On Heaven and Hell in Islam

On one’s first close encounter with Islam, sometimes we get some images that are, either deliberately or unintentionally, distorted and misleading.
One of those images is the Islamic perspective on Heaven and Hell that some allege that Heaven in it and in Islam looks like a “giant orgy” where all the day is for eating and having sex and that the images of Hell in the Qur’an are something like fictional.

It is true that Qur’an mentions that there are rivers of cold water and wine (that doesn’t get you drunk unlike this world’s) and honey, but here comes a forgotten fact; that is the Qur’an was revealed to Muhammad (Peace and blessing of God be upon him) among nomadic surroundings in the seventh century A.D., the Arabs that lived with the prophet and were the first people the Qur’an addressed being too uncivilized in relation to our standards in our times.

This means that the Qur’an addresses those people in the way they can understand or at most imagine, and at the same time it remains valid and suitable for the people in the third millennium; and that is what makes Qur’an perfect.

That is also the case with Prophet Muhammad’s sayings (Hadiths), he told the people what they can understand and his teachings are good for all the people and all the times, he said in a Hadith (though its narration is disputed, but I think its meaning is acceptable):
“I was ordered to address the people according to (the capability of) their minds”.

One of those who presented an outstanding explanation of these meanings is the distinguished Egyptian Islamic thinker, Dr. Mustafa Mahmood.

Dr. Mustafa Mahmood said that Paradise isn’t just palm trees and vineyard and springs of cold water and milk and honey and wine and women, he said that Qur’an corrects this idea by saying that all these things are examples of what is actually there and not everything.

On thinking of the aforementioned things, we forget a fundamental fact; that it is another world with other laws and nature, and thinking of heaven in the light of only what is mentioned above is a kind of lazy materialistic thought that cannot see more than man’s desires of food and sex.

“(Here is) a Parable of the Garden which the righteous are promised: in it are rivers of water incorruptible; rivers of milk of which the taste never changes; rivers of wine, a joy to those who drink; and rivers of honey pure and clear. In it there are for them all kinds of fruits; and Grace from their Lord. (Can those in such Bliss) be compared to such as shall dwell forever in the Fire, and be given, to drink, boiling water, so that it cuts up their bowels (to pieces)” surah 47, verse 15.
So all these things are examples only but what is really in Paradise is beyond all perception and even imagination and that is mentioned in another verse where Allah says:
” Now no person knows what delights of the eye are kept hidden (in reserve) for them, as a reward for their (good) Deeds.” Surah 32, verse 17.
And such a meaning is emphasized in Prophet Muhammad’s hadith:
“Abu Hurairah, may Allah be pleased with him, reported:
Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) said: Allah, the Exalted and Glorious, said: I have prepared for My pious servants' bounties which no eye (has ever) seen, no ear has (ever) heard and no human heart has ever perceived, about which Allah has informed you in the Qur'an. No person knows what is kept hidden for them of joy as a reward for what they used to do ”

Consequently, heaven is unseen and so is Hell; and so anyone that lives in palaces for all of his life shouldn’t think that he has an equivalent of Heaven, for it’s not all about gardens and bliss.

It is a different life without the dangers of nature in Earth, without diseases or disorders or troubles of any kind, it is a House of Peace, and even the psychology of the people in Heaven is different, God says:
“And We shall remove from their hearts any lurking sense of injury: (they will be) brothers (joyfully) facing each other on thrones (of dignity).” (surah 15, verse 47), so nobody holds grudges against another, there is no hate and no spite in Heaven.

And the greatest bliss in there is not about food or drinks or sex, it is seeing God and talking to Him:
“Some faces, that Day, will beam (in brightness and beauty);
[23] Looking towards their Lord” surah 75, verses22-23.
And a great torture and deprivation in Hell is this:
“They shall have no portion in the Hereafter: nor will Allah (deign to) speak to them or look at them on the Day of Judgment, nor will He cleanse them (of sin): they shall have a grievous Penalty.”

But how can we see God? With our eye lenses, can we see the One that created them? It is here a secret that we won’t know until we are there in Heaven, we hope we would be.

And the most depraved thought about Paradise is what some people say commenting on the verse:
“And round about them will (serve) youths of perpetual (freshness): if thou seest them, thou wouldst think them scattered Pearls.” Surah 76, verse 19.
They say that those youth are for sexual use, in other words, like catamites or something like that!! This way they make Paradise a model of this world with all its dissolution and immorality. How could it be while homosexuality is prohibited in Islam in the first place?

The wisest comment here, I think, is that those youth are some sort of a compensation for the kids we are no longer going to have in Heaven, because we already don’t need to breed in Heaven for we are immortal and don’t die and don’t have to preserve mankind through reproduction.

And we are lying if we say that we know everything about Heaven and Hell, both are unseen:
“Now no person knows what delights of the eye are kept hidden (in reserve) for them, as a reward for their (good) Deeds.” Surah 32, verse 17.

And the greatest pleasure is getting close to God, day by day, hour by hour, even in the afterlife that is the final station in the journey to meet God:
“O thou man! Verily thou art ever toiling on towards thy Lord - painfully toiling - but thou shalt meet Him. “ surah 84, verse 6.
And that is why the believers in Heaven say the following:
“Their Light will run forward before them and by their right hands, while they say, "Our Lord! Perfect our Light for us, and grant us Forgiveness: for Thou has power over all things." Surah 66, verse 8.

From this we see clearly that the Islamic view on Heaven in the afterlife is never shallow or lusty as others claim, it is a depiction of a beautiful life under God’s pleasure, in a world where there is no hate and no enmity, where everything is good and perfect and everyone is satisfied in ways you can or can’t imagine, away from all the pains of this cruel world.

Tell me what you think and I am responsible of any mistakes you find in this and I will be pleased if you correct them.