Hell is not yet in Existence

[Saleh]

Peace to All,
Dear Bro Joseph,


Pharoah will be put to death and see Hell day and night in a continuous nightmare that lasts until the Day of Judgment (40:46).

Hell will be brought forth (89:23).

My humble understanding of the Quran.

Peace

[Joseph Islam]

Salamun Alaikum brother,

The way you have presented your post, I am little confused as to what you exactly mean. Are you saying that Hell is not yet in existence and supporting it with 89:23 or are you saying that Hell is in existence and attempting to making use of 40:46 to support your position?

Please do let me / members on this forum know God willing :-)

Your brother,
Joseph.

[Truth Seeker]

Salaam,

I think that maybe Saleh is saying that they are being punished in the graves till the Day of Judgement...or maybe that they are in a nightmare where they are shown hell and what is in store for them?

[Joseph Islam]

Salamun Alaikum all,

If the inference is that there is a 'punishment in the grave', then this concept is negated by the Quran. Punishment before a TRIAL has taken place (on the Day of Judgment) is not a concept of the Quran.


To quote a recent valid assertion from a another member on this forum with regards the Quran [Zakaria]

- If there is an implication, see if it's explicit elsewhere in the Book.
- If there is something explicitly mentioned, then it overrides anything implied.


There are explicit statements in the Quran that NEGATE the concept of 'punishment in the grave'. The incident with Pharaoh is an implied statement and must be studied in light of the explicit statements provided by the Quran. This verse should not be looked at in isolation and all other explicit statements ignored.


EXPLICIT STATEMENTS


FROM THE MOMENT ONE DIES AND ARE SUBSEQUENTLY RAISED, IT WILL FEEL LIKE A MOMENTARY TIME LAPSE

017:052
"It will be on a Day when He will call you, and you will answer (His call) with (words of) His praise, and you will think that you tarried but a little while!"
 
030.055-56
'On the Day that the Hour (of Reckoning) will be established, the transgressors will swear that they tarried not but an hour: thus were they used to being deluded!  But those endued with knowledge and faith will say: "Indeed ye did tarry, within God's Decree, to the Day of Resurrection, and this is the Day of Resurrection: but you - you were not aware'
 
010:045
'One day He will gather them together: (It will be) as if they had tarried but an hour of a day: they will recognise each other: assuredly those will be lost who denied the meeting with God and refused to receive true guidance'
 
046:035
"Therefore patiently persevere, as did (all) messengers of determination; and be in no haste about the (Unbelievers). On the Day that they see what they were promised, (it will be) as if they had not tarried more than an hour in a single day. (Yours is but) to proclaim the Message: but shall any be destroyed except those who transgress?"

079:046
"On the day that they see it, it will be as though they had not tarried but the latter part of a day or the early part of it"
 
Similar wisdom is imparted in other verses:
 
The Sleepers of the Cave slept for many hundreds of years (God knows best the exact period) but they felt they had only slept for a little while (18:19)
A man slept for a 100 years but he only felt like that he slept for a part of a day (2:259)


THE DAY OF JUDGMENT IS ONLY A BLINKING OF AN EYE AWAY
 
In the context of the above verses, it becomes clear what is meant by the following verse which completely resonates with the theme of the Quran. At the point of death (which can come upon any of us at a stroke) and the Day of raising, it is but a blink of an eye.
 
016:077
'And to God belongs the Unseen of the heavens and the earth, and the matter of the Hour (of Doom) is but as a twinkling of the eye, or it is nearer still. Indeed! God is Able to do all things'


THE MISQUOTED PHARAOH VERSE

 
040:046
'In front of the Fire will they be brought, morning and evening: and (the sentence will be) on the Day that Judgment will be established: "Cast ye the People of Pharaoh into the severest Penalty'
 
If read in context, it becomes absolutely clear that this is a reference to the Day of Judgment.
 
040:047
'And when they shall contend one with another in the fire, then the weak shall say to those who were proud: Surely we were your followers; will you then avert from us a portion of the fire?'
 
It is difficult to accept 40:46 as a reference to a 'punishment in the grave'. Mutual disputes between the people of Pharaoh in the fire clearly indicate a state of communal punishment and not a punishment in separate graves.
 
The very next verse provides even more clarity:
 
040:048
'Those who were proud shall say: Surely we are all in it: surely God has judged between the servants'
 
Furthermore, given the descriptive traditions which deal with punishment in the grave, one has to acknowledge that Pharaoh actually drowned but was later preserved in body (10:92) and has no grave in the sense we commonly understand it.  So the difficulty with traditional understanding continues in so much as how one then reconciles Pharaoh's punishment in the grave when his body was never buried. Clearly, the verses are misquoted.
 
The key to understand any Quranic theme is to remain consistent with all the Quranic verses.

Please find the above thoughts in my main article:

PUNISHMENT OF THE GRAVE (AZAB-E-QABR)
http://quransmessage.com/articles/grave%20punishment%20FM3.htm


I hope this helps,
Joseph.

[Saleh]

Peace Bro Joseph & Sis Truthseeker &

Thank you very much for the detail explanation. Really appreciate it.

Peace Bro Joseph & Sis Truthseeker