Paradise and Hell

The Companions of the Fire and the Companions of Paradise are not the same. It is the Companions of Paradise who are the victors. (Surat al-Hashr: 20)

When Allah created the Prophet Adam (pbuh), the first man on Earth, and his wife, He placed them in Paradise. However, as Allah informs us in the Qur'an, in Paradise, the Prophet Adam (pbuh) and his wife with the inculnation of satan transgressed Allah's prohibition.

This story allows us to recognize that a human tends to appreciate the beauty and value of something good if he can compare it to something evil. He grasps the wickedness of evil if he knows that which is good. The value of something can be precisely appreciated by comparison. Having been placed in Paradise first, the Prophet Adam (pbuh) and his wife had never been to a place that could be compared to Paradise, and thus failed to appreciate the difference. Therefore, people who would otherwise fail to value the blessings and perfection of Paradise, are given the chance to compare by being first created in this world, a place where good and evil exist simultaneously.

On the Day of Judgment, when everyone will be raised, Allah will gather all people around Hell and then save those people of faith who were attentive in their observance of His limits. Someone who sees Hell with his own eyes will certainly understand, from his own experience, that Paradise is a great salvation and blessing. It is revealed in the related verses as follows:

By your Lord, We will collect them and the evils together. Then We will assemble them around Hell on their knees. Then We will drag out from every sect the one among them most insolent towards the All-Merciful. Then it is We Who will know best those most deserving to roast in it. There is not one of you who will not come to it. That is the final decision of your Lord. Then We will rescue those who had fear of Allah and We will leave the wrongdoers in it on their knees. (Surah Maryam: 68-72)

In this world, Allah promises Paradise, a life of infinite beauty, to those who can appreciate this truth:

But as for those who believe and do right actions, We will admit them into Gardens with rivers flowing under them, remaining in them timelessly, for ever and ever. Allah's promise is true. Whose speech could be truer than Allah's? (Surat an-Nisa': 122)

Those who have chosen the way of untruth, although they were warned and guided to the straight path, will be placed in Hell, where an eternal punishment will be inflicted on them. Surely, this is the fulfilment of Allah's infinite justice:

Those who are unbelievers will be driven to Hell in companies and when they arrive there and its gates are opened its custodians will say to them, "Did Messengers from yourselves not come to you, reciting your Lord's Signs to you and warning you of the meeting on this Day of yours?" They will say, "Indeed they did, but the decree of punishment is justly carried out against unbelievers." (Surat az-Zumar: 71)

The nature of man is inherently disposed to practicing the values and character praised in the Qur'an. This is the model of a believer that pleases Allah. Allah makes clear to man what is evil and what is good. In addition, Allah has given man eyes, ears, a heart and the faculty of judgment, with which to distinguish good from evil. Because, through these qualities, man may easily come to recognize Allah's existence and greatness, and have faith in Him, it is apparent that those who choose to disbelieve would not deserve to be treated the same as believers. Allah describes how these two groups will be distinguished in the as follows:

Allah calls to the Abode of Peace and He guides whom He wills to a straight path. Those who do good will have the best and more! Neither dust nor debasement will darken their faces. They are the Companions of Paradise, remaining in it timelessly, for ever. But as for those who have earned bad actions-a bad action will be repaid with one the like of it. Debasement will darken them. They will have no one to protect them from Allah. It is as if their faces were covered by dark patches of the night. Those are the Companions of the Fire, remaining in it timelessly, for ever. (Surah Yunus: 25-27)

Allah gives an account of life in Paradise. He promises this life to those who believe and conduct themselves righteously in this world. This is the good news communicated to the believers:

Those are the Ones Brought Near in Gardens of Delight. A large group of the earlier people but few of the later ones. On sumptuous woven couches, reclining on them face to face. There will circulate among them, ageless youths, carrying goblets and decanters and a cup from a flowing spring- it does not give them any headache nor does it leave them stupefied. And any fruit they specify and any bird-meat they desire. And dark-eyed maidens like hidden pearls. As recompense for what they did. They will hear no prattling in it nor any word of wrong. All that is said is, "Peace! Peace!" And the Companions of the Right: what of the Companions of the Right? Amid thornless lote-trees and fruit-laden acacias and wide-spreading shade and outpouring water and fruits in abundance never failing, unrestricted. And on elevated couches We have brought maidens into being and made them purest virgins, devoted, passionate, of like age, for the Companions of the Right. A large group of the earlier people and a large group of the later ones. (Sura al-Waqi'a: 11-40)

While Allah gives to believers the good news of Paradise, a place of bliss and salvation, with its bounteous blessings, He also lets the unbelievers know that they will be sent to Hell. In the Qur'an Allah informs us of Hell, a place of unbearable torment:

And the Companions of the Left: what of the Companions of the Left? Amid searing blasts and scalding water and the murk of thick black smoke, providing no coolness and no pleasure. Before that they were living in luxury, persisting in immense wrongdoing and saying, "When we are dead and turned to dust and bones, shall we then be raised again or our forefathers, the earlier peoples?" Say: "The earlier and the later peoples will certainly all be gathered to the appointment of a specified Day. Then you, you misguided, you deniers will eat from the tree of Zaqqum, filling your stomachs with it and drink scalding water on top of it, slurping like thirst-crazed camels. This will be their hospitality on the Day of Judgment!" (Surat al-Waqi'a: 41-56)

Everything is Positive in Paradise, and Everything is Negative in Hell

ADNAN OKTAR: Allah says of Paradise that "no self has tasted and no eye seen it." It is utterly amazing and most beautiful. One of the best features of Paradise is that nowhere grows old or fades, and everything is positive. As you know, everything is created with its opposite in this world. Like good and bad or day and night, in Paradise there will be only positive aspects. That is the artistry of Allah. The gate of Paradise is uniquely beautiful. You look at the doors of the houses and they are all separately decorated. The chairs have a beauty of their own. So we look at those beauties and give constant thanks to Allah. The human soul burns with love of Allah in Paradise. You look at a pitcher in Paradise and you give thanks to Allah. You can even talk to it. You can tell it to turn a bit to the right and it will do so. And if you tell it to bring you a cool drink, it will bring you one. Pour it out, you say, and it will pour it into a glass. Go back to your place you say, and back it goes. Paradise is very pleasant and entertaining like that. Allah has created it specially to be like that. But in this world we are bound by direct causes. I cannot bring something to me without stretching my hand out for it. I am bound by direct causes. Yet it is not my hand that brings it here. Allah creates that in my head. He creates my hand as the direct cause. But in Paradise, the most beloved thing is talking with the Prophets. And also one's spouse will be manifested there in the most beautiful forms. They will be manifested in hundreds of physical bodies. The women of Paradise are more beautiful than houris. I mean, devout women are more beautiful. They are much more beautiful both in terms of quality, and beauty and the delight they give the soul. But there are also the houris, the children and youths of the Paradise and they are its beauty and adornment. They are young and lovely men, lovely children and young and lovely women, who wait on Muslims. They are all entities specially created by Allah but just like human beings, blessed and glorious beings who recall Allah in their speech and language. But if we are married, we know our spouse's moral values and the hardships they have suffered there, and their courage, and we know the prayers they have performed and the sacrifices they have made for Allah. Then we will love them, with that beauty, for all time. We will love them without forgetting. This is another delight of Paradise, mutual conversation, asking the Prophets, one by one, about what they did. For example, we will see what the Prophet Moses (pbuh) did and how, and see the very scenes. If one has animals or things one delights in here, then they will be brought to life there, too. We will love them and live together with them. But whatever one loves. If one loves technical equipment, that will be created. Cars will be created if one loves cars, and planes if one loves planes. But cars will run without gas there. But here, if a car were to run without gas or an engine then the requirement for people to use their free will would be lifted. Actually no car runs with gas because there is no engine in our brain, or gas, or gas station nor anything to do with an engine. We can see there is no such system. And that is what happens in the Hereafter; natural causes are eliminated. Everything we want comes about. Whatever delights us is there, all kinds of music, beautiful pictures, sculptures whatever. Hell is a place of the exact opposite, meaning that everything is in a defective, polluted, rotten and disgusting state. In other words, it is just as the materialists describe it all. There is magma, and people are malformed or incompletely formed, with their noses or mouths being displaced, for example. They are dirty, their mouths are dirty, their bodies are dirty. There is no washing in Hell, which stinks and is utterly filthy. Vile smells, vile filth, vile words, vile darkness, vile food and generally vile everything are characteristics of Hell. It is the exact opposite in Paradise. The water is lovely, for instance, and everything smells lovely. Scents come in waves. One day it smells of roses, the next of carnations, but everything will be much more perfect. For example, the fruit is very delicious, very perfect. When you eat a strawberry here you put sugar on it. That is its deficiency, meaning that people have the concept of a true strawberry in their minds. For example, one never finds a completely normal orange, only very rarely. They usually find a flaw in it. But they will find the true orange there. They cannot find the real watermelon here, or have to go and hunt for two hours, but they will see the true ones there, by Allah's leave. (From Mr. Adnan Oktar's interview on Cay TV, February 25, 2009)