[SeelaypeKet]

This is going to be my first post on this wonderful forum i must say that i have been following the discussions on this forum for quite some time and i thought to myself well it's about time for me to start posting as well but to come back to the title of this thread i am a Muslim i consider myself to be one althrough i have to admit that my emaan has become very weak i guess due to external influences but also due to certain aspects of Aqeedah i seem to either miscomprehend due to a lack of classical and traditional knowledge wich i am hoping to gain here or at least parts of it or due to serious doubts wich i am hoping will fade away or at least due to a healthy conversation with you guys here on this forum.

I will basically point out wich points i don't seem to understand or at least have doubts about:

1.Why is Hell necessary?
2.Why is Hell eternal? (this is the most striking question for me why do people have to suffer enormously forever isn't it more logical that a finite transgression equals a finite punishment instead of an infinite (eternal) punishment?.
3.Does torture and suffering really benefit the people or the situation of those that have to undergo them?
4.Why do people (disbelievers) who simply failed to believe or didn't believe at all have to be punished forever? < mayby this question equals question number 2 in a way
5.If Allah is ar Rahman and ar Rahim why won't he forgive people who failed to believe or made a mistake or were deceived or refused to believe based on pain and suffering in this world?

Now these questions seriously bother me and i hope you guys (and girls of course) can help me out with them because i have become sceptical of them and i am at a point where i am directly or indirectly rejecting the concept of Hell wich i am aware is dangerous for my emaan and i dont want to lose my emaan.

[Reafnartefs]

Salam,

What the Muslim has to understand is that the existence of Heaven and Hellfire, and of all creation in fact, is within the category of 'merely possible' things, while Allah alone is the only being attributed with necessary existence.

so when we think about the matter, the existence of a Hellfire that is created and continues after the day of Judgment into eternity is one of the things that is possible to exist, so we know that it is tied to Allah's Power. Through the revelations given to us we come to know that indeed it is existing exactly with these characteristics, so we know for certain that it exists.

Likewise, the punishing of disbelievers for their sins is something that Allah can do (again it is tied to Allah's Power). And we again discover from the revelation that this is indeed the case, and we also find out that the punishment of the people will be in the Hellfire forever.

Thus, from a purely objective viewpoint, all we need to ask ourselves is whether what is being claimed is possible in existence or not. If it is, then we can move to the next step of examining the Islamic texts to see what is being said about this claim. In the case of Hellfire, we find out that it is a reality and that its existence is eternal.

Concerning the reason why the disbelievers are punsihed eternally for finite sins, we say that Allah has proportioned different punishments for different types of sins. For the sins that do not have to do with negating Allah's religion, the punishment in Hellfire is temporary. But Allah has fixed eternal punishment for those who knowingly reject His true religion. So from an objective viewpoint again, we see that the eternal punishment is because Allah has fixed it in this way. There are some other probabilistic reasons given by our scholars, such as their saying that the disbeliever, when he dies, dies at the exact time that were he to remain alive, he would continue to engage in disbelief with his heart, and he would never accept Islam. This is one of the possible reasons given, though they are not as definitive as the true reason, which is that Allah has fixed such punishment for those who knowingly reject Islam.

Finally, concerning those who did not come to Islam due to ignorance, their matter is left to Allah, since He knows what was the true level of ignorance they showed, and whether the message actually reached to them or not.

[sykanaxer]

This is going to be my first post on this wonderful forum i must say that i have been following the discussions on this forum for quite some time and i thought to myself well it's about time for me to start posting as well but to come back to the title of this thread i am a Muslim i consider myself to be one althrough i have to admit that my emaan has become very weak i guess due to external influences but also due to certain aspects of Aqeedah i seem to either miscomprehend due to a lack of classical and traditional knowledge wich i am hoping to gain here or at least parts of it or due to serious doubts wich i am hoping will fade away or at least due to a healthy conversation with you guys here on this forum.

I will basically point out wich points i don't seem to understand or at least have doubts about:

1.Why is Hell necessary?

Salamualikum Gamal and welcome!

to deter people from desbelieving or commiting sin and to punish the evil-doers in it; it serves as a 'purgotory' and a place where Justice is administered

2.Why is Hell eternal? (this is the most striking question for me why do people have to suffer enormously forever isn't it more logical that a finite transgression equals a finite punishment instead of an infinite (eternal) punishment?.

hell is only eternal for desbelievers and not Muslims; muslims who end up there will only spend a temporary time in there before they are forgiven; the desbeliever spends an eternity in there as his crime of denying his creator is the utmost evil that can be ever commited; also, maybe one of the reasons why the desbeliever spends an eternity in there is because, if he was given eternal life on earth, he would continue to deny his lord for an eternity; ...Allah says in the Quran that on the Day of Judgement the desbeliever will say 'Allah put me back on the earth and i promise you this time i will obey you', but then Allah says even if the desbelievers were put back on earth they will revert to desbelief [after having seen the hereafter with their own eyes!]

3.Does torture and suffering really benefit the people or the situation of those that have to undergo them?

well it benifits the believers by purging them of their sins and it is a just requite for the evil desbelievers; Justice benifits the believers in that they know the desbelievers are paying for their crimes and have not gotten away with it; 'desbelief' is not only desbelief but it comes along with traits of being very wicked and evil individuals; one of the utmost evil being cruelty, and we can see how the desbelievers are wreaking havoc and unimaginable suffering on vast numbers of people on the earth with their cruelty, hence it benifits no-one to let such evil-doers get away with their crimes

4.Why do people (disbelievers) who simply failed to believe or didn't believe at all have to be punished forever? < mayby this question equals question number 2 in a way

the answer is the same as number 2; also since the desbelievers have been pre-warned that desbelief will lead them to an eternity in hell, they themselves have accepted that by choosing to desbelieve, hence this is another reason why this punishment is just and fitting for the crime; such a punishment deters vast amount of evil in the world which otherwise would have prevailed and made people extremely suffer due to it, so this is another purpose it serves

5.If Allah is ar Rahman and ar Rahim why won't he forgive people who failed to believe or made a mistake or were deceived or refused to believe based on pain and suffering in this world?

Allah is Rahman and Raheem, so he will only put those non-muslims in hell who have been recieved by the message of islam and thereafter have chosen to reject it and people who die being unreached by the message, they will be put to a test on the day of judgement and the outcome of that test will decide where they end up; those who would have accepted Islam if they had been recieved by the message, would pass and be saved, and those who wouldn't have accepted would end up in hell; this is very fair isn't it?

Now these questions seriously bother me and i hope you guys (and girls of course) can help me out with them because i have become sceptical of them and i am at a point where i am directly or indirectly rejecting the concept of Hell wich i am aware is dangerous for my emaan and i dont want to lose my emaan.

brother, hell is very clearly and decicively established from the Quran; so is an enernity in hell for desbelievers, thus if you doubt that this is the case, it indeed will be very detrimental to your faith so i suggest to trust in ALlah's wisdom brother wether you can understand it or not and accept it without hesitation

may ALlah give you taufeeq ameen

salaam

[NanoKakadze]

May I jump in here. I want to add my own question but its a minor one. I have almost always heard Heaven and Hell being eternal but I remember hearing many years ago a lecture where they were saying that there is a possibility that heaven and hell wont be eternal and eventually we will cease to exist. I may have misunderstood but I am quite sure that is what they meant and I was wondering if this is clearly an error that I have made when I listened to the lecture since its a tad fuzzy in my mind.

[sykanaxer]

May I jump in here. I want to add my own question but its a minor one. I have almost always heard Heaven and Hell being eternal but I remember hearing many years ago a lecture where they were saying that there is a possibility that heaven and hell wont be eternal and eventually we will cease to exist. I may have misunderstood but I am quite sure that is what they meant and I was wondering if this is clearly an error that I have made when I listened to the lecture since its a tad fuzzy in my mind.

Brother/Sister, you either heard it wrong or they said it wrong, for to believe in the everlastingness of paradise and hell is part of what is neccassairly known of islam; the denial of which infact constitutes kufr:

(1) matters about Islam that everyone knows, which even a child raised among Muslims would know, technically termed ma‘lum min al-din bi d-darura or “necessarily known as being of the religion”;

(2) matters that not everyone knows;

(3) and matters that are disagreed upon even by “those who know,” the ulema or scholars.

Affirmation or denial of tenets of faith within each category vary in their eternal consequences because of their relative accessibility, and the individual’s opportunities to find them out.

Things That Everyone Knows

To deny anything of the first category above constitutes plain and open unbelief. It includes such things as denying the oneness of Allah, the attributes of prophethood, that prophetic messengerhood has ended with Muhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace); the resurrection of the dead; the Final Judgement; the recompense; THE EVERLASTINGNESS OF PARADISE AND HELL; the obligatoriness of the prayer, zakat, fasting Ramadan, or the pilgrimage; the unlawfulness of wine or adultery; or anything else that is unanimously concurred upon and necessarily known by Muslims, since there is no excuse not to know these things in the lands of Islam; though for someone new to the religion, or raised in a wilderness, outside of the lands of Islam, or some other place where ignorance of the religion is rife and unavoidable, their ruling becomes that of the second category. As Imam Nawawi explains:

Any Muslim who denies something that is necessarily known to be of the religion of Islam is adjudged a renegade and an unbeliever (kafir) unless he is a recent convert or was born and raised in the wilderness or for some similar reason has been unable to learn his religion properly. Muslims in such a condition should be informed about the truth, and if they then continue as before, they are adjudged non-Muslims, as is also the case with any Muslim who believes it permissible to commit adultery, drink wine, kill without right, or do other acts that are necessarily known to be unlawful (Sharh Sahih Muslim, 1.150).

http://shadhilitariqa.com/site/index...ask=view&id=37

[Adollobdeb]

.. I was wondering if this is clearly an error that I have made when I listened to the lecture since its a tad fuzzy in my mind.

brother,

Yes, it's an error. Both of them are eternal.

[triarmarm]

Hell is also a part of submission, to submit and have faith in God's Justice and Mercy towards his
creatures, that's all. From an Islamic perspective, you can only be free when you submit, otherwise
you'll be a slave of your desires, wishes, hopes and so on.
To be a servant of the Divine, one has to release all prepositions that he has and just submit.
Only then (after a succesful path of inner jihad = inner struggle) you'll face the highest degree of
happiness, till then you will wander around in the darkness grabbing for things that are not there.

reading this article will help you, especially the first parts.
http://www.studiesincomparativerelig...re_We_Are.aspx

On the Day of days, all realities will be unveiled to everyone of us, when the veils are lifted
all comedy will be over and each one of us will understand the significance of his/her intentions.

(16:111) God's judgement will come about them all on the Day when everyone shall come pleading in his defence, and everyone shall be fully requited for his deeds and none shall be wronged in the least.

The Ahadith are full of God's Mercy to His creatures and all I can say is that you should
submit and have faith in God's Mercy and Justice.

[Ornamiviant]

This is going to be my first post on this wonderful forum i must say that i have been following the discussions on this forum for quite some time and i thought to myself well it's about time for me to start posting as well

Wecome brother.
And for your kind words. Indeed all praise is due to Allah (SWT) only.

but to come back to the title of this thread i am a Muslim i consider myself to be one

althrough i have to admit that my emaan has become very weak i guess due to external influences

It is great thing that brother that you realize this. We have to live in this world-there is no alternative and we have to protect our faith. Please do all you can to adopt pious company. There was a time a my life when I had to frequent three to four avenues to get my required dose of pious company. By the grace of Allah(SWT) I have come to the regular dose of Asr to Maghrib of pious company. I'll urge you too to take some similar route-heavy company initially and then regular company. If nothing is available then start your own circle even if it is reading of tafseer for 45 minutes. Please take permission for this from someone.

but also due to certain aspects of Aqeedah i seem to either miscomprehend due to a lack of classical and traditional knowledge wich i am hoping to gain here or at least parts of it or due to serious doubts wich i am hoping will fade away or at least due to a healthy conversation with you guys here on this forum.

I am glad you are asking the questions. I pray that your doubts are completely clarified.

I will basically point out wich points i don't seem to understand or at least have doubts about:

1.Why is Hell necessary?

Allah(SWT) wanted Himself to be known, to be appreciated. (Remember He is completely free from desires-it is just His decision and that is all that He wanted the things mentioned here.) So He (SWT) created the beings with free will -humans and djinn (and the whole environment, angles, the sun, the earth, the stars, the universe.)
In this scheme He desired to reward those who went along His scheme and punish them who rebelled.
Now the query questions this decision of Allah(SWT).
And this is a tricky thing.
Daddy wants you to keep the company of only the boys from locality A. You might demand an explanation but it is a wrong thing to do. It is against obedience.
We get irritated at this kind of argument.
This is the affect of modern education and environment.
We would like to think for ourselves and take our own decisions.
Just wait a little bit and you'll get a chance to think for yourself and take your own decisions.
And then it is more probable than not that you'll long for the good old days when daddy was taking the decisions.
Why not respect his decisions now?
Why not accept Allah(SWT)'s decisions now?
All of them.
Looks like a tall order but after breaking our head at a million walls this is the only route.

I'll restrict myself, for the moment, with one point only.
Wassalam

[GroosteFoessy]

Bismillah
I heard from some one that if one cannot believe in Allah SWT for 60 or 70 years or as many years as he lives in this world, then even if he was granted an eternal life here, he still won't believe in Allah SWT and so the eternal punsihment for the disbelief is justified and Allah SWT is the most Just.

(Remember) the Day when every person will come up pleading for himself, and every one will be paid in full for what he did (good or evil, belief or disbelief in the life of this world) and they will not be dealt with unjustly. An-Nahl, Chapter #16, Verse #111

And We shall set up balances of justice on the Day of Resurrection, then none will be dealt with unjustly in anything. Al-Anbiya, Chapter #21, Verse #47

And your Lord is not at all unjust to (His) slaves. Fussilat, Chapter #41, Verse #46

The heavens and earth belongs to Allah SWT, every creature is totally dependent on Allah SWT and what can be more injustice than disbelieving in Allah SWT after living a life granted by Him SWT.

Verily Shirk is a great injustice. [Sooratul-Luqmaan 31:13]

Allahu alam.

Let Allah SWT guide us all and keep us form on His SWT deen Amin

[sykanaxer]

Allah(SWT) wanted Himself to be known,

MashALlah i would like expand on something brother Maripat wrote:

Allah [swt] wanted to be known, so he created a creation where all his attributes could be manifest, i.e, Allah's Rahma is manifest, and when people sin, His attributes such as the abaser, Just, etc, become manifest too, hence when people will end up in hell, the attributes of Allah being the just, the avenger, the humiliator, etc, etc, will be manifest to their fullest:

we may note that the entire universe has been created by Allah in order that His names and attributes might be manifest, that is, in order that He might be known, for He says,

"Nor did I create jinn and men, except to worship Me" (Qur’an 51:56).

(al-Baghawi Mujahid [ibn Jabr al-Makki (d. 104/722)], said this means ‘except to know Me’ which is a sound interpretation, since if He had not created them, they would not have known His existence and His oneness (Ma‘alam al-tanzil, 5.230).

Now, the divine names, such as, al-Rahman ‘the All-merciful’, al-Karim ‘the Most Generous’, al-Rafi‘ ‘He-Who-Raises’, al-Khafid ‘He-Who-Lowers’, al-Sabur ‘the Most Patient’ al-Muntaqim ‘the Avenger’, and the others, entail and comprise the existence of the entire spectrum of human conditions—but particularly, ultimately, eternally, and at their fullest manifestation—the outcomes of paradise and hell.

... From the point of view of manifesting the divine attributes and names—their ultimate outcomes consisting in the destinies of human beings, without which they would remain unmanifest—

http://www.masud.co.uk/ISLAM/nuh/masudq7.htm

[SeelaypeKet]

Interesting thanks for the information

[Ornamiviant]

"Nor did I create jinn and men, except to worship Me" (Qur’an 51:56).

(al-Baghawi Mujahid [ibn Jabr al-Makki (d. 104/722)], said this means ‘except to know Me’ which is a sound interpretation, since if He had not created them, they would not have known His existence and His oneness (Ma‘alam al-tanzil, 5.230).

Brother abu-Rayhan,
Hadhrat Qari Amir Hasan Sahab (DB) usually mentions in his sermons that some people have interpreted li-'aabidoon as li-'aarifoon. So for chipping in to reveal who these people were.
Wassalam

[SeelaypeKet]

I read somewhere that Ibn Taymiyyah believed that Hell would come to an end i am curious what made him believe such a thing.

[sykanaxer]

Brother abu-Rayhan,
Hadhrat Qari Amir Hasan Sahab (DB) usually mentions in his sermons that some people have interpreted li-'aabidoon as li-'aarifoon. So for chipping in to reveal who these people were.
Wassalam

Wa'alaikum salam wr wb

Glad it has been of some help

Wasalaam

[triarmarm]

I read somewhere that Ibn Taymiyyah believed that Hell would come to an end i am curious what made him believe such a thing.

Brother GamaL, I really think you should read 'The Vision of Islam - William Chittick', I highly
recommend that. It will answer most of the questions you have and especially the above.

[sykanaxer]

I read somewhere that Ibn Taymiyyah believed that Hell would come to an end i am curious what made him believe such a thing.

Salaam Gamal

Ibn Taymiyyah had a problem with ALlah being so Mercifull and hell being eternal so he ended up interpreting the everlastingness of hell in a wrong way; Shaykh Hamza Yusuf had a article about it on his zaytuna website but it is no longer there

in it he mentions that Ibn Taymiyyah was of the opinion [at some point of his life] that the desbelievers would come to enjoy hell eventually, but the consensus of Scholars have rejected that; Ibn Taymiyyah reached his view by 'ta'weel' [subtle interpretation of Quran, by not rejecting clear meanings of other verses too] hence this is why such a view does not constitute kufr [desbelief] but only misguidance, for with such views based on ta'weel, it is considered that the interpreter has genuinely come to a misunderstanding while trying to sincerely interpret the Quran

Imam Al-Ghazali had a 'problem' with Allah being most Mercifull and kaafirs ending up in hell for all eternity too, but he reached a valid opinion and it is as follows [the following is a translated speech/chapter of Imam Ghazali himself]:

As for other nations [consider the person] who imputes lying to the Prophet [saw] after he has heard of the impeccable and undeniable transmission of his appearance, his quality and his miracles that suspended normal laws, such as his splitting the moon, the pebbles praising God in his hand, the welling up of water from between his fingers, and the miraculous Quran revealed to him, that challenged the eloquent to rival it but [all who tried] failed; if all of this information has reached his ears, yet he shuns it, turns his back, does not consider it or reflect on it, and does not hasten to believe in it, then such a person is indeed a denier and a liar, and he indeed is a disbeliever (kaafir)

However such a person does not fit the description of most of the europeans and central asians who live far away from the land of the muslims, infact I would argue that whoever did hear of these things [about the Prophet [saw] would have to have wanted to find them out in order to ascertain the reality of what is claimed [such a person would have to be] a religious person who did not prefer wordly matters to otherwordly one's, If he felt no urge to find out the truth, it could only be due to the fact that he was complacent, inclined toward this world and bereft of piety and a sense of momentuousness of religion and that is what desbelief (Kufr) is

However if a person felt a desire to find out the truth, but neglected to do so, that negligence is also desbelief. Indeed anyone of faith in God and the last Day of any religion will indeed indefatigably seek the truth after he has seen the appearance of signs that suspend the norms of experience [miracles], if someone sets out and attempts to ascertain the reality but dies before being able to complete his investigation, he is also forgiven and granted the vast mercy and grace of God, so have a vast view of the Mercy of God, the Exalted, and do not measure divine matters with ordinary wordly standards and know well that afterlife is simmilar to this life, for the Quran states, 'your creation and your ressurection is as one soul' [31:27]

Most people in this world enjoy relative security and ease or a state that makes life enjoyable; for that reason, if most people were given a choice between life and death, for example, they would choose life; as for those suffering to such a degree, that they would prefer death, such cases are rare. THOSE CONDEMED ETERNALLY TO THE FIRE IN THE AFTERLIFE WILL ALSO BE RARE, for the attribute of divine Mercy does not change due to the diversity of our circumstances, and 'this life' and the 'afterlife' are simply two expressions designating the diversity of our circumstances, were it not so, there would be no meaning to the statement of the Prophet [saw], when he said, 'the first thing that God wrote in the first book was, 'I am God, there is no deity but Me, My Mercy takes precedence over my wrath, so he who witnesses that there is no God but God, and muhammad [saw] is His servant and apostle, for him is the garden'

...............................



There is no doubt that the desbelievers are in the inferno, but imam Al-Ghazali is explaining that kufr [desbelief] is an active denial, not a passive state of ignorance. That is, denial must follow a clear understanding of what one is denying, moreover, for those who are sincere, it is not only understandable, but neccessary that they would search for the truth. [shaykh hamza Yusuf]

ref [no longer available]: http://www.zaytuna.org/WhoAretheDisbelievers.pdf

[CuittisIL]

It's not good word choice to say this or that Alim had a 'problem' with certain principles of belief because that can lead to misunderstandings of what the Ulamaa do, but it would be better to say something like, 'their academic conclusions after preponderating apparent contradictions within texts'.

As far as I've read, that isolated opinion of Ibn Taymiyyah is rejected by the majority.

[vSzsgifP]

I have found the link!

A person whose words or actions indicate some disbelief may be excused if that disbelief results from a false interpretation in an attempt to arrive at the truth. This is different from disbelief that results from following one’s whims and caprice. For instance, Imam Ibn Taymiyyah, according to some of his writings, apparently believed that the Fire of Hell would eventually be extinguished, and those in it would no longer suffer. This can be construed as kufr in its apparent denial of unambiguous verses in the Qur’an that disbelievers dwell in the Inferno forever (kh¥lidÏna fÏh¥ abadan) (4:169 and others). Ibn Taymiyyah based his idiosyncratic interpretation on verses that had precedence among a few of the companions of the Prophet s, as he shows in his argument. However, he did not reject the Qur’anic verses on the eternity of Hell but felt that they were to be understood in the light of other verses specifying the general applicability, and restricting their apparently unrestricted application.

Although Ibn Taymiyyah’s opinion on this matter is not seen as normative or even as valid by the majority of scholars, very few scholars actually anathematized him because he used interpretation (ta’wÏl) in the matter, which meant he did not repudiate the verses that outwardly contradicted his conclusions.

Due to this condition, most scholars do not anathematize the Rationalists (al-mu¢tazilah) or members of other sects who interpret verses differently than did the orthodox scholars of Islam. Limits, however, do exist that establish what is beyond the pale and what is not. According to Imam al-Ghazz¥lÏ, even if an interpretation is far-fetched, as long as it remains within the parameters of reasonableness in accordance with the Arabic language, it should not be considered kufr.

http://www.mujahideenryder.net/pdf/W...sbelievers.pdf

[vSzsgifP]

Both Shaykh Mu^yÏ al-DÏn b. al-¢ArabÏ and Ibn Taymiyyah held heterodoxic views concerning the Hellfire as a result of their attempts at reconciling divine mercy with the idea of infinite punishment for finite sins. In one transmission considered sound, Shaykh Ibn Taymiyyah inclined toward an Annihilationist view, which holds that eventually the Fire is extinguished. The heretic Jahm b. ßafw¥n also shared this view, and it is common among some Jewish ethicists.

Shaykh Mu^yÏ al-DÏn b. al-¢ArabÏ held that eventually the people of the Fire become fire-like and no longer feel pain but actually come to enjoy the Fire.41 It was Imam al-Ghazz¥lÏ, may God reward him, who was able to elucidate an orthodox resolution to the thorny theological problem of theodicy by introducing the element of conscious rejection of God or any of His messengers as the necessary and sufficient cause for perdition. Indeed, according to al-Ghazz¥lÏ, many people will enter the Fire for their various sins that they failed to purge or atone for in this world, but God’s mercy will take precedence, and the majority will eventually be freed of the Fire.

The Qur’an does make mention of those who remain forever in the Fire. Shaykh ±asan al-±abannakah al-Mayd¥nÏ says,

The Qur’an is unequivocal that the disbelievers who have no excuse for their disbelief (ghairu al-ma¢dh‰r bi kufrihim) are from the denizens of the Fire in the next life and will dwell therein forever in punishment. Moreover, God will not forgive them for either their disbelief (kufr) or their association with Him (shirk), while He will forgive those among the sinful believers, for God’s mercy will encompass them with forgiveness and pardon out of divine generosity and grace, if God so wills.42

The operative phrase here is “those who have no excuse for their disbelief.” These are the people who willfully rejected the truth, like IblÏs, out of arrogance, not ignorance. Those who were truly unaware may spend time in the Hellfire, but they will eventually be showered in divine grace, as Imam al-Ghazz¥lÏ indicates. The Qur’an refers to disbelief accompanied by certain characteristics that indicate the vile nature of those who knowingly and willfully reject the message.

The Prophet s described the disbelievers in the sound hadith in al-Bukh¥rÏ as the “denizens of the Fire,” saying, “Shall I not tell you who the denizens of the Fire are?” His companions replied, “Indeed, tell us.” He then said, “Every cruel, harsh, puffed up, miserly, arrogant one.”43

In addition, a famous hadith, which is the first hadith transmitted to students of hadith, states, “Whoever shows no mercy will have no mercy shown [to him].”44 And in another sound hadith, a prostitute is forgiven for bringing water to a thirsty dog.45

http://www.mujahideenryder.net/pdf/W...sbelievers.pdf

[Ornamiviant]

Brother GamaL, I really think you should read 'The Vision of Islam - William Chittick', I highly
recommend that. It will answer most of the questions you have and especially the above.

Is there any risk of falling into perennial attitude by reading this book?
Wassalam