Jahannam and Mercy in Surah Ar-Rahman

The Reality of Spiritual Darkness

Last time in this Surah Ar-Rahman series, here in this life, Allah says, He takes believers out of darknesses into light.

And the طاغوت, مِنَ النُّورِ إِلَى الظُّلُمَاتِ - from light into darknesses, right? In this life, it's a spiritual image. Spiritual light and spiritual darkness.

But actually, that spiritual reality, that unseen reality, becomes a seen reality on judgment day. It's a different kind of reality that day. So now people, it's not just the expression on the face of someone who's like, oh my god, I know what I did.

But actually, physically, a darkness takes over them. To help you follow along and reflect more deeply, we've created a companion workbook for this series. Download it at bayyinah.com/rahman

The Criminals Are Seized

So this picture is now going to be built upon. I told you the scene is progressing. Now the criminals know they can't run away. Bombings going on everywhere.

Time to recognize the criminals. Now when the time comes to recognize the criminals, the first thing that the angels will see is what? Darkness on their faces. And they know who to grab.

They know which ones to grab. And now they're going and grabbing them. And how are they grabbing them? بِالنَّوَاصِي وَالأَقْدَامِ - by the forehead and the feet.

Now some people, you know, they look at the نواصي. By the way, نواصي is the hair in front of your forehead. So they grab them by the hair right on top of the forehead.

You know, which is how you would treat an animal if you're treating it violently. Right, you'd grab it by the forelock. Not even the back of the neck, the front. And you pull it like that, right. So this is actually a very violent kind of thing. So they're grabbed like that and their feet are grabbed.

Each one of them. Each one of them described as if they're running in different directions and the angels catch up with all of them. And each one of them is getting hauled away.

The Symbolism of the Forehead and Feet

Now, the thing is why the forehead? Some correlate this to the other surah نَاصِيَةٍ كَاذِبَةٍ خَاطِئَةٍ - right, the forehead, this part of the head which is the creative center of our brain, the decision-making center of our brain. So this is where all the bad decisions were made and therefore this. You could also think of this as the previous... Earlier in this surah, we saw the sun and the moon do what? Sajdah, right.

And this refused to humble itself. You refuse to put yourself down before Allah and now that's what's being grabbed. You walked away from this deen with these feet and refuse to do sajdah, right. So the part that refused was the forehead and the part that walked away was the feet, right. So those two are being grabbed.

Another really interesting thing about النَوَاصِي وَالأَقْدَامِ is the mind is where the intention is made and the feet are the ones that perpetrate you carrying out whatever actions you take thereafter. So the نَوَاصِي can be the representation of our intentions and the أَقْدَامِ can be the representation of our actions, right.

And judgment day is not just our actions are being judged. What's being judged? The intention along with the action, right. It's not just the action that's being judged. So النَوَاصِي وَالأَقْدَامِ, the intention center and then the action are both being combined and they're both being held to account.

Spiritual Chains Become Physical

Remember I told you in the first part when the face thing was being described that there's a spiritual effect in this world but it becomes a physical effect in the next world. Similarly in surah Yasin, you find what Allah describes as spiritual chains on people that their necks have chains on them and they're being held up and فَهُمْ إِلَى الأَذْقَانِ فَهُمْ مُقْمَحُونَ وَجَعَلْنَا مِنْ بَيْنِ أَيْدِيهِمْ سَدًّا وَمِنْ خَلْفِهِمْ سَدًّا

There's a spiritual description of their arrogance, they're stuck in their arrogance. Well these chains that are holding them spiritually in the last life, in the next life actually become physical chains. مُقَرَّنِينَ فِي الأَصْفَادِ - they get chained.

The Gift of Al-Bayan

Allah said that He taught the human being البيان, you remember? And we discussed البيان in some detail. Our ability to make decisions and our ability to figure things out even if we cannot see them physically, right? Like for example, the study of physics or chemistry or other things. We can actually make calculations and make projections about things we haven't actually even seen.

And we can believe it. At a very basic level, even if you're not a scientist, you're driving and you turn on the news and you turn on the traffic conditions and it says, oh, there's an accident five miles ahead on the turnpike. What are you going to do? You're going to take an earlier exit, right?

But anyway, so the point is you believe the traffic news. You didn't see the traffic. It came from a reliable source that was good enough for you, right? We make decisions on reliable information all the time without seeing it for ourselves.

Animals, however, they're not going to believe there's a fire by hearing it on the news. They're going to have to see the smoke or get close enough to feel the heat and then they'll react, right? So the distinction between our decision-making and animal decision-making is actually البيان. That's the difference.

Because we have the ability to make advanced decisions because of this ability of بيان. Allah gave to our... For our guidance, Allah gave us بيان. Animals don't use بيان the way we do.

So they are treated as animals. Human beings that refuse to take advantage of البيان on judgment day are now being treated as what? Animals. Because they rejected the gift of بيان that made them be treated as dignified human beings.

So this is kind of الجزاء من جنس العمل - the punishment fits the crime is what's happening in this ayah. It's pretty scary stuff.

This Is Jahannam

You know, you just wanted to believe when you see. أَبْصَرْنَا وَسَمِعْنَا فَارْجِعْنَا - You know, on judgment day they say, okay, we see now. Okay, we're ready to listen. You know the phrase, I'll believe it when I see it.

Right? They're like, okay, okay, I see it now, I see it now. Now I'm ready to believe. Like the Pharaoh, once the drowning hits, then he says, okay, you know what? I think I'm ready for this conversion business.

You know? So it's too late now because now you've seen it. The whole point was يُؤْمِنُونَ بِالْغَيْبِ - that was the whole point. You missed the train, right?

This is Jahannam. The word Jahannam is actually not Arabic. Some argued early on that it's a Persian word but actually it seems more clear that it's a word taken from... or its origins are found in Hebrew. And Jahannam is one of the early pronunciations in Hebrew for this word. And it was used for a valley of torture and a valley of great, you know, great torment.

And from it, this term became commonly known to refer to Jahannam. And Allah is using it as the proper name for hellfire in the Quran. And Jahannam is probably the most comprehensive term because it's the proper name.

So every torture of Jahannam is included within it. But Allah specifically highlights fire. So either He says عذاب جهنم or He says نار جهنم, right? The torture of the fire or He says the torture of Jahannam or He says the fire of Jahannam.

Why This Graphic Description from Ar-Rahman?

Now the word "this" as opposed to "that", that is the pointer or the demonstrative nouns for a distance. And "this" is the demonstrative for close by, right? If it's close by, it's as if Allah gave us such a graphic description of Jahannam that it should make the listener feel like they got a really up close view. "This" is Jahannam, right? So this is actually an impact of the wording that's being used.

This begs the question, how is this رحمة? How is this graphic description coming from الرحمان?

I'm reminded of this exact conversation I had, I think it was 15 years ago with a student in Boston. She came up to me, she was fluent in Arabic and she just started talking to me in English first and then she's just dropping Arabic flawlessly.

And I was like, عربية؟ She goes, لا تعلمت العربية - I learned Arabic. I was like, okay. She goes, وحفظت القرآن - she memorized the whole Qur'an after learning Arabic. I was like, mashaAllah.

So, السلام عليكم. She goes, لا لا لا لست مسلمة - No, I'm not Muslim. I was like, لست مسلمة. She goes, نعم كنت مسلمة - I used to be Muslim.

I was like, ما الذي حصل؟ What happened? You know, the lecture was about to start, I was like, I need to talk to you afterwards. I need to know what's up. So she goes, well, my problem started with Surah Ar-Rahman.

I was like, really? Yeah, her problem started with Surah Ar-Rahman. And her fundamental problem was, how can a God that claims to be الرحمان is describing people being like, grabbed, and burned, and tortured. Like, how is that رحمن? Like, I want to believe in a God that's so ruthless.

Warning as an Act of Mercy

If the weatherman, everybody hates the weatherman. If the weatherman says, there's a storm coming. I was like, I hate this guy, change the channel. Right? The fact that he told you a storm is coming and we need to evacuate, is he doing you a favor? Yeah.

He's giving you bad news and it's actually looking out for you. He's actually helping you out. You know? I remember there was a hurricane, there was a Houston many years ago. I forget the name. It was Ike or something.

But there was a hurricane coming into Houston. I'm in Dallas, alhamdulillah. I'm not in Houston. But they were evacuating the city of Houston and they were making announcements in the masjids too. Everybody was like, storm coming, we need to evacuate. One gentleman got up, no, I'm not leaving. I'm going to the beach. I'm like, why are you going to the beach? I want to see the power of Allah. I'm like, okay.

The thing is, if you're being told ahead of time destruction is coming, that itself is an act of mercy. What this teaching, this teaching has always been there. You know? إِنَّ هَٰذَا لَفِي الصُّحُفِ الْأُولَى You know? وَالْآخِرَةُ خَيْرٌ وَأَبْقَىٰ This been, it's always, in all the scriptures, it's always been there.

But guess what happened? Anybody who studied comparative religion can tell you. The study of, the creed surrounding Jahannam and the seriousness of Jahannam, withered away. It started disappearing.

The Old Testament is five times the size nearly of the Qur'an. And Hellfire is pretty much non-existent. The seriousness of Judgment Day, non-existent. It's just not there. The same book that was given to Musa, they believe given to Musa.

When we read Musa in the Qur'an, what do you find? Musa Alayhi Salaam, one of the first things Allah tells him when he meets him on the mountain is, إِنَّ السَّاعَةَ آتِيَةٌ - The hour is coming. You don't find that in the Bible. You don't find Moses concerned about the afterlife like that. That's not what's happening.

And what happened with the afterlife? Then they developed very relaxed views of the afterlife. لَنْ تَمَسَّنَا النَّارُ إِلَّا أَيَّامًا مَعْدُودَةً - fire won't touch. Even if it touches, it's gonna be a little bit. It's not gonna be that bad.

The Balance of Rahman and Judgment Day

You see, on the one hand, Allah عز وجل is Ar-Rahman. But then, سَنَفْرُغُ لَكُمْ أَيُّهَا الثَّقَلَانِ - Allah is going to describe Yawm al-Din, right? Look at the incredible consistency of the Quran. What do you read in the Fatiha? Ar-Rahman ar-Rahim and then Maliki Yawm al-Din.

In Surah Ar-Rahman, you see Ar-Rahman, then you see Yawm al-Din. Right, it's the same logic. Just because he's Ar-Rahman doesn't mean there's no Yawm al-Din.

Complete Denial

Then there's the تُكَذِّبَانِ. It's incredible. If you look at the words, تُكَذِّبَانِ, they've been coming through the whole Surah, right? So, if you count, what are the things that they deny? So, in the beginning, they deny that He's Ar-Rahman. They deny that He taught the Quran. They deny that He created the human being. They deny the gift of Bayan that human beings are given.

They deny the order of the cosmos. They deny the wonderful gifts of this world. They deny how close to death they are. They deny that they're going to be resurrected. They deny, they deny, they deny. How many things are they denying? And the last thing left, if you're gonna deny all of it, at least don't deny that this horrible punishment is coming your way.

It's coming your way. Save yourself from this. This is the last like, last straw of denial. And they deny that too. So, look at what Allah says, الَّتِي يُكَذِّبُ بِهَا الْمُجْرِمُونَ - This is Jahannam that criminals are calling a lie on top of all the other things they call a lie. They're even calling this a lie.

What's left? It's like they do تكذيب of everything. They didn't leave anything to do تكذيب of. This surah is remarkable because it's not just talking about people that don't believe in God, or some people that don't believe in the afterlife, or some people that don't believe in the Prophet.

It's as if Allah is talking in this surah about people who don't believe in any of it. Like list by list by list, they don't believe in any of it. They reject all of it, all of it, all of it, and all of it.

The Torment of Going Back and Forth

They will go back and forth between Jahannam meaning the fire, and between حميم. حميم comes from حم, which means melting brass. By the way, brass was already mentioned.

حم is also used. حمّ الماء means boiling the water. So, anything that's boiling or scorching is called حميم.

And then added to it is the word آن, or like, you know, آنية, right? آن means for the time to come. For the time to come.

So, like if you're boiling water and it starts getting little bubbles, right? But if you keep boiling, keep boiling, keep boiling, and it gets to the point where the bubbles are now crazy, like they get to their peak, that's when it's reached its آن, like the height of it.

So, the scene being described here is they're in Jahannam, they're being burned. You guys know what طواف is? Anybody know what طواف is? Yeah, طواف is not going in circles actually. طواف is going back and forth, circuits. Okay? So, طواف can be you go here, then you go here, then you go here, that's also called طواف. So, round trips are called طواف.

Now, they're doing طواف between fire, the fire gets too much, and they run back towards, maybe that water is gonna be better now, maybe it's cooled off a little bit. When they get there, the moment they get there, it reaches its آن again. It gets to its worst boil the moment they arrive at the water.

And then the water is too intense, they're like, we need to dry off, maybe the fire is gonna help with that. So, they run towards the fire as the better alternative, and they can't take it, they run back towards what? The water, and they keep running between the boiling water and the scorching metal that's being poured on them, and then towards the fire, and then between the torture of liquid, and the torture of fire, they keep running between those two. And this is an endless طواف that they're doing.

The Punishment Fits the Crime

But the question is, why this graphic description, الجزاء من جنس العمل. You know, this is something we have to ponder. Every time Allah mentions a punishment is because the punishment fits the crime. Every punishment in the Qur'an fits the crime.

So, what's the crime? Well, two parties are working together, the devils and the enemies of the Prophet. The Shayateen, the jinn, and the enemies of the Prophet. And what are they doing? They're going back and forth. Hey, go do this. Hey, try to assassinate him here. Do this, do that. They're doing all kinds of طواف.

What Allah describes as, وَلَا يَحْزُنكَ الَّذِينَ يُسَارِعُونَ فِي الْكُفْرِ - Don't let the people who are running around for the cause of kufr, don't let them worry you. They're running around and doing this. يُوحِي بَعْضُهُمْ إِلَىٰ بَعْضٍ - As I described to you in that ayah in Surah Ra'd. They keep inspiring each other.

Allah says, لَا يَغُرَّنَّكَ تَقَلُّبُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا فِي الْبِلَادِ - The back and forth movements of those who disbelieve should not delude you. They're just enjoying this for a little while.

So these back and forth movements that they do to try to destroy Islam, how are those back and forth movements being punished on Judgment Day? Back and forth movements between tortures. SubhanAllah. This is what they're being doing. This is what's being given to them.

The Beautiful Transition to Mercy

But I cannot end this session without getting over all of this.

How beautiful. He said, and for whoever became scared of standing before their master. Actually this ayah will have two translations. I'm giving you one of them for now. Whoever got scared of standing before their master, they have two gardens.

He scared the wits out of us in these ayahs. And then he goes, and by the way, whoever got scared gets two jannas. What a رحمة from Allah. Even when he scares us, he scares us to reward us. So if you felt fear inside you, and that fear took over, then that fear itself is worthy of two jannas from Allah.

SubhanAllah. وَلِمَنْ خَافَ مَقَامَ رَبِّهِ جَنَّتَانِ

The Universal Invitation

Now let's dig into just some things from this ayah. Look at the word مَن. مَن is مبهم. What that means is anyone who got afraid. Like there could have been an enemy of the Prophet ﷺ who heard these ayahs and for a moment they got scared and Allah just extended him an invitation with love and said, by the way, even if you, after 10 years of trying to torture your Prophet, even if you got scared now and you want to change your ways, it's not too late for you.

The fact that you felt that fear means you can have two jannas. You can have two gardens. What this tells every human being on earth is the same thing. It's not too late. This whole thing you tell yourself, it's too late for me. Allah is never going to forgive me. I've done way too much stuff. I'm just way too messed up. Every time I hear the description of Jahannam, I feel like He's talking about me. I'm just going to be there. I just know I'm not saved.

This kind of talk, Allah says, okay, if you have that feeling, good. Now have hope because of that feeling. Instead of being drowned into that feeling, He will take that feeling and energize you and give you hope with it.

The Fear of Standing Before Allah

What's also remarkable in this ayah is Allah didn't say, and whoever got afraid of the torture of their master because the torture was described. He said, whoever got afraid of standing before their master. مقام ربه يعني مقام بين أيدي ربه - Standing right in front of your master.

In other words, now Allah is saying there are people who aren't, it's not even the fire that scares them. You know what scares them even more? How am I going to stand in front of Allah? How am I going to explain myself? What am I going to show Him? After everything He's done for me, how can I face Him? That's what really scares them.

That's what really, it's actually a beautiful thing that they're afraid of the disappointment that they will be in front of Allah. That's what terrifies them. And Allah says, I know you're terrified. And that fear that you have of meeting with Me, that is what I love about you. I love that and I'll give you two jannahs for it.

Two Meanings of Maqam

وَلِمَنْ خَافَ مَقَامَ رَبِّهِ - Now I get to the مقام can have two meanings. The word مقام can have two meanings. This is a grammatical thing, really cool subject.

مَقَامَ رَبِّهِ - Those of you that have studied a little bit of Arabic, مقام is a مضاف and ربه is a مضاف إليه. The word مقام can be a مصدر or a ظرف. And when you have an إضافة, then the مضاف إليه could serve as a مفعول به or a فاعل.

Now that's the tricky part. In simple English, what could this mean? The first meaning was standing before their master. The second meaning is they are afraid of their master standing over them. In other words, their master's station, their master's grand مقام, the مقام of their Rabb, the grand status of their master.

Whoever was afraid of the great power, the greatness, the grandeur of their master, they get to jannas. In other words, you hear all of these descriptions in the past and you get intimidated by your Rabb. The Rabb who made the universe, the Rabb who made you, the Rabb who made the earth, the Rabb who made Jahannam, the Rabb who made the day of judgment and Jahannam.

You got in awe of the grandness of Allah captured in the word مقام. The مقام could be the grandness of Allah. He's the قائم. He's the one standing at this place. And this is actually used in the Qur'an.

Referring to Allah. And as for the one who is standing over every person in regards to what they've done. Allah standing over us.

You know like someone watching over you? Similar to like إِنَّ اللَّهَ كَانَ عَلَيْكُمْ رَقِيبًا - Allah is watching over you. Like رقيب is used for the animal or the shepherd that grabs the back of the neck of the animal. The stupid sheep is about to go off the edge of the cliff and the shepherd grabs the neck and says this way.

Right? So that's the رقيب. The رقبة is the neck. رقيب is the guy who grabs the neck and pulls it the other way. Allah is رقيب over you. He gave you these laws in Surah An-Nisa for example to grab your neck because you want to throw yourself off a cliff. No, just follow these.

Okay? You save yourself some trouble. This is literally what Allah is saying. You know so here the one who got scared of the one that's watching over him, standing over him, meaning Allah.

The Question of Two Gardens

Now the only thing left, I think I'll do this in the next session. Why two jannas? Like what are you gonna do with two jannas? Like one's good. Like why you need two? Yeah, one for your wife? Truly make a janna? We don't just want separate bathrooms. We want separate jannas.

Not just separate closets. It will truly be janna when she's got her own. That's what you're saying? Okay, I didn't say it. You said it. You deal with the consequences when you get home for that statement.

But we will discuss inshallah now some of the insights that we can gain from the mention of two gardens. Why would Allah عز وجل mention two gardens, right? And this is something that our scholars in the past also became very fascinated with. That it's something Allah hasn't done anywhere else in the Quran where He said that there's two gardens for each person. But He did say that here. So we'll discuss that a little bit.