Paradise and Hell

Islam is a religion that espouses life after death. It speaks of reward in paradise (al-Janna) and punishment in hell (al-Nār). In this article the Islamic beliefs of paradise and hell will be presented here together because they play an important role in forming certain patterns of thinking, particularly concerning reward and punishment, in one’s personality and mind. Knowing the images of Islam’s paradise and hell helps in understanding the Muslim persona. This presentation of paradise and hell will be supported primarily by what is found in the Qur’ān. When necessary, excerpts from the Hadith literature will be used to explain some of the ambiguous or obscure Qur’ānic details and gaps in Qur’ānic statements.

Al-Janna

A person will find in al-Janna (paradise) that all personal desires will be met, as noted in Q 43.71 (Palmer trans.): “…therein is what souls desire, and eyes shall be delighted, and ye therein shall dwell for aye”. Al-Janna offers every form of pleasure and entertainment—even forms unknown to the believer: “…what is reserved for them of cheerfulness for eye…” (Q 32.17). Allah informs, according to one Islamic saying, that what he has prepared for the believers, “no eye has seen, nor ear has heard, nor has the human mind conceived”. This hadīth, reported by Islamic commentator al-Ţabarī, strangely echoes a biblical verse: “However, as it is written: ‘No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no human mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him’” (NIV, 1 Cor. 2.9). This expression in the New Testament means that God keeps from his people certain facts that cannot be discovered by the natural senses but will be revealed at his appointed time “for those who love him”. The context for this expression focuses on the divine wisdom that will be revealed to those who love God.

However, the Islamic version of this Christian expression uses a different context by associating it instead with al-Janna. Even if the Christian expression refers to paradise, the Christian promise of paradise declares that resurrected people “will be like the angels [praising the glory of God] in heaven” (NIV, Matt. 22.30). Paradise in the Islamic faith is of a completely different nature. In Islam, Allah promises to the Muslim the fulfillment of every desire of his heart and gives him sensual surprises that are unimaginable.

Its People

It is natural, according to Islamic belief, that Muhammad would be the first of the people to enter al-Janna. Indeed, Muhammad initiated this view, saying, he would be “first to knock on the door of Paradise [al-Janna]”. Muhammad will go to knock on the door of al-Janna and the keeper will inquire about who is knocking. Muhammad then will identify himself and the keeper of al-Janna will reply, “It was for thee [ Muhammad] that I have been ordered, and not to open it for anyone before thee”.

In addition to Muhammad, the Qur’ān offers general characteristics of the people of al-Janna:

They are “God’s sincere servants” (Q 37.40). This general description applies to everyone who is sincere in his or her worship of God.

They are “…those who say, ‘Our Lord is God,’ and then keep straight….These are the fellows of Paradise to dwell therein for aye…” (Q 46.13-14). Here, keeping “straight” refers to keeping the faith.

They are those who keep their trusts, covenants, and prayers (Q 23.8-11).

The Qur’ān also provides specific descriptions:

Q 56.10-11: “And the foremost foremost! These are they who are brought nigh.” It is said that the verse refers to the Emigrants (al-Muhājirūn). It is also said that they are those who directed their prayers to the two qiblas. These followers were the early Muslims who prayed towards Jerusalem (Bayt al-Maqdis) and later towards Mecca. It is also said that the verse refers to the first people to go to the mosques. Another interpretation is that the verse speaks of the first believers of every faith. This view is convincing because this verse is among the early Meccan verses. At that time, Muhammad had not yet crystallized his theory yet that Islam is the only true religion and was not yet hostile toward the People of the Book.

Q 2.25: “…those who believe and work righteousness….” (See Q 4.57; Q 7.42; Q 10.9.) Here Muhammad is asked to proselytize those who do good deeds, in reference to those who believed the message of Muhammad.

Q 43.69-70: “who believe in our signs and who are resigned….” While Palmer translates muslimīn as “resigned,” Arab readers of the Qur’ān would read and understand this word to mean “Muslims”. This specification frankly limits al-Janna for those who believe in Islam as a religion.

In addition, there is another group in Medina who will enter al-Janna—those who are enemies of anyone who rejects faith in Muhammad as a messenger—whom Allah will “make them enter into gardens beneath which rivers flow…” (Q 58.22).

Muhammad also specified that Muslims comprise two thirds of the people of al-Janna and the last third is distributed among the rest of the religions. He states, “The people of al-Janna are one hundred and twenty rows. This nation [of Muslims] constitutes eighty rows of them”.

Its Location, Structure, and Organization

Muslim exegetes differ regarding the location of al-Janna. Some state al-Janna is above the seventh heaven, while others propose it is “in heaven” without specifying which heaven.8 The width of al-Janna has been described in the Qur’ān “as the breadth of the heavens and the earth…” (Q 57.21). Muhammad informed his followers that al-Janna has doors designated for specific purposes: a door of charity, a door of prayer, a door of jihad, and a door of fasting. The Hadith literature does not explain the method of specifying the particular entrance door for each Muslim, given that all these doors represent different religious obligations that a Muslim has to perform. It could be that the choice is based on the religious function most performed. If one prays much, that person would enter through the door of prayer, and so on.

Muhammad describes al-Janna as built of “bricks of gold and bricks of silver. Its mortar is fragrant musk. Its gravel is sapphire and pearls. And, its dirt is saffron”. The Qur’ān indicates that there are upper chambers in al-Janna, with some of its chambers having flowing rivers beneath them (Q 39.20). The believers are said to be “in upper rooms…” (Q 34.37).

The promise of heavenly chambers seemed appropriate and relevant to the Quraysh, as they lived in a commercial town with houses. However, some people of the Arabian Peninsula were bedouins, or nomads, of the desert wilderness, and this promise of walled structures was likely received with less enthusiasm; hence, it would be politic to entice them with the mention of tents in al-Janna. Muhammad promised such believers a tent, saying, “In Paradise [al-Janna] there is a pavilion made of a single hollow pearl sixty miles wide….”11 In this hadīth Muhammad demonstrated his comprehension of the psychological importance of tents to the bedouin lifestyle.

Al-Janna does not contain only chambers and tents. The Hadith literature reports that al-Janna also includes palaces for elite Muslims. It is told that Muhammad saw in a dream a woman performing wudū’ (ablution) by a palace. He inquired about the owner of the palace and was told that it belonged to ‘Umar Ibn al-Khaţţāb.

Furthermore, there is in al-Janna a place called Sidrat al-Muntahā: “the lote tree none may pass” (Q 53.14). This expression, sidrati al-muntahā, appears only once in the Qur’ān. One exegetical opinion purports that it is a tree at the seventh heaven, and no one can go beyond it. Further explanations vary regarding the size of the tree and who reaches it.

Gardens and Fruits

The Islamic perception of al-Janna is a large garden full of smaller gardens and running water (Q 15.45), including vineyards (Q 78.32). Besides grapes, al-Janna contains many fruits of all kinds (Q 47.15; see Q 23.19; Q 38.51; Q 56.32), such as “palms and pomegranates” (Q 55.68). Such fruit “as they love” (Q 77.41-42) is paired with the “flesh of fowl as they desire” (Q 56.21). The believer luxuriates in the shade of thornless lote trees and banana-like trees full of fruit, enjoying an eternal setting with unceasing shade and flowing waters (Q 56.27-31).

The abundance of wine in al-Janna is mentioned in the Qur’ān (Q 78.34). In al-Janna, Muslims drink from a cup of wine mixed with various kinds of nectars. Wine gushes out from a spring whose flow can be controlled by believers, who may direct it anywhere they wish (Q 76.5-6).

Rivers and Springs

Al-Janna is full of rivers that are found under the gardens (Q 9.100; compare with Q 16.31). These rivers are of various kinds, “rivers of water without corruption, and rivers of milk…and rivers of wine…and rivers of honey clarified…” (Q 47.15).

The Qur’ān mentions the names of several of these water features:

Al-Kawthar (Q 108.1“El Kâuthar”), a river that was given to Muhammad

Al-Salsabīl (Q 76.18 “Silsabîl”), a spring available to al-Janna’s general public

Tasnīm (Q 83.27)

The name al-Salsabil in Arabic means “the delicious drink”. Islamic scholars are divided as to whether al-Salsabīl is a name for a spring or a description of the water. However, the Qur’ān informs that Muslims are given drinks from a cup of wine mixed with zingabil (“ginger”) from a spring “therein named Silsabîl” (Q 76.17-18).

Believers are promised in the Qur’ān that they will drink pure wine from a container whose seal is unbroken save by the one who breaks it to drink from the container. The last sip of this wine is very fragrant with musk. This wine is mixed with water from Tasnīm, which the Qur’ān describes as “a spring from which those nigh to God shall drink” (Q 83.25-28). According to Muslim exegetes, this spring contains the noblest drink in al-Janna. Only those who are closest to Allah drink from it. The rest of the people of al-Janna drink a mixture of it. The secret of its high position is that this spring comes out from under the throne.

The name Tasnīm is derived from the word sannam (“to raise”) and sanima (“he rises up”). Thus, there is difficulty in knowing why the spring is named Tasnīm. Islamic commentator al-Zamakhsharī explains, “‘Tasnīm’ is a name for that exact spring. It is called Tasnīm, which comes from the root of sanamahu [meaning] ‘when he raises it,’ either because it is the most esteemed drink in al-Janna, or because it comes to them from above, based on what has been narrated—that it flows in the air on high, then pours into their vessels”.

The interpretation of this word, strange even to the exegetes, is debatable because this word is not found in the pre-Qur’ānic Arabic literature. Because there is no information to help explain the derivation of this word, professor and scholar of Semitic languages Arthur Jeffery states that Orientalist Theodor Nöldeke “is correct without a doubt when he states that this word must be one of the inventions of Muhammad himself”.

Sexual Relations in Paradise

The topic of sexual relations occupies the largest aspect of the enjoyments mentioned in the Islamic literature about al-Janna. From the earliest verses the Muslim reads a promise from Allah of young maidens who are kawā‘ib. The word kawā‘ib means “those whose breasts blossomed recently”. (See Q 78.33).

The Qur’ān states, “Verily, the fellows of Paradise upon that day shall be employed in enjoyment” (Q 36.55). According to Muslim exegetes, this employment is the “deflowering of the virgins”. Al-Ţabarī states that the people of al-Janna are consumed with work that they favor and the “deflowering of virgins, entertainment, pleasure, and busyness [distraction] from what the people of hell are facing”. The word translated as “enjoyment” here is fākihūn, which can be loosely translated to mean “enjoying the fruit”. This expression, fākihūn, is used figuratively here, like all its Arabic linguistic derivatives, and seems to refer to delicious refreshing fruits.

This continual sexual enjoyment does not pose physical hardships for the men of al-Janna as Muhammad assured them that they will have the power of a hundred men during sexual intercourse.

The sexual pleasure of Muslim men in al-Janna is continuously satisfied by three groups of beings: rejuvenated earthborn women, the alluring heavenly “large-eyed maids,” and young boys.

Earthborn Women

On the Day of Judgment (Yawm al-Qiyāma) Allah will re-form the earthborn women, returning their youth and virginity to them and making them infatuated with their husbands in heaven (Q 56.35-37). He will also turn the elderly women into young maidens. All these transformations are for the sake of the sexual appetites of the Muslim men.

If a Muslim man and his wife enter al-Janna, she will be his wife (Q 13.23; see Q 43.70). If a woman has been married several times and more than one of her ex-husbands is deserving of al-Janna, she would be with her last husband. Muhammad explained, “Any woman whose husband died and she married again, she would belong to her last husband”.

Desires are available in all their forms. It is even said that if a man and his wife wished for a child in al-Janna, the process of pregnancy, giving birth, and weaning would take place in a blink of an eye. However, this description is a point of contention, as there is an opinion stating that the people of al-Janna would not have children.

Muhammad’s hadīth states that the number of women in al-Janna and hell are more than the men. This comparison serves two purposes:

The overproliferation of women in al-Janna provides multiple sexual partners for men. In other words, having more women in al-Janna is not an expression to honor women but to demean their value, as their job is to be a man’s eternal sexual toy.

The larger number of women in hell demonstrates Islam’s demeaning of women and reflects a bias that women are more deserving of hell than men.

Heavenly Handmaidens (Ḥūr)

Women who have never experienced life on earth, who have evolved without being birthed, are known as the ģūr (“houris”). They have eternally renewable virginity and high morals and are passionately enamored with their husbands in al-Janna (Q 37.48; compare with Q 38.52 and Q 55.56). The name for these women comes from the Qur’ān’s promise of marriage to “large-eyed maids” to men in al-Janna (Q 52.20). The ģūr are these maidens with large black eyes. This description can also be found in pre-Islamic poetry. However, the Qur’ān adds more details regarding the “large-eyed maids,” stating that they are like “hidden pearls” (Q 56.22-23). It is even said about them that they are like “a sheltered egg” (Q 37.49).

After analyzing several different interpretations for the meaning of the expression, “a sheltered egg,” al-Ţabarī arrives at this conclusion:

They [the hūr] were compared in their whiteness, and that no man or jinn had touched them before their husbands, to the white of an egg that is inside the peel…. That is no doubt what is sheltered. For the outer peel is touched by the bird, …the hands, …and the nest…. The Arabs say to all that is protected, maknūn [“ensconced”], whether it be pearls, eggs, or belongings.

Al-Ţabarī’s explanation indicates that he supports the literal wording of the Qur’ān for “sheltered egg,” but the verse (Q 37.49) might have been an allusion to the preserved pearls by describing the pearls as eggs because pearls are white. The fact that al-Ţabarī himself states that Arabs use maknūn to refer to pearls adds weight to this supposition.

These hūr, who have never had sexual intercourse with anyone, humans or jinn (Q 55.56, 74), are compared to “rubies and pearls” (Pickthall trans. “jacynth and the coral-stone”) and are “maids kept in their tents” (Q 55.58 and Q 55.72, respectively). The phrase, “kept in their tents,” means that they are incarcerated. The reason for this imprisonment may be to keep these maidens only for their al-Janna husbands and prevent them from seeing any others while they are held captive in the tents. This arrangement implies that the female—even in al-Janna—would be hostage to the house under the domination of a man.

Islamic commentator al-Qurţubī classifies “large-eyed maids” as female slaves. In Islam, a man may have sexual intercourse with female slaves without limitations or restrictions. A man may buy as many female slaves as he is able for service and sexual pleasure, in addition to four official wives. (See the section Female Slaves ‘that your right hand possesses’ in the article “Women in the Qur’ān”) It is thus not surprising that the Muslim mind would similarly apply this idea to life in al-Janna.

The Qur’ān not only promises men “untouched” women in al-Janna but also signals the nature of this unique sexual relationship, as shown in Q 55.56: “Therein are maids of modest glances whom no man nor ginn has deflowered before.”

These women are “of modest glances,” which means they only look at their al-Janna husbands. It is told that the maiden would say to her husband, “By the might of my lord and his majesty and splendor I do not see in al-Janna anyone better than you. Praise be to Allah who made you my husband and made me your wife”.

The purpose for these never-before-touched women is to provide the Muslim man with increased sexual pleasure, for “the woman that no one but him has touched is more delightful than anyone else”. This interpretation raises a disturbing question: What is the sexual pleasure in the defloration of virgins? When a virgin “would be under the sway of the pain of defloration, meaning she suffers strong pain…. Isn’t the male’s dominating tendency to possess and own the only way to explain that?”

Sexual intercourse, as described in this verse, is of a sadistic nature. The verse states that these women have never been “deflowered.” This term suggests violence during this intercourse. According to al-Ţabarī, tamass (“deflowering”) is “intercourse with bleeding…it is said tamassahā [he deflowered her] when he makes her bleed during intercourse”. Even Muhammad, when asked if the people of al-Janna had sexual relations, responded in the affirmative: “Dahman dahman, when he gets off her, she returns clean and a virgin”. The meaning of dahman is “sexual intercourse with thrusting and [physical] harassment” (emphasis added).

This description of daily violent defloration of these eternally “restored” heavenly virgins by the Muslim men in al-Janna, with its “implication of domination, possessiveness, control, and harshness simultaneously”, plants in the imagination of Muslim men on earth a tendency to pursue bleeding during intercourse and an acceptance of sadism against women.

It is noted that the word hūr or references to these special heavenly virgins only appears in the Meccan suras of the Qur’ān. The following table lists these references, which are organized using Nöldeke’s chronological arrangement of the suras and the Qur’ān’s current arrangement:

References to Ģūr

Suras

Verse

Text (Palmer’s translation)

Nöldeke’s Arrangement

Qur’ān’s Arrangement

Q 40

Q 52

20

“…we will wed them to large-eyed maids”

Q 41

Q 56

22

“And bright and large-eyed maids”

72

“Bright and large-eyed maids kept in their tents”

74

“Whom no man nor ginn has deflowered before them”

Q 50

Q 37

48

“and with them damsels, restraining their looks, large eyed”

49

“as though they were a sheltered egg”

Q 53

Q 44

54

“Thus!—and we will wed them to bright and large-eyed maids!”

Q 59

Q 38

52

“and beside them maids of modest glance, of their own age”

Note: The act of marrying “large-eyed maids” appears twice (Q 44.54 and Q 52.20). The term “large-eyed maids” is not mentioned in the Medinan verses; instead, the term “pure wives” is mentioned (Q 2.25; Q 3.15; Q 4.57).

Heavenly Boys (Ghulmān)

In al-Janna are ghulmān (a word similar in meaning to the French word garçon) and refers to boys responsible for serving the people of al-Janna. The Qur’ān states that “…round them shall go boys of theirs, as though they were hidden pearls” (Q 52.24) and “there shall go round about them eternal boys” (Q 76.19; compare with Q 56.17).

Companion and prominent hadīth authority ‘Abd Allah Ibn ‘Umar stated that every person of al-Janna is “waited on by one thousand boys”. One saying defines ghulmān as the “boys from among the people of al-Janna. They had no good deeds to be rewarded, nor bad deeds to be punished. Since in al-Janna there is no giving birth, they [the boys] are the servants of the people of al-Janna”.

The similarity in the description between these boys, who are described as “though they were hidden pearls,” and the hūr, who are likened to “hidden pearls,” suggests that one of the responsibilities of the boys involves a sexual role. A modern Islamic thinker, Sheikh Muhammad Jalāl Kishk, proposes that these boys are in al-Janna for the enjoyment of those Muslim men who harbored deviant sexual preferences but withheld themselves from satisfying these urges in their earthly lives. He explains that the verse’s phrase, “boys of theirs,” means that the men had personal but not sexual relationships with these boys during their earthly lives. In al-Janna, Allah provides the men and their boys the opportunity and acceptance of this pedophilic arrangement for eternity. This Muslim scholar justifies his statement with two arguments:

The values of this earthly life are different than the values in eternity. Al-Janna has its own values and standards.

All the forbidden things in the earthly world are permitted in eternity, such as wine. The Qur’ān states that in al-Janna all shall have “what their souls desire” (Q 21.102; see Q 41.31 and Q 43.71.) Thus, in al-Janna there is a divine release for pleasures and no moral boundaries to limit these pleasures.

Evolution of al-Janna Verses

The historical sequence of al-Janna verses in the Qur’ān, according to the chronological arrangement of the suras by Nöldeke, reveals that the verses dealing with al-Janna underwent changes through the following stages:

Evolution of al-Janna Verses

Period

Duration

Sura

Verse(s)

Meccan (First)

AD 612-617

Inception of Muhammad’s Da‘wa to the fifth year after it

Q 55

46-78

Q 56

10-40

Q 78

31-36

Q 83

22-28

Q 88

8-16

Meccan (Second)

AD 617-619

Fifth and sixth years of Da‘wa

Q 15

45-48

Q 25

15-16

Q 36

55-58

Q 38

49-54

Q 44

51-55

Q 50

31-35

Q 54

54-55

Q 76

12-21

Meccan (Third)

AD 619-622

Seventh year of Da‘wa until Hijra

Q 10

9-10

Q 39

73-74

Medinan

AD 622-632

After the Hijra until Muhammad’s death

Q 2

25

Q 9

72

Q 22

23

Q 47

15

Note: Table contains a sampling but not a complete listing of all al-Janna verses.

(For a complete chronology of the suras, see Table 5. Nöldeke Chronology and Classification of the Qur’ān’s Suras and Table 6b. Comparisons of the Qurān’s Chronological Order in the Summary of Resources and References)

Verses of the First Meccan Period

The promise of al-Janna is accompanied by a lengthy description of it in an ornate and sparkling sensual language with a beautiful poetic meter that conveys a soul longing for paradise. In the longest text of this period concerning al-Janna (Q 55.46-78), the believers are promised two lush al-Jannāt, with women who have not been touched by a jinn or a human. After the elaboration of each promise of paradise, the same chorus is repeated between these verses: “Then which of your Lord’s bounties will ye twain deny?” This chorus is essential for a poetic text that expresses the soul longing for paradise and its pleasures.

The majority of the verses during this period is short and mentions the hūr.

Verses of the Second Meccan Period

The verses of this period are not much different than the verses of the first period in describing al-Janna, its food and drink, and the hūr. However, the verses of this period do not contain lengthy texts, such as those found in Q 55 from the first period.

The verses of this period are similar in length. The passage with the longest text is Q 76.12-21.

Verses of the Third Meccan Period

The verses of this period are longer in length. The promise of al-Janna is now for “those who believe” and “those who fear their Lord” (Q 10.9 and Q 39.73). Here the promise of al-Janna is general, as the verses do not detail the pleasures of paradise as in the previous two periods.

Verses of the Medinan Period

The verses here are general as well, similar to the verses of the last Meccan period. The repeated expression during this period is the promise of “gardens beneath which rivers flow.” The verses of this period became quite noticeably longer. Q 47.15, for example, is equal in length to ten verses of Q 55.

Names for al-Janna

The Qur’ān mentions several names and descriptions for al-Janna.

Al-Janna

Al-Janna is the proper name for the place where the believers will dwell in eternity. In Arabic, janna means “garden.” The word al-Janna appears in the Qur’ān, both in the singular “garden” and in the plural “gardens of Eden” (e.g., Q 2.214 and Q 9.72).

The word janna appears in the Semitic concordance. It is found in Akkadian as jannatu, in Hebrew גַּנָּה, and in Syriac ܓܢܬܐ. The word janna is also found in the Aramaic, Phoenician, Ethiopian, and other Semitic languages. It is probable that the word with its Qur’ānic meaning may have been borrowed from the Syriac language because “janna” with the garden meaning is found in the old Arabic poetry. But, “al-Janna” as a place of bliss was adopted by Muhammad from his Jewish or Christian context.

Paradise

Al-Janna is mentioned in the Qur’ān by the name al-firdaws, or “the paradise” (Q 18.107 and Q 23.11). The root of this word may be traced to pairidaeza, from the Avestan language. The word paradise appears twice in the Arabic Qur’ān. In one of these verses it is stated as “gardens of Paradise” (Q 18.107).

The Qur’ān mentions several names for al-Janna that are descriptions. The most frequently used description is “gardens of Eden”, a term that is also found in the Torah (Gen. 2.15). Another often used description is “gardens of pleasure”. Less common names, which appear once or twice, include “garden of eternity” (Q 25.15), “an abode of peace” (Q 6.127, Q 10.25), “the abode of stability” (Q 40.39), “the gardens of resort” (Q 32.19, Q 53.15), “the paradise of pleasure” (Q 26.85), “pleasure” (Q 82.13, Q 83.22), “Illiyun” (Q 83.18), “an enduring abode” (Q 35.35), “the seat of truth” (Q 54.55), and “a safe place” (Q 44.51-55).

Moreover, there are other names for al-Janna found in the Islamic sources, such as “the eternal abode”, and “abode of the next world,” which is taken from Q 29.64: “This life of the world is nothing but a sport and a play; but, verily, the abode of the next world, that is life….” Thus, the expression refers to al-Janna as it is the abode of enduring life.

Idea of al-Janna

As mentioned previously, the expression “garden of Eden” is mentioned in the Torah: “Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed” (NIV, Gen. 2.8) and “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden….” (Gen. 2.15). These biblical verses raise questions about the source Muhammad used for the idea of al-Janna and whether he added anything to that idea or just took it at face value. John C. Blair addresses these questions in his book, The Sources of Islam: An Inquiry into the Sources of the Faith and Practice of the Muhammadan Religion, which traces the source of this idea and finds it prominently in two main sources: the Jewish and Zoroastrian traditions.

The Jewish traditions consider paradise to be a joyful garden that reaches the seventh heaven with doors and four rivers of water, wine, milk, and honey. A similar depiction can be found in the pseudepigraphic work known as Visio Pauli, an apocryphal book of the New Testament, in which the apostle Paul ascends to heaven and beholds the four rivers of paradise.

The name “Garden of Eden” is one of the names of paradise in the Hebraic tradition. The name “Eden” appears repeatedly in the Tractate Berakoth (“Benedictions”) from the Jewish Babylonian Talmud as a reference to paradise: “Grant that we may enjoy happiness in Eden” and “I work to deserve Eden”.

The Avesta (primary collection of sacred texts of Zoroastrianism) speaks of a blessed abode in which “the soul tastes as much as pleasure as the whole living world can taste”.

Idea of the Hūr

Many Orientalists agree that the idea of the hūr (“houris”) in al-Janna is taken from foreign sources. The most common view is that the source is Persian. The Avesta mentions a most beautiful and moral virgin, pure and complete. William St. Clair-Tisdall writes in his book, The Original Sources of the Qur’ān, that the idea of the hūr in Islam is taken from the Persian myths about pairakas, “female spirits who live in the air and closely connected with the stars and the light. So beautiful are they that they captivate men’s hearts”.

The contentious issue among the researchers is the derivation of the word hūr. There is an opinion that hūr comes from Aramaic and the Hebrew word חור mentioned in the Old Testament (Isa. 29.22) with the meaning, “to grow pale because of shame.” In Syriac the word ܚܘܪܐ is used to translate the Greek word λευκός (“white”) that is used in “dressed in white” in relation to the saints mentioned in the New Testament (Rev. 3.4). Bernard Carra de Vaux suggests that Muhammad’s conception of the hūr and the ghulmān in al-Janna stems from his misunderstanding of the angels’ presence in miniatures and mosaics that portrayed paradise. But, Jeffery proposes that the expression hūr, with the meaning of soft-skinned young maidens, came to the Arabs from the northern Christian societies. Later, Muhammad, under the influence of the Persian expression, used hūr to mean the houris of al-Janna.

St. Clair-Tisdall indicates that the Islamic idea about al-Janna as recompense for the fighters who die on the battlefield is an old idea. Ancient Hindu literature mentions that kings who fight zealously and do not fear death go straight to paradise at their death. This idea is similarly repeated elsewhere in the Hindu literature regarding pious kings who sacrifice themselves in the battlefields and become eternal dwellers in a world that does not perish. This world will be “everlasting unto them” and they will be granted “all desires”. It is stated in another Hindu text that the warrior receives happiness by achieving victory. If he is killed in battle, he will obtain “great fruits in the other world [heaven]!”

Therefore, the description given by Muhammad for the joys of al-Janna is not unique and likely came from different sources. Unlike Islam’s inclusion of sensual elements in Paradise, the sacred books of Judaism and Christianity do not contain such elements but the contrary. These books speak clearly about the abolition of all the earthly relationships in Paradise: “At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven” (NIV, Matt. 22.30). For this reason, Blair, St. Clair-Tisdall, and others attribute the sensual portions of al-Janna to Muhammad’s own sensual tendencies.

Al-Nār

Al-Nār, or hellfire, is the second element in the duality of Islamic reward and punishment. The Qur’ān describes it as “Siggin” or “Sijjin” (Q 83.7-8), derived from sijin (“prison”) and means the confinement of this place is the opposite of the vastness of al-Janna. This image may have had a greater impression on the Arabs of the Arabian Peninsula who lived in a sprawling desert with open boundaries.

Al-Nār has seven doors or gates and each group of transgressors has to enter through a particular door (Q 15.44). The hell overseers are called khazana (“keepers”) and are described as stern and powerful. The Qur’ān characterizes these “nineteen” angels as “strong” and “stern” (Q 74.30; Q 66.6).

Al-Nār is located “in the seventh earth”. It is also said that it is located under “seven layered seas” and in the earth. Some Muslim scholars state the incident mentioned in the Qur’ān, “and the sun and the moon be together” (Q 75.9), refers to the casting of the sun and the moon “in the sea, so it becomes the major fire of Allah”. The Qur’ān states that on the Day of Judgment the seas will be set ablaze: “And when the seas shall surge up” (Q 81.6; Palmer trans.). (This verse is translated by Khalifa as “The oceans are set aflame” and by Shakir as “And when the seas are set on fire.”) This expression is repeated again in another location “by the swelling sea!” (Q 52.6; Palmer trans.).

Islamic commentators offer three different descriptions regarding how the sea will surge:

It will be lit up.

It will flood.

Its water will go.

Muslim exegetes lean toward the view that all the seas will become one sea and will be set ablaze, becoming fire.

Torment

Preparation for the hellfire took “one thousand years and it became white, then…one thousand years and it became red, then…one thousand years and it became black. It is therefore dark like a dark night”. The thermal estimate is that the fire of the earth “is one [part out] of seventy parts of the (Hell) Fire”. The fuel materials for the fire are the people and the rocks (Q 2.24; Q 66.6).

The fire surrounds the transgressors from every side (Q 7.41). The tormented will be dragged facedown and told to taste the fire of hell (Q 54.48). The fire will go through their bodies into their hearts (Q 104.7). The fetters will be put around their necks while they are dragged from the fire with a chain seventy cubits long (Q 40.71; Q 69.32). The clothes of the people of hell will be made of pitch (Q 14.50). The least in torment among the people of hell is described as a man whose brain will boil because of smoldering embers placed under the arches of his feet. And, in another hadīth, the least tormented among the people of hell will be wearing a pair of shoes made of fire, and his brain will be boiling because of the temperature of his shoes.

At first, the tormented will be in the water of “hamīm” before they will be burned in the fire (Q 40.72; Arabic transliteration). The word hamīm, translated by Palmer as “hell” in this verse, means boiling water in other translations, e.g., Pickthall, Yusuf Ali.

At this point, the Qur’ānic description of the fire takes a more terrifying course (Q 70.15-16). In the fire, the flesh of the face will be grilled and the skin will be pulled off. The fire will scorch the faces of the tormented: “…they shall curl their lips therein!” (Q 23.104). In other words, the burning will leave the tormented “with receding lips away from the teeth, from the fire burning their faces”. Every time the skin of those in the fire is destroyed, their skin will be replaced with new skin to experience the torment again (Q 4.56).

Old adages passed down through the years mention a style of torture known as al-zamharīr (“the severe cold”). Ibn ‘Abbās states “the people of the fire will plead from the heat, and their plea will be answered with a cold wind whose cold cracks bones. Then they will ask for the heat”. It is narrated “that in hell is a cold, al-zamharīr, that makes the flesh fall off the bones until they plead for the heat of hell”.

Muhammad told his followers that the dwellers of al-Nār will be bit by massive snakes and scorpions that are like mules. Muslim exegetes link his words with the verse “…we will add torment to their torment” (Q 16.88). They state that the ones who receive this additional torture by these huge scorpions and snakes are those who rejected the Da‘wa of Muhammad and add that the scorpions have canine teeth as tall as palm trees.

According to the Qur’ān, the one suffering in hell will be so desirous to rid himself of his torment, that, if possible, he will gladly trade the souls of his children, his wife, his brother, and his tribesmen for his own release (Q 70.11-13). In the fire, the misbelievers will declare their regret and ask Allah to send them out of there or send them back to earth to repeat the test—reject or accept the Da‘wa. However, Allah’s response to such entreaties is “Go ye away into it and speak not to me!” (Q 23.106-108). Regret will not benefit the tormented who would wish to have been “dust” (Q 78.40). This response is why this day, the Day of Judgment, is called the day of sighing or distress (Q 19.39; compare with Q 6.31).

Other Qur’ānic verses state that the “weak” followers will blame their arrogant leaders and will justify their actions by stating that they were following their leaders (Q 14.21; see Q 34.33 and Q 40.47). These weak followers will also demand that Allah double the torment of those who caused their current destiny (Q 33.67-68). These leaders will reject their claims, explaining that the weak rejected the faith by their own will (see Q 38.61). However, the followers, feeling betrayed, would say that if only they had the chance to go back to the world “…then would we clear ourselves of them as they have cleared themselves of us…” (Q 2.167). Thus, the weak followers and their fallacious leaders will exchange accusations and curses (Q 29.25).

Another group will blame Satan, but Satan will respond that they bear the consequences of their unbelief, for all he did was to invite them (Q 14.22).

With each new group being hurled into the hellfire, those already there will say “no welcome” to those now entering (Q 38.59-60). The nations will blame each other (Q 7.38):

He will say, ‘Enter ye—amongst the nations who have passed away before you, both of ginns and men—into the fire;’ whenever a nation enters therein, it curses its mate; until, when they have all reached it, the last of them will say unto the first, ‘O our Lord! These it was who led us astray, give them double torment of the fire!’ He will say, ‘To each of you double! but ye do not know.’

In this situation those who are tormented will lament and say, “O, would that we had obeyed God and obeyed the Apostle!” (Q 33.66). The tormented will ask “the keepers of hell” to ask their lord to lighten for them “one day of the torment” (Q 40.49).

When the tormented try to leave the fire, they will be returned and told to“[t]aste ye the torment of the fire which ye did call a lie!” (Q 32.20). It will be declared that no payment of ransom will be accepted from them (Q 57.15). When they cry for help, “…they shall be helped with water like molten brass, which shall roast their faces…” (Q 18.29).

Muhammad extends the terror and misery beyond the personal condition of the dwellers of hellfire with this declaration: “If a man was to be entered in the fire then brought out of it, the people of the earth would die from his rotten odor and his disfiguration”.

Food and Drink

The people of al-Nār will only have bitter thorns to eat, a food that will neither nourish them nor satisfy their hunger (Q 88.6-7). It is a food that causes choking and severe torment (Q 73.13). Specifically, it is a “thorn that takes by the throat and does not enter or exit”. According to Q 69.36, the tormented will have another food: “foul ichor” or “foul pus” (Arberry trans.). The Arabic word is ghislīn and means “that which comes out of their flesh”; in other words, it is the most evil, insidious, and ugly of food. It is also said that no one knows what it is.

The fruit of the zaqqūm tree is also available to the people of al-Nār (Q 37.62-63; Q 44.43-44). Yet, as it melts, it will boil their insides (Q 44.45). The people of al-Nār will be given liquid pus or putrid water to drink, the pus and blood that runs out from the tormented (Q 14.16). They will also drink the boiling water and pus that runs out from those tormented by the fire (Q 6.70; Q 38.57). The boiling water that the tormented are forced to drink will tear apart their bowels (Q 47.15).

Abysses or Levels of Hierarchy

Just as al-Janna has a hierarchy to classify its inhabitants (with Muhammad in its top rank), al-Nār has several levels, known as the abysses of hell, to classify the tormented dwellers.

The Qur’ānic text itself does not formally classify the tormented in specific groups or the abysses in which they will be placed. The only Qur’ānic text to suggest any separations mentions the munāfiqūn (“hypocrites”), who are put at the lowest place in hell: “Verily, the hypocrites are in the lowest depths of hell-fire…” (Q 4.145). Undoubtedly, this placement goes back to the struggle that took place in Medina between Muhammad and the Muslims on the one hand and the Medinan resisters, or Munāfiqūn (“Hypocrites”), on the other. The Hadith literature presents the following distribution in this particular order (bad to worse) for the people of hell:

Monotheists (meaning, the Muslims)

Jews

Christians

Sabaeans

Magians

Arab idolaters

Munāfiqūn (“Hypocrites”)

Evolution of al-Nār Verses

The content and style of al-Nār verses, like al-Janna verses, evolved over time in the Qur’ān:

Evolution of al-Nār Verses

Period

Duration

Sura

Verse(s)

Meccan (First)

AD 612-617

Inception of Muhammad’s Da‘wa to the fifth year after it

Q 52

14-16

Q 56

41-44

Q 56

45-48

Q 56

52-55

Q 74

26-30

Q 78

21-26

Q 88

1-7

Q 89

21-26

Q 92

14-17

Q 104

4-9

Meccan (Second)

AD 617-619

Fifth and sixth years of Da‘wa

Q 18

53

Q 23

104

Q 27

90

Q 38

55-57

Q 67

6-8

Meccan (Third)

AD 619-622

Seventh year of Da‘wa until Hijra

Q 6

128-130

Q 7

36-38

Q 7

44

Q 7

50-51

Q 10

27

Q 11

106

Q 14

49-50

Q 40

49

Q 40

70-72

Medinan

AD 622-632

After the Hijra until Muhammad’s death

Q 2

79-81

Q 2

23-24

Q 2

39

Q 2

167

Q 2

217

Q 3

23-24

Q 3

131

Q 3

185

Q 4

145

Q 5

36-37

Q 8

13-14

Q 33

64-66

Note: Table contains a sampling but not a complete listing of all al-Nār verses.

Verses of the First Meccan Period

The warnings about the torment of hell use metered rhyme and contains fiery language, a characteristic style for the verses of this period. The verses state that the one who refuses to believe Muhammad will face hell as punishment (Q 52.14; Q 78.27-28). Calling the resisters to his message the people “on the left hand,” Muhammad warns them that their destiny will be scorching winds and boiling water in the shade of black smoke that will never refresh or please (Q 56.41-44). Muhammad’s message about their future fate contrasts with their current earthly affluence and their mocking words, “‘What, when we die and have become dust and bones, shall we then indeed be raised? or our fathers of yore?’” (Q 56.45-48). He threatens that they shall fill their bellies with the fruit of the zaqqūm tree and drink boiling water like thirsty camels (Q 56.52-55).

The typical al-Nār verses of this period are threats composed into poetry, as illustrated in the following tables:

Poetic al-Nār Verses: Q 74.26-30

Arabic text

Palmer English translation

سَأُصْلِيهِ سَقَرَ

I will broil him in hell-fire!

وما أدراك ما سقر

and what shall make thee know what hell-fire is?

لا تُبْقِي وَلا تَذَرُ

It will not leave and will not let alone.

لواحة للبشر

It scorches the flesh;

عليها تسعة عشر

over it are nineteen (angels).

Note: Every last word in each line ends with the Arabic letter ر, or r.

Poetic al-Nār Verses: Q 78.21-26

Arabic text

Palmer English translation

إن جهنم كانت مرصادا

Verily, hell is an ambuscade;

لِلطاغِينَ مَآبًا

a reward for the outrageous,

لابِثِينَ فِيهَا أَحْقَابًا

to tarry therein for ages.

لّا يَذُوقُونَ فِيهَا بَرْدًا وَلا شَرَابًا

They shall not taste therein cool nor drink,

إِلّا حَمِيمًا وَغَسَّاقًا

but only boiling water and pus;—

جَزَاءً وِفَاقًا

a fit reward!

Note: Every last word in each line ends with the Arabic letter ا, or a. Each line ends with this pattern: alif-consonant-alif + diacritical tanwin ( ً  ), making the ending sound “an.”

Verses of the Second Meccan Period

The verses of the second period, still warning about torment in hell, also remain passionate and poetical but are a little longer than those of the first period. However, these later verses introduce a new element—the face, e.g., the evildoers will “see” the hellfire (Q 18.53), their “faces” will be scorched by the fire (Q 23.104), and they will be thrown down on their faces into the fire (Q 27.90).

The same fiery threatening language can be seen in another verse couplet (Q 38.55-57) of this period:

This!—and, verily, for the rebellious is there an evil resort,—

hell; they shall broil therein, and an ill couch shall it be!

This,—so let them taste it!—hot water, and pus

The amount of anger that Muhammad directed towards the Quraysh can be felt in the words spoken by the keepers of hell, who declare that al-Nār is about to burst in anger against the misbelievers: “it will well-nigh burst for rage! Whenever a troop of them is thrown in, its treasurers shall ask them, ‘Did not a warner come to you?’” (Q 67.8).

Verses of the Third Meccan Period

Al-Nār verses during this time period couple warnings about hell with the mention of torment for the jinn and the people (Q 6.128; Q 7.38). The verses of this period also mention the fellows of al-Janna and the fellows of hell in the same verse, contrasting their conditions (Q 7.44, 50). In addition, there is a tendency in these verses to elaborate endlessly in describing the evildoers’ torment in the fire.

Verses of the Medinan Period

After the political map changed for Muhammad following the Hijra, these Medinan verses included the Jews in their warnings (Q 2.80; Q 3.24). In the midst of the conflict between Muhammad and his enemies in Medina, who were the bigger danger to him, Muhammad threatens those who refused to submit to him by saying that “the hypocrites” (i.e., the Munāfiqūn) will reside in the “lowest depths” of hellfire (Q 4.145).

At the end of the Medinan period and after Muhammad bolstered his military strength, the Qur’ān begins to mention Allah and Muhammad, side by side. A newly coined phrase, “Allah and his messenger,” takes hold. Thus, this pairing—Allah and Muhammad—becomes logical and not uncommon to find in verses of this period, as in this example: “‘O, would that we [lamenting misbelievers in the fire] had obeyed God and obeyed the Apostle!’” (Q 33.66).

Names for al-Nār

The Qur’ān mentions many names for al-Nār.

Jahannam (Q 19.68, 86; Arabic transliteration)

The Arabic language scholars state two opinions about the derivation of the word Jahannam:

The origin of the name is Arabic, and hell is called Jahannam because of “the distance of its depth”.

It is said that it is a Hebrew word that was Arabized.

In fact, the word comes from an Aramaic root, which is written in Hebrew as גַּהִנָּם, with a pronunciation similar to the Arabic. This word is not found in ancient Arabic poetry. Muhammad may have learned it from his direct or indirect contact with the Abyssinians. This word Jahannam is repeated seventy-seven times in the Qur’ān.

Al-Jahīm (Q 2.119)

Al-Jahīm, another name for hell, means “the blazing fire”.

Al-Hutama (Q 104.5)

Hell was called by this name, which can be loosely translated as “the Destroyer,” because it “shatters whatever it meets” and it “shatters everything”.

Sa‘īr (Q 4.10; Arabic transliteration)

The word sa‘īr means “fire,” similar to the word su‘āru. Both words share the same root, which means the heat of the fire. The root verb sa‘ara (“ignite or agitate”) can be used in the context of starting a fire or a war.

Saqara (Q 54.48; Q 74.26-27, 42; Arabic transliteration)

The verb saqara is used to refer to sunburn, meaning the sun burned a person severely enough to cause head pain because of its heat. It is said, “Hell is called saqara because it melts the flesh and the spirits”.

Lazā (Q 70.15; Arabic transliteration)

The word lazā means fire. It is reported to mean “pure flame”. Hell is called Lazā “because it is the most intense of fires”.

Al-Lahab (Q 77.31; Arabic transliteration)

In Arabic the lahab of the fire is its tongue, or flame. Thus, the name al-Lahab characterizes al-Nār as the flames of hell.

Hāwiya (Q 101.9; Arabic transliteration)

The name Hāwiya (“Pit”) appears in an early Meccan sura, Q 101. According to Islamic commentators, it means the fire where the hellbound falls. Q 101.9 in Arabic states that “his mother is Hāwiya.” Translators have rendered this verse differently. While Palmer translates the verse as “his dwelling shall be the pit of hell,” Pickthall translates it as “[a] bereft and Hungry One will be his mother.” The commentators explain that it means that the top of his head (“mother”) will plunge into the depth of hell.93

The context of the word is noteworthy as it states, “But as for him whose balance is light, his dwelling shall be the pit of hell. And who shall make thee know what it is?—a burning fire!” (emphasis added) (Q 101.8-11). Verse 10 indicates that the Arabs did not know the meaning of the word hāwiya. For this reason, Charles Cutler Torrey, an archaeologist and scholar of Semitic languages, suggests that the word hāwiya is the same as the Hebrew word הוָּה (“disaster or calamity”), noting that it is mentioned twice in the Old Testament (Isa. 47.11; Ezek. 7.26) and believing that this word was common among the Jews in Muhammad’s milieu. But Orientalist Arthur Jeffery objects to this suggestion because the word in both of the verses is not concerned with fire. The word, whether in the Old Testament or the Hebrew writings, is not germane to the context of hell. In addition, the word appears in the Qur’ān in an early Meccan sura before Muhammad was in contact with the Jews in Medina. Therefore, Jeffery proposes the possibility that the word hāwiya is one of the strange words that Muhammad encountered and adopted during his contact with visitors to Mecca during his earlier years there.

In summary, the most well-known, frequently used names in the Islamic books and among Muslims are “the Fire,” “Jahannam,” and “al-Jahīm.”

Fellows of the Fire

The Qur’ān mentions certain individuals and groups who will go to hell. Though some of the individuals are unnamed, their relationship makes clear their identity:

Abū Lahab and his wife (Q 111)

Wife of Noah and the wife of Lot (Q 66.10)

Iblīs (Q 17.62-63)

Unlike the listing of select individuals, the list of condemned groups (in no particular order) is quite large:

Those (in general) who misbelieve (Q 2.24)

Those who refuse to believe the Qur’ān (Q 3.10)

Those who oppose Allah and his messenger (Q 9.63)

Those who consider the Qur’ān old magic or the words of a human being (Q 74.24-25)

Those who intentionally kill a believer (Q 4.93)

Those who desert in battles (Q 8.15-16)

Those who practice their religion purely for play and entertainment (Q 6.70)

Those who die as non-Muslims, fearing persecution if they became Muslims (Q 4.97)

Those who practice usury or return to it despite Allah’s prohibition (Q 2.275)

Those who mock the messengers of Allah or call the messengers liars (Q 18.106, Q 7.36)

Those who persecute the believers (Q 85.10)

Those who reject the reality of the resurrection of the dead (Q 25.11)

Those who commit suicide (Q 4.29-30)

Those who steal the money of orphans (Q 4.10)

Those who are slanderous, especially those who slander women (Q 104, Q 24.23)

Those who claim to be a god (divine) (Q 21.29)

Those who are “the extravagant” (Q 40.43; Palmer and Shakir trans.), which, according to Muslim exegetes, means the idolaters, or those whose bad deeds are more than their good deeds

The list of the condemned also includes nonhuman groups: “…‘I [Allah] will surely fill hell with jinns and mankind altogether” (Q 11.119). The jinn are invisible beings that are not human but share some humanlike qualities.

Idea of al-Nār

It was natural that Muhammad would stress the heat of hellfire. Mecca, though it was an important trade center, was a barren city in the middle of a hot widespread desert. As a result, threatening this audience, people well versed about heat and fire, with the fire of hell would have great visceral impact, especially when Muhammad made them feel the terribleness of hellfire by saying, “This fire of yours is but a fraction out of seventy fractions of Jahannam”. The influence of the environment on the image of hell in Islam becomes clearer through additional descriptions borrowed from the vocabulary of the surrounding environment: samūmim (“scorching, blasting wind”)(Q 56.42); hamīmin (“scalding water”)(Q 56.42, 54; Q 44.48; and others); zalīlin (“shade”)(Q 77.31); jimālatun sufrun (“yellow camels”) (Q 77.33).

Nonetheless, the reality remains that the Islamic idea of al-Nār is taken from other sources. In Blair’s scholarly work, The Sources of Islam: An Inquiry into the Sources of the Faith and Practice of the Muhammadan Religion, he offers important information regarding the source of hell in Islam. For instance, the text of the Jewish Zohar, as in the Qur’ān, describes a hell with “seven gates” and the Midrash on Psalm 11 states there are “seven houses of abode for the wicked in Hell”. In the Talmud it is narrated that David released his son Absalom from “the seven dwellings of Hell”.

Sanskrit literature, a Hindu source, discusses “seven lower abodes below the surface of the earth, and seven higher storeys [sic] above it”. Moreover, the Magians, an ancient Persian religious cult, believed in seven abodes of hell. As described in the Zoroastrian sacred text, the Gathas, the spirit of the evil person in these “apartments” will experience such “suffering as the whole of the living world can taste”. This hell, a foul and rotten place, offers only poisonous and repulsive food. There in its darkness the spirit of the evil person dwells amid a blowing poisonous and rotten wind.

The Qur’ān mentions in Q 43.77 a specific keeper of al-Nār named “Mālik,” who is considered the head of the guardians of hell, the nine angels (Q 74.30). Blair believes Muhammad was inspired by the mention of the “Prince of Hell” in the Talmud. According to Blair, Muhammad borrowed the name for his “prince” of hell from the ancient deity Molech, to whom the Canaanites burned humans as sacrificial offerings. Muhammad may also have borrowed from the Old Testament, for the name “Molech” is mentioned there and identified as the worship object of the Canaanites. (See Lev.18.21; 1 Kings 11.7; 2 Kings 23.10; Acts 7.43.)

Other mentions of hell in the Qur’ān also seem derived from other earlier sources. The text of Q 50.30 (“On the day we will say to hell, ‘Art thou full?’ and it will say, ‘Are there any more?’”) somewhat echoes the Kabbalistic commentary, Othioth by Rabbi Akiva (8.1): “The Prince of Hell saith daily, ‘Give me food enough.’ In corroboration of this assertion, the Rabbi quotes…Isaiah [5.14], ‘Therefore Hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure”. In Q 3.106 (“on the day when…faces shall be blackened…‘then taste the torment for your misbelief!’”), the image of the blackened faces of the tormented can be found in the centuries earlier Jewish Rosh Hashanah (fol. 17a): “Rabbi Isaac b. Abhin says (of those in Hell): ‘Their faces are black like the sides of a ca[u]ldron”.

One of Muhammad’s own inventions appears to be the zaqqūm tree, a tree that can somehow survive the fiery conditions of the Islamic hell (Q 37.62; Q 44.43; Q 56.52). Blair suggests that Muhammad may have introduced the zaqqūm tree to contrast with the tree of al-Janna, or he might have been inspired by Jewish traditions that mention a bitter weed as one of the punishments of hell.

Announcement of Eternal Judgments

Muhammad informed the Muslims that after the resurrected people are distributed between al-Janna and al-Nār, death will come in an image of a black and white ram. It will be placed between al-Janna and al-Nār, and then it will be slaughtered. At that instant, the people of al-Janna and the people of al-Nār will realize that they are in eternity. At the end of this report, Muhammad recited to the early Muslims Q 19.39: “And warn them of the day of sighing, when the matter is decreed while they are heedless, and while they do not believe”.

Problems

Readers of the Qur’ān will encounter contradictory, puzzling, unusual, and even unsettling descriptions of these two places and the conditions and terms for their respective eternal inhabitants.

Nature of Eternal Judgments

A small minority of Muslim thinkers try to explain the joys of al-Janna or the punishment of al-Nār as “spiritual” conditions and quote verses from the Qur’ān as their proof. Yet, they do not deny the physical aspect of heaven and hell because the spiritual does not necessarily cancel the physical. There is “no pleasure or pain which is purely spiritual or purely physical”.

However, contrary to what these thinkers hold, the Qur’ān does not state that the human souls will be without their bodies. Instead, the Qur’ān “does not recognize the dualism of the soul and the body and man, for it is a unitary, living, and fully functioning organism”. Moreover, the Qur’ān does not contain support for the belief in a spiritual Janna or a spiritual Nār. The Qur’ān only addresses—at great length—the physical pleasure and physical suffering in these two places of eternity. It speaks literally and not metaphorically about al-Janna and al-Nār, even as Muslim philosophers and allegorists try to explain heaven and hell using metaphorical language.

Passage through Hellfire

Despite the vivid descriptions made about al-Janna and its rewards for the righteous believers, text that appears in Q 19 disconcertingly indicates that all people, no matter their faith and earthly behavior, will first enter hell: “There is not one of you who will not go down to it,—that is settled and decided by thy Lord. / Then we will save those who fear us; but we will leave the evildoers therein on their knees” (Q 19.71-72).

This text leaves no doubt that the divine decree dictates that all people will enter hell. This absolute decree has provoked worry and bewilderment among Muslim exegetes, a reaction that can be seen in the number of opinions they have provided concerning this text. Regarding the controversial sentence, “There is not one of you who will not go down to it,” al-Qurţubī lists these exegetical opinions:

The meaning of this sentence is that all people will go to hell. According to a hadīth by Muhammad “going down means entering. There will be no righteous or unrighteous but [all] will enter it. For the believers it will be cool and peaceful as it was for Abraham”.

The phrase “go down” means “to pass over al-sirāt,” a razor-thin bridge to paradise suspended above the fires of al-Nār.

The phrase “go down” means “to look over, inspect, and be near. That is because they [all people] will attend the location of giving account, which is near hell. They will see it and look at it during the process of giving account. Then Allah will deliver those who feared [him]”.

According to one hadīth by Muhammad, “fever is a share of hell for the believer.” The phrase, “go down to it” refers to this fever that affects the believer in this earthly world, “so he will not go down to it [hell]”.

Another opinion states that “the going down is looking at it [hell] from the grave. Then, the winner will be delivered from it. But, those who are destined to reach it, will reach it. Then, he will depart from it by intercession or other [means]”.

The expression “not one of you” is an address to misbelievers, so the “you” refers only to the misbelievers.

This problematic text of Q 19.71-72 is abrogated by Q 21.101: “Verily, those for whom the good (reward) from us was fore-ordained, they from it shall be kept far away.” Al-Qurţubī rejects this view because there is no abrogation relationship between the two texts.

Despite the variety of opinions, most Islamic scholars agree that the text refers to all people, and entering hell is a certainty for everyone. They agree that the phrase “that is settled and decided by thy Lord,” indicates the inevitability of entering hell. The predominant view among the early Muslim exegetes who hold that the hellfire will touch all is that it will be cool and peaceful for the believers, who will be delivered from it safely. Al-Qurţubī favors this view:

This opinion brings together the various opinions. The one who enters it but is not hurt by its flame and heat, is distanced and delivered from it…. If it is said, “Do the prophets enter hell?” We say, “We cannot be absolute about that but state that all the created beings will enter it…. The obstinate will enter it with their crimes, the devout and the happy ones with their intercessions.

In fact, all these different explanations of this text indicate the extent of the confusion it has caused. Part of the problem stems from the exegetes examining the text apart from its historical context. History shows that Q 19 is Meccan and that Muhammad sent this sura with the Emigrants to Abyssinia (Ethiopia). The Islamic sources indicate that Q 19 was a means to get closer to the ruler of Abyssinia. When the delegation from the Quraysh arrived at al-Najāshī’s court requesting that he hand over the Emigrants, Ja‘far Ibn Abī Ţālib (one of the Emigrants) recited Q 19 (known as the Mary sura) before the gathering. (See the Introduction to sura Maryam, Q 19) If the aim of the sura, or a part of it, was to placate or appeal to the Abyssinians to receive their protection, it would be logical for Muhammad to insert Christian elements into the sura. Notably, the name of this sura 19 is Maryam (“Mary”), a beloved powerful Christian icon.

St. Clair-Tisdall believes that the verse in question contains an early Christian element: purgatory. The similarities between the Islamic hell and the Christian hell and an intermediate state between death and final judgment may indicate Muhammad’s belief in purgatory. St. Clair-Tisdall offers the probability that Muhammad heard of purgatory from contact with contemporary Christian groups.

Yet another problem remains with this Q 19 text. The Qur’ān states that all who enter hell will be disgraced: “Lord! verily, whomsoever Thou hast made to enter the fire, Thou hast disgraced him” (Q 3.191). If all Muslims will enter hell (“not one of you who will not go down to it”), then by Q 3.191 all Muslims will be disgraced despite the fact that the Qur’ān promises them Allah will not disgrace them on the Day of Judgment (Yawm al-Qiyāma): “the day [Day of Judgment] God will not disgrace the Prophet nor those who believe with him” (Q 66.8). (See the critical analysis of Q 3.192)

Eternity of Hell

Will those who are in hell remain there forever? There are two answers, both based on Qur’ānic texts, to this question. One answer states that those who are in hell will be there forever. The other answer holds that those who enter hell will not remain there eternally (Q 6.128; Q 11.107-108). To solve this obvious contradiction, Muslim exegetes state that the one who exits hell is the person who has some portion of faith, as Muhammad explained to the Muslims: “…[W]hoever said: ‘None has the right to be worshipped but Allah and has in his heart good (faith) equal to the weight of a wheat grain will be taken out of Hell….’” Such a statement reflects Jewish influence, as Jews believe that no Jew will remain in hell forever. Muhammad seemed aware of this Jewish belief, as evidenced in Q 2.80: “And then they [the Jews] say, ‘Hell fire shall not touch us save for a number of days”.

Al-Aaraf

The Qur’ān mentions al-Aaraf in Q 7.46: “And betwixt the two there is a veil, and on al Aaraf are men who know each by marks”.

Muslim exegetes offer alternate meanings for the word a‘rāf (“al Aaraf”):

The word a‘rāf is the plural of ‘urf. Every elevation from the ground is known among the Arabs as ‘urf. For example, “the cockscomb is called ‘urf because of its elevation above the rest of its body”.

The word a‘rāf means the location that overlooks. Reader al-Kisā’ī was asked about the meaning of the word a‘rāf, but he was silent on the matter, indicating his inability to explain the meaning of the word.

The phrase “on al Aaraf are men” means that on the top of the wall are Muslim men. They were stopped there because their works did not allow them to enter al-Janna. So, they are standing at al-Janna’s wall, waiting for Allah to grant them permission to enter inside.

In another opinion, the fellows of a‘rāf are a group whose number of good and bad deeds were equal, “so they were made to be there until Allah decrees what he wills concerning it [the matter]. Then, he will make them enter al-Janna because of his mercy”.

According to al-Qurţubī’s commentary, there are about ten different opinions provided by the exegetes regarding the fellows of a‘rāf.

A group of Orientalists hold that the word a‘rāf is Arabic but its concept is taken from other ancient religions. St. Clair-Tisdall, for example, holds that this belief is taken from a Jewish source. He explains that the belief in a barrier between paradise and hell is present among the Jews. The Midrash commentary on Ecclesiastes 7.14 states when some inquired about the distance between paradise and hell, Rabbi Yohanan replied that between them is a wall. In the Avesta, the barrier is called Miswanogatus. In the Pahlavi language the barrier is known as Miswat-gas.

Al-Haddād likens the text about the fellows of a‘rāf as the “teaching about ‘purgatory,’ a place other than al-Janna or hell. In it one is purified after release from hell and then waits, coveting Allah’s permission and the words “enter al-Janna”.

Conclusion

Muhammad’s Da‘wa during the Meccan period included both the poetical, sensual promises of al-Janna as well as the vivid threats of hellfire. However, when Muhammad moved to Medina, the tone in the Qur’ānic verses became more militaristic as his authority and power increased, with more threats of weapons and war and fewer descriptions of al-Janna and its pleasures, sexual or otherwise, in the afterlife. For instance, in all the Medinan suras, which stretch over ten years after the Hijra, the mention of women is not present except twice (Q 2.25 and Q 4.57) in simple terms: “…and there are pure wives for them therein.”

In the earlier Qur’ānic verses (which were revealed in Mecca), the worthiness of the fellows of al-Janna and the fellows of hell is compared and determined only in heaven (Q 59.20). There, the fellows of al-Janna will remind the fellows of hell that Allah’s promise about eternity is true (Q 7.44). The fellows of hell will express remorse, asking the fellows of al-Janna for water and food, but their request will be denied (Q 7.50-51).

However, in Medina during the last days of Muhammad, the policy of invading non-Muslim communities started taking shape, and it became embodied in the war texts of the Qur’ān and in the jihad hadīths. In the jihad texts, al-Janna and fire play an important role, which is summarized in Muhammad’s hadīth that al-Janna is “under the shades of swords”, and that the Muslims killed in war are in al-Janna and their dead enemies are in al-Nār. As Muhammad and his followers started working on establishing al-Janna and al-Nār on earth, they wanted their enemies to literally experience the heat and burning of hell, which became possible when jihad became the operating doctrine of the Islamic movement as it gained momentum. Islamic swords were thus enlisted to seek al-Janna in this world and send their enemies to hell in this world and the next.

During these wars against their enemies, the violent, single-minded purpose of the Muslim warriors was no doubt buoyed by future compensation in al-Janna for their “sacrifices” on earth. Then and now, the promise of an afterlife based on sensuality is the reason why the idea of al-Janna plays a major role in stimulating sensual tendencies in the Islamic persona. The main imagery associated with al-Janna is its women, who are characterized with dazzling beauty beyond imagination. This imagery makes the Muslim man at the heart of his worship live in vicarious pleasure as he imagines the hūr awaiting him in al-Janna. In paradise, the man will be given the power of a hundred men and reach “in a day a hundred virgins,” even “deflower in one morning a hundred virgins”. Sexual intercourse flows “with a male who does not wane, a pudendum that is not hidden, and a desire that does not stop”.

Al-Janna, in Muhammad’s description, determines Muslim moral values in this life. Might not faith, when fed by such perceptions about al-Janna, naturally encourage a Muslim man’s sexual appetites? This kind of obsessive thinking can be seen in the Islamic wars of conquest and Muslim male behavior toward women. (See the article “Women in the Qur’ān”) As the early Muslims fought to build an earthly al-Janna through colonial expansion (known as fātih, or “conquest”), they rewarded themselves with earthly “Hūr” (i.e., female slaves), for their personal sexual pleasure.

Muslims who still believe in the idea of a Janna full of pleasures and a Nār full of torments continue to answer the call of their imams and leaders to wage wars under the banner of jihad. As jihadists, they hope to receive material wealth, spoils, money, and female captives (“Hūr”) or become martyrs and receive the pleasures of the afterlife. The mental image that is planted in the mind of the Muslim man regarding al-Janna and its pleasures gives him an incentive to fight and experience martyrdom, as he has a divine promise that if he dies on the field of battle he will receive the following rewards:

Immediate forgiveness from Allah

View of his privileged position in al-Janna

Exemption from suffering in the grave

Safety from the “greatest terror” (Q 21.103)

Garment of faith

Intercession for seventy of his relatives

Marriage to the large-eyed Hūr

The emphasis on the sexual aspect of al-Janna is even linked with the personal sight of Allah. When the Muslim man in al-Janna has enjoyed seeing Allah there, “he returns to his [eternal] home with more radiance, beauty, handsomeness, conviviality, and dynamism. His wife will be waiting for him. She will welcome him, with longing (for his body), as the increase in attractiveness creates excitement in (the other) and desire in the one [husband], the doubly beautiful”. So, everything that is dedicated to increasing the sexual enjoyment and power of man includes the sight of Allah.

The last pleasure of jihad that a Muslim would receive in al-Janna is taking his own abode and the abodes of others who ended up in hell. Muhammad’s explanation of the verse “…they shall dwell therein for aye” (Q 23.11) is that every person has two homes, “a home in al-Janna and a home in hell. If he dies and enters hell, the fellows of al-Janna inherit his home”. Therefore, the fellows of al-Janna will take their own residences and the residences that were designated for the group who were made to enter hell.

This is eternal life according to the Qur’ān and the Islamic commentaries concerning it. To Muslims belong al-Janna where Hūr, ghulmān, delights and pleasures known and unknown are available, including those pleasures prohibited on earth, such as wine and ghulmān. Non-Muslims face two fires: a fire on earth under the “glimmer of the swords” and a fire in the last day.

References

1. Note: Palmer is the primary source of any English translation of Qur’ānic text quoted or cited in this book. This translation will be indicated with italicized text. 2. al-Ţabarī, Tafsīr 18: 617, 619, 621. 3. Sahih Muslim, Book of Faith: Pertaining to the words of the apostle of Allah... “I would be the first among people to intercede in the paradise and...I would have the largest following” (p. 168). For the Arabic source, see Šahīh Muslim, Kitāb al-Imān 1: 112. 4. Sahih Muslim, Book of Faith: Pertaining to the words of the apostle of Allah... “I would be the first among people to intercede in the paradise and...I would have the largest following” (p. 168). For the Arabic source, see Šahīh Muslim, Kitāb al-Imān 1: 112. 5. al-Ţabarī, Tafsīr 22: 287-290. 6. al-Ţabarī, Tafsīr 7: 167; 10: 197; 12: 123. 7. al-Jawzīya 87. 8. I. al-hanbalī, Al-Takhwīf min al-Nār 62-63. 9. Sahih Bukhari, Book of Fasting (p. 433). For the Arabic source, see Šahīh al-Bukhārī, Kitāb al-Šawm 2: 671. See Sahih Muslim, Book of Zakat: Concerning the collection of sadaqa and doing of good deeds (p. 567). For the Arabic source, see Šahīh Muslim, Kitāb al-Zakāt 1: 455. 10. al-Darāmī 3: 1862. 11. Sahih Bukhari, Book of the Prophetic Commentary on the Qur’an (p. 1083). For the Arabic source, see Šahīh al-Bukhārī, Kitāb al-Tafsīr 4: 1849. 12. Sahih Bukhari, Book of the Beginning of Creation (p. 754). For the Arabic source, see Šahīh al-Bukhārī, Kitāb Bad’ al-Khalq 3: 1185. 13. al-Ţabarī, Tafsīr 22: 34. 14. al-Qurţubī 20: 26-27 15. al-Ţabarī, Tafsīr 24: 679, 681, 685. 16. al-Qurţubī 21: 478. 17. Ibid. 21: 477. 18. al-Ţabarī, Tafsīr 23: 563-564. 19. Ibid. 24: 222-223. 20. Ibid. 24: 224. 21. al-Zamakhsharī 6: 339; compare with al-Ţabarī, Tafsīr 24: 221. 22. Jeffery, “Tasnīm,” Foreign Vocabulary of the Qur’an 92. 23. Ibn Manžūr 3888. 24. A. al-hanbalī, Sifat al-Janna 194; al-Jawzīya 165-166; al-Ţabarī, Tafsīr 19: 459-460. 25. al-Ţabarī, Tafsīr 19: 462. 26. Mahmūd 359-360. 27. A. al-hanbalī, Sifat al-Janna 193. 28. al-Ţabarī, Tafsīr 22: 320. 29. al-Ţabarānī 3: 275. 30. A. al-hanbalī, Sifat al-Janna 195. 31. al-Jawzīya 167-168. 32. al-Jawzīya 88. 33. Jeffery, “hūr,” Foreign Vocabulary of the Qur’an 118. 34. al-Ţabarī, Tafsīr 19: 541. 35. al-Jawzīya 158. 36. al-Qurţubī 19: 523. 37. al-Ţabarī, Tafsīr 22: 246. 38. al-Jawzīya 157. 39. Maģmūd 375. 40. al-Ţabarī, Tafsīr 22: 246. 41. Ibn Manžūr 1337; compare with A. al-hanbalī, Sifat al-Janna 191. 42. Ibn Manžūr 1337. 43. Mahmūd 376. 44. Nöldeke, et al. History of the Qur’ān 77, 100. 45. al-Baghawī 7: 390. 46. Ibid. 8: 10. 47. al-Bāz 323. 48. Ibid. 324. 49. Jeffery, “Janna,” Foreign Vocabulary of the Qur’an 104. 50. “Garden,” Encyclopedia of the Qur’ān 2: 282-283; compare with “Firdaws,” Encyclopedia of Islām [Houtsma, ed.] 2: 110. 51. See Q 9.72; Q13.23; Q 16.31; Q 18.31; Q 19.61; Q 20.76; Q 35.33; Q 38.50; Q 40.8; Q 61.12; Q 98.8. 52. See Q 5.65; Q 10.9; Q 22.56; Q31.8; Q 37.43; Q 56.12; Q 68.34. 53. al-Jawzīya 70. 54. Ibid. 71. 55. Blair 92-103. 56. Ibid. 94. 57. Ibid. 58. Quoted in Blair 94. Original source is Ormazd Yast, xxii 6. 59. Jeffery, “hūr,” Foreign Vocabulary of the Qur’an 119. 60. Blair 95. 61. St. Clair-Tisdall, Original Sources 235-239. 62. Jeffery, “hūr,” Foreign Vocabulary of the Qur’an 120. 63. “Laws of Manu,” ch. 7, v. 89. 64. St. Clair-Tisdall, Original Sources 239. 65. Mahabharata 2: 119. 66. Ibid. 5: 75. 67. I. al-hanbalī, Al-Takhwīf min al-Nār 62. 68. Ibid. 62-63. 69. al-Ţabarī, Tafsīr 23: 482. 70. Ibid. 24: 138-140. 71. I. al-hanbalī, Al-Takhwīf min al-Nār 64-65. 72. Ibn Māja 5: 372. 73. Sahih Bukhari, Book of the Beginning of Creation (p. 758). For the Arabic source, see Šaģīģ al-Bukhārī, Kitāb Bad’ al-Khalq 3: 1191; compare differences in expression: Šahīh Muslim, Kitāb al-Janna wa Šifat Na‘imuhā wa ’Ahluhā 2: 1304, and al-Darāmī 3: 1881. 74. Sahih Bukhari, Book [Concerning] To Make the Heart Tender (pp. 1463-1464). For the Arabic source, see Šahīh al-Bukhārī, Kitāb al-Riqāq 5: 2400. 75. Sahih Muslim, Book of Faith: Intercession of the messenger of Allah...for Abu Talib and some remission for him on this account (p. 174). For the Arabic source, see Šahīh Muslim, Kitāb al-Imān 1: 117. 76. al-Ţabarī, Tafsīr 17: 115. 77. I. al-hanbalī, Al-Takhwīf min al-Nār 96. 78. Ibid. 79. I. al-hanbalī, Al-Takhwīf min al-Nār 139-141. 80. al-Ţabarī, Tafsīr 14: 330-331. 81. I. al-hanbalī, Al-Takhwīf min al-Nār 177. 82. Ibid. 146. 83. al-Ţabarī, Tafsīr 23: 240-241. 84. I. al-Ģanbalī, Al-Takhwīf min al-Nār 70. 85. Ibn Manžūr 715. 86. Jeffery, “Jahannam,” Foreign Vocabulary of the Qur’an 106; compare with “Djahannam,” Encyclopedia of Islām [Houtsma, ed.] 1: 998. 87. Ibn Manžūr 553. 88. Ibid. 917. 89. Ibid. 2015-2016. 90. Ibid. 2037. 91. Ibid. 4039. 92. Ibid. 93. al-Zamakhsharī 6: 423. 94. Jeffery, “Hāwiya,” Foreign Vocabulary of the Qur’an 286. 95. Ibid. 96. al-Zamakhsharī 4: 351. 97. I. al-hanbalī, Al-Takhwīf min al-Nār 94. 98. Blair 92-103. 99. Quoted in Blair 93. 100. Ibid. 101. Blair 93. 102. Ibid. 99. 103. Blair 99-100. 104. Ibid. 100. 105. Ibid. 101. 106. Quoted in Blair 102. 107. Ibid. 108. Blair 99. 109. al-Jawzīya 280; Sahih Bukhari, Book of Prophetic Commentary on the Qur’an (p. 1041). For the Arabic source, see Šahīh al-Bukhārī, Kitāb al-Tafsīr 4: 200. 110. al-Ţabarī, Tafsīr 15: 545. 111. Rahman 35. 112. Ibid. 112. 113. Ibid. 114. al-Qurţubī 13: 491-500. 115. Ibid. 116. St. Clair-Tisdall, Original Sources 197-198. 117. Q 2.39, 80-81, 257, 275; Q 3.24, 116; Q 5.37, 80; Q 7.36; Q 9.17; Q 10.27; Q 13.5; Q 23.103; Q 43.74; Q 58.17. 118. Sahih Bukhari, Book of Belief (p. 21); in this same text, the comparison includes the “weight of a barley grain” and the “weight of an atom.” For the Arabic source, see Šahīh al-Bukharī, Kitāb al-Imān 1: 24- 25. 119. Compare with Q 3.24; see Blair 101-102. 120. al-Ţabarī, Tafsīr 10: 209. 121. al-Qurţubī 9: 226. 122. al-Zamakhsharī 2: 446. 123. al-Ţabarī, Tafsīr 10: 211-213. 124. al-Qurţubī 9: 227-230. 125. Jeffery, “Al-A‘rāf,” Foreign Vocabulary of the Qur’an 65. 126. St. Clair-Tisdall, Original Sources 123-124. 127. al-Haddād, Atwār al-Da‘wa 452; see Q 7.49. 128. Sahih Bukhari, Book of Fighting for the Cause of Allah (Jihad) (pp. 651, 696). For the Arabic source, see Šahīh al-Bukhārī, Kitāb al-Jihad wa al-Sīyar 3: 1037, 1101. 129. A. al-hanbalī, Sifat al-Janna 192; compare with al-Jawzīya 164. 130. A. al-hanbalī, Sifat al-Janna 191. 131. Ibn Māja 4: 82. 132. Mahmūd 355-356. 133. al-Ţabarī, Tafsīr 17: 15.