Hereafter Series CD 18 - Dwellers of Hell, Paradise and its people

Taken from http://ummibraheem.wordpress.com/2008/10/12/v2-cd8-part-1-the-dwellers-of-hell/

And

http://ummibraheem.wordpress.com/2008/10/15/v2-cd8-part-2-jannah-and-its-people/

The Acts that Cause a Person to be in Hell

The best way to learn something is to teach it to the others. One of the scholars that became a very well known speaker in Arabic countries, said that he would read Islamic books when he was really young and then go to the grocery store and deliver whatever he read to the grocery store owner and whoever else was sitting there. That is how he learned the material and that is also how he learned to speak. Eventually, he became very well known. His name is Ahmad Al-Khattaan , if any of you have ever heard of him.

Therefore, it would be helpful to deliver this to others – our families and friends. This is our future and we need to know this.

The Ones Who Will Receive Eternal Torment

They are the disbelievers and the hypocrites.

Allah subhaana wa ta’aala says: “But those who disbelieve and belie our ayaat, such are the dwellers of the fire, they shall abide therein forever.” (2:39) A thought used to come up in my mind: How come these people are punished for eternity when they only sinned for 60 or 70 years? Why not just punish them for 60 or 70 years and that’s it? Death came to them unannounced – but if they lived until 65, 100, forever, they would have still rejected the truth. Because they had the intention of sinning forever, they are punished forever. That is why intention is so important.

The ones that receive the worse punishment in hell are the hypocrites. Allah says: “The hypocrites will be in the lowest depths of the fire [...]” (4:145) The situation of the hypocrites is worse than the disbelievers because there is deception, lying and other bad qualities aside from disbelief. They are closer to the truth – they know it, they are around it, but they are pretending they are following the truth, and still they reject it. Also, the harm of the hypocrites is worse for the believers than the harm of the disbelievers because of their underground, deceptive conspiracies against the Ummah. If we looked at the early disputes of the Muslims and biggest fitan [trials], they were caused by the hypocrites. Look at the time of RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam – the greatest harm to him was caused by hypocrites who were living with him in Madinah.

The Ones Who will Receive Temporary Torment

These are the believers; those who believe in Allah and the Messengers, but have accumulated too many sins. The suffering in this world, the grave, and the afflictions of the Day of Judgment were not enough to wash away those sins, so they still have to spend some time in hell. There are many sins that could cause this fate, we will just mention a few. As mentioned before, these examples are from ‘Umar al-Ashqar’s book.

1. The Deviant Sects

RasulAllah sallallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam says that the Jews have divided into 71 sects; the Christians have divided into 72 sects and this Ummah (the Muslims) will divide into 73 sects. Every one of them will be in hell fire except one. A very important thing to mention when we talk about this – this is not talking about different schools of thought. This is not talking about different Islamic groups that serve the same purpose.

This is talking about sects that separated on fixed principles of shari’ah. They have made up for themselves foundations that are different than the fixed foundations of Islam; for example, a sect that believes in a new prophet. This is an issue of aqidah – Islam says that RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam is the seal of the prophets.

Another clarification – it does not mean that the majority of them are in hell fire. Most of the laymen (common person) of the Ummah do not participate in sects. They just believe in Allah and the Messenger and go and pray. They cannot be counted as part of these sects, even though they carry the label. They pray, fast, pay zakah, etc, and believe in these principles of Islam. They do not get into the deviance of the creed.

This hadith does not say that these 72 sects are in hell forever. Some of them could be in hell forever, some could not.

2. The Unjust Judge

There is a hadith in At-Tirmidhi that RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam says that there are three types of judges, two of them are in hell fire, and one is in Jannah. The two that are in hell fire include a judge that rules, knows that he is wrong, but he still does it for a worldly reason. The other judge in hell is the one that rules, has no knowledge and causes harm to others because of his ignorance. RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam says that this one is in hell fire as well. RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam says that the third judge that knows and applies his knowledge in a righteous fashion is in jannah.

3. Fabrication of Hadith

RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam says, in a hadith in Bukhaari and Muslim, whoever lies or fabricates a lie about me will be guaranteed a seat in hell fire. Even if that hadith that is fabricated has a good meaning will have a seat in hell fire.

It is also a sin, but not to the same degree, to narrate a fabricated hadith. Therefore, we should be careful in the hadith that we narrated.

4. Arrogance

This is a very dangerous sin. RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam says, in a hadith in Muslim, the one who has a single grain of arrogance/pride in their hearts will not enter paradise. We are not talking about a heart filled with arrogance – but just a single grain. When RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said this, the sahabi said, “We like to have our clothes clean and our shoes clean.” He thought maybe that is a form of pride. RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, Allah is beautiful and He loves beauty. That is not arrogance; al-kibr is transgressing against others and rejecting the truth – rejecting the truth because of pride.

5. Murder

Killing people innocently without a reason is a major sin. Allah subhaana wa ta’aala says: “And whoever kills a believer intentionally, his recompense is Hell to abide therein, and the Wrath and the Curse of Allah are upon him, and a great punishment is prepared for him.” (4:93)

All the threats are there – hell, the curse of Allah and a great punishment.

What about a non believer? If there is a contract of peace between a Muslim and a non Muslim, then RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam says, if you kill a person whom you have given peace, then you will not smell the smell of paradise.

6. Riba – Interest

Allah subhaana wa ta’aala says that the ones who insist on dealing with interest, for them there is the punishment of hell fire.

Also, RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam says to beware of the seven greatest sins, and he mentioned riba as one of them. Never underestimate riba.

Allah says: “O you who believe! Be afraid of Allah and give up what remains (due to you) from Riba (usury) (from now onward), if you are (really) believers. And if you do not do it, then take a notice of war from Allah and His Messenger but if you repent, you shall have your capital sums. Deal not unjustly (by asking more than your capital sums), and you shall not be dealt with unjustly (by receiving less than your capital sums).” (2:278-279) Allah says that whoever deals with interest, Allah and His Messenger will wage a war against you.

Ibn ‘Abbaas gives a tafsir of this ayah. He says that on the Day of Judgment, a person who deals with riba will come out of his grave, like the one who is obsessed with the devil, jumping and shaking violently. Then the angels will come to him and give him weapons and tell him to prepare for war, you are going to fight against Allah and His Messenger. It is a very dangerous sin. It has become very widespread. The whole world is immersed in a world of riba.

7. Eating Other People’s Property

Allah says: “O ye who believe! Eat not up your property among yourselves in vanities: But let there be amongst you Traffic and trade by mutual good-will: Nor kill (or destroy) yourselves: for verily Allah hath been to you Most Merciful! If any do that in rancour and injustice – soon shall We cast them into the Fire: And easy it is for Allah.” (4:29-30)

8. Inclining Towards the Oppressors

If there is a king, president or leader who is a tyrant or oppressor, and you have love and respect for such a person, then you’re risking being with that person on the day of judgment. We should stay away from the tyrants and oppressors and disapprove of their actions.

Allah says: “And incline not toward those who do wrong, lest the Fire should touch you…” (11:113) The ayah talks about dhaalimeen – the transgressors and oppressors – but it would always apply to someone who is insisting on sin. We should stay away from that as a form of disapproving the wrong.

It’s a common misunderstanding that as long as you are not doing the wrong it’s ok. That is not the case. Even if you’re not doing it yourself, but you are with people who do those sins, and you get along with them fine, etc, then that in itself constitutes a sin.

Once a police officer under the Abbasid khalifa came to Imam Ahmad – and there was good and bad in the khilafaa then – and asked Imam Ahmad, “Am I considered to be one of those who are assisting the oppressors?” Imam Ahmad ibn Hambal said, “No, you’re not. You are an oppressor yourself.”

9. Dressed but Naked Women and Men with Whips

This is also a sign of the Day of Judgment. The Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said that there are two groups of people who are going to be in the hell fire and he didn’t see them yet. One of them is women who are dressed, but naked. They have clothes on, but the clothes are as if they are not there – tight, or as if strings, etc. The second group are men who have whips in their hands. This is mentioning what we said before – the security forces. This has happened before, because there were security forces that would go around with batons and whips. The Prophet said that they are in hell because they are keeping oppression in place.

10. Cruelty towards Animals

This hadith is in Bukhaari. The Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said that a woman entered hell because of [her abuse of] a cat. We also know that a woman entered paradise because of [her kind treatment towards] a dog. This shows us that we shouldn’t treat anything as insignificant because we never know what will be the cause of forgiveness.

RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said that this woman held this cat captive; she didn’t feed it; neither did she let it go out until to feed itself, until it died.

The other woman gave the dog and saved its life, and she went to Jannah.

11. Seeking Religious Knowledge for Worldly Reasons

There could be someone learning Qur’an, fiqh or shari’ah, but that would take them to hell. RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam says that whoever follows the path of knowledge for the sake of Allah will end up in paradise. Nevertheless, there are people who will do these things – seek knowledge of Qur’aan and Islam – but they will end up in hell because they did not do it for Allah, but they did it for worldly reasons: becoming famous, leading the people, etc.

RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam says, in a hadith in Ibn Majah, If you learn knowledge that is used for the sake of Allah, but you are doing it to gain worldly benefits, you will not smell paradise.

12. Cutting down As-Sidr

As-Sidr is a tree. I think it translates to the lote tree in English. It is found in Arabia. RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam says whoever cuts down the tree of as-sidr, Allah will throw him down on his face in hell fire.

The reason is mentioned in the hadith by Abu Dawood: RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said that whoever cuts down the tree of as-sidr, Allah will throw him down on his face in hell fire. They asked Abu Dawood, what does this mean? If you cut down a tree, you’ll go to hell? Abu Dawood said that this means whoever cuts down the tree of as-sidr for no reason, which is used as shade by the travellers and is used by animals for food, then that person will be thrown in the hell fire. This is much stricter than the fines in the US for cutting down trees.

This does not mean that in general you will go to hell for cutting down trees. If there is a good reason for cutting down trees, then it is ok. For example, for burning wood, construction, etc. This is talking about cutting the tree for no reason.

Especially, in Arabia there is a scarcity of trees. Animals would have to travel far distances to just find something to eat. RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam also says that this is cutting down trees in the wilderness. It’s different if it’s in the city.

13. Suicide

There is a hadith in Bukhaari, RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said whoever throws himself from a mountain to kill himself, he in hell fire, throwing himself from a mountain in hell fire forever. And whoever drinks poison to kill himself will be drinking that poison in hell fire forever. And whoever hits himself in his stomach to kill himself will be in hell fire, stabbing himself in the stomach forever. You might say: why does it say [in the hadith] ‘forever’ and we are putting these people in the temporary category? The hadith means forever as in a long time, not eternity. The word is used to show that it’s such a long time that it can carry the label ‘forever’, even though they can eventually go to jannah eventually, if they said la ilaaha illallah.

The Description of Jannah and Its People

We prefer to use the word Paradise instead of Heaven because Heaven can be confused with samawaat. Sometimes the person may be referring to the skies, but someone else understands it to mean paradise. This is one of the limitations of the language. That is why I prefer to say paradise. It is better to use the authentic terminology of Jannah.

The First to Enter Jannah

Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam

In sahih Muslim, Anas ibn Maalik narrates that the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, “I will have the greatest/largest following on the day of judgment among the ambiya of Allah. And I will be the first person to knock on the gates of Paradise.” He will get there while the proceedings of the day of judgment are still going on and people are still going through hisaab.

Anas ibn Malik reported: The Messenger of Allah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said: “I will come to the gate of Paradise on the Day of Resurrection and would seek its opening. And the keeper would say: ‘Who are you?’ I would say: ‘Muhammad.’ He would then say: ‘It is for you that I have been ordered, and not to open it for anyone before.’” [Muslim, 1/384] The gatekeeper has been at this post for years and years with instructions not to open the gate for anyone but Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam and he will be the first to enter.

The Prophets, and then Abu Bakr

Following the Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, the ambiya of Allah will enter – 124,000. After all of the ambiya have gone in, who will be the first to enter the gates of Jannah? Let us look at this hadith from Sunan Abu Dawood. RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said that Jibreel held my hand and he took me to paradise, and he pointed to me the gate through which my ummah would enter through and he told me, “This is the gate through which your Ummah will enter from.” Abu Bakr said, “O RasulAllah, I wish I were with you to see that.” RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, “O Abu Bakr, you are going to be the first among my Ummah to enter into paradise.”

RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said that he will be the first from this Ummah, then how do we know that he will be the first from all of the Umam? It is because RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam has mentioned in another hadith that the best amongst humanity, after the ambiya of Allah, is Abu Bakr as-Siddeeq.

70,000 of this Ummah

Following Abu Bakr as-Siddeeq will be the first batch of Muslims. In the Musnad of Ahmad, RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam says, Allah has given me 70,000 of my ummah who will enter into paradise without going through the Reckoning. So these are a hand-picked few, 70,000 throughout the history of the Ummah, that will chosen by Allah to bypass the Reckoning. While everyone else is going through Reckoning, these 70,000 will go through the back door and enter Jannah. [See Bukhaari, 8/76/549] What are their characteristics? They trust in Allah with everything.

RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam was very happy with that, but RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam always wants the best for Ummah, so he asked for more. Also in Musnad of Ahmad, RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said he was given 70,000 to enter into Jannah without reckoning, so he asked for more. Allah gave him with everyone, 70,000. So if you multiply them, you get 4 million and 900,000. Then Allah has given him more. Allah said, I will give you three handfuls that will enter with them. RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam told the sahabah to do the best so that they will be amongst the 70,000.

The Poor Immigrants (Muhajireen)

The next group that will enter, we know through a hadith in Muslim. Abu ‘Abdul-Rahman reported that three persons came to ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Amr ibn Al ‘Aas while I was sitting with him and they said: “By Allah, we have nothing with us either in the form of provision, riding animals or wealth.” Thereupon he said to them: “I am prepared to do whatever you like. If you come to us, we would give you what Allah would make available for you. And if you like I would make a mention of your case to the ruler, and if you like you can show patience also. For I have heard Allah’s Messenger sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam as saying: “The destitute amongst the emigrants [muhajireen] would precede the rich emigrants by forty years in getting into Paradise on the Day of Resurrection.” Thereupon they said: “We then, show patience and do not ask for anything.” [Muslim, 42/7102]

How come the poor among al-muhajireen were forty years ahead of the rich? There’s a hadith narrated by Al-Haakim. He says that the poor muhajireen will come to the gates of paradise. The gatekeepers will not have been expecting them that early, so they will ask, “Did you already go through the reckoning?” The poor muhajireen will say, “Reckoning for what? We didn’t have anything to be reckoned for. We were carrying our swords on our shoulders and we died in the sake of Allah.” The meaning of this hadith is that one of the things that will delay people on the day of resurrection is the questioning regarding wealth.

We know from another hadith that RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam says that your feet will not move until you are asked for questions – and two of them are how you gained your wealth and how you spent it.

This all has to do with the timing of entering Jannah, not the rank. Someone who comes later can be in a higher rank in Jannah. The wealthy will be held up on the Day of Judgment because they have more wealth to be asked about.

Abu Huraira reported Allah’s Messenger sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam as saying: “We are the last (but) we would be the first on the Day of Resurrection, and we would be the first to enter Paradise [...]” [Muslim, 4/1860] Allah has saved the best for last. In fact, some of the ambiya (prophets/messengers) used to wish that they would be a follower of Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam. This is the honor that Allah has given us, which we are taking for granted.

The Gates of Jannah

Allah says: “Gardens of Eternity, whose doors will (ever) be open to them.” (38:50)

Allah says: “And those who feared their Lord will be led to the Garden in crowds: until behold, they arrive there; its gates will be opened; and its keepers will say: ‘Peace be upon you! Well have you done! Enter you here, to dwell therein.’” (39:73) Compare this to the reprimand that the dwellers of hell will receive when they reach its gates. The people of Jannah will be given this beautiful greeting by the angels. Imagine the excitement, rushing towards the gates of Jannah and hearing the welcoming of the angels.

There are eight gates of Jannah. The Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, “Paradise has eight gates, and one of them is called Ar-Rayyaan through which none will enter but those who observe fasting.” [Bukhaari, 4/54/479]

The Sahabah knew the value of fasting. One of the sahabah said, I have no desire in living in this world except for a few things: to fast the long days of summer, to pray the long nights of winter and to sit with brothers who choose the best words, like you would choose out of a basket of fruits. There would be no obscenity, cursing or idle talk in their words.

RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said that those who engage in prayer will be invited to enter by the gate of prayer; those who take part in jihad will be invited to enter by the gate of jihad; those who give charity will be invited to enter by the gate of charity; and those who observe fasts will be invited to enter through the gate of ar-rayyaan. Abu Bakr asked RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, “Messenger of Allah, is it necessary that a person be invited through one of these gates, will anyone be invited to enter by all of those gates?” RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, “Yes, and I hope you will be one of them.”

So imagine this – Abu Bakr is walking to Jannah, and the angels from every gate will be asking him to come in through their gate. You know when you go to bazaars, and there are a lot of goods and everyone is inviting you to their shop? Well, the angels of Jannah will be asking Abu Bakr to come into Jannah through their gates, because they all want that honor. The angels are called pure by Allah, and they will ask Abu Bakr to just pass by them.

The human being has the potential of being the worse of creation – worse than animals. And they have the potential of being the best – better than angels. Allah says, they are like cattle; nay, even worse. Some of them will be honoured to a level that they are higher than the angels.

To Enter through all Eight Gates

If you want to be invited through all of the gates, here two methods:

1.     

This hadith is mentioned in Bukhaari. RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam says that whoever testifies that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah alone, Who has no partners, and that Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam is His slave and His Apostle, and that Jesus is Allah’s slave and His Apostle and His Word which He bestowed upon Mary the Virgin, and a spirit created by Him, and that Paradise and Hell are true, Allah will invite him to enter through all of the gates. This is talking about deep, firm Imaan.

2.     

This hadith is mentioned in Muslim. If any of you performs wudhu`/ablution, and then completes wudhu` well, and then says “I testify that there is no God but Allah and that Muhammad sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam is the servant of Allah and His messenger,” then the eight gates of paradise will be opened for him and he may enter through whichever of them he wishes.

 The Du'aa` after Completing Wudhu`

 You will notice in both hadith that there is the shahaada – so the kalima has this value, but the person has to have a firm, certain faith in them.

How large are the gates? RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam mentions in a hadith in Muslim, the distance between the two leaves of the door from the supporting frames – so we’re not talking about the whole distance of the door – is like the distance between Makkah and Hajr. That is a very long distance, like 1,000 miles plus. Allahu ‘Alam, this is just an estimate.

RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam says in Musnad of Ahmad, The whole distance between the two sides of the gate is 40 years walking distance. That is how wide the gate is. Then RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam says, a day will come when it will be crowded. There will be so many people entering on the Day of Judgment that it will be crowded, even though it takes 40 years walking to cover the distance of this gate.

Already in Jannah

Who are the ones that will enter Jannah before the Day of Judgment, or they have already been there?

1.       Ash-shuhadaa`

2.       Children who die at a young age

3.       Who was the one who lived in Jannah? Adam and Hawwa`. Allah says: “And We said: ‘O Adam! Dwell you and your wife in the Paradise and eat both of you freely with pleasure and delight of things therein as wherever you will, but come not near this tree or you both will be of the Zalimun (wrong-doers).’” (2:35)