Why Paradise Questions Hellfire: Truth Beyond Physics
Paradise and Hellfire: Communication Across the Realms and the Nature of Arrogance in Rejection of Truth
Summary
This lecture discusses Quranic verses 40-42 describing the people of paradise and hellfire, focusing on how the righteous will question the damned about their damnation. The speaker explains the nature of criminals (mujerimin) in Islamic terminology and addresses the paradox of how people in paradise and hellfire can communicate despite being vastly separated in distance and time. He clarifies that the laws of physics and communication in the afterlife differ fundamentally from our earthly experience, providing examples from prophetic narrations about paradise's impossible physical properties (transparent silver, palaces visible from inside and outside simultaneously, vast dominions visible at once). The lecture emphasizes that the people of hellfire admit their guilt only when experiencing torment but revert to arrogance and denial when removed from pain, illustrating the concept through the example of Iblis's rejection of truth through argumentation rather than honest admission.
Note: This transcript was generated using YouTube's automatic captioning, with AI-assisted cleanup for readability. It may contain inaccuracies due to background noise, audio quality, or limitations of the transcription software — particularly during Arabic recitation. Listener discretion is advised; please refer to the original video for precise wording.
Alhamdulillah.
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Continuing where we left off last night at verse number 41 40 41 and 42. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us about the people of paradise those exempt from their guilt exempt from the being held hostage by their own sins because of their repentance because of their dutifulness to Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us about the people of paradise He says subhanahu wa ta'ala that the people of the right will be in paradise in gardens very lush gardens and therein they will be asking the people of the hellfire the criminals the mujerimin The wordjim.
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Alimat.
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Quran.
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The word is plural for which is a criminal. It's someone who has done an incredibly heinous and egregious thing. Someone who not only has done it, has committed a vile act, but it's somebody who is become that has become that person's nature. And so this is considered to be a mujim in the Quran. But in the Quran there are major and minor of many of these things. So for instance hypocrisy in Islam we have major hypocrisy and minor hypocrisy. Major kufur and minor kufur. Major shik and minor shik. Majoram and minoram. An entire books have been written on discussing the differences between these things. But a criminal act can be committed but the person can still be a Muslim. Whereas Allah may refer to others as criminals. When he refers to them as the criminals, they are the people who are the people of the hellfire. That is another term for the damned. Those who will never leave the gates of hell. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala protect us. And so the people of paradise, they will ask these these criminals be suffer. What has landed you in this hellfire and this damnation that you are all in right now? Now, we we left off last night on an interesting question that paradise is so vast and so high and the hellfire is so deep. How is it that the people of hell and the people of paradise are speaking to each other? How is it that some people will fall into the flames of hell for 70 years not reaching its bottom while others will rise thousands of levels in paradise yet they will still have this dialogue. How is that? The question itself is flawed because the question itself is presupposing that the way that people communicate and the way that time and distance and sound works in paradise and hell is the same as the way that these things work here on this earth. But these things couldn't be more different. The prophet sallall.aii alaihi wasallam tells us of incredible things in paradise things that literally are mindbending things that can only be imagined as a concept but can't really be visualized because the human being we visualize things based on experience if I tell you for instance the word elephant a picture of an elephant just popped up in everyone's head. Now, this elephant is based on what? Something you've seen in the past. But if I described it to you, it would be something that you attach to another memory. Paradise is unlike anything that we have experienced here in this earth. And so, it's not possible, no matter how vivid the description, for us to truly conceptualize paradise. However, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us about things that seem to be impossible that are considered normal and common place in paradise. For instance, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us in.
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Very strange two opposites. He tells us that the people of paradise will drink from goblets and vessels that are silver at its purest, but they are transparent crystal. So they are silver, but a silver that is transparent glass. You can see through it crystal clear. Now, how is that possible? Silver is quite literally the opposite of crystal. If you look at how mirrors used to be made. Mirrors would be made using silver. We'd take very pure silver and then put glass over it because silver is known for its density and that it is reflective. It is not transparent. You can't see through silver. But in paradise there is silver that is clear as crystal, clear as glass. How is this? That's saying it's day and night at the same time or that something is black and white at the same time. The prophet sallall.aii wasallam in the narration of mentions that when he was brought before the main tree from which all of paradise is built around and all other trees sprout from. that its leaves were like the ears of elephants and that its fruits were the sides of Alad, which is a a a big giant kind of vase made out of pottery that they used to cool water in. Would be about the size of a small fridge, right? And he said, He said, "And then the tree started to shape, shift, and change into colors that I can't even describe because they don't exist on this earth here today." In paradise, the prophet sallall.aii alaihi wasallam describes to us that a person will see things that seem to be impossible and almost unimaginable. In the narration of the prophet sallallah.aii wasallam said.
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He said that in paradise, the palaces of paradise place. You if you are inside of them, you will be able to simultaneously see the outside. And if you are outside of the palace, you can see and experience the inside of the palace simultaneously. The person will be seeing both inside and outside the palace at the same time. How is that possible? It's unimaginable because the way that vision works here in this earth is a straight line. We receive with our eyes you know light that bounces off of things and gives us sight. This is not how paradise works. The prophet sallallah.aii wasallam mentions to us that a man in paradise will have a dominion that is 2,000 years traveled. This is the size of paradise. And he will be able to see all of his dominion simultaneously at the same time from wherever he sits. And so a dialogue between the people of hell and the people of paradise while they are simultaneously eons and light years apart but at the same time speaking as if they are next to each other. This is something that we do not have here on this earth. However, this is the nature of paradise and the hellfire in the hereafter. that they will ask the people of the hellfire, what has landed you in this damnation, in this damned place, in this very forsaken place, this wretched existence of the hellfire. They will respond, the people of hell, they will respond. The first thing they will say, we were not of the people who made salah. Now notice something here and that is that they won't argue. The people of hell, they don't argue. Any time in the Quran when Allah mentions the people of hell or the hypocrites when they come before Allah, they may argue likel argued in paradise when he was commanded to bow to Adam. They may come up with some argument and Allah will then close their mouths and cause their extremities to speak on their behalf. But in the hellfire, no one argues. No one argues. No one excuses himself. Every time the people of hell speak, they will say, "We're guilty. We are guilty. We are guilty." Why? Because that is the only thing that these wretched souls understand that makes them truthful. The only thing that makes them truthful is pain that reaches the core of their soul. That is it. Any other time they are taken away from that pain, it is immediately covered up with arrogance, with anger, with jealousy, with laziness, with desire, any other time. But as soon as they are touched into the hellfire, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said that when they receive just a just a glimpse, just a blow of the winds of the hellfire, immediately they will say, "Yahweh." They will say, "We're guilty. Woe to us. We were wrong. But then if you were to take them out of that pain for a moment immediately returns the filth of argument, the filth of denial, the filth of lie and deceit and treachery because it's part of their soul. The only thing that brings out good is pain. And this is why they are damned to this wretched place. May Allah protect us. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us about the people of the hellfire that if they when they are in the hellfire they will say.
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He said that if you could only see when the people of hell are subjected to its pain and torment that they will say immediately, "If only we could go back and believe in the verses and the miracles and signs of our Lord and be believers and followers of the prophets." Allah says, "Nay, they would never believe." He says, "Rather, this is a momentary expression of what is truly concealed in their hearts. But if they were really to be sent back to the earth, they would go right back to doing what they did before." Could you imagine? Could you imagine a soul so wicked, so hellbent and hellbound by evil and wretchedness that after experiencing hell, they would come back and still eventually go right back into the old habits? Could you imagine such a soul? And so these are the damned. But the people of hellfire, they don't argue when they're in the hellfire. Every one of them admits to they're wrong. Outside of the hellfire, they argue. They argue and argue and argue. Just likel, he didn't just say he wasn't honest or have the integrity to say I'm jealous. I am angry. I am arrogant so I won't bow. It's my arrogance really. This is someone who could be rehabilitated perhaps. However, what was his argument? Oh, I'm better than him. I'm actually created out of fire and he's created out of clay and so you see this doesn't make any logical sense and this actually would demean me and so on and he's arguing with Allah. But this is how people reject the truth. The prophet sallall.aii wasallam defined arrogance saying what? That arrogance is the rejection of truth and the belittlement of others. Allah said about that he was too arrogant. Arrogance is what stopped him from bowing to Adam. It wasn't some moral code that he had. It wasn't that he was bound by logic and just didn't couldn't see why this was the case. No. But people don't reject the truth by saying I know this is the truth, but I reject it. That's not how people reject the truth. People reject the truth with argument. People reject the truth and belittle others with an argument that makes it seem they are coming from a logical perspective. Even what was his response about MS and let me kill MS and let's just get rid of this guy. Why? Why does he want to kill MS? Is it because he is he is jealous of MS? He's afraid that he's not going to be the Pharaoh anymore. He's afraid that the party's going to come to an end. That's really why. But what was his argument? I'm afraid that he's going to you know change your religion. I'm afraid that he's going to change our ways and our culture. He's going to separate. He's going to cause strife in the families. He's going to break up our togetherness and our unity. He's a threat to our country. He's a threat to our state and our government. Right? I'm afraid that MSA is going to spread mischief and misguidance. That's why it's not his arrogance. No, no. He's worried about the people, right? Because the hallmark of a tyrant is always what? My people, my people. That's the hallmark of a tyrant. You want to know what a tyrant is? Is someone who claims and screams the loudest about the people. That is the hallmark of a tyrant in the book of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. If you were to ask Stalin or Hitler, if you were to ask any of the most major tyrants in history, many of them from our countries, if you were to ask Pharaoh himself, what is your endgame? You would say, I am a servant of the people. I'm only here for the people. I love the people. I fear for the people. I want to protect the people. That is a tyrant. Exactly. That is there. That is their day then as Allah has told us in the Quran. We will pick this up tomorrow. Subhanah. And Subhan Allah.