Recently I talked with ex-Muslim Mohamed Faridi about the differences between Islam and Christianity. What he said about the Islamic doctrine of hell may shock you.
(Thaddeus): So you’ve been a Christian for a decade or so, and you had of course a couple decades in Islam, so you know both religions pretty well. What would you say the key differences between Islam and Christianity are?
(Mohamad): The key difference is hell and heaven. One ends you in hell, one ends you in heaven. Islam definitely guarantees, the Quran promises every Muslim the word, actually uses the word “wāriduhā”, meaning “entering”. Every Muslim will enter in hell and from within hell, Allah will pick out some Muslims for paradise, so that’s the guarantee of the Quran. I’m not teaching it. It is in the Quran. Go read it for yourself.
Indeed it does. Surah 19:71-72 reads: Not one of you there is, but he shall go down to it; that for thy Lord is a thing decreed, determined. Then We shall deliver those that were god-fearing; and the evildoers We shall leave there, hobbling on their knees. The wording of this verse is a bit strange, but the meaning seems clear enough. If Allah is going to leave the evildoers in hell, that obviously means he’s removing the believers from the same place. Muslims try to deny the clear meaning of this text. Well, when I look at the extended context it becomes even more obvious. Starting at verse 67 we read: Will not men remember that We created him aforetime, when he was nothing? Now, by thy Lord, we shall surely muster them, and the Satans, then We shall parade them about Gehenna hobbling on their knees. The “them” here clearly refers to humanity, so all of humanity is going to be taken to Gehenna, which is just a different word for hell. Then We shall pluck forth from every party whichever of them was the most hardened in disdain of the All-merciful; then We shall know very well those most deserving to burn there. “There” obviously being in hell, the same there that is referred to again in verse 71 and verse 72.
Furthermore, Surah 3:185 reinforces this idea: Every soul shall taste of death; you shall surely be paid in full your wages on the Day of Resurrection. Whosoever is removed from the Fire and admitted to Paradise, shall win the triumph. The present life is but the joy of delusion. Obviously if some people are being removed from the Fire and put into paradise, they were first in the Fire. That is, hell. So, it seems clear that in Islam, everyone goes to Hell.
(Mohamad): Guarantee of Islam, for Muslims, for it’s followers, for the people that they submitted is hell, but in the book of John 5:24: Jesus said: “I say to you he who hears My word and believes in Him who has sent me has everlasting life, shall not come into judgment, has already passed from death into life. That is the difference. One takes you into Hell, guarantees you Hell, and one takes you into paradise and everlasting life. (Thaddeus): Yeah. In one of the hadith I’m familiar with, one of Muhammad’s companions, I think it’s Abu Bakr, says that even if he had one foot in paradise he would still fear that Allah’s decree will kick in and he’ll start doing evil deeds and be thrown into Hell. So there’s definitely no security in Islam.