Rabbana isrif anna azaaba jahannama inna azaabaha kaana gharaama innaha saa’at mustaqarran wa muqaama
And those who say: O our Lord, avert for us the punishment of hellfire indeed it’s punishment is ever adhering.
We are going to look at this dua (prayer) in three parts :
1) Quality of people who pray with hope and fear
2) Hellfire and its levels or names
3) The punishments
This is a dua of both hope and fear in Allah SWT
In the previous ayahs (verses) ALLAH SWT describes the qualities of Abad ur Rahman…..servants of the most merciful…..we are told that they walk with humility, gently on the earth, they spend their day and night worshipping Allah standing and prostrating in fear.
Then in this ️Ayah another quality is described and that is that they repent constantly seeking forgiveness. This is a dua of hope.
65. And those who say: O our Lord, avert for us the fire of jahannum, indeed it is everlasting.
Just reflect for a moment. These people, they spend their days and nights worshipping Allah(swt), yet they are still afraid of His swt’s punishment, they are still not content with themselves and their worship and have this fear…….this is really their humility before Allah (swt). They know that no matter how much they worship Allah their glorification of Allah could never be enough. They can never do justice to it. They cry out to Allah and seek His mercy and forgiveness.
They understand their weaknesses and failures, they are in touch with their reality, and realise that acceptance of anything they do is in Allah’s hands. He SWT is the one whose is the judgement. His are all decisions and punishments and all the power. The one who creates has created the hell fire too and just like his rewards His punishments are just too. We reap what we sow. We earn what we work for and strive for. Therefore, understanding that the only way towards Allah is through Allah swt’s help and that’s why obeying and following His swt’s path is so important for us.
He SWT is المانع
The Preventer, The Protector, The Defender
The One who averts harm, physical or spiritual. The One who guards
And what bigger harm can we face than harming our souls which was a trust to us. We harm ourselves so much that we present our hearts and souls to Allah swt in a state of disobedience so much so that it is only suitable for the hellfire. May Allah forgive us.
Allah swt reminds us and asks us to think in Sura Al Imran:
“Is the man who follows the good pleasure of Allah like the one who draws upon himself the wrath of Allah and whose abode is in Hell – an evil refuge? They are varying grades in the sight of Allah, and Allah sees well all that they do.” [ali’-Imran, 3: 162-163]
ACTION POINT TO REFLECT:
❖ If I ask you all this question, do you fear the punishments of the hell fire?
❖ MOST OF US WILL ANSWER YES……..but do we really? Do you ever lie awake in bed so afraid thinking about hellfire and what if that becomes my eternal home.
❖ Think of the mercies we enjoy in this life. A home, security, food, peaceful sleep at night, love from family and friends, comfort, kindness etc. All of this is possible only through the mercy of Allah.
❖ Now think if all this mercy was taken away from you forever and forever for infinity
❖ Every day think of your end, your death, where you are going with your life and where you may end.
Allahumma Ajirna min an naar
O Allah save us from the hellfire.
May Allah’s mercy remain with us for eternity.
PUNISHMENT OF HELL-FIRE:
To understand deeply we have to reflect, and apply the situation to ourselves. When we personally experience something then it has a different meaning for us. Reading the verse about hellfire. Imagine yourself in this fire. We all have a worldly experience of what fire is and its dangers. Imagine your choices in life, your carelessness, sins and ultimately the result has been the hell fire and everything mentioned could become yours and my reality for eternity.
An abode forever.
The warnings are Allah’s mercy so we could correct ourselves whilst there is still time.
Allah also says:
“And those who disbelieved will be driven to Hell in groups until, when they reach it, its gates are opened and its keepers will say: ‘Did there not come to you messengers from yourselves, reciting to you the verses of your Lord and warning you of the meeting of this Day of yours?’ They will say: ‘Yes, but the word [i.e. decree] of punishment has come into effect upon the disbelievers.’
“[Quran 39: 71💎 those who disbelieved in their Lord is the punishment of Hell, and wretched is the destination. When they are thrown into it, they hear from it a [dreadful] inhaling while it boils up. It almost bursts with rage. Every time a company is thrown into it, its keepers ask them: ‘Did there not come to you a warner?'” [Quran 67: 6-8]
REFLECT: Fire is a creation. Every creation worships Allah out of love and fear. He is the King of the kings. So the fire is angry at the disobedient ones entering it at the defiance of mankind.
Below is a list of some of the punishments mentioned in Quran:
💎 criminals will be chained and shackled and hammered in fire
💎 given water like murky oil, which scalds, doesn’t quench thirst.
💎 people will be dragged on their faces into the fire
💎people’s clothes will be made of fire
💎 skins will be roasted and melted….then given new skins and tortured again
💎scorching of the face and it will be intensely blackened like a dark night….a face the most dignified part of us….this is humiliation
💎coverings of fire over them and under them…..think of your comfort of worldly beds
💎 fire will leap over their hearts….the hearts that were harder then stones and rejected the Truth
💎intestines will spill out in fire….one of the punishments of Riba…..we are all touched by Riba in this dunya may Allah forgive us
💎hot rods of iron branding people
💎 food from Zaqoom tree, a thorny plant that rips the insides
💎”Verily the tree of Zaqqum will be the food of the sinful, like molten brass, it will boil in their insides, like the boiling of scalding water.” (44:43-46
💎 Another kind of food that will be eaten by the people of Hell is al-Ghasleen.
Al-Ghasleen and al-Ghassaaq mean the same thing, which is the festering pus that oozes out of the skin of the people of Hell.
Imaam Ibn Al-Jawzi described Hell saying: “It is an abode in which its dwellers are deprived of joy; their faces are dark; they are beaten with hooks that are stronger than steel; upon it are angels who are harsh and tough; (the inhabitants of Hell) will be lying on fire and drinking boiling water; they will be continuously in grief; they will never leave Hell because it will be their eternal abode; they will cry for having wasted their youth; their crying will be continuous and increasing; they anger their Creator; they will be exposed in front of others; what they collected in life will not benefit them; they will see the evil consequences of their sins; life will seem as if it was a dream to them; their bodies will burn, but whenever they are burnt out, they will be returned to their original form in order for them to taste more torture.”
We all fall short in our obedience. We make many mistakes in life but our attitude should always be that we must keep trying. We must keep our intentions pure. We all know our weaknesses and must pray that Allah that He gives us the tawfiq to correct ourselves and forgives us in His mercy and save us from the hell fire.
The Names of Hell-Fire mentioned in Quran:
The reason I mention them is that as a sound minded human being would we ever choose this as place to live forever for ourselves?
Jahannam:
“Truly Jahannam (the Hellfire) is lying in wait.” [an-Naba, 78: 21]
Latha: (lazz’aa)
“By no means! For it is Latha (the fire of Hell) burning away right to the skull.” [Ma’arij, 70: 15-16]
Al-Hutamah: (Crusher which Smashes or Breaks to Pieces):
“By no means! He will certainly be thrown into al-Hutamah. And what will make you understand what al-Hutamah is? It is the fire of Allah, kindled to a blaze, which mounts right to the hearts.” [alHumazah, 104: 4-7]
Sa’eer (the Burning Fire):
“…a group in Paradise and a group in Sa’eer.” [ash-Shura, 42: 7]
Saqar:“Soon will I cast him into Saqar. And what will explain to you what Saqar is? It permits nothing to endure and it leaves nothing alone, darkening and changing the color of man.” [al Muddaththir, 74: 26-29]
Al-Jaheem (The Fierce Fire):
“And al-Jaheem will be brought out before those straying in evil.” [ash-Shu’ara, 26: 91]
Al-Hawiyah (The Pit)
“But he whose scales are light – his home will be a pit. And what will make you understand what that is? (It is) a fire, blazing fiercely.” [al Qar’iah, 101: 8-11]
What’s the fuel of Hell?
The fuel of hell are men, jinn and stones and one of those stones is our hardened disobedient hearts.
Ibn al Qayyim:
“The slave is not afflicted with a punishment greater than the hardening of the heart and being distant from Allah. For the Fire was created to melt the hardened heart. The most distant heart from Allah is the heart which is hardened. If the heart becomes hardened, the eyes become dry.”
Action point to reflect:
• What is the condition of your heart? Is it soft / hard……do you have empathy for others, are you true to yourself and sincere with others, do you love ALLAH SWT? If so what is it like to feel this love, does the heart move……do the eyes cry at Allah’s mention.
• Would you like to be abad ur Rehman…..if yes then
• Take one step towards obedience and strive towards it even if its at a little snail pace until the heart changes, softens and cries out, repents and begs for forgiveness
• The aim of these little steps is to develop faith with action and repentance is a step that changes our evil deeds to good deeds.
May Allah avert from us the hell fire and make us from His abad ur Rahman who walk humbly in fear, seeking forgiveness from Ar-Rahman (the most Merciful).
