Hell: The Most Horrible Place

Hell: The Most Horrible Place

Khutbah by Shaykh Mohammed Faqih

Opening of Khutbah

(بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ - bismillahir-rahmanir-rahim)

إِنَّ الْحَمْدَ لِلَّهِ، نَحْمَدُهُ وَنَسْتَعِينُهُ وَنَسْتَغْفِرُهُ، وَنَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنْ شُرُورِ أَنْفُسِنَا وَمِنْ سَيِّئَاتِ أَعْمَالِنَا ، مَنْ يَهْدِهِ اللَّهُ فَلَا مُضِلَّ لَهُ، وَمَنْ يُضْلِلْ فَلَا هَادِيَ لَهُ

All praise is due to Allah. We praise Him, we seek His help, and we seek His forgiveness. We seek refuge with Allah from the evil of our souls and from the evil of our deeds. Whomsoever Allah guides, none can misguide him, and whomsoever He allows to go astray, none can guide him.

وَأَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ، وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ

I bear witness that there is none worthy of worship except Allah alone, with no partner or associate, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger.

"O you who have believed, fear Allah as He should be feared and do not die except as Muslims."

"O mankind, fear your Lord, who created you from one soul and created from it its mate and dispersed from both of them many men and women. And fear Allah, through whom you ask one another, and the wombs. Indeed Allah is ever, over you, an Observer."

"O you who have believed, fear Allah and speak words of appropriate justice. He will [then] amend for you your deeds and forgive you your sins. And whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger has certainly attained a great attainment."

Introduction: The Story of Adam and Paradise

Dear brothers and sisters, in Islam, Allah created Adam and placed him in Paradise for a short period of time.

Then Adam was tempted. He was prohibited from one tree, one single tree in Paradise. He was told not to eat from it, while he could enjoy anything else, an endless number of trees. But that one tree, stay away from it.

And Adam was tempted. And Adam sinned, and he ate from that tree. And the result of that sin was that he was removed from Paradise and placed on this planet.

And then here we are. And he was told that when guidance comes to him and his followers and his children and his descendants, whoever follows that guidance will go back home, Paradise.

You were told about some of the blessings of Paradise last week. Brothers and sisters, for the believer, that is home. And that's what one of us and every single one of us actually has to be aiming to and wishing for, to go home, Paradise.

The Hadith About Hurrying to Paradise

The Prophet, peace be upon him, says: Whoever fears the fall of the night will hurry up to go home. And whoever hurries up will reach home before the fall of the night.

And in this metaphor, the Prophet ﷺ was alluding to Paradise. If you want to reach Paradise before it's too late, then you have to hurry up. And you have to fear, as the Prophet ﷺ mentioned in this hadith.

And then he said:

Sahih at-Tirmidhi

Indeed, the commodity of Allah is precious. Indeed, the commodity of Allah is Paradise. And it's very precious. And you have to pay the price.

The Balance: Paradise and Hellfire

Brothers and sisters, Allah says in the Qur'an that the successful ones are those who are removed from Hellfire and placed in Paradise. So before we get to Paradise, we have to be removed from Hellfire.

And in order to bring the balance between what you have heard last week, I ought to mention to you that there is something called Hell, Hellfire. And to talk about it is so terrifying. I couldn't even go through it. But brothers and sisters, let me just relate to you a hadith that might give you an idea of how horrible and how terrifying Hellfire is.

The Hadith of One Moment in Hellfire

The Prophet says in an authentic hadith collected by Imam Muslim:

That a man from the people of Hellfire, who happened to be in this life, who lived in this life the most luxurious lifestyle ever, the most glamorous lifestyle, who had access to everything, that person will be brought on the

Day of Judgment. And he will be dipped in Hellfire for a moment.

Sahih Muslim

And then he will be pulled out. And Allah, the Almighty Himself will ask him: Have you seen any blessings? Have you seen? Do you remember anything good ever happening to you?

And he will say, nay. And he will swear by the glory of Allah that he had never seen any good in his life. That one moment in Hellfire will wipe out all the good memories and all the fun that he had in this life. One moment. You can imagine.

The People of Hellfire Will Beg

The people of Hellfire will beg Allah. And they will beg the dwellers of Paradise for some water, for some mercy, for some break to catch their breath. And they won't be given that.

Why? Those who did not care about things that Allah made prohibited in this life, it will be said to them:

The water and all these blessings that we have in this life that we're not even being charged for it, Allah will declare them to be prohibited on the dwellers of Hellfire.

Why am I saying this? Because we need to balance. We need to bring the balance. We need to balance this hope and sometimes this false sense of security that we may have with some fear, because fear is good brothers and sisters.

The Station of Fear (Al-Khawf)

Fear, or what was known as الخوف (Al-Khawf), is one of the greatest stations on the road to Paradise. And the scholars of the past talked about it. There is a positive type of fear that every believer has to have in his heart, and her heart. And that's what we are talking about brothers and sisters.

Allah says in the Qur'an, chapter 3, verse 175:

So fear them not, but fear Me if you are believers.

Brothers, please move forward filling all the gaps and do not block the entrance. And Allah the Almighty says in Surah Al-Baqarah, chapter 2, verse 40:

And fear none but Me.

So Allah is asking us to fear Him. And we ought to fear Allah.

Those Who Fear Allah Race in Good Deeds

Verily, Allah compliments a special group of people and He praises them. Verily those who live in awe, for fear of their Lord, it is these who race for the good deeds and they are foremost in them.

So this is the point. A fear that will trigger this desire of wanting to do good, so you are protected from that which you fear.

The Higher Station: Khashiyah

There is a different type of fear that the scholars mentioned. And this is even a higher level and a higher station and it's called خشية (Khashiyah). And it's more specific than khawf.

For khashiyah is a quality that is particular of the people of knowledge. It comes with knowledge and that's why Allah in chapter 35, verse 28, said:

It is only those who have knowledge among His slaves that fear Allah, that have khashiyah of Allah.

And that's why the Prophet, peace be upon him, because khashiyah is associated with knowledge. The Prophet ﷺ said: Indeed, I have the most piety of Allah and I have the greatest khashiyah from Him.

And before he made that statement, he said:

إِنِّي لَأَعْلَمُكُم بِاللَّهِ

Sahih al-Bukhari

I'm the most knowledgeable of Allah than any one of you.

So if you get to know Allah and understand His attributes, that will trigger some fear in your hearts. خوف may be movement and a reaction in the heart, where khashiyah actually causes action and it brings some tranquility. And every one of us needs it.

The scholars of the past warned their followers and their students, and they said: If a heart lacks fear, it will be ruined.

Brothers and sisters, we ask Allah to make us among those who fear Him.

First Khutbah Closing

I say this and I ask Allah to make us among those who listen and follow the best of what they listen to. I say this

and I ask Allah to make us among those who fear Him.

(الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ وَكَفَى، وَالصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَى عِبَادِهِ الَّذِينَ اصْطَفَى، وَبَعْدُ - alḥamdu lillāhi wa kafā, waṣ-ṣalātu was-salāmu ʿalā ʿibādihī allaḏīna ṣṭafā, wa baʿdu)

(أَسْتَغْفِرُ اللَّهَ لِي وَلَكُمْ فَاسْتَغْفِرُوهُ - ʾastaġfiru-llāha lī wa lakum fastaġfirūh)

Second Khutbah: Fear Leads to Running to Allah

Virtue is the light of the heart. With it one could tell good from bad. Virtue from vice.

Everyone who fears, and here is the catch, everyone who fears something or someone will have to run away from it. Except Allah. For if you fear Allah, the only choice and the only option that you have is to run to Him.

And that's why Allah, the Almighty said in the Qur'an:

Flee to Allah.

For no one can flee away from Allah or escape. So the only option, the only resort, the only choice that you have is to go back to Allah and to run to Him.

Balancing Fear and Hope

Brothers and sisters, the fear that we're talking about here is the fear that should cause you to work with diligence. And know that fear has to be balanced with some hope. Fear has to be balanced with some hope. This is very important.

The scholars talked about how one should have, like Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) is reported to have said, that the commendable khawf or fear of Allah is that which restrains you from the prohibition of Allah. But at the same time, رجاء (raja) or hope complements it.

And one has to balance it. One has to balance the two. You don't want to have too much fear because you're going to fall into a state of despair. But also having too much hope will give you a false sense of security.

And this is what you ought to fear the most. At least if you fear Allah more in this life, you might have a chance to be secure and you might have a chance to be safe in the hereafter.

But what happens to those people who have too much sense, this false sense of security, and they have wishful thinking, they will come on the Day of Judgment and actually they are setting themselves up to the greatest disappointment of their life. And this is what used to terrify the scholars of the past.