Leave to Me the creature whom I created bare and alone!
To whom I granted resources in abundance, and sons to be by his side!
To whom I made life smooth and comfortable! Yet is he greedy
that I should add yet more.
By no means! For to Our Signs he has been refractory! Soon I will visit him mounting calamities! For he thought and he plotted;
Woe to him! How he plotted.
Yes, woe to him! How he plotted!
Then he looked round;
Then he frowned and he scowled;
Then he turned back and was haughty;
Then said he: "This is nothing but magic, derived from of old.
This is nothing but the word of a mortal!"
Soon I will cast him into Hell-Fire!
And what will explain to you what Hell-Fire is? Permit nothing to endure, and leaves nothing alone!
It burns the skin of man. (Al-Muddaththir, 11-29)
For as many beauties and blessings as there are in Paradise, there is an equal amount of ugliness and torment in Hell. Those who have denied God as their Creator are punished endlessly in Hell. The following verses of the Qur'an tell us about those who deserve Hell:
"If anyone contends with the Messenger even after guidance has been plainly conveyed to him, and follows a path other than that becoming to men of Faith, We shall leave him in the path he has chosen, and consign him to Hell: an evil refuge." (An-Nisa, 115)
Avoid those who take their religion to be mere play and amusement, and are deceived by the life of this world. But proclaim to them this truth: that every soul delivers itself to ruin by its own acts: it will find for itself no protector or intercessor except God: it may offer every ransom, (or reparation), but none will be accepted: such is the end of those who deliver themselves to ruin by their own acts: they shall have only boiling water to drink and shall be sternly punished: for they persisted in rejecting God." (Al-Anaam, 70)
"And there are those who bury gold and silver and do not spend it in the way of God: announce to them a most grievous penalty. The Day will come when heat will be produced out of that wealth in the fire of Hell, and their foreheads, their flanks, and their backs, will be branded with it. They will be told: This is the treasure which you buried for yourselves: taste you then, the treasures you buried'" (Al-Tawba, 34-35)
"When it is said to them, 'Fear God', they are led by arrogance to more crime. Hell shall be enough for them, an evil bed indeed to lie on!" (Al-Baqara, 206)
The common characteristic of unbelievers who deserve to be cast into Hell is their rejection of religion when they have been invited to accept it:
"The Trumpet will be sounded, and all who are in the heavens and on the earth will swoon, except such as it will please God to exempt. Then a second trumpet will be sounded, when, behold, they will rise and look around them! And the Earth will shine with the Glory of its Lord: the Record of Deeds will be laid open; the prophets and the witnesses will be brought forward and all shall be judged with fairness; and they will not be wronged in the least. And every soul will be paid back in full according to its Deeds; and God knows best all that they do. The Unbelievers will be led to Hell in hordes. When they arrive there its gates will be opened. And its keepers will say, 'Did not messengers come to you from among yourselves, proclaiming to you the revelations of your Lord, and fore warning you of the Meeting of this Day? The answer will be: 'True' And thus the promised scourge will smite the unbelievers! They will be told: 'Enter you the gates of Hell, to dwell therein forever: and evil is this Abode of the Arrogant!'" (Az-Zumar, 68-72)
According to the Qur'an, the denizens of Hell did not take the penalty of God seriously while they were still in this World. At that time they thought that if there were a Hell to which they were to be sent, they would stay there for only a limited period of time. And then, they would be released and would enter Paradise. This is a prevalent view among the members of the society of ignorance. They believe if they are ever to be punished for their sins, they will stay in Hell only, temporarily, and after they have paid for their misdeeds in the world, they will be allowed to enter Paradise. However, the Qur'an informs us that the penalty in Hell will be endless and that there will be no hope of the unbelievers ever entering Paradise.
"And they say: 'The Fire shall not touch us, except for a few but for a few days,' Say: 'Have you taken a promise from God, for He never breaks His promise? Or do you assert about God what you do not know?'" (Al Baqara, 80)
"Do but consider those who have been given a portion of the Book? They are invited to accept the Book of God, to settle their disputes, but some of them turn back and decline the arbitration. This is because they say: 'The Fire shall not touch us except for a few days; In their religion they are deceived by their own lies. But how will they fare when We gather them together upon a day about which there is no doubt, and each soul will be given just what it has earned, without favour or injustice?" (Al Imran, 23-25)
Other verses of the Qur'an explain the horror in Hell as follows:
"Friends will meet, but shall not speak to each other. To redeem himself from the Penalty of that Day, the sinner will gladly sacrifice his children
His wife and his brother,
His kindred who sheltered him,
And all the people on earth, - if that could deliver him:
By no means! For the Fire of Hell
Shall pluck out his being right from the skull!
It shall claim all those who turn their backs and turn away their faces from the Right,
And collect wealth and hide it covetously!" (Al-Maarij, 10-18)
"They shall groan with anguish and be bereft of heaving," (Al-Anbiya, 100)
"In front of such a one is Hell, and he is given, for drink, boiling fetid water.
In gulps he will sip it, but never will he be near swallowing it: death will come to him from every quarter, yet will he not die. Harrowing torment awaits him." (Ibrahim, 16-17)
"And you will see the sinners or that day bound together in fetters;
Their garments of liquid pitch, and their faces covered with Fire." (Ibrahim, 49-50)
Truly, the tree of Zaqqum
Will be the food of the sinful,
Like molten brass; it will boil in their insides,
Like the boiling of scalding water.
A voice will cry: "Seize him and drag him into the midst of the Blazing Fire!
Then pour over his head the Penalty of Boiling Water,
'Taste this! Truly you were mighty and full of honour!'" (Ad-Dukhan, 43-49)
All those descriptions devised for Paradise and Hell are absolute facts. God, who has created the world and the life in this world, has revealed the Qur'an and has let us know that He will also create the afterlife.
The question asked of the people of Hell will be: "Did not messengers come to you from among yourselves, reciting to you the revelations of your Lord, and warning you of the Meeting of this Day?" (Az-Zumar, 71)
And for those who have rejected the invitation, there will be a "grievous penalty":
"So he gave nothing in charity, nor did he pray!
But on the contrary, he rejected Truth and turned away!
And then went off to his family, swaggering.
Well have you deserved this doom
Well have you deserved it." (Al-Qiyama, 31-35)
