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.