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How Can God Create An Eternal Punishment For A Finite Sin?
If Allah SWT is truly merciful, then how can he simultaneously allow his creations to suffer forever for the sins they committed? I understand some punishment is completely valid, but infinite is a timescale that we cannot even begin to comprehend. Surely a merciful god cannot simultaneously have an infinite punishment for what is not infinite sin? For me it seems kind of like a math equation. No matter how much sin you commit, you can never approach “infinite” disobedience in a logical system because you simply have a finite amount of time to sin on earth compared to an eternity of pain in hell. Apologies if this sounds blasphemous, this has been weighing on my mind for a while.
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8 Replies
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How Can God Create An Eternal Punishment For A Finite Sin?
updated 6 days, 5 hours ago
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Replies
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There is no formula to determine how long the punishment should be for a sin. A momentary crime can cause lifetime imprisonment. Eternal punishment is only for those who are rebels and deliberately commit grave sins despite their knowledge that God will punish them for eternity. So this is their agreement with the punishment.
However, the Quran has hinted that Hell may not be eternal.
Please refer to the following video
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AoA Dr.Irfan
Sorry for my late response, but looking at these two verses in the Quran
(Surah At-Tawbah 9:68)
وَعَدَ ٱللَّهُ ٱلْمُنَـٰفِقِينَ وَٱلْمُنَـٰفِقَـٰتِ وَٱلْكُفَّارَ نَارَ جَهَنَّمَ خَـٰلِدِينَ فِيهَا ۚ هِىَ حَسْبُهُمْ ۚ وَلَعَنَهُمُ ٱللَّهُ ۖ وَلَهُمْ عَذَابٌۭ مُّقِيمٌۭ ٦٨
Allah has promised the hypocrites, both men and women, and the disbelievers an everlasting stay in the Fire of Hell—it is sufficient for them. Allah has condemned them, and they will suffer a never-ending punishment.
(Surah Al-An’am 6:128)
وَيَوْمَ يَحْشُرُهُمْ جَمِيعًۭا يَـٰمَعْشَرَ ٱلْجِنِّ قَدِ ٱسْتَكْثَرْتُم مِّنَ ٱلْإِنسِ ۖ وَقَالَ أَوْلِيَآؤُهُم مِّنَ ٱلْإِنسِ رَبَّنَا ٱسْتَمْتَعَ بَعْضُنَا بِبَعْضٍۢ وَبَلَغْنَآ أَجَلَنَا ٱلَّذِىٓ أَجَّلْتَ لَنَا ۚ قَالَ ٱلنَّارُ مَثْوَىٰكُمْ خَـٰلِدِينَ فِيهَآ إِلَّا مَا شَآءَ ٱللَّهُ ۗ إِنَّ رَبَّكَ حَكِيمٌ عَلِيمٌۭ ١٢٨
˹Consider˺ the Day He will gather them ˹all˺ together and say, “O assembly of jinn! You misled humans in great numbers.” And their human associates will say, “Our Lord! We benefited from each other’s company, but now we have reached the term which You appointed for us.” ˹Then˺ He will say, “The Fire is your home, yours to stay in forever, except whoever Allah wills to spare.” Surely your Lord is All-Wise, All-Knowing.
There seems to be either a never ending punishment or a punishment that may be alleviated after some time. Considering that is not a never-ending punishment, there seems to be some contradiction that simply accepting under the verses having different context would not suffice. I can only understand the english translations so if something was specifically lost in translation, please let me know. All verses were sourced from Quran.com, apologies if this violates any policies.
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What a brilliant question♥️
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Let me add one more thing, humans are humans and the lions share of our decisions are influenced by our environment (discourse theory). Considering free will as a factor as well.
So, you can’t fault the Israeli army to follow their general to hell, if the Pakistani soldiers had done the same had they been there.
Although, they must pay for their sins, but all of this points towards a lenient form of hell. Not the eternal one, as commonly understood.
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Its great to infer a lenient hell from human behavioral theory, but how can we understand that over the direct word of the quran as I provided? It clearly states an eternal hell, so logically we must follow the question as if eternal punishment is a gurantee for SOME, as some quran verses also show ambiguity with the caveat that allah may release some people from hell as he pleases. Despite that, if he may leave some people eternally in hell as he has stated in the Quran, then the question still applies, how can an eternal punishment exist for finite sin, however terrible?
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Additionally, the death sentence is not forever either because according to a secular state, death includes cessation of brain activity, therefore no pain or suffering can be further endured after death. Secondarily, a “life sentence” is not considered forever, rather only for the duration of ones lifespan. While they may seem synonymous, death atleast gives criminals some freedom from their imprisonment whereas hell would never give freedom no matter what for what was committed in a finite life. as for whether hell is eternal please refer to the comment above I made.
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Please read this article:
نت خدا کا وعدہ، جھنم اس کی وعید”
وَعَدَ کا فعل عربی زبان میں جس طرح وعدہ کرنے کے معنی میں آتا ہے اسی طرح وعید سنانے کے معنی میں بھی مستعمل ہے۔
یعنی، جیسے وعَدَ يَعِد سے وَعْدًا مصدر آتا ہے اسی طرح وَعيدًا مصدر بھی اسی فعل سے ہے۔یہ موقع کلام ہے، جو طے کرتا ہے کہ جملے میں وَعَدَ کا فعل وعدے کرنے کے معنی میں آیا ہےیا پھر وعید سنانے کا معنی پیش نظر ہے۔
مثلا :عربی زبان میں وعَده بالعقاب کا مطلب ہے :هَدَّدَهُ شَرّاً،یعنی برے انجام سے ڈرانا۔یہاں وَعَدَ کا فعل وعید سنانے کے معنی میں نقل ہوا ہے۔
قرآن مجید میں بھی یہ فعل ان دونوں معنی میں استعمال ہوا ہے ۔مثلا:إِنَّ اللَّهَ وَعَدَكُمْ وَعْدَ الْحَقِّ، یہاں وَعَدَ کا فعل وعدے کرنے کے معنی میں ہے،لیکن “هذه جهنم التي كنتم توعدون” میں وعید سنانے کے معنی میں ہے۔اسی لیے غامدی صاحب کی تفسیر البیان میں اس آیت کا ترجمہ یوں کیا گیا ہے:یہ وہی جہنم ہے جس سے تم کو ڈرایا جا تا تھا۔
چنانچہ یہی وجہ ہے کہ قرآن مجید نے اس امکان کو بیان کیا ہے کہ جھنم کی یہ وعید، اللہ کے اذن پر ختم بھی کی جا سکتی ہے۔ارشاد ہوا ہے:
‘فَاَمَّا الَّذِیۡنَ شَقُوۡا فَفِی النَّارِ لَہُمۡ فِیۡہَا زَفِیۡرٌ وَّ شَہِیۡقٌ ﴿۱۰۶﴾ۙخٰلِدِیۡنَ فِیۡہَا مَا دَامَتِ السَّمٰوٰتُ وَ الۡاَرۡضُ اِلَّا مَا شَآءَ رَبُّکَ ؕ اِنَّ رَبَّکَ فَعَّالٌ لِّمَا یُرِیۡدُ’
“تو جو بدبخت ہوں گے وہ دوزخ میں پڑیں گے، اس میں ان کے لیے چلانا اور گھگھیانا ہو گا۔اسی میں پڑے رہیں گے جب تک آسمان و زمین قائم ہیں، مگر جو تیرا رب چاہے۔اِس میں شک نہیں کہ تیرا پروردگار جو چاہے، کر گزرنے والا ہے۔
(سورہ ھود 106-107)
استاد مکرم جناب جاوید احمد غامدی اس آیت کی وضاحت میں لکھتے ہیں:
قرآن کی یہی آیت ہے جس کی بنا پر یہ توقع کی جاسکتی ہے کہ ایک دن دوزخ کی بساط لپیٹ دی جائے۔ اِس کی وجہ یہ ہے کہ اُس کا عذاب وعدہ نہیں، بلکہ وعید ہے اور عالم کا پروردگار یہ حق یقیناً رکھتا ہے کہ اپنی رحمت سے مجرموں کی سزا میں تخفیف کرے یا خاک اور راکھ بنا کر اُنھیں ہمیشہ کے لیے اِسی دوزخ کی مٹی میں دفن کر دے۔ آیت کے آخر میں ’اِنَّ رَبَّکَ فَعَّالٌ لِّمَا یُرِیْدُ‘ کے الفاظ اِسی حقیقت کی طرف اشارہ کر رہے ہیں۔
محمد حسن الیاس۔
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The punishment of Hell is only for those who deliberately chose it.
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