:bism: (In the Name of God, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful)
(Peace be upon you)
lately, i've been struggling with the issues of non muslims going to hell. I mean, there are like millions of non-muslim suffering throughout the world (yazidis, christians, hindus, etc) alongside muslims as well. I mean with muslims, I guess it reassuring knowing they enter heaven but for non muslims, i struggle with it. I mean, i feel cruel for thinking despite suffering in this life, they suffer even worse in the next and like i'm disregarding my compassion for them just due to their beliefs and I am just like, oh, too bad, so sad,which I can't help but feel is cruel. what do you think?
Brother, it's wonderful that you feel compassion towards other human beings and feel sympathy for their plight. Thank you for your question, and we hope that this as an issue is answered in a manner that satisfies your mind, heart, and soul if Allah wills:
First and foremost, please know that non-Muslims are also given reprieve from Hell-fire given these four conditions as explained in
hadith (prophetic tradition) and they would given a test to determine if they are those who would be from those willing to submit themselves to Allah (God):
“Four types of people will be tested on the day of judgement: a deaf man who cannot hear anything, a mad man, an old aged man and a man who died during fatrah (a period of time when no messenger was sent to people). The deaf man will say: “Oh Allah, Islam came while I cannot hear anything!” The mad man will say: “Oh Allah, Islam came while the boys throw animals’ excrement on me!”. The old aged man will say: “Oh Allah, Islam came while I can understand nothing.” And the man who died during a fatrah will say: “Oh Allah, I witnessed no messenger from You.” Then Allah takes a promise from them to obey Him. Then He will command them to enter hell, and who enters it will find it peace and cool, and who disobeys will be dragged to hell.”
So, we learn from this that there are people who will come to be excused if there is a valid reason that they did not come to Islam, such as those that are deaf, those that are judged to have had anything which impaired their mental judgment whether insanity or manic depression or other defect, those that are too old to have heard of Islam when Islam came to understand the Message, and those that died during the period between messengers.
Also, scholars have included in this excuse the people who've never heard or learned of Islam for whatever reason. Moreover, Imam Ghazali
(may Allah bless him), one of the most notable scholars of Islam from whom we have many great works and writings on topics in Islam,
also held that to be the case for people who heard of Prophet Muhammad :saws: (peace and blessings be upon him) but didn't have the means to learn of his :saws: true character and therefore were fed defamatory propaganda or falsehoods about him :saws:.
“and your Lord treats no one with injustice” (al-Kahf 18:49)
Allah says that Allah is Most Merciful as that's an attribute of Him, and therefore we already know that Allah does not have any person bear a burden that they're unable to bear. So, if anyone has a valid excuse, then Allah would know of it, and for sure Allah's Mercy will encompass that person so that person is judged to be have an excuse and will be given a test on Judgment Day to determine whether he/she would have been one who would submit his/her will to
Allah (God).
Moreover, the issue is also complicated by the truth that we're as Muslims not allowed to say of any non-Muslim as to whether he is in Hell or Paradise and that's because we know that Allah's Mercy can reach anyone any second and that that person may have died as a believer (even if the outward world and people do not recognize it to be the case because of not knowing a person's intent and mind in the throes of death). Instead, as Muslims, we can only say that their case is with Allah.
At the most, what we're as Muslims allowed to do is make general statements about the characteristics of people who will enter Hell-Fire without naming or thinking specific persons are the recipient of that abode.
Finally, in a larger
hadith (prophetic tradition) of which I'm only quoting the relevant portion, we also learn the following:
“So, by Allah the One, a man amongst you may do good deeds till there is only a cubit between him and Paradise and then what has been written for him decides his behavior and he starts doing (evil) deeds characteristic of the people of the (Hell) Fire. And similarly, a man amongst you may do (evil) deeds till there is only a cubit between him and the (Hell) Fire, and then what has been written for him decides his behavior, and he starts doing deeds characteristic of the people of Paradise.”
So, what that again means is that there may appear to us a non-Muslim who is destined to be in Hell due to his/her outward deeds and expressions, but he/she may be one who is destined for Paradise, and that would not be in the realm of our knowledge because the divine decree can overtake that person any time before his/her death, even in the last moments before death. And it may be that there may appear to us a Muslim who is destined to be in Paradise due to his/her outward deeds and expressions, but he/she may be one who is destined for Hell, and that would not be in the realm of our knowledge because the divine decree can overtake that person any time before his/her death, even in the last moments before death. So, basically, a Muslim can lose his
iman (faith) even in the last moments and a non-Muslim can gain
iman (faith) even in the last moments; so,
no Muslim should be arrogant enough to be confident that his/her fate is Paradise so as to then feel free to judge others as to who can enter Paradise and who will enter Hell. Instead, we should always remember that the gatekeeper to Paradise is Allah, not us as human beings with limited knowledge. So, simply in humility and submission to Allah in maintaining a balance between fear of the worst and hope for the best, we should constantly ask Allah as Muslims to grant us Paradise and keep us and those dear and near to us safe from Hell-Fire. Also, we should unceasingly ask guidance for ourselves and others (including non-Muslims) because guidance is the gateway to Paradise, and we should desire that others receive that same Mercy as we should like that for ourselves.
Take care. Thank you again for your question, brother, and we hope that moving forward you are given new insight into look at even non-Muslims as potential Paradise-dwellers.
:wa: (And peace be upon you)