I have a question about belief in Hell

[Les Nubian]

Hello,

I'm a little confused, because well...I am very interested in the faith/religion of Islam, but I am unsure on a few things. See, I don't quite beleive that hell exists(i.e., a firey furnace underground that all the "bad" people go to) and I don't beleive that "God" is necessarily a "male" if "he/she/it" exists at all.

Would I HAVE to beleive these things in order to become a Muslim? I'm only asking, not yet considering converting, but I just wanted to know...

Thank you so much if you can answer :) :thumbs_up

[A7med]

U Have To Belive Those Things To Become A Muslim!
Islam i about beliving in the oness of god :brother:

[Les Nubian]

So I'd have to beleive in a firey furnace underground? And that god is a MALE?

Well, do you beleive that god necessarily has a "gender"? Or that God is just God?

[Ibn Abi Ahmed]

:sl:

Here are a few answers to your questions:

http://63.175.194.25/index.php?ln=en...e&QR=499&dgn=4

http://63.175.194.25/index.php?ln=en...&QR=4524&dgn=4

http://63.175.194.25/index.php?ln=en...e&QR=439&dgn=4

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[aamirsaab]

God doesn't have a gender. We, as muslims, refer to God as He - that is all :D

[Les Nubian]

cool sab :thumbs_up

Also, thanks a lot for the links, ahmed :)

[minaz]

Hang on for one sec, we don't believe that Allah is a a male, we simply use the word "he" whenever refering to the lord. It's a language thing i.e. like when one refers to a ship - "her sails" etc. Out of interest why would the belief of hell put you off Islam?

[Ansar Al-'Adl]

Greetings,

See, I don't quite beleive that hell exists(i.e., a firey furnace underground that all the "bad" people go to)

How then are evil people punished for their crimes against humanity? Do you think a God of justice would allow a man like Hitler to escape without punishment considering the unspeakable atrocities he perpetrated on minorities?

and I don't beleive that "God" is necessarily a "male" if "he/she/it" exists at all.

God, being the Creator, does not posses the qualities or attributes of His Creation. Genders are a trait of Creation not befitting God.

Therefore, God is neither male nor female. He is genderless. Why then do we call Him a "He", you might ask. As I have written before:

God is genderless, but we tend to refer to God as "Him" because "it" normally refers to inaminate objects, which would be disrespectful.

Its the way the language evolves. "He" can refer to someone of unspecified gender, but "she" cannot (although now people use 'they' to refer to someone of unspecified gender). As the Oxford Dictionary writes:

Until recently, he was used uncontroversially to refer to a person of unspecified sex, as in: every child needs to know that he is loved

Since this has been the traditional way to refer to God, any attempt to change it to 'she' would instantly imply the feminin gender, while 'they' would imply plurality. Thus, we leave it as 'He'.

Hopefully this should answer your questions.
Peace.