Hellfire 3

11.07.2021

Bismillahirahmanirahim

How are you all?

Saidna Umar used to say when he walks in the streets and then he met people he asked “How do I
find you today? How are you this morning?” And then somebody responded “I am so grateful to
Allah.” And Saidna Umar said “That´s what I was waiting for.”

[11:45]

Review of Homework

I received a lot of your reflections and homeworks. Who wants to read theirs?

You are all students of knowledge and we are all women. Don´t be shy to learn about Allah. When
you make mistakes, we correct it.

“Bismillahirahminirahim.

This week´s homework we discussed the gates and the keepers of of Jahannam. We learned that
Jahannam has 19 gate keepers (angels) that are stern and sever and they do precisely what they´re
commanded. The number 19 was chosen as a challenge for the kuffar as they believed they would
easily overcome such a small number. But little did they know that humankind wouldn´t be able to
challenge one. Allah tells us in the Quran that there are seven gates. And Ibn Kathir commented on
this ayah saying that this means that each gate has been allowed to the followers of Iblis will enter
and they are not able to avoid it. May Allah subhanahu wa ta´ala protect us from it.

Each will enter a deed according to his deeds. And Allah says in the Quran: “Those who disbelieve will
be driven to hell in groups till when they reach it the gates will be open suddenly like a prison at the
arrival of prisoners.”

And in another ayah in the Quran Allah says: “Enter the gates of hell to abide therein and indeed
what an evil abode for the arrongant.” (Surat Nahl:72)

Allah states at the gates of we left behind us, so we ask Allah to protect us from hellfire and the
punishment and He doesn’t allow the encounter the 19 angels who are stern and sever and will not
flinch when we are scared.”

Very nicely written summary. Who else wants to read?

Everybody please, before we start the class. When you did the homework or assignment have it
ready on your computer. Or if you can share it even better.

“Bismillahirahmanirahim.

What is worse than wishing for death? Who would want to wish for death? In this world, this dunya,
we often think that death is the worst event that could ever occur. We hear phrases about death
used flippantly:

“I would rather die than marry someone like him.”

“I would rather kill myself than go to school looking like this.”

May we ask Allah ‫ سبحانه و تعالى‬for forgiveness and may we ask Allah to not make us of the ignorant.

In actuality, there are terrible things that happen on Earth, and instances where one might actually
wish for death. In instances of rape, for example, wouldn’t we naturally want to wish for death? We
may not be able to imagine anything worse. But there is.

Nothing on Earth can compare to the punishment of the hellfire that Allah ‫ سبحانه و تعالى‬has prepared.

What is more permanent than death? No one is really dead forever, because even after death, we
will be brought back to life.

In Surah Al-Baqarah, verse 28, Allah says:

َ ‫ُون ِبٱهَّلل ِ َو ُكن ُت ْم َأ ْم ٰ َو ًتا َفَأحْ َي ٰـ ُك ْم ۖ ُث َّم ُيمِي ُت ُك ْم ُث َّم يُحْ ِيي ُك ْم ُث َّم ِإلَ ْي ِه ُترْ َجع‬
‫ُون‬ َ ‫ْف َت ْكفُر‬
َ ‫َكي‬
“How can you disbelieve in Allah and you were dead, immediately He gave you live, then He made
you die, then He will bring you back to life, then you will go back.”

Allah ‫ سبحانه و تعالى‬tells us that the people who have sinned and see what punishment they are
destined for will wish for nonexistence.

In Surah An-Naba, verse 40, Allah ‫ سبحانه و تعالى‬says:

‫نت ُت ٰ َر ۢ ًبا‬
ُ ‫ت َي َداهُ َو َيقُو ُل ْٱل َكافِ ُر َي ٰـلَ ْي َتنِى ُك‬ ُ ‫ِإ َّنٓا َأ َنذرْ َن ٰـ ُك ْم َع َذابًا َقريبًا َي ْو َم َي‬
ْ ‫نظ ُر ْٱل َمرْ ُء َما َق َّد َم‬ ِ
“Verily, We have warned you of a punishment that is near, that day when the human being will look
what he has done before, what his hands have sent forth, and the disbeliever will wish he was dust
(nothing).”

It will get to the point where the disbelievers won’t want to wish for death instead of torture.

Instead, they will wish that they weren’t even human.

I’ve always wondered why Allah ‫ سبحانه و تعالى‬decided to place Angels as guards around Jahannam.
When we think of places that are heavily guarded, don’t we think of places that are precious to us?
Castles have guards, important and famous people, such as celebrities and politicians, have guards to
protect them, and art museums have guards who protect historic pieces.

Is Jahannam a precious place to us? To Allah ‫ ?سبحانه و تعالى‬I think that it is one of the most precious
and special places of Allah ‫’سبحانه و تعالى‬s creations, yet we have never known it until now, simply
because we never thought to change the way we view Allah’s purpose in creating it. Yes, hell is a
scary place. Yes, it is a place that no one wants to end up in. Yes, it is a place of punishment. But it is
also a place of justice.

Without a place of punishment for the evildoers and the sinners, justice could never be achieved.
How is it fair that good things happen to bad people and bad things happen to good people?
Jahannam is the answer that fixes that, because in the afterlife, the bad people will be punished for
what they did on Earth, and the good people will be rewarded for what they did on Earth.

Jahannam operates as the key that we never knew opens the door to justice and fairness, and Allah
‫ سبحانه و تعالى‬is the best of all judges.

And what is more beautiful than justice?”

You´re a talented writer. I just wanna go over one thing. It should be Jahanam is one of the most
special und precious place to Allah´s creations, not to Allah itself. He does not want to punish us.
I would say it is not a place of justice, it is a place of punishment. I would say it is a place where
justice is served.

What I always remind people, this is not it all. There is a lot of external unfairness. Because this is not
the end.

This is what I always remind you my beautiful sisters, Allah gave you a talent, use it to serve Him.
Look at what Allah gave you and use it.

That´s what I meant, the first one was a summary, in case there are points you forgot, with the verses
mentioned. The second one is what we all should ask, what did I learn from this? When you read Lina
´s reflection, you don´t get sad. Because this dunya is not a place of fairness, but it´s in the akhirah.

Main topic

It´s on page seven in the book. This is what we gonna learn today. The vast extend of the hellfire.
The akhirah is a place where it is very difficult to think of, let alone to reflect and learn about. It´s a
place where are things in it that we can not even imagine. Both, the hellfire and… “in Jannah there
are things no eyes have seen and no ears have heard”.

Hell is huge and vast and immensely deep. And why is that? When you speak about this deen, it´s not
about your opinion.

Number 1: The number of the people who will enter Hell is innumerable, you cannot count them, yet
one of them will be so huge (every human being will become much bigger, will be enlarged) that
his molar teeth will be as big as Mount Uhud, and the distance between his shoulders will be
equivalent to three days walking. (Imagine how big this person will be. Each one entering Jannah
or the hellfire, we will not enter the way we are, we will enter much bigger.)

Nevertheless, Hell will accommodate the huge number of Kuffaar and evildoers who have existed
throughout history, in spite of their huge size, and there will still be room for more, as Allaah says
(this is how you learn, you bring the ayah from the Quran, you bring the hadith from the Rasul
salallahu ´alaihi wa salam) in surah Kahf:

"On the Day when We will say to Hell: "Are you filled?" It will say (Jahannam will speak. Remember
on the Day of Judgement, every single speaks except us): "Are there any more to come?"

(50:30)

How it will accommodate all this people?

The Fire of Hell is like a mill to which are brought thousands upon thousands of tons of grain, which it
grinds tirelessly until it is all done, then waits for more. In the hadith that describes the debate
between Paradise and Hell, it says that Allaah (swt) said to Hell, "You are My Punishment; I will
punish in you whomsoever I will". Both Paradise and Hell will be filled, but Hell will not be filled until
Allaah (swt) places His foot in it and it will say, "Enough, enough!". This hadith is in al Bukhari. And
Allaah (swt) will not wrong any one of His Creation. Reported by al-Bukhaari.

What does this mean? It is not the size of the US, of Malaysia, not even the size of the earth and the
heavens, it´s beyond. To the point that all this huge people will enter and it will keep saying “Are
there more to come?”

This is the first reason why the hell is huge and vast.

The second reason is…

Number two: Another indication of its vast depth is the fact that a stone thrown from the top of Hell
takes a very long time to reach the bottom. Muslim reports that Abu Hurayrah (ra) said:

"We were with the Messenger of Allaah (saw) and we heard the sound of something falling. The
Prophet (saw) said, "Do you know what that was?" We said, "Allaah and His Messenger know best".
He said, "That was a stone that was thrown into Hell seventy years ago and it was falling through
Hell until now". (Muslim, Kitaab al-Jannah, Baab fi shiddat haar an-naar)

Haakim reports from Abu Hurayrah, and Tabaraani from Mu'aadh and Abu Umamah (ra) that the
Prophet (Saw) said, "If there was a huge stone as big as seven khalifaat stones, and it was thrown
from the edge of Hell it would fly through it for seventy years before it reached the bottom". (Saheeh
al-Jaami')

What the author is teaching you and me? That Jahannam is huge. But who said so? We have not seen
it, we don´t know. He was giving you two reasons, because combining the hadith of the Rasul
salallahu ´alaihi wassalam with the verse of the Quran. Because Allah says “Do you have enough?” It
will say “I have enough but I want more.” Every human will be much bigger, but still it can
accommodate it. That´s number one.

Number one, he also looked at the hadith which is in Muslim Kitab al-Jannah, and also in saheeh al-
Jaami´.

Let me ask you a question, so everyone of you can learn this more. When you open Google Map or
driving directions and they give you options of driving, walking, train. If you look and compare
walking and driving, they will give you the number of hours you would need. That mean, when I am
running for seventy years, cause when we through something it´s like we are running, how far is this?
And when something is very far, deep, how big is this? Imagine you through a huge stone and it will
take seventy years until it reaches the bottom, how long is that? How big is Jahannam?

Let´s come to the third evidence that Jahannam is very big.

(3) The great number of angels who will bring Hell forth on the Day of Resurrection.

The Messenger (saw) described how Hell will be brought forth on the Day of Resurrection, concerning
which Allaah (swt) said, "And Hell will be brought near that Day". (89:23)

The Prophet (saw) said, "Hell will be brought forth that Day by means of seventy thousand ropes,
each of which will be held by seventy thousand angels." (reported by Muslim from 'Abdullaah ibn
Mas'ud)

We can only image the vastness of this terrifying creation that requires such a huge number of strong
and powerful angels whose strength is known only to Allaah!

[44:20]

Number 3 is an evidence that gives me an idea about how big the hellfire his. The Rasul salallahu
´alihi wassalam tells, “He will be brought forth”. Think of it this way, someone says he or she will
bring you a cup of water. How will he bring it to you? With a tray or maybe handing it with their hand
or with a container. The hadith explains how big Jahannam is, it will be brought be seventy thousand
ropes and every rope held by seventy thousand angels. How big is that? Imagine putting a room with
seventy thousand dollars and each dollar put into seventy thousand dollars. How big is this?

(4) Another indication of the vastness of Hell is the fact that two great creations like the sun and
moon will be two rolled-up bulls in Hell. at-Tahhaawee reports, in Mishkil al-Aathaar, that Salamah
ibn 'Abdur-Rahman said, "Abu Hurayrah told us that the Prophet (saw) said:
"The sun and moon will be two rolled-up bulls in Hell on the Day of Resurrection" al-Bayhaqi
alsoreported this in "al-Ba'th wal-Nushur", as did al-Bazzaar, al-Isma'ili and al-Khattaabi, with an
isnaad that is saheeh according to the conditions of al-Bukhaari, who reported in al-Saheeh al-
Mukhtasar, with the wording

"The sun and moon will be rolled up in Hell of the day of Resurrection". (Sheikh Naasir ud-Deen al-
Albaani narrated this hadeeth in Silsilah al-ahadeeth as-Saheehah)

If you read this by yourself, it is very easily written but I don´t know how many of you would really
grasp the meaning. Another indication of the vastness of the hell. The fact that two great creations
like the sun and the moon will be two small balls. Imagine the meaning what the author is trying to
tell you, that big, huge things will look so small compared with the hellfire.

Why do I need to learn this? Why do I need to know the size of the hellfire? Why are the sun and the
moon in the hellfire, because people worship them? I don´t know.

It´s a huge lesson and I want you to think.

A: Maybe so that we fear.

What else would make us cautious und worried if we have to be there.

A: We can understand Allah´s power and mightiness a little better. And earth is really small and
trivial. Because we disobey Allah subhanahu wa ta´ala because of trivial things. Cause we live in our
own bubble.

So what if I get up at fajr at 3 o´clock in the morning and go back to sleep.

We need to know the reality. The more we learn about the akhirah, the more we reflect about our
life. And we find how much we give it more than what it deserves. Life is our way to akhirah, without
it I can´t go to Jannah. What we all need to learn, is tat the vastness of the hellfire makes me scared,
makes me take it seriously, makes think and wonder can I take it.

The next things we are reading is The Levels of the Hellfire.

There are variations in the degrees of heat in Hell, and in the levels of punishment which Allaah (swt)
has prepared for its inhabitants; there is not just one level.

When you go upstairs whenever you are, Jannah has levels and Hellfire has levels.

As Allaah says: "Verily the hypocrites will be in the lowest depths [grade] of the Fire" (4:145)

The hypocrites will be in the lowest levels, that means hell has levels, otherwise Allah would not have
mentioned it.

It is said that both Paradise and Hell have different levels; the lower the level in Hell, the greater the
intensity of the heat. The hypocrites will suffer the worst punishment, and so they will be in the
lowest level of Hell.

Allaah (swt) refers to the levels of Paradise and Hell in the Qur'aan:

"For all there will be degrees [or ranks] according to what they did" (6:132)

I do good, I will get this level. I do very good, I get that level.
"Is then one who follows [seeks] the good pleasure of Allaah like the one who draws on himself the
Wrath of Allaah? His abode is Hell - and worst, indeed, is that destination! They are in varying grades
with Allaah, and Allaah is All-Seer of what they do". (3:162-3)

You all need to ask yourself, in what grade will I be? Not in the hellfire but in Jannah. The kafir, the
person who disbelieve in Allah is different from the person who believes in Allah but weak and
commit sins. The hypocrite, who disbelieve but he shows that he would believe is worse than the
kafir. This all are different levels.

'Abdur-Rahmaan ibn Zayd ibn Aslam said, "The levels of paradise go up and the levels of Hell go
down." (Ibn Rajab)

We usually say ´Look up to this people´ when aspire them. So up is usually better and down is lower.
That´s why when we do sujud we are in the lowest level of ourselves cause Allah wants us to be
humble.

It was reported from some of the Salaf that the sinners amongst the monotheists who enter Hell
would be in the first level, the Jews would be in the second level, the Christians in the third level, the
Sabians in the fourth level, the Magians in the fifth level, the polytheist Arabs in the sixth level and
the hypocrites in the seventh level. Some books give names to these levels: the first is called Jahanam,
the second Ladhaa, the third al-Hutamah, the fourth as-Sa'eer, the fifth Saqar, the sixth al-Jaheem,
and the seventh al-Hawiyah.

The author is telling me and you there are seven levels, each level has a name and each level is for
certain people. Then he says:

There is no proof for this divisions (in the Quran or the Hadith) of the inhabitants of Hell or the names
that have been attributed to the various levels. The truth is that all of these names - Jahanam,
Ladhaa, al-Hutamah, etc - are alternative names by which Hell in its entirety is known, and they are
not applied to one part or another of it. It is also known that people will be placed in different levels
of Hell according to the extent of their kufr and sins.

The names are descriptions, al Hutamah because their bones will breaking, Ladhaa because the
extreme heat. That are names Allah mentions in the Quran. Don´t pay too much attention to those
details. They are good to learn it not exact the most important thing in this topic.

A: What should I do to not be there. It is a terrifying place to avoid. That we strive to enter Jannatul
Firdaus.

Each level, each name is worse than each other no matter if it is the first or the seventh. The names
are all in the Quran.

Jaheem means extreme punishment no one can take. Al-Hawiyyah when it´s so deep like someone
goes down in free flow. Each one represents a way of punishment. My focus should be how do I stay
away from this. Remember the different levels of Jannah and Jahannam and motivate ourselves to do
better and more sincere actions and to aim for the highest level of Jannah and to avoid any level of
Jahannam.

It is only two pages in the book and easy to read, so I want you read it before class. Please do it.
Read, highlight, make notes. So when you go back it is easier for you.

Ask Allah to make it easy for you. Ask Allah to make none of us, no human being of one of the people
of the hellfire. That why the Rasul salallahu ´alaihi wassalam used to say “Ya Allah I ask you Jannah
and every deed and word/ saying that gets me closer to it. And I seek refuge in you from the hellfire
and every deed and saying that gets me closer to it.”