Do righteous non-muslims go to hell?

Those who are kaafir their (good) deeds are like glittering sand in a plain, which a thirsty person thinks to be water (i.e. like a mirage). But when he (the thirsty one) reaches it, he finds it to be nothing.

[ Aayat 39 Surah Noor ]

As for the people who did not hear about Islam, they will be tested on the day of judgement and if they pass the test they will enter paradise. And this is also for the people who did not receive the message of Islam properly.

As for the other scenario you mentioned about a good person going to hell, then we have to realise that the definition of good varies from time and place, our concept of good and bad also varies from time and place depending upon the society that we live in.

With that being said, it is only God who is able to say for certain what is good and bad as our perception of good and bad changes, for example in certain societies, it is considered bad to have a girl as a daughter, and the right thing to do is to bury her alive, in other socities they believe it is good to allow porn to be made, they believe it's ok for someone to be gay.

What I'm trying to get at is, good and bad has evolved to whatever the society thinks is good and bad. In the not to distant past, say around the 60s everyone considered it bad to be gay, infact it was classed as an illness and treatment was available and as time went on people's perception of good became warped untill they started to think being gay was fine and even good.

So I believe the only true definition of good and bad lies with God, and God has said that the greatest evil a person can do, is to disbelieve in his Lord and creator, regardless of everything else he does. The crime of disbelieving in Allah is so heavy a crime, that it does not matter if you have given to charity or done other good things.

For example, lets say a murderer goes to court and the judge sentences him to life in prison, is it fair for this murderer to turn around and say

"NO wait, you can't give me this punishment becaue I gave to charity for the last 5 years of my life" of course the judge will laugh and say "so what? the crime that you have comitted is so great that it doesn't matter if you gave in charity last week, that doesn't cancel out the fact that you comitted one of the biggest crimes that a person can commit".

This is how great the crime of disbelieving in your Lord and creator is, that no matter what good deeds you do, it doesn't matter because by not believing in your creator or Lord you are all ready comitting the biggest crime that a person can commit regardless if you help people.

For example would it be fair to let a rapist go free because he's a good person? you would say "no" because even though he's a good person, the crime of rape that he has comitted is very bad and the fact he's a good person in other areas of his life does not make up for it. He has to be held to account for the crimes he comitted even if he's good to people and gives in charity, because these good deeds don't change the bad that he has done.

And as Muslims' we belive that the greatest crime a person can commit is disbelief, regardless if they're good to other people, who cares when they don't acknowledge their creator and his right to rule over them. This crime is the greatest crime one can commit.

format_quote Originally Posted by qrazaque

For example is Mother Theresa, someone who did so much good in the world, going to hell forever?

It doesn't matter how much good she did. If you are guilty of associating partners with Allah, your place will be in Hell. And rightly so. This isn't injustice at all. People who are hurled into Hell deserve it. Now you might ask how do they deserve it when they did so many good deeds, helped so many poor people and gave so much in charity?

A verse in the Qur'an gives us the answer. It informs us that Allah is the creator of man and what he makes. This means all our deeds don't even belong to us. We would be deluding ourselves if we thought that we deserved to go to heaven because of our good deeds. Those good deeds are a gift given to us by Allah and we couldn't have done them if it hadn't been Allah's will or if Allah hadn't given us the ability or opportunities to do them.

So Mother Theresa might have done a lot of good deeds. But all those deeds have absolutely no weight since they were not dedicated to Allah alone. It doesn't even matter if you are a Muslim and you have done a lot of good deeds. If your deeds are not done sincerely for Allah, all those deeds will be rejected. What counts in the end is sincerity towards Allah.

That's with regard to good deeds, whether they are done by Muslims or non-Muslims. The quantity of deeds you do isn't at all important. It's the quality of deeds that matters.

But for a Muslim whose deeds are nullified or rejected because they lacked sincerity, he still has hope of being saved from the Fire, if he believes in Allah and his messenger (saws). Yes, his belief alone can save him from the Fire of Hell, provided of course that his belief is sincere.

For a non-Muslim, he has no hope whatsoever from being saved from the Fire. His good deeds belong to Allah, so he can't take credit for them. And second he doesn't believe in Allah and his messenger (saws), so there will be no god out there to save him from the eternity of Hell.

Lesson: Believe in Allah and his Messenger to obtain salvation from Hell.

La ilaha il Allah, Muhammaddar Rasul Allah!

Remember that actions are by intentions. Allah is pure and only accepts purity. If someone does a lot of good deeds in this life, and they do it for the sake of anything other than Allah(swt), i.e. other gods, worldly gains, and so on, then those deeds have no weight in the after-life, Allah will still reward them for their good deeds in this Dunya.

"Verily actions are by intentions, and for every person is what he intended." (Hadith)




Allah(swt) knows best!

format_quote Originally Posted by Flame

It doesn't matter how much good she did. If you are guilty of associating partners with Allah, your place will be in Hell. And rightly so. This isn't injustice at all. People who are hurled into Hell deserve it. Now you might ask how do they deserve it when they did so many good deeds, helped so many poor people and gave so much in charity?

A verse in the Qur'an gives us the answer. It informs us that Allah is the creator of man and what he makes. This means all our deeds don't even belong to us. We would be deluding ourselves if we thought that we deserved to go to heaven because of our good deeds. Those good deeds are a gift given to us by Allah and we couldn't have done them if it hadn't been Allah's will or if Allah hadn't given us the ability or opportunities to do them.

So Mother Theresa might have done a lot of good deeds. But all those deeds have absolutely no weight since they were not dedicated to Allah alone. It doesn't even matter if you are a Muslim and you have done a lot of good deeds. If your deeds are not done sincerely for Allah, all those deeds will be rejected. What counts in the end is sincerity towards Allah.

That's with regard to good deeds, whether they are done by Muslims or non-Muslims. The quantity of deeds you do isn't at all important. It's the quality of deeds that matters.

But for a Muslim whose deeds are nullified or rejected because they lacked sincerity, he still has hope of being saved from the Fire, if he believes in Allah and his messenger (saws). Yes, his belief alone can save him from the Fire of Hell, provided of course that his belief is sincere.

For a non-Muslim, he has no hope whatsoever from being saved from the Fire. His good deeds belong to Allah, so he can't take credit for them. And second he doesn't believe in Allah and his messenger (saws), so there will be no god out there to save him from the eternity of Hell.

Lesson: Believe in Allah and his Messenger to obtain salvation from Hell.

La ilaha il Allah, Muhammaddar Rasul Allah!

well said! Jazakallah khair sis!