Will Non Muslims Automatically Go To Hell Dr Shabir Ally

You're watching "Let the Quran Speak," and now we answer your questions. If you have question, visit our website, quranspeaks.com. Dr. Shabir, the question is, truly feel "that Islam is the truth compared to other religions. "What makes me hesitant to accept is the fact "that can't reconcile just "and merciful creator damning certain group "of his creation to eternal hell. "The teacher at the mosque near me "couldn't put my mind to ease "and insisted that only Muslims will be saved. can agree that sins must be paid for "because God's justice demands it, "but will not his mercy be shown after justice is done? "Can you please give me some guidance "as this weighs heavily on my heart?" - Yeah, okay, so think that two aspects of this question, Safiyyah, that we need to address. One is, do non-Muslims automatically go to hell? And two is, is hell permanent, or the tortures there, would that be everlasting? As for the first part of that question, do non-Muslims automatically go to hell? Well, this is what has been traditionally mentioned in Islamic sermons, written in Islamic books and so on. But when we go back to trace the roots of this into the Quran, we find that the Quran actually tells us that God is merciful, and you know, it does not seem to accord with God's mercy that, as the questioner is pointing out, like, you know, whole swaths of people are just gonna be thrown into hell for, apparently, from our perspective, at least, no fault of their own. Somebody is born in, let's say, in South America, in region where Catholicism is prominent and they happen to be Catholic. Somebody's born in India where Hinduism is prominent... But people, lot of times people seem to be just simply product of their environment. - Muslims included. - And Muslims included, right? Somebody's born in Saudi Arabia, most likely, that person is Muslim. Why would God, mean, this is what makes it difficult for people to understand. Like why would God just simply cause person to be hell forever just due to the circumstances of their birth? And one might come back to this and say, well, wait minute, the truth is clear. They had an intellect given by God and they should have exercised that intellect, and just like they went to school to study math and English and so many other subjects, other languages too, why didn't they, you know, fulfill their part by learning about who their creator is? But the fact of the matter is that people are still shaped by their environments. You know, somebody is growing up in Communist China, somebody is born in an atheist environment, that person may likely be an atheist and so on. So the same sorts of questions do not arise in the minds of everyone. Or they come, you know, as flashes, and then they get overwhelmed by other thoughts which are more important to the persons at the time. So given the realities that we notice, we have to find solution to this. Like how do we reconcile the belief in the mercy of God, which is so emphasized in the Quran again and again with the traditional idea that people are just simply, you know, put in hell if they happen to be non-Muslims. Well, we go back to the Quran and we see that the Quran actually does have certain breadth of allowance here. For example, in Surah 2, verse number 62, we read in the Arabic, (Dr. Shabir speaking in Arabic). As for those who believe it, an apparent reference to the Muslim community, (Dr. Shabir speaking in Arabic) those who have been Judaized, (Dr. Shabir speaking in Arabic) and the Nazarenes, possible, an obvious reference to the Christians, (Dr. Shabir speaking in Arabic) probably followers of John the Baptist. (Dr. Shabir speaking in Arabic) Now this fifth group, (Dr. Shabir speaking in Arabic) This fifth group is general. It says whoever believes in God and does good deeds. This is very, very general statement, whoever. So it could be after listing these four different religious groups, now there is general statement about people. If they believe in God and they do good deeds, (Dr. Shabir speaking in Arabic) no fear shall come upon them, nor shall they grieve, meaning in the life hereafter. We have scope for thinking that God is going to judge people according to the circumstances in which they find themselves. Now of course, if the Islamic message is presented to them with certain degree of clarity and persuasiveness, then God will judge them based on that. The Quran in Surah 5, verse 48 says, (Dr. Shabir speaking in Arabic) "So that he may attest you according "to what has come to you." Not everybody has the same level of intelligence. Not everybody has been exposed to the message of truth in the same degree. So to the degree that people have been exposed to that message, that is the degree to which they're gonna be held responsible by God. And now the other part of the question is (Dr. Shabir speaking in Arabic) the permanence of hell. Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyyah, one of our famous scholars from the Middle Ages wrote book entitled, (Dr. Shabir speaking in Arabic) "Urging the Souls Towards the Land of Happiness," or, "to the Lands of Happiness." In that book, he goes into detail showing that hell could not be permanent. He gives 25 reasons, but many of the reasons are repetitive or different aspects of the same reason. We can narrow that down to few basic thoughts. First of all, in the Quran, mostly when hell and heaven are spoken about, there is contrast. Hell is shown to be of limited duration, whereas heaven is shown to be permanent. For example, when mentioning heaven in the Surah 11, God says it is gift that will never be cut off." Whereas when mentioning hell, the same emphasis is not given. And Surah 98, which is called "Al-Bayyinah," which many Muslims have memorized by heart, it speaks about those will be in Jannah, in Paradise, and it says, (Dr. Shabir speaking in Arabic) "they will be there forever." Like Abada is word that's used to it to emphasize that. Whereas when hell is mentioned, it just simply says, (Dr. Shabir speaking in Arabic) It doesn't say Abada. So you can see contrast there. When hell is mentioned in the 78th chapter of the Quran, it is said (Dr. Shabir speaking in Arabic), it'll last for ages, which means that it's not eternity because eternity cannot be cut up into ages. It's an eternal duration. So there are indications in the Quran itself that hell may not be as permanent as people think. There is verse in Surah Al-Jinn that uses term Abada when mentioning hell. But then it says, whoever disobeys God and his messenger will be in hell forever. And everyone agrees, at least among Muslim commentators, that just merely disobeying God and his messenger is not going to land the Muslim in hell forever. Being Muslim would mean that though one is disobedient, one would still have only limited duration of punishment and eventually be put into paradise. So there are many good reasons for believing that hell will not be permanent, and just being non-Muslim does not automatically mean that the person will be in hell. It depends on what level of knowledge and intellect that person had. That person will be held responsible. Only God can be the judge of that individual. - Alright, Dr. Shabir, hope your answer gives this person confidence to consider Islam more carefully. - hope so. Yes. - As-Salaam-Alaikum. - Welcome to Muslim Media Hub, the new home of "Let the Quran Speak." - Here, we spread positivity and good. 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