Dear brother Ahmad,
As-salam alaykum
Thank you for your comments
The purpose of my article simply goes as far as to state that
"...it attempts to explore and challenges the commonly held belief that the punishment of the fire of Hell is automatically eternal for anyone that enters it.From a Quran’s perspective, it appears that this may not necessarily be the case. (Only God knows best)." Thus, just because a sinner enters hell, this does not necessarily mean that they are
automatically eternally doomed. From what I understand, we are both in agreement on this point. The sinner will of course receive the
full extent of their retribution without it being lightened, but this does not necessarily mean that all of the sinners will be damned indefinitely.
Therefore, (notwithstanding what I have shared in the paragraph below*) I have little contention with the assertion that some category of sinners will receive a punishment which may remain unceasing whilst others may not; based on the theological perspective you have shared. Certainly, there does appear to be scope for God's exception for some sinners to receive respite from their ordeal after it is completed.
006:128
"...He will say: Fire is your home. Abide therein (Arabic: Khalideena feeha), save him whom God wills (to deliver)."This can again be seen in 11.106-7 where the
'limitation' of the punishment of Hell is alluded to but the rewards for those in heaven seem unceasing.
011.106-107 (Hell)
“Those who are wretched shall be in the Fire: There will be for them therein (nothing but) the heaving of sighs and sobs: They will dwell therein for all the time that the Heavens and the Earth endure, except as thy Lord wills: for thy Lord is the (sure) accomplisher of what He plans” (*) 011:108 (Heaven)
“And those who are blessed shall be in the Garden: They will dwell therein for all the time that the Heavens and the Earth endure, except as thy Lord wills: a gift without break (Arabic: Ata'an ghayra majdud)”There does appear to be a difference with the way the duration of hell-fire is dealt with (with an exception alone) and the way the duration of heaven is dealt with (unceasing / indefinite in addition to the exception).
Furthermore, the fact that a punishment can be
'prolonged' must at least imply the 'possibility' of a 'finite' retribution otherwise 'prolonged' as a concept is irrelevant when something is eternal anyway.
019.079
"Nay, but We shall record that which he says and We will extend / prolong (* yamuddu) for him from a span of punishment extensively" * 'Yamuddu' from the primary verb 'madda' means to extend, to lead on, prolong, to spread out or the act of extending. This does not imply a sense of infinite punishment. * The main contention with the assertion that if some sinners were allowed to live on earth eternally, that they would continue to cause mischief (and hence must receive infinite punishment) is the question as to why (if God knew they were going to remain evil-livers), did he put them on Earth in the first place? In other words, why was a trial canvas even created if God was already aware of what each soul would earn? Why not simply put them in hell? One response to this would be that man was allowed to act out his desires as God wills, so that he could be held responsible with the ills that are witnessed and are 'actually' carried out. (Hence proportional punishment). To punish someone for what they may do, or would have done, whilst not giving them the opportunity to act the sin may give rise to further theological difficulties.
It is also worth noting, as I mentioned to a sister on the Facebook thread that
"the difficulty I feel in general is also underpinned by our earthly concept of time and space. We naturally assume that this will apply in the Hereafter (i.e. time and space being the same as it was on earth), when there is no unequivocal proof for such a belief, at least from a Quran's perspective. Hence I do agree with you that proportionality does pose some difficultly when one attempts to understand this based on 'temporal reciprocity.'"Please feel free to share your thoughts further. As you will have noted from the Facebook thread as well, it is an interesting topic for discussion.
Regards,
Joseph