The Injustice of Hell
The idea of an eternal hell is unjust. There is no reason a God would need to make conscious creatures suffer eternally. Hell is an absurd and excessive punishment machine made to torture those who rejected Muhammad. It is an invented reality made to scare people into submission and to believe and obey Muhammad. It makes little sense for a Just and Perfect God to behave in this manner.
What is hell?
Hell is by definition the worst possible existence. It is a torture chamber made to punish and harm souls:
Indeed , We have prepared for the wrongdoers a fire whose walls will surround them. And if they call for relief, they will be relieved with water like murky oil, which scalds [their] faces. Wretched is the drink, and evil is the resting place. (18:29)
Fact: In Islam, majority go to hell
If we look at humanity, over four-fifths (over 80%) are not Muslim. Doesn’t this mean Allah failed? What kind of God creates a creation where most of them will burn in hell?
It says in the Quran:
They recognize the favor of Allah ; then they deny it. And most of them are disbelievers. (Quran 16:83)
According to this hadith, it’s 99.9% going to hell:
The Prophet (ﷺ) said, “On the day of Resurrection Allah will say, ‘O Adam!’ Adam will reply, ‘Labbaik our Lord, and Sa`daik ‘ Then there will be a loud call (saying), Allah orders you to take from among your offspring a mission for the (Hell) Fire.’ Adam will say, ‘O Lord! Who are the mission for the (Hell) Fire?’ Allah will say, ‘Out of each thousand, take out 999.’ At that time every pregnant female shall drop her load (have a miscarriage) and a child will have grey hair. And you shall see mankind as in a drunken state, yet not drunk, but severe will be the torment of Allah.” (22.2) (When the Prophet (ﷺ) mentioned this), the people were so distressed (and afraid) that their faces got changed (in color) whereupon the Prophet (ﷺ) said, “From Gog and Magog nine-hundred ninety-nine will be taken out and one from you. You Muslims (compared to the large number of other people) will be like a black hair on the side of a white ox, or a white hair on the side of a black ox, and I hope that you will be onefourth of the people of Paradise.” On that, we said, “Allahu-Akbar!” Then he said, “I hope that you will be) one-third of the people of Paradise.” We again said, “Allahu-Akbar!” Then he said, “(I hope that you will be) one-half of the people of Paradise.” So we said, Allahu Akbar.” (Bukhari)
People may say “But a lot of those are Gog and Magog.” Yes, this is true, but they are also creatures God made for hell.
Most the world knows about Islam but rejects it. Born Hindus usually die Hindu. Born Christians tend to die Christian. We tend to follow the religion of our parents. That little boy who grows up to be an adult in a Hindu household, is it really his fault he died as a Hindu because everything around him confirmed Hinduism to be true?
Allah doesn’t lose anything when we don't worship him
He is independent of need and worship. He is self-sustaining and does not gain or lose anything from our worship. So it’s a victimless crime to worship other Gods. It’s punishing a thought crime. Allah is using the most horrible punishments for a crime that has zero harm on anyone:
Indeed, Allah does not forgive association with Him, but He forgives what is less than that for whom He wills. And he who associates others with Allah has certainly fabricated a tremendous sin. (Quran 4:48)
Allah didn’t need to do this
Why did Allah create a hell? What did he gain? What was his purpose? Was it to punish his creation? Is this the best way to punish them? Once you are in hell, there is no “sorry” allowed. There is no repentance, no turning back. So why punish? What is the purpose? Punishment is used to change people. In this case, it achieves nothing. Is this the most effective manner to achieve his goal?
But.. Allah did it anyway
Allah, if he’s real, created a world that most his creation end up in the Islamic (or Christian) hell. If you had a child that would be born with a horrible disease and suffer all his life, would you still have him or her? No, you would decide not to have kids. Yet Allah who is more loving created a creation who would end up tortured in eternity. He could have imagined a million different worlds. If he was The Most Beneficent, he could have actualized the one where the people would end up in heaven, not hell.
Therefore, this conception of God is a monster.
An imaginary monster no doubt. You can replace Allah with Jehovah if you like for the same result. A more perfect God would not create a world where so many people ended up in hell.
But.. it’s humans fault they went to hell
Humans did this to themselves! Humans denied him. Does this make Allah any less responsible? The question still goes back to “Why would you allow a creation to be made that would end up in hell?” Why not just not turn on that switch? All of them would regret it and wish they were never born, so why make them?
If you, as a human, knew people would walk into a burning building and you did not do everything in your power to prevent them, you would be morally responsible for them getting harmed. Likewise, Allah gave us the environment, the genes we have, and the situation we went into where many of us would fail and burn in hell. That makes him responsible.
But.. Hell isn’t eternal
According to a minority opinions, hell is not eternal. However, the Quran makes it very clear hell is eternal:
When the Hellfire sees them from a distant place, they will hear its fury and roaring. And when they are thrown into a narrow place therein bound in chains, they will cry out thereupon for destruction. [They will be told], “Do not cry this Day for one destruction but cry for much destruction.”
(Quran 25:12–14)
And the hadith literature emphasizes this too:
Death will come on the Day of Resurrection like a black and white ram, and it will stand between Paradise and Hell. It will be said, ‘O people of Paradise, do you recognize this?’ They will crane their necks and look, and will say, ‘Yes, it is death.’
It will be said, ‘O people of Hell, do you recognize this?’ They will crane their necks and look, and will say, ‘Yes, it is death.’ Then the command will be issued and it will be slaughtered. Then it will be said, ‘O People of Paradise, it is eternal and there is no death. O people of Hell, it is eternal and there is no death.’” Then the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) recited the verse (interpretation of the meaning):
“And warn them (O Muhammad) of the Day of grief and regrets, when the case has been decided, while (now) they are in a state of carelessness, and they believe not” [Maryam 19:39]
(Narrated by Muslim, 5087, from the hadeeth of Abu Sa’eed al-Khudri)
Also similarly in Bukhari
But… If you didn’t get the message properly
The majority of humans know about Islam. They know about Muhammad. Yet they are not Muslim.
By Him in Whose hand is the life of Muhammad, he who amongst the community of Jews or Christians hears about me, but does not affirm his belief in that with which I have been sent and dies in this state (of disbelief), he shall be but one of the denizens of Hell-Fire. (Sahih Muslim)
Does the Quran even address this situation of those who “didn’t get the message?” If this is applicable, why doesn’t the Quran say so? Why does it miss such an important concept? If Allah can’t deliver his message properly, what kind of God is he? What is the point of this test of life if he can’t deliver his message properly?
In this hasan hadith it says that only the “right type” of Muslims will go to heaven:
“The Jews split into seventy-one sects, one of which will be in Paradise and seventy in Hell. The Christians split into seventy-two sects, seventy-one of which will be in Hell and one in Paradise. I swear by the One Whose Hand is the soul of Muhammad, my nation will split into seventy-three sects, one of which will be in Paradise and seventy-two in Hell.” It was said: “O Messenger of Allah, who are they?” He said: “The main body.” (Ibn Majah)
So this reduces the actual number going to heaven even more.
God, are you there?
In this short video I present the argument that god seems absent from this world, which makes the punishment of hell all the more absurd:
What about justice for criminals?
But, doesn’t this mean if there’s no hell, criminals will go scott-free? Actually, according to the Islamic and Christian conception of hell, many criminals do go free, because they believed in the “right” god. They may be forgiven for their sins and go to heaven. Whereas all good disbelievers will go to hell. The main reason you go to hell is whether you accept “There is No God But Allah and Muhammad is Messenger” or “Jesus died for your sins”. Not accepting these creeds banishes you to eternal damnation.
In conclusion
In conclusion the punishment of hell is an absurd and excessive punishment made to scare people into obeying men. It is an invented reality made to scare people into submission. God never made any hell to roast his creation. If he did, he is a monster and a failure of a God.
Follow me on Medium for more articles like this. Also consider joining my mailing list for infrequent but personal updates directly from me!
