فَرِحَ ٱلْمُخَلَّفُونَ بِمَقْعَدِهِمْ خِلَـٰفَ رَسُولِ ٱللَّهِ وَكَرِهُوٓا۟ أَن يُجَـٰهِدُوا۟ بِأَمْوَٰلِهِمْ وَأَنفُسِهِمْ فِى سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِ وَقَالُوا۟ لَا تَنفِرُوا۟ فِى ٱلْحَرِّ ۗ قُلْ نَارُ جَهَنَّمَ أَشَدُّ حَرًّۭا ۚ لَّوْ كَانُوا۟ يَفْقَهُونَ ٨١
Those ˹hypocrites˺ who remained behind rejoiced for doing so in defiance of the Messenger of Allah and hated ˹the prospect of˺ striving with their wealth and their lives in the cause of Allah. They said ˹to one another˺, “Do not march forth in the heat.” Say, ˹O Prophet,˺ “The Fire of Hell is far hotter!” If only they could comprehend!
In this Ayah, Allah SWT is commenting on the people who stayed back instead of marching to the battle of Tabook. These were the people who didn’t want to spend their wealth on the cause of Allah SWT. They were happily relaxing and celebrating that they didn’t join the Prophet and his companions in their march to the battle in scorching heat. They even tried stopping others from joining for the sacred cause. Therefore, Allah SWT revealed this Ayah replying to them with beautiful sarcasm.
This Ayah is certainly an ayah which gives us goosebumps on how fierce the fire of hell would be in the hereafter. Even though it is addressed to the munafiqeen (hypocrites), we Muslims can relate to it and draw lessons from it.
Allah SWT is questioning them on how will they tolerate the fire of hell which is much more intense and long-lasting than the heat of Dunya. Why don’t they worry about it and ponder over it?
By making this scornful comment Allah SWT distinguishes between true believers and hypocrites. These were the people who lacked true belief. Their faith was not up to the mark which was reflected upon by their decision of choosing dunya over akhirah.
In the Surah Al Imran, Allah SWT says that He does not give the knowledge of the unseen or Gaib to the people. Only the chosen ones in the prophets are given this knowledge. A similar situation occurred at the time of the battle of Uhad too. A group of people decide to go back and not participate in the battle. They were later declared as hypocrites. Nabi (SAWS) already knew the names of the people who were going to move back but he kept it a secret. This is Allah SWT sunnah that He puts people in testing situations where their actions make it apparent what their inner beliefs are.
Therefore, a true believer is one who knows that this belief is not just a verbal commitment. It needs to be coupled with serious actions and loads of sacrifices. To take this deen forward a believer chooses to sacrifice as he sees every sacrifice as an investment in the afterlife. He has strong faith that Allah SWT will not let go of his efforts in vain and he will be rewarded soon in the life to come. And he strives and puts effort into achieving his goals of akhirah.
Jahannam or hell is a part of our Imaan bil Gaib (the unseen/ afterlife). So, living a life keeping in mind the aakhirat is very important. In a hadith, Nabi (SAWS) says that Akhirat is the kheti (crop) of the Dunya. That means whatever we sow here we will reap the same in Akhirat. If we sow a fruit seed, we will get a fruit and if we sow cactus, we get a thorny plant. It is as simple as that but to live every single moment keeping in mind the consequence in Akhirat is not so easy.
In the holy book Allah SWT gives us glad tidings of Jannah and its blessings on one hand and on the other He warns us of the punishment of Hellfire.
Hellfire is 70 times stronger than the fire on Earth
Abu Huraira reported: The Prophet ﷺ said,
The fire which sons of Adam burn is only one-seventieth part of the Fire of Hell. His Companions said: By Allah, even ordinary fire would have been enough (to burn people). Thereupon he said: It is sixty-nine parts in excess of (the heat of) fire in this world each of them being equivalent to their heat.
Source: Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2843
Jahannam or hell is a part of our Imaan bil Gaib (the unseen/ afterlife). So living a life keeping in mind the akhirah is very important. In a hadith, Nabi ﷺ says that Akhirat is the kheti (crop) of the Dunya. That means whatever we sow here we will reap the same in Akhirat. If we sow a fruit seed we will get a fruit and if we sow cactus we get a thorny plant. It is as simple as that but to live every single moment keeping in mind the consequence in Akhirat is not so easy.
On one hand, Allah SWT gives us glad tidings of Jannah and its blessings; on the other, He warns us of the punishment of Hellfire. For the validation of actions, our intentions are checked. The deepest thoughts of our hearts which we hide in our chests are also visible to Allah SWT. In the above ayah, Allah SWT is addressing the hypocrites. They were stopping other people from going to Qital (religious war) seeing the hardships associated with it. It was certainly easy to stay back and relax when compared to the long marches in heat to the battlefield.
Likewise in our daily lives, we will find difficulties in implementing deen. Choosing a lifestyle that is not in accordance with Islam might be easier. But we must understand that the hardships are worth it. We are in trade and a beneficial business. Our actions will be rewarded soon and we will reap the benefits in Akhirat. And the negative or bad actions might give us temporary worldly benefits or pleasures but that will result in punishments in the hereafter. This consciousness must be there from moment to moment. Even though it looks difficult we can cultivate it with the help of Allah.
Our daily life is filled with distractions (Lagviat). It is so easy to get indulged in Gunah and Haraam in this digital world. So making the right neeyah for our actions should be a part of our morning routine. We must do our Muhaseba(self-check of our daily activities) every night before we go to sleep inshaAllah.
How Hell Will Look Like? Hadith References
Following is a collection of a few ahadith which gives us an idea of what hell will be like.
1. Abu Huraira reported:
The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “The fire which sons of Adam burn is only one-seventieth part of the Fire of Hell. His Companions said: By Allah, even ordinary fire would have been enough (to burn people). Thereupon he said: It is sixty-nine parts in excess of (the heat of) fire in this world each of them being equivalent to their heat.”
Source: Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2843
2. Narrated Abu Huraira:
The Prophet (ﷺ) said, “In very hot weather delay the Zuhr prayer till it becomes (a bit) cooler because the severity of heat is from the raging of the Hell-fire. The Hell-fire of Hell complained to its Lord saying: O Lord! My parts are eating (destroying) one another. So Allah allowed it to take two breaths, one in the winter and the other in the summer. The breath in the summer is at the time when you feel the severest heat and the breath in the winter is at the time when you feel the severest cold.”
Source – Sahih al-Bukhari 536, 537
3. Abu Sa’eed narrated regarding His (Allah’s) statement: Kal Muhl, the Prophet (ﷺ)said: ‘Like boiling oil, such that when it is brought close to his face, the skin of his face will fall off into it.
Source – Jami Al Tirmizi 5: Chapter 38, Hadith 2581
4. Abu Hurairah narrated that the Prophet (s.a.w) said: Indeed Hamim will be poured over their heads. The Hamim will penetrate until it finds its way to his insides. Then whatever is inside him will fall out until it pours over his feet while it melts away. Then he will be reformed to how he was.
Source – Jami` at-Tirmidhi 2582
5. Abu Umamah narrated regarding His (Allah’s) statement: He will be given water of Sadid to drink, he will swallow it… that the Prophet (s.a.w) said: It will be brought toward his mouth and he will dislike it, so whenever it is brought closer to him it will melt his face and the skin of his head will fall into it. Then whenever he drinks from ithis bowels will be severed until it comes out from his anus. Allah, the Blessed and Exalted says: And they will be given the water of Hamim to drink such that it cuts up their bowels… and He says: And if they call for a drink they will be given the water of Muhl which melts the faces, the worst of drinks and the worst of abodes.
Source – Jami` at-Tirmidhi 2583
On the day of judgment, for the validation of actions our intentions will be checked. The deepest thoughts of our hearts which we hide in our chests are also visible to Allah SWT. In the above ayah, Allah SWT is addressing the hypocrites. They were stopping other people from going to Qital (religious war) seeing the hardships associated with it. It was certainly easy to stay back and relax when compared to the long marches in heat to the battlefield.
Likewise in our daily lives, we will find difficulties in implementing deen. Choosing a lifestyle that is not in accordance with Islam might be easier. But we must understand that the hardships are worth it. We are in trade and a beneficial business. Our actions will be rewarded soon and we will reap the benefits in Akhirat. And the negative or bad actions might give us temporary worldly benefits or pleasures but that will result in punishments in the hereafter. This consciousness must be there from moment to moment. Even though it looks difficult we can cultivate it with the help of Allah.
Our daily life is filled with distractions (Lagviat). It is so easy to get indulged in Gunah and Haraam in this digital world. So making the right neeyah for our actions should be a part of our morning routine. We must do our Muhaseba(self-check of our daily actions) every night before we go to sleep inshaAllah. And we must do lots of dua to seek the help of Allah each to be steadfast on the path of Islam in sha Allah.
I pray to Allah SWT that He forgives all of our Sins and saves us from the punishment of hell. I pray that He gives us that consciousness and Taufeeq that we do all our actions keeping in mind the punishments of Hell and the rewards of Jannah.
