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Fuel Of Hell

Stones and the rebellious disbelievers are the fuel of Hell, as Allah says:

“O you who believe! Save yourselves and your families from a Fire whose fuel is men and stones!” (66:6)

What is meant by the people who will be fuel for the Fire are the disbelievers and polytheists. As for the type of stone that will fuel the Fire, Allah (SWT) knows best what it really is. Some of the Salaf thought that this stone was brimstone or sulphur. ‘Abdullaah ibn Mas’oud said, “It is a stone of sulphur which Allah (SWT) created in the first heaven the day He created the heavens and earth and prepared it for the disbelievers”. This was reported by Ibn Jareer, Ibn Abi Haatim and Haakim in al-Mustadrak. Ibn ‘Abbaas, Mujaahid and Ibn Juryayj were also of this opinion. (Tafseer Ibn Katheer, 1/107)

If this opinion was based on something that the Prophet (saw) had said then we could accept it without hesitation or argument. If it is a matter of Ijtihad, based on knowledge of the nature and qualities of stones, then we cannot accept it without question. There may be other stones that are superior to sulphur in strength and flammability. The first Muslims saw that sulphur has qualities that do not exist in other stones, so they thought that it would be the fuel of Hell. Ibn Rajab said, “Most of the mufassireen suggest that what is meant by stones is sulphur, with which the Fire of Hell will be fuelled. It was said that it includes five kinds of torment that are not found in other stones: it catches fire quickly, it has an unpleasant odour, it produces a lot of smoke, it sticks to the flesh, and it is very hot when it is heated” (Ibn Rajab, at-Takhweef min an-Naar, p.107). Allah may create other kinds of stones that are superior to sulphur, and we can be sure that whatever exists in the Hereafter will be different from this world.

Another fuel for the Fire will be the gods, which were worshipped instead of Allah (SWT);

“Certainly! You [disbelievers] and that which you are worshipping now besides Allah, are [but] fuel for Hell! [Surely] you will enter it. Had these [idols etc] been aaliha [gods] they would not have entered there [Hell] and all of them will abide therein.” (21:98-99)

“al-Jawhaari said, “Everything that is used to feed the Fire or increase it is its fuel”. Abu Ubaydah said, “Everything that you throw into the Fire is fuel for it” (Yaqazah uli al-i’tibaar, p.61)

Signs Within Ourselves

We will show Our signs to them in the universe, and in their own selves until it becomes manifest to them that this (the Qur’an) is the truth. Is it not sufficient in regard to your Lord that He is a witness over all things? (Qur’an, 41:53)

The Qur’an uses “nafs” (self) to express consciousness, the quintessence of our personality. “Nafs” is integrated with our physical body; the author of all good and bad acts is our “nafs.”

The atoms of our physical body – of which 99 percent is vacuum – are deprived of all consciousness, and perform such conscious acts as seeing, hearing, and thinking.

The verse above alludes to signs in ourselves. There are prior categories that the mind is constitutionally endowed with, concepts or ideas that are not derived from experience.

Here we find ourselves surrounded by available data of a rich philosophical background. The tribe to which the Prophet (peace be upon him) belonged dealt in trade and animal husbandry. The Prophet (peace be upon him) himself was not brought up in a milieu like Plato’s Academy or in an environment where the colorful and lively schools of philosophy like Cartesianism flourished. Therefore, the fact that the Qur’an made a distinction between the outward signs and the signs imminent in man’s soul is noteworthy.

The basic message transmitted by all the religions revealed by God is the fact that He is a Perfect Being. This becomes all the more apparent when we witness all the entities created by God. In the ontological argument, attainment of God is achieved not through exterior means, but from the idea of “Perfection” or “Perfect Being” inherent in each of us.

Farabi and Avicenna were among the first philosophers to refer to the initial arguments of ontology. Farabi analyzes the ontological argument together with the cosmological argument. According to them, God must be self-existent (Necessary-Being); assuming that He does not exist would be a contradiction in terms. All other creatures are possible creatures; both their existence and nonexistence can be a topic of discussion. If the possible entities are not resolved in the Necessary-Being, there would be a contradiction in terms. Given the fact that Farabi ‘s conclusion is a combination of ontological and cosmological arguments, many thinkers are believed to have found traces of this for the first time in the works of Avicenna.

Nevertheless, this argument is, more often than not, associated with Descartes. To avoid committing an error, he sets out in his philosophical quest by considering all past knowledge as if it were nonexistent. He begins with the statement that many of the preconceived opinions he has accepted since childhood have turned out to be unreliable; so it is necessary once in a lifetime to demolish everything and start again right from the foundations. There follows a systematic critique of previous beliefs. Anything based on the senses is potentially suspect since I have found by experience that the senses sometimes deceive and it is prudent never to trust completely those who have deceived us even once.

Elsewhere Descartes expresses this “cogito argument” in the famous phrase, “cogito ergo sum” (I think, therefore I am). He derives from this argument that he exists incontestably and that thinking can never be confused. Later he realizes that knowing is more perfect than doubting and explains how this idea of perfection leads him to the most perfect, to the idea of a supremely perfect Being.

He reasons that the representational content (or objective reality) of this idea is so great that it cannot have originated from inside his own (imperfect) mind, but must have been planted in him by an actual Perfect Being – God. Things outside him like the sky, the earth, the light, the heat, and a thousand other things, all these things contained nothing that would surpass him. If they were unreal he might have concluded that he had acquired them from the void. However, this could not hold true for a Perfect Being. He could not have acquired it from nothingness.

Descartes concluded the existence of God after having examined the evidence inherent in the self. He said that this conclusion was not an invention of his imagination and that to add or subtract anything to or from it was beyond him. He had to accept the fact that he had come to the world with this a priori sign. Like the initials that an artist imprints on his work, God had implanted this idea as He created him.

A True Muslim

Our Prophet (sall-Allahu alaihi wa sallam) declared: “I have been sent down to perfect virtue and to spread beautiful morals over the world. Another hadith-i-sharif state: “Among you, the ones with perfect morality are the ones with an elevated faith.’ Therefore, even faith is measured by morality.

Spiritual purity is essential for a Muslim. A person who lies, who cheats, deceives others, is cruel, unjust, shirks from helping his co-religionists, assumes superiority, thinks only of his advantages, is not a true Muslim, no matter how much he worships. The exalted meaning of the first three verses in Chapter (sura) Maun is: “O! My Messenger! Have you seen someone who denies the Judgement, puts the orphan aside with harshness, does not give their rights, and does not encourage others to feed the needy?’ The worship of such people is not accepted. In Islam, keeping away from the prohibitions (haram) takes precedence over doing the commandments (fards). A true Muslim is, first of all, a perfect and mature person. He has a smiling face. He is a honey-tongued man who tells the truth. He never knows what it is “to be angry.’ Rasulullah (Hadrat Muhammad [sall-Allahu alaihi wa sallam]) declared: “The person given mildness is the one endowed with the goodness of this world and the Hereafter.’

A Muslim is extremely modest. He listens to everyone who consults him and helps them as far as possible.

A Muslim is dignified and polite. He loves his family and his country. Our Prophet (sall-Allahu alaihi wa sallam) declares: “Your love of country originates from your faith.’ That is why, when the government fights against aggressors, a Muslim does his military service willingly. It says as follows in a work written by a German priest in 1560, which has been mentioned above: “Now I’ve understood why the Muslim Turks overcame us in all our expeditions. Whenever there is a holy war here, the Muslims immediately take up their arms, fight and die willingly for the sake of their country and religion. They believe that those who die in a holy war will go to Paradise. In contrast, in our country, when there is a likelihood of war, everyone looks for a hiding place lest they should be enrolled in the army. And those who are recruited by force fight reluctantly.

How Allahu taala likes His slaves to be, is explained very well in the Quran al-karim. The exalted meanings of verses 63-69 in Chapter Furqan are: “[The virtuous] slaves of the Rahman (Allahu taala, who has much compassion for His slaves) walk on the earth modestly and yet with dignity. When ignorant people try to annoy them, they respond with kind words, such as peace and safety be on you! They spend the nights standing and prostrating [performing namaz] before Allahu ta’ala. [They offer their thanks and praise to Him]. They entreat Allah, O my Allah, take the Hell torment away from us. Indeed, His torment is eternal and bitter, and that place is no doubt an evil and horrible residence. In their spending, they are neither prodigal nor miserly; they follow a moderate way between these two extremes, and they do not violate anyone’s rights. They do not attribute partners to Allah. They do not kill anyone, which is prohibited by Allah. [They only punish the guilty.] They do not commit fornication.’ In verses 72-74 of the same chapter: “[Those virtuous human slaves whom Allahu taala likes] they do not bear false witness. They abstain from things… useless and harmful. If they are accidentally involved in something useless or which can be done with great difficulty, they pass by in a dignified manner. They do not turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to the revelations of Allahu ta’ala when they are reminded of them. They implore saying, O my Allah! Bestow such wives and children as may be a source of comfort to our eyes. Make us examples for those who fear You.’

Moreover, the sacred meaning of the second and third ayahs (verses) in Sura (chapter) Saff: “Believers! Why do you profess what you never did? Allah dislikes you when you say something you cannot practice,’ which shows that a person’s vowing or promising what he cannot perform makes him a bad person in Allahu taala’s view.

A true Muslim is extremely respectful to his parents, teachers, commanders, the laws, and the leading authorities of his country. He is not concerned with something insignificant. He is busy only with something useful. He doesn’t gamble. He doesn’t kill his time.

A true Muslim does his worship perfectly. He offers gratitude to Allahu taala. Worship should not be performed unwillingly or unconsciously. Worship must be performed willingly and with great love for Allahu taala. To fear Allahu taala means to love Him very much. You do not want the person you love much to be displeased and you are afraid lest you might cause him to be disturbed. In this way, worship for Allahu taala should be performed in such a manner as to prove our love for Him. The blessings that Allahu taala has given us are so great that our debt of gratitude to Him can be paid only by loving Him much and by worshipping Him with profound sincerity. There are different kinds of worship. Some kinds of worship, as we have said above, are between Allahu taala and His slave. Maybe Allahu taala will forgive those who worship insufficiently. It is worship to respect others’ rights, too. But He will never forgive those who abused others and have the rights of others on them, unless the owners of those rights forgive them.

Why Do Muslims Refer To The Quran As A Living Miracle?

Many of God’s Prophets in the past had performed miracles either to prove that they were sent by God or to help people to achieve certain goals. However, as these miracles were for certain people of the time of the respective Prophets, they are neither tangible nor available today as living proof. But the Quran is. It is a miracle by itself. When people asked Prophet Muhammad what miracle he had performed, the Prophet pointed to the Quran.

Muslims regard the Quran as a living miracle because, among other reasons, it:

  • Is a Book par excellence in the provision of complete guidance for this life and the Hereafter,
  • Is available in the language (Arabic) as revealed to the Prophet,
  • Is inimitable in diction, sound, and rendering,
  • Is accurate in its presentation of facts,
  • Has remained pure (without interpolation),
  • Has no contradiction or inconsistencies,
  • Has influenced the lives of people, and
  • Is responsible for the speedy spread of Islam, even now.

With regard to the Quran being a miracle from the point of view of its influence on people, Maulana Muhammad Ali in his book, “The Religion of Islam”, says: “The Quran is a miracle because it brought about the greatest transformation that the world has ever witnessed – a transformation of the individual, of the family, of the society, of the nation, of the country, an awakening material as well as moral, intellectual and spiritual. It produced an effect, a hundred thousand times greater than that of any other miracle recorded of any Prophet; hence, its claim to be the greatest of all miracles is incontestable and uncontested.”

Researches on the Quran have been made throughout these 14 centuries. More particularly, in recent years, in the wake of religious inquiries, Quranic scholars, scientists, and mathematicians have each, in their own way and knowledge, discovered that the factual contents of the Quran as well as the arrangement of its Words and text point to the fact that the Quran is indeed the living miracle of Islam.

What Makes Muslims Believe That The Quran Is Not Written By Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)?

What makes Muslims believe that the Quran is not written by Prophet Muhammad? Does the Quran claim that it is from God? Could the Prophet have copied some portions of the Bible? Are there scientific facts in the Quran?

Muslims believe that Prophet Muhammad is not the author of the Quran. God is its Author. The following points bear the fact:

*First of all, the Quran itself, in a number of places and in different ways, says that it is from God. One of the claims runs thus: “This is indeed a Quran most honorable, a Book well-guarded…a Revelation from the Lord of the Worlds.” (Quran 56:77-80)

(Here, one ought to know the features of the Quran to understand the claim better. For instance, if the Quran consisted of a number of books, and each book was made up of a number of chapters, then each of the books had to claim that it was from God in order to render the WHOLE volume as coming from God. But, this is fortunately not so with the Quran. The Quran is just ONE Book made up of 114 chapters. So, if the Quran claims, in any of its chapters, that the Book is from God, then the WHOLE Quran is from God. Yet, the Quran does not make the divine claim only once, but several times in different phrases and in different chapters.)

*If the Prophet had written the Quran – a Book par excellence – surely he would have claimed credit for it, but he did not. He could not claim what was not his. Indeed God says: “This Quran is not such as can be produced by anyone other than God.” (10:37)

*The Prophet was unlettered. However, even if he was educated and had written the Quran, how could he be bold enough to make this statement: “Do they not consider (ponder over) the Quran (with care)? Had it been from other than God, they would surely have found therein discrepancies”. (4:82)

Abdullah Yusuf Ali, commenting on this verse (verse 4:82) in his English translation of the Quran, says: “From a mere human point of view, we should have expected many discrepancies, because (1) Prophet Muhammad who promulgated it was not a learned man or philosopher, (2) it was promulgated at various times and in various circumstances, and (3) it is addressed to all grades of mankind. Yet, when properly understood, its various pieces fit together better than a jigsaw puzzle even when arranged without any regard for chronological order. There was just the One Inspirer and one inspired.”

*The Quran took 23 years to complete. Had the verses of the Quran been written by the Prophet, he would have needed a number of drafts and the work would have needed editing, updating, etc. But this did not happen, yet the information is consistent throughout the Quran. The verses were taken down as dictated by the Prophet only once and no redrafting, editing, or updating took place after that.

*At a number of stages during the 23-year period, challenges to reproduce, even a chapter of the Quran was made. If the Prophet had written the Quran, he would not have made the challenges, for fear that the learned

Arabs and eminent poets of his time would have taken up his challenges and shamed him. One of the challenges goes thus: “And if you are in doubt as to what We have revealed (from time to time) to Our servant (Muhammad), then produce a chapter like thereunto…” (2:23)

*The Quran says that the Prophet was not learned.

So, if the Prophet was educated in some institution but mentioned in the Quran that he wasn’t, he would have been accused of being a liar and his mission would have fallen through.

*Even if the Prophet was learned, how could he have written such an inimitable Book of Information and Wisdom without resorting to consultation with prominent scholars and the best books from the best libraries in the world?! If he did this, it would surely have been known, since every move he made was known to people. The Prophet was a historical figure, not a mythological figure.

*The Prophet was the busiest and most active person in history. So, how could he have found the time to write (even if he were educated) such a comprehensive and extensive Book of Guidance which would have needed years of seclusion and concentration to complete?

*In the Quran, in Chapter 111, it is mentioned that Abu Lahab, one of the Prophet’s uncles who was always against Islam, would never accept Islam. This Revelation came some ten years before the death of Abu Lahab. How could the Prophet have dared to write this chapter because all he (Abu Lahab) needed to do to prove that the Quran was not the Words of God, was to accept Islam dishonestly?

*The Prophet was mentioned by name in the Quran only five times whereas Jesus Christ’s name was (honorably) mentioned 25 times. Could the Prophet go to such an extent of honoring someone more than himself if he had written the Quran?

*There is a chapter in the Quran entitled and dedicated to “Mary”, the mother of Jesus Christ, while there is no chapter called, or dedicated to, the Prophet’s own mother, Aminah, or daughter, Fatimah, nor were their names mentioned in the Quran. Could this have happened if the Prophet was the author of the Quran?

*Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, is glorified in the Quran as a “woman of all nations”. Why would the Prophet glorify a woman he had never seen and one from another race, saying that she was chosen (by God) above all women unless the formulation of the verses had nothing to do with the Prophet’s own authorship but that he only repeated what was inspired to him by God?

*In the Quran, God is called “Allah” (in Arabic). He is also referred to by His Attributes, like the Cherisher, the Merciful, the Almighty. There are 99 such Attributes but none of these is “Abba” (Father) by which the Arab Christians of the Prophet’s time (and even today) refer to God. If the Prophet was the writer of the Quran, he would surely have used “Abba” as one of the names for God because of its familiarity and also because it was easier to say “Abba” than many of the Attributes.

*Although the Quran’s objective is basically religious, it does touch on certain principles and laws governing the universe. A French scientist, Maurice Bucaille, in his book, “The Bible, the Quran and Science”, says: “What initially strikes the reader confronted for the first time with a text of this kind (the Quran) is the sheer abundance of subjects discussed: the Creation, astronomy, the explanation of certain matters concerning the earth, and the animal and vegetable kingdoms, human reproduction …I could not find a single error in the Quran. I had to stop and ask myself: if a man was the author of the Quran, how could he have written facts in the 7th Century AD that today are shown to be in keeping with modern scientific knowledge?”

*The Quran mentions a number of scientific facts which were unknown to the world then. Some of them are:

-The moon has no light of its own and that what we see is the reflected light of the sun. (91:1-2),

-Every living thing began in water. (continuation of 21:30),

-Stages of reproduction of life in the womb. (22:5),

-Every living thing, including vegetable matter, is created in pairs (male and female). (36:36),

-All celestial body (namely, the moon and planets) have their own course of orbit. (7:54 and 21:33),

-Space travel is possible. (55:33), and

-There is also life (in whatever form) in other parts of the universe. (42:29).

-All these scientific facts were discovered only in the last couple of centuries whereas the Quran mentioned them 14 centuries ago. How could the Prophet, even if he were educated, have known these facts centuries ahead of recent times?

*Learned Arabs and other experts in the Arabic language acknowledge that the style, diction, and rendering in the Quran far excel those in the Hadith. Those in the Quran are inimitable, proving that the Quran is authored by God.

*Umar, later to become Caliph, had wanted to kill the Prophet because of his (Islamic) teachings. One day, Umar heard his sister reading something – the sound, diction, and meaning of which made him halt to listen. His sister, who had secretly converted to Islam, was reading (part of) the Quran. Umar realized that the Words he was listening to could not be the words of man. He submitted to Islam soon after.

*The Quran says: “If the whole of mankind and jinns (spirits) were to come together to produce the like of this Quran, they could not produce the like thereof even if backed up by each other with help and support.” (17:88) This is a bold statement indeed. If the Prophet had written the Quran, would he as a human being, dare make such an explosive statement? Would this statement go unchallenged by the learned Arabs of his time?

Prophet Muhammad, being an unlettered person, could not have written the Quran, a book full of wisdom and one dealing with varied subject matters. The Quran categorically states: “This Quran is not such as can be produced by anyone other than God. (It is a Book) from the Lord of the Worlds.” (10:37)