21.The Ones Who will Receive Temporary Torment

These are the believers; those who believe in Allah and the Messengers, but have accumulated too many sins. The suffering in this world, the grave, and the afflictions of the Day of Judgment were not enough to wash away those sins, so they still have to spend some time in hell. There are many sins that could cause this fate, we will just mention a few. As mentioned before, these examples are from ‘Umar al-Ashqar’s book.

1. The Deviant Sects

RasulAllah sallallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam says that the Jews have divided into 71 sects; the Christians have divided into 72 sects and this Ummah (the Muslims) will divide into 73 sects. Every one of them will be in hell fire except one. A very important thing to mention when we talk about this – this is not talking about different schools of thought. This is not talking about different Islamic groups that serve the same purpose.

This is talking about sects that separated on fixed principles of shari’ah. They have made up for themselves foundations that are different than the fixed foundations of Islam; for example, a sect that believes in a new prophet. This is an issue of aqidah – Islam says that RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam is the seal of the prophets.

Another clarification – it does not mean that the majority of them are in hell fire. Most of the laymen (common person) of the Ummah do not participate in sects. They just believe in Allah and the Messenger and go and pray. They cannot be counted as part of these sects, even though they carry the label. They pray, fast, pay zakah, etc, and believe in these principles of Islam. They do not get into the deviance of the creed.

This hadith does not say that these 72 sects are in hell forever. Some of them could be in hell forever, some could not.

2. The Unjust Judge

There is a hadith in At-Tirmidhi that RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam says that there are three types of judges, two of them are in hell fire, and one is in Jannah. The two that are in hell fire include a judge that rules, knows that he is wrong, but he still does it for a worldly reason. The other judge in hell is the one that rules, has no knowledge and causes harm to others because of his ignorance. RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam says that this one is in hell fire as well. RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam says that the third judge that knows and applies his knowledge in a righteous fashion is in jannah.

3. Fabrication of Hadith

RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam says, in a hadith in Bukhaari and Muslim, whoever lies or fabricates a lie about me will be guaranteed a seat in hell fire. Even if that hadith that is fabricated has a good meaning will have a seat in hell fire.

It is also a sin, but not to the same degree, to narrate a fabricated hadith. Therefore, we should be careful in the hadith that we narrated.

4. Arrogance

This is a very dangerous sin. RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam says, in a hadith in Muslim, the one who has a single grain of arrogance/pride in their hearts will not enter paradise. We are not talking about a heart filled with arrogance – but just a single grain. When RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said this, the sahabi said, “We like to have our clothes clean and our shoes clean.” He thought maybe that is a form of pride. RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, Allah is beautiful and He loves beauty. That is not arrogance; al-kibr is transgressing against others and rejecting the truth – rejecting the truth because of pride.

5. Murder

Killing people innocently without a reason is a major sin. Allah subhaana wa ta’aala says: “And whoever kills a believer intentionally, his recompense is Hell to abide therein, and the Wrath and the Curse of Allah are upon him, and a great punishment is prepared for him.” (4:93)

All the threats are there – hell, the curse of Allah and a great punishment.

What about a non believer? If there is a contract of peace between a Muslim and a non Muslim, then RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam says, if you kill a person whom you have given peace, then you will not smell the smell of paradise.

6. Riba – Interest

Allah subhaana wa ta’aala says that the ones who insist on dealing with interest, for them there is the punishment of hell fire.

Also, RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam says to beware of the seven greatest sins, and he mentioned riba as one of them. Never underestimate riba.

Allah says: “O you who believe! Be afraid of Allah and give up what remains (due to you) from Riba (usury) (from now onward), if you are (really) believers. And if you do not do it, then take a notice of war from Allah and His Messenger but if you repent, you shall have your capital sums. Deal not unjustly (by asking more than your capital sums), and you shall not be dealt with unjustly (by receiving less than your capital sums).” (2:278-279) Allah says that whoever deals with interest, Allah and His Messenger will wage a war against you.

Ibn ‘Abbaas gives a tafsir of this ayah. He says that on the Day of Judgment, a person who deals with riba will come out of his grave, like the one who is obsessed with the devil, jumping and shaking violently. Then the angels will come to him and give him weapons and tell him to prepare for war, you are going to fight against Allah and His Messenger. It is a very dangerous sin. It has become very widespread. The whole world is immersed in a world of riba.

7. Eating Other People’s Property

Allah says: “O ye who believe! Eat not up your property among yourselves in vanities: But let there be amongst you Traffic and trade by mutual good-will: Nor kill (or destroy) yourselves: for verily Allah hath been to you Most Merciful! If any do that in rancour and injustice – soon shall We cast them into the Fire: And easy it is for Allah.” (4:29-30)

8. Inclining Towards the Oppressors

If there is a king, president or leader who is a tyrant or oppressor, and you have love and respect for such a person, then you’re risking being with that person on the day of judgment. We should stay away from the tyrants and oppressors and disapprove of their actions.

Allah says: “And incline not toward those who do wrong, lest the Fire should touch you…” (11:113) The ayah talks about dhaalimeen – the transgressors and oppressors – but it would always apply to someone who is insisting on sin. We should stay away from that as a form of disapproving the wrong.

It’s a common misunderstanding that as long as you are not doing the wrong it’s ok. That is not the case. Even if you’re not doing it yourself, but you are with people who do those sins, and you get along with them fine, etc, then that in itself constitutes a sin. 

Once a police officer under the Abbasid khalifa came to Imam Ahmad – and there was good and bad in the khilafaa then – and asked Imam Ahmad, “Am I considered to be one of those who are assisting the oppressors?” Imam Ahmad ibn Hambal said, “No, you’re not. You are an oppressor yourself.”

9. Dressed but Naked Women and Men with Whips

This is also a sign of the Day of Judgment. The Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said that there are two groups of people who are going to be in the hell fire and he didn’t see them yet. One of them is women who are dressed, but naked. They have clothes on, but the clothes are as if they are not there – tight, or as if strings, etc. The second group are men who have whips in their hands. This is mentioning what we said before – the security forces. This has happened before, because there were security forces that would go around with batons and whips. The Prophet said that they are in hell because they are keeping oppression in place.

10. Cruelty towards Animals

This hadith is in Bukhaari. The Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said that a woman entered hell because of [her abuse of] a cat. We also know that a woman entered paradise because of [her kind treatment towards] a dog. This shows us that we shouldn’t treat anything as insignificant because we never know what will be the cause of forgiveness.

RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said that this woman held this cat captive; she didn’t feed it; neither did she let it go out until to feed itself, until it died.

The other woman gave the dog and saved its life, and she went to Jannah.

11. Seeking Religious Knowledge for Worldly Reasons

There could be someone learning Qur’an, fiqh or shari’ah, but that would take them to hell. RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam says that whoever follows the path of knowledge for the sake of Allah will end up in paradise. Nevertheless, there are people who will do these things – seek knowledge of Qur’aan and Islam – but they will end up in hell because they did not do it for Allah, but they did it for worldly reasons: becoming famous, leading the people, etc.

RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam says, in a hadith in Ibn Majah, If you learn knowledge that is used for the sake of Allah, but you are doing it to gain worldly benefits, you will not smell paradise.

12. Cutting down As-Sidr

As-Sidr is a tree. I think it translates to the lote tree in English. It is found in Arabia. RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam says whoever cuts down the tree of as-sidr, Allah will throw him down on his face in hell fire.

The reason is mentioned in the hadith by Abu Dawood: RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said that whoever cuts down the tree of as-sidr, Allah will throw him down on his face in hell fire. They asked Abu Dawood, what does this mean? If you cut down a tree, you’ll go to hell? Abu Dawood said that this means whoever cuts down the tree of as-sidr for no reason, which is used as shade by the travellers and is used by animals for food, then that person will be thrown in the hell fire. This is much stricter than the fines in the US for cutting down trees. 

This does not mean that in general you will go to hell for cutting down trees. If there is a good reason for cutting down trees, then it is ok. For example, for burning wood, construction, etc. This is talking about cutting the tree for no reason.

Especially, in Arabia there is a scarcity of trees. Animals would have to travel far distances to just find something to eat. RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam also says that this is cutting down trees in the wilderness. It’s different if it’s in the city.

13. Suicide

There is a hadith in Bukhaari, RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said whoever throws himself from a mountain to kill himself, he in hell fire, throwing himself from a mountain in hell fire forever. And whoever drinks poison to kill himself will be drinking that poison in hell fire forever. And whoever hits himself in his stomach to kill himself will be in hell fire, stabbing himself in the stomach forever. You might say: why does it say [in the hadith] ‘forever’ and we are putting these people in the temporary category? The hadith means forever as in a long time, not eternity. The word is used to show that it’s such a long time that it can carry the label ‘forever’, even though they can eventually go to jannah eventually, if they said la ilaaha illallah.