Does the Quran have any support for temporary hell

[miracle114]

Salaam all
Is there any evidence in the Quran that a temporary moment in hell/punishment is meted out as a cleansing before being placed in heaven?

Peace and Thanks

[munir rana]

Salam miracle114

Once I was engaged with such a topic in this forum. Just forwarding you related links. Hope that it will help. Specially Brother Joseph's face book post and the  comments followed.

http://quransmessage.com/forum/index.php?topic=2052.msg10348#msg10348
http://quransmessage.com/articles/is%20the%20punishment%20of%20hell%20eternal%20FM3.htm
https://www.facebook.com/joseph.a.islam/posts/501404783329987

best wishes.

[miracle114]

Salaam brother Munir
I will have a read of it.
Peace and Thanks

[miracle114]

Salaam Munir
Just read Brother Joseph's FB post and quransmessage.com "eternal punishment" article was brilliant

[munir rana]

Dear Brother  miracle114

You are most welcome.
 
Here I must give you a clue to get the quick answers from this website. If not possible to manage time to read all the Articles or Q/A, then go to google search and just put your question or kew words plus quransmessage.com. Hope you will get the answers if there is any. I got and still getting befitted using this method. If I don’t get it there or if I am not satisfied with the article or answers then I go to forum to discuss it.

Best wishes.

[munir rana]

Dear Brother  miracle114
Salam.

Please don't take my last post as a discouragement to put questions here. I just shared my latest experience. Otherwise in my early months in this forum I also posted a lots of questions unknowingly about this method. And I got responses also from the kind brothers and sisters.

Best Wishes.

[miracle114]

Salaam brother Munir
Thanks for the tip. I will remember to use it every time before I post.

Peace brother

[ilker]

Salam

Honestly, I have different opinions about the subject. InshaAllah i will write my thoughts in detail. But for now, i would like to learn Brother Joseph's opinion about the question:

- If the punishment of hell is limited and will eventually reach an end after the punishment expires, what will happen then ? What will happen to that person eventually ?

[Hamzeh]

Asalamu 3alykum  ilker

Read this Facebook post below and to see a possibly non conclusive opinion about your inquiry make sure you read all his replies to the people that posted. Its an excellent read Masha'Allah.

Hope that helps Insha'Allah

Salam


IS THE PUNISHMENT OF HELL ETERNAL?
https://m.facebook.com/joseph.a.islam/posts/501404783329987

[ilker]

Salam all,

Firstly, i must say that i’ve read brother Joseph’s article on the subject where he talked about ayat and specific words related to this question. However i’m not fully satisfied with some of his comments. I have different opinions on the issue and I would like to talk about them inshaAllah.

About the question mentioned in the article: “how can a merciful God punish His creation in an eternal fire for sins they may have committed in a relatively short period of life on Earth or if their balance of scales did not quite fall in their favour?”

For me, the “duration” of the sin that’s been committed is not the only thing to be considered when it comes to its punishment. Frankly, I don’t quite understand this “eternal punishment, limited life on earth” comparison. Pulling the trigger takes just a second, but killing an innocent human being is like killing all humanity. Now think about the magnitude of the punishment for killing all humanity! It is about the heaviness of the crime. Dropping a nuclear bomb takes several seconds but what about the outcome ?

However, I must say, I’m not trying to confute brother Joseph’s arguments here. What I’m trying to do is show that the idea of never-ending punishment in hell is not really irrational. Because if you start your research on whether the life in hell or heaven is limited or not along with the premise that the opposing idea is absolutely illogical and impossible, then it’s highly likely that you’ll move on pretty biased towards other opinions.

I agree that punishment will be heavy or light depending of the magnitude of the crimes one has committed here in dunya. But I don’t  think it will reach an end eventually, in their final abode.  Allah (swt) knows best and may He (swt) guides us to the right way.

There are people in this world who deny their Rabb, the one and only God who created them, gave them rizq, gave them abilities, fed them, protected them. They simply refuse the purpose of creation (51:56) !

“And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me.”

There are people who commit all kinds of horrible, inhumane actions without having any fear of Allah’s retribution. They rape, they kill, they destroy the lives of innocent people and ruin them. So, while the punishment  for denying Ar-Rahman and His ayat, His law, His prohibitions, His knowledge and His Eternal mercy is the gravest crime, why is it so hard to consider eternal punishment for it ? Refusing the Eternal mercy and disregarding  it, could very well lead to the deprivation of this mercy in the afterlife eternally.

Allah’s mercy encompasses all things for sure, He is Ar-Rahman but He also sets the criterion for this mercy at the end of the ayah:
“Grant us good things in this world and in the life to come. We turn to You.’ God said, ‘I bring My punishment on whoever I will, but My mercy encompasses all things. ‘I shall ordain My mercy for those who are conscious of God and pay the prescribed alms; who believe in Our Revelations.” (7:156)

What about those who deserves the la’nah of Allah (swt) ?

“The Day their excuse will not benefit the wrongdoers, and they will have the curse (La’nah), and they will have the worst home.” (40:52)

So is there a third option, third home, third life for these people after they get out of the punishment in hell ? If so, why didn’t  Allah (swt) give any details or description of it ? And yet He gives extensive examples and details about both Heaven and Hell in the Quran.

About 11:106-108 Brother Joseph says :
Furthermore, when heaven and hell are contrasted together in verses 64:9-10 below, the duration of the inhabitants of 'Janah' is described as 'khalidina' with an elaboration of 'abad' which gives a sense of perpetuity / absoluteness. In contrast, the duration of hell is limited to 'khalidina'  without the elaboration 'abad'. 

The word “abad” could also be used in metaphorical meaning as in 5:24 (innalan nadkhulaha abadan). However if we assume that it’s used in “literal meaning” for heaven/hell, the word “abad” is also used in 72:23 for the disbelievers:

“But [I have for you] only notification from Allah, and His messages." And whoever disobeys Allah and His Messenger - then indeed, for him is the fire of Hell; they will abide therein forever (nara jahannama khalideena feeha abada)”

I don’t think 11:106-108 are enough to prove that the punishment in hell is limited but rewards in heaven are endless. Allah (swt) says in 11:108 “a gift without break” for heaven but He also mentions that disbelievers will not have a moment break from the punishment in hell as in 5:37 and 32:20. That clearly implies the punishment is also“without any break”.

“The refuge of those will be Hell, and they will not find from it an escape. (4:121)”.

Also i think the phrase “except as thy Lord wills” is a declaration that everything is bound to His will alone and nothing can continue to exist if He doesn’t permit them. That doesn’t necessarily mean the punishment in hell or rewarding in heaven will certainly be limited. Another example of this phrase is in 7:89:

“We would have invented against Allah a lie if we returned to your religion after Allah had saved us from it. And it is not for us to return to it except that Allah, our Lord, should will. Our Lord has encompassed all things in knowledge. Upon Allah we have relied. Our Lord, decide between us and our people in truth, and You are the best of those who give decision."

About 19:79 here, the verb “yamuddu” could also be used as “extending the punishment in magnitude, severity or abundance”. Here is another example from the same root of this verb:

“Whoever desires this present life, We hasten to him therein what We please for whomsoever We desire, then We assign to him the hell; he shall enter it despised, driven away. And whoever desires the hereafter and strives for it as he ought to strive and he is a believer; (as for) these, their striving shall surely be accepted. To all of them - both these and those - We extend (numiddu) the grants of your Lord. And the grant of your Lord is not barred (for anyone).” (17:18-20)

It’s the increase in abundance, quantity or magnitude. Not necessarily “increase in duration”. Because He swt talks about “extending” his blessings on certain people (who wish for hereafter and strive for it) in the ayat above. Does it imply “time” as in “longevity” ? I think not.

“They will cry out loud in Hell, ‘Lord, let us out, and we will do righteous deeds, not what we did before!’- ‘ Did We not give you a life long enough to take warning if you were going to? The warner came to you, now taste the punishment.’ The evildoers will have nobody to help them.”” (35:37)

“My people, the life of this world is only a brief enjoyment; it is the Hereafter that is the lasting home.” (40:39)