people who saw clear
science, right, whether of all the many prophets, right and like clear signs that you're this this
is divine and they
		

			Still, like they knew it's the truth, but they still rejected it. You don't say, but then I like
that that part is also kind of like confusing to me. It's like how could you reject it like? So it's
interesting you say that because by their own admission, in Surah 12 multiverse we shouldn't be
resetting every night. We'll call it Hakuna nesma I will not do mcConathy or Safavi, sorry, Fattah
or foo, and then they confess what is the translation here? The people the Hellfire are admitting
and they say, If only we used to listen meaning to the advice, the reminders, the Dawa, whatever it
may be, if only we should listen, actually listen, and use our minds our intellect, nothing
		

			alarming, which is interesting, ironically, because the very people who are arrogant and reject
belief in God when all the messages and the evidences have been made clear to them, are doing so on
the basis of what they think is their intellect. But in fact, that shows us that you may be
reasoning wrong as well, you may be looking at evidence and rejecting it because you're shaping the
evidence based on your existing view and your assumption not based on the evidence itself, rather
than letting the evidence shape your views. So if they were to receive millions of signs now and
eternally, they would continue to reject millions of signs, by their own admission. It is a lack of
		

			intellect. It is unintelligent, to reject a belief in God and belief in the next life and Allah
subhanaw taala is aware of what's most fair and what's most unjust. And also, Allah Socata is aware
of what they would do if they were to come back in times where people are being punished for things
and caught for things and put on the spot due to their arrogance. And they're humbled at that time.
They'll say things to get out of it, but we don't know what people do in the future a loss of health
that is aware of their situations.