This topic will at first seem very shocking for most Muslims and Christians. This will seem even more shocking after reading the following verse:
﴾2:80﴿ Some have said, "hell will not touch us, except for a limited number of days." Say, "Have you taken such a pledge from GOD - GOD never breaks His pledge - or, are you saying about GOD what you do not know?"
Ø Behind the topic of the article lies an important issue: is God's Mercy really infinite or did He decide that hell would be eternal?
The following verse, in my opinion, very simply proves that hell is not eternal.
﴾7:40﴿ Surely, those who reject our revelations and are too arrogant to uphold them, the gates of the sky will never open for them, nor will they enter Paradise until the camel passes through the needle's eye. We thus requite the guilty.
Ø My understanding is that people who go to hell will stay in hell until it ceases to exist, which may last well over a billion years if we rely on what astronomers witnessed studying our own solar system and others, God alone knows. I see hell as part of a new solar system created after the Day of Judgment, which will have a definite life span. People who refuse to submit to God and believe they will only stay a limited number of days in hell, or don't believe in the hereafter, are going to be shocked. Hell will last so long and will be so horrible that it will seem like an eternity. God is the Most Gracious, Most merciful and
Rashad Khalifa did not understand this verse and declared in his translation that hell is eternal. Messengers are not perfect. God alone is perfect and the only perfect messengers He sent are His pure revelations, the final one being the Quran.
Ø Verse
The key expression "until the camel passes through the needle's eye" is highly symbolic and a tremendous warning because its gematrical value is 1406 = 19 x 74. Let us remind the reader that the miracle of 19 is mentioned in sura 74 and that the miracle was unveiled in 1974, 1406 lunar years after the revelation of the Quran. People who reject the miracle of 19 and its implications are in high risk not to make it to heaven and people who will be in hell will only exit it once God fulfills "until the camel passes through the needle's eye" (19 x 74), the very miracle throngs of people will have denied. What a sign!
Ø Interestingly, the allegory of the camel passing through the needle's eye is also mentioned in the Gospels and this will, God willing, draw the attention of Christians as well:
"It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the
Ø This parable shows Jesus’ was given knowledge of the future and of the laws of universe. Like in the Quran, and in a hidden manner very typical to parables, we see in the verse the connection between the inhabitants of Hell and paradise. That connection is the needle's eye: Matthew
Ø Hell is in the parables (Gospel and Quran) was interpreted and translated as the "camel". But is the translation really accurate? A famous Muslim translator (Muhammad Asad) interpreted completely differently verse 7:40:
﴾7:40﴿ Verily, unto those who give the lie to Our messages and scorn them in their pride, the gates of heaven shall not be opened; and they shall not enter paradise any more than a twisted rope can pass through a needle's eye: for thus do We requite such as are lost in sin. (translation Muhammad Asad)
Muhammad Asad still mistranslated the verse in my opinion because he failed to render the meaning of "hatta" ("until") in "they shall not enter paradise any more than (حتى, "until", not "any more than") a twisted rope can pass thhrough a needle's eye", therefore it should be rendered "they shall not enter paradise until a twisted rope can pass thhrough a needle's eye".
Muhammad Asad wrote the following commentary on the verse:
"...As for the word jamal occurring in this sentence, there is hardly any doubt that its translation, in this context, as "camel" is erroneous. As pointed out by Zamakhshari' (and confirmed by other classical commentators, including Razi), Ibn `Abbas used to read the word in the spelling jummal, which signifies "a thick rope" or "a twisted cable"; and the same reading is attributed to 'Ali ibn Abi Talib (Taj al-'Arus). It is to be noted that there are also several other dialectical spellings of this word, namely, jumal, juml, jumul and, finally, jamal (as in the generally-accepted version of the Qur'an) - all of them signifying "a thick, twisted rope" (Jawhari, and all of them used in this sense by some of the Prophet's Companions or their immediate successors (tabi'un). Ibn `Abbas is also quoted by Zamakhshari as having said that God could not have coined so inappropriate a metaphor as "a camel passing through a needle's eye"-meaning that there is no relationship whatsoever between a camel and a needle's eye whereas, on the other hand, there is a definite relationship between the latter and a rope (which, after all, is but an extremely thick thread). On all accounts, therefore, the rendering of jamal as "a twisted rope" is, in this context, infinitely preferable to that of "a camel....".
Ø Therefore, we can understand better 7:40 in the following manner:
﴾7:40﴿ Surely, those who reject our revelations and are too arrogant to uphold them, the gates of the sky will never open for them, nor will they enter Paradise until (حتى) a twisted rope can pass through a needle's eye. We thus requite the guilty.
ان الذين كذبوا بايتنا واستكبروا عنها لا تفتح لهم ابوب السماء ولا يدخلون الجنة حتى يلج الجمل فى سم الخياط وكذلك نجزى المجرمين Ø A rope is by definition twisted, and it provides the idea of the same "rotation" that we witness when stars and galaxies approach and go through a black hole. This even strenghtens the idea that hell will indeed pass through the eye of a needle just like solar systems are absorbed by black holes. Only "gravitational collapse" can physically explain how a very thick rope can pass through a needle's eye. This idea will only seem impossible to people who ignore (whether they actually don't know or do not want to know...) the laws of the universe and ignore God's allegorical language. God is omnipotent. Nothing is impossible for Him.
Ø It is interesting to note that if hell clearly does have a lifespan,
The Gospels and Quran tell us, that, in the very long course of universe, everyone will eventually be forgiven. Such is God's mercy: Infinite.
God's infinite Mercy is very obviously directly related to God's Most beautiful attributes reserved for Him alone: "The Most Gracious, Most Merciful".
May God Almighty guide us and spare us the agony of the hellfire.
﴾3:16﴿ They say, "Our Lord, we have believed, so forgive us our sins, and spare us the agony of the hellfire."
﴾25:65﴿ And they say, "Our Lord, spare us the agony of Hell; its retribution is horrendous.
