HELL’S STONES
Hell’s Stones
Allah, the Most High and Most Exalted said:
“O you who have believed, protect yourselves and your families from a Fire whose fuel is people and stone.” (Al-Tahrim (66): 6)
And He, the Most High, said:
“But if you do not—and you will never be able to—then fear the Fire, whose fuel is men and stones, prepared for the disbelievers. “ (Al-Baqarah (2): 24)
It has been reported that the sun and the moon oscillate around Hell. ‘Abdullah Ibn Fayruz heard Abu Salamah Ibn ‘Abdu’l Rahman narrate that the Prophet (pbuh) said: “The sun and the moon are two bulls that will circle around Hell on the Day of Judgement.” (Imam Tahawi in his Mushkil al-Athar,1/66-67, Bazzar, Bukhari, #3200 also reports it briefly. See Al-Albani in his Silsilah al-Sahihah, #124 )
It is said that the meaning of the hadith is that, “The disbelievers who took deities other than Allah and who had conviction that these deities will intercede for them and draw them closer to Allah will be punished alongside these deities. This is to increase their humiliation and harm and to make them regret their actions even more. For indeed, ignominy seizes man when he is punished, alongside him whomever was the cause for the punishment.Hence, we see that the disbeliever is accompanied (into Hell) by Shaytan who was the reason for that person going astray. Allah, the Most High, said:
“And indeed, they [i.e.,the devils] avert them from the way [of guidance] while they think that they are [rightly] guided. Until, when he comes to Us [at Judgement], he says [to his companion], ‘Oh, I wish there was between me and you the distance between the east and west—how wretched a companion.’And never will it benefit you that Day, when you have wronged, that you are [all] sharing in the punishment. “ (Zukhruf (43): 36-39)
Mu‘ammar narrated from Sa’id Al-Jariri regarding these verses, ‘We heard that when the disbeliever is resurrected on the Day of Judgment, he is conjoined with his devil until Allah drives them to Hell-fire, as He said:
“‘Oh, I wish there was between me and you the distance between the east and west—how wretched a companion’” (Zukhruf (43): 38)
Abu’l Ash’hab narrated from Sa’id Al-Jariri from ‘Abbas Al-Jashmi that when the disbeliever comes out of his grave, he finds by his head a demoness like a burnt tree, she takes his hand and says, “I am your mate; you and I will enter Hell-fire together.” Then he says, “‘Oh, I wish there was between me and you the distance between the east and west—how wretched a companion.’” (Reported by Ibn Abi Hatim and others)
Allah the Almighty mentioned the anger of the disbelievers’ with those who misled them:
“And those who disbelieved will [then] say, ‘Our Lord,show us those who misled us of the jinn and men [so] we may put them under our feet that they will be among the lowest.’” (Fussilat (41): 29)
Therefore, when one of them is coupled in punishment with the one who misled him, it would increase his agony because the vastness of the place feels narrow to those who hate each other, and the narrow place is even more so.
Allah the Almighty told us about the disbelievers’ dispute with their devil companions and those they worshipped beside Allah. He said:
“And Hell-fire will be brought forth for the deviators.And it will be said to them,‘Where are those you used to worship Other than Allah? ‘Can they help you or help themselves?’So they will be overturned into Hell-fire, they and the deviators and the soldiers of Iblees, all together. They will say while they dispute therein,‘By Allah, we were indeed in manifest error,when we equated you with the Lord of the worlds. And no one misguided us except the criminals. ‘“ (Al-Shu’ara (42): 91-99)
Among the punishment for the inhabitants of the Fire is their cursing, hatred and disassociation from one another. Allah said:
‘‘Every time a nation enters, it will curse its sister until, when they have all overtaken one another therein, the last of them will say about the first of them Our Lord, these had misled us,so give them a double punishment of the Fire.’” (Al-A’raf(7): 38)
Allah also said:
“And [mention] when they will argue within the Fire, and the weak will say to those who had been arrogant …” (Ghafir: 47)
And:
“[Its inhabitants will say], ‘This is a company bursting in with you. No welcome for them. Indeed, they will burn in the Fire.* They will say, ‘Nor you! No welcome for you. You, [our leaders], brought this upon us, and wretched is the settlement.’ They will say, ‘Our Lord, whoever brought this upon us—increase for him double punishment in the Fire.’ And they will say,‘Why do we not see men whom we used to count among the worst? Is it [because] we took them in ridicule, or has [our] vision turned away from them?’ Indeed, that is truth [i.e., reality]—the quarreling of the people of the Fire. “ (Sad (38): 59-64)
It is then not unlikely that every disbeliever is joined with his devil who misled him, and with the image of whom he worshipped other than Allah.
Ibn Abl Al-Dunya narrated from ‘Abdullah Ibn Waddah, from ‘Ubadah Ibn Kulayb, that Muhammad Ibn Hashim said: When this verse was revealed,
“A Fire whose fuel is people and stones “ (Al-Tahrim (66): 6)
The Prophet (pbuh) recited it, a young man beside him heard it and fell unconscious. The Messenger (pbuh) placed the youngman’s head in his lap out of mercy, and he stayed unconscious for a while. He then opened his eyes and said: “May my father and mother be sacrificed for you! What do the stones [of Hell-fire] look like?” He (pbuh) said: “Does it not suffice what befell you? However, if one stone thereof was placed on the mountains of this world altogether, they would melt. Every person [in the Hell-fire] is joined with a stone and a devil.’”
Al-Hasan also said in his sermon,‘1 remind you of Allah as much as you have mercy upon yourself,for you are warned against a fire that does not extinguish.Whoever becomes of its inhabitants, falls therein and frequents its layers together with a devil and stuck to a stone whose flame burns in his face, ‘Death is not decreed for them so they may die, nor will its torment be lightened for them.’
Most interpreters of the Qur’an have said that ‘stones’ mean sulphur with which the Fire is lit. It is said to contain five types of torment not found in other types of stone: It ignites rapidly, has a rotten smell, dense in smoke,strong adhesion to bodies and has intense heat.
‘Ahdu’l-Malik Ibn Umayr conveyed from Abdu’l-Rahman Ibn Sabit, from ‘Amr Ibn Maymun, that Ibn Mas’ud (radiyAllahu ‘anhu) said in interpreting the verse:
“whose fuel is people and stones “ (Al-Tahrim (66): 6)
‘It is a stone of sulphur that Allah created when he created the Heavens and the Earth, found in the lower heaven and prepared for the disbelievers. ‘ (Ibn Abl Hatim and Al-Hakim in his book, Al-Mustadrak. He said it is authentic according to the conditions of Al-Bukharl and Muslim )
Al-Suddi said in his interpretation, narrating from Abu Malik and Abu Salih from Ibn Ayyash, and from Murrah from Ibn Mas‘ud (radiyAllahu ‘anhu) and from a number of Companions (radiyAllahu ‘anhu):
“then fear the Fire,whose fuelismen and stones” (Al-Baqarah (2): 24)
‘As for the stones, they are stones in Hell-fire made from black sulphur with which they are tormented.’
Mujahid said: ‘A stone of sulphur smells worse than a rotten corpse.’
This is what Abu Ja‘far, Ibn Jurayj, ‘Amr Ibn Dinar and others said.
Ibn Wahb narrated from Abdullah Ibn Ayyash, from‘Abdullah Ibn Sulayman,from Abu’l-Haytham, from Isa Ibn Hilal Al-Sadafi, from Abdullah Ibn Umar (radiAllahu ‘anhuma) that theMessenger (pbuh) said: “Between each earth and the next a walking distance of five hundred years. The uppermost is on a whale’s back whose sides met in the sky, the whale is on a rock, and the rock is in the hand of an Angel.”
The second is the wind’s prison. When Allah willed the destruction of ‘Ad, He commanded the wind keeper to send upon them wind to destroy ‘Ad. He said: ‘My Lord, shall I send upon them wind the size of a bull’s nostril?’ The Compeller [Blessed and Exalted] said: ‘That would suffice earth and all above it, but send wind the size of a ring.’This was the one about which Allah said:
“It left nothing of what it came upon but that it made it like disintegrated ruins. “ (Al-Dhariyat (51): 42)
The third one contains the stones of Hell-fire, and the fourth contains theSulphur of Hell-fire.They said:‘O Allah’s Messenger, does Hell-fire haveSulphur?’ He said:‘Yes. By Him inWhose Hand my soul is, there are valleys of Sulphur therein, if the firmly set mountains were sent therein, they would melt. The fifth contains the serpents of Hell-fire, whose mouths are like valleys; when they sting the disbeliever, no flesh remains on his bones. The sixth contains the scorpions of Hell-fire, the smallest of which is like saddled mules; when they sting the disbeliever, he forgets the heat of Hell-fire. The seventh is saqr, where Iblis is chained with iron in front of him and his hands behind him. When Allah wills to release him upon whom He wills of His servants, He does.” This narration was recorded by Al-Hakim in his,‘Al-Mustadrak’. He noted that, “Abu’l Samh is its sole narrator; his good reputation is stated by Imam Yahya Ibn Ma’in and the narration is authentic, however, others did not narrate it. Some of the later scholars of hadith said it was shadh (an ‘irregular) hadith.‘Abdullah Ibn Ayyash Al-QatbanI was deemed a weak narrator by Abu Dawud,while he was regarded as trustworthy by Imam Muslim. In addition to that, Darraj narrated many irregular hadiths, and Allah knows best.” (According to Al-Shaffi, a Shadh (irregular) hadith is one which is reported by a trustworthy person but contradicts the narration of a person more reliable than him.)
I say: To consider this hadith authentic is very irregular.It could have been disconnected [in its chain of narrators] yet someone mistakenly authenticated it by mistake. In addition, Ata Ibn Yasar narrated from Ka’b saying something similar to this.
Abdu’l-Aziz Ibn Abu Rawad narrated that the Messenger (pbuh) recited this verse in the presence of some of his companions:
“Protect yourselves and your families from a Fire whose fuel is people and stones” (Al-Tahrim (66): 6)
Among them was an old man who asked, ‘O Messenger of Allah, (do you mean) stones like the stones of this world?’ The Prophet (pbuh) said: “By Him in Whose Hand my soul is, a stone of Hell-fire is mightier than the mountains of this world altogether.” The old man fell unconscious, so the Prophet (pbuh) put his hand on the old man’s heart, and found him to be alive. He called upon him, “Say: There is no deity except Allah”, and he said it; the Messenger (pbuh) gave him the glad tidings of being among the inhabitants of Paradise.TheCompanionssaid: cO Messenger of Allah.Are these good tidings for him exclusively among us?’He replied, “Yes. Allah said:
“That is for he who fears My position and fears My threat. “ (Ibrahim (14): 14)
This narration was cited by Ibn Abi Al-Dunya.
By Ibn Rajab Al-Hanbali
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