The Lot of the Arrogant in the Hereafter
Apart from defining who the arrogant are, Allah also informs us about the end the people with Pharaonic arrogance will meet in the hereafter. One verse reads as follows:
When he is told to have fear of Allah, he is seized by pride which drives him to wrongdoing. Hell will be enough for him! What an evil resting-place! (Surat al-Baqara, 206)
As we are to understand from the Qur' an, the recompense of those who were too proud to worship Allah, the Almighty, is Hell. The related verses are as follows:
... Those who are too proud to worship Me will enter Hell abject. (Surah Ghafir, 60) That is because you exulted on the earth, without any right to do so; and strutted about. Enter the gates of Hell, remaining in it timelessly, for ever. How evil is the abode of the arrogant! (Surah Ghafir, 75-76)
People who feel pride because of what they possess in this world, and become unduly arrogant, commit a serious error. They never consider what will be their outcome in the hereafter. For this reason, at a moment they can never predict, they will suddenly be encompassed by the torment of Hell. In return for their failure to reckon that they would be called to give an account of their deeds on the Day of Judgment, they will be sent to Hell. This is the final abode where they will spend the rest of their existence. The fate of these people, who forget Allah and the Day of Judgment, is stated in a verse as follows:
They will be told, "Today We have forgotten you as you forgot the meeting of this your Day. Your refuge is the Fire and you have no helpers. That is because you made a mockery of Allah' s Signs and the life of the world deluded you." Therefore, today they will not get out of it. They will not be able to appease Allah. (Surat al-Jathiyya, 34-35)
The underlying reason for the humiliation of these people, who were cast into Hell because they ridiculed the verses of Allah, and immersed themselves into the life of this world, and thus, forgot the hereafter, was arrogance. It is arrogance that propelled them into such a predicament. Indeed, they are not people who had never heard about the life of the hereafter; during their time in this world, they were warned by Allah dozens of times through His messengers and books. Yet, growing arrogant, they ignored all such warnings and turned their backs. They will be punished only because they will deserve it:
No, the fact is that My Signs came to you but you denied them and were arrogant and were a disbeliever. (Surat az-Zumar, 59)
The Qur' an offers a detailed account of the situation of the arrogant on the Day of Judgment, the eternal existence in Hell, and the torment he will suffer. In this section, we will consider the fate of these people in the hereafter, so that they can serve as an admonition to those who are arrogant towards Allah, or who potentially harbour such rebellious feelings.
They are Degraded in Hell
Those who grow arrogant in this world will be repaid in Hell with a humiliating punishment. There, apart from the agonizing physical pain, they will meet an end that will humble them spiritually. In return for having been unjustly arrogant on earth, they will receive eternal degradation in Hell:
On the Day when those who were disbelievers are exposed to the Fire, [it will be said]: "You dissipated the good things you had in your worldly life and enjoyed yourself in it. So today you are being repaid with the punishment of humiliation for being arrogant in the earth without any right and for being deviators." (Surat al-Ahqaf, 20)
In Hell, Allah subjects them to types of conditions that cause them profound emotional torment. Being cast into fire is surely tormenting; but for the arrogant, what is worse is being herded headlong like cattle into it:
No indeed! Truly man is unbridled seeing himself as self-sufficient. Truly it is to your Lord that you will return. Have you seen him who prevents a servant when he goes to pray? (Surat al-' Alaq, 6-10)
No indeed! If he does not desist, We will grab him by the forelock, a lying, sinful forelock. (Surat al-' Alaq, 15-16)
In the above verses, feeling self-sufficient, that is, arrogant, is described as the main reason for man' s exultation. Again, as the verse mentions, the major factor of this exultation is the endeavour to hinder the believers. In another verse, we learn that those who become arrogant in this world are placed in the reverse situation:
"Seize him and drag him bodily into the middle of the Blazing Fire. Then pour the punishment of boiling water on his head.
Taste that! You are the mighty one, the noble one!" (Surat ad-Dukhan, 47-49)
This is the end of the arrogant who unjustly exulted in themselves. The worldly aims they pursued were temporal. Even if they were to possess the whole world, it will some day cease to exist; when all one cherished in this world will simply disappear. However, the life of the hereafter will last for all eternity. Moreover, Allah is the owner of everything; He has granted everything to humans in the life of this world only to test them. He tests them to see whether or not they will seek His good pleasure and feel grateful. The reward of those who are prone to arrogance is, contrary to their expectations, torment.
They Will Be Hideous
Good-looks and other physical qualities are among the traits the foremost of which arrogant people boast. That is why, those who boast of their beauty in this world will receive what they most feared; they will look hideous. In Hell, their faces will be turned black:
On the Day of Rising you will see those who lied against Allah with their faces blackened. Do not the arrogant have a dwelling place in Hell? (Surat az-Zumar, 60) We pursued them with a curse in this world and on the Day of Rising they will look hideous. (Surat al -Qasas, 42)
They Remain in Hell For All Eternity
The verses make it clear that those who are arrogant towards Allah will remain in Hell for all eternity. And, the reason why they were sent to Hell is precisely for their arrogance. Allah repays them with eternal fire of Hell:
As for those who deny Our Signs and are arrogant regarding them, the Gates of Heaven will not be opened for them, and they will not enter Paradise until a camel goes through a needle' s eye. That is how We repay the evildoers. (Surat al-A' raf, 40) Enter the gates of Hell, remaining in it timelessly, for ever. How evil is the abode of the arrogant! (Surat an-Nahl, 29)
It is truly impossible to imagine being destined to remain in the torment of Hell-a place one would not even bear to see-for millions or billions of years, still knowing that it will never end. There exists no greater penalty than being punished with such a torment. Furthermore, this is a kind of torment with such an intensity that will make one desire nothing but to be extinguished.
On the Day of Judgment, Their Possessions and Children Will Be of No Benefit to Them
It is obvious that, the arrogant boast of their possessions and children since they fail to remember that it is Allah Who possesses everything. Whatever one possesses, it is a temporary pleasure of the life of this world. The sole criterion that is truly lasting, and appreciated in Allah' s sight, is "taqwa," which means awe or fear of Allah, which inspires a person to be on guard against wrong action and eager for those which please Him. A verse in the Qur' an reads, "The noblest among you in Allah' s sight is the one with the most taqwa." (Surat al-Hujurat: 13) Nevertheless, those who compete in rebelling against Allah, rather than fearing Him, will grasp the extent of their failure on the Day of Judgment, since none of which they had valued in this world will be of any benefit on the Day of Judgment:
The Day when neither wealth nor sons will be of any use-except to those who come to Allah with sound and flawless hearts. Paradise will be brought near to those who have taqwa. The Blazing Fire will be displayed to the misled. (Surat ash-Shu' ara' , 88-91)
One of the things for which arrogant people boast most is their sons and families. In the Qur' an, Allah informs us that those who forget that their sons and families are created by Allah, will flee from them on the Day of Judgment:
When the Deafening Blast comes, the Day a man will flee from his brother and his mother and his father, and his wife and his children: on that Day every man among them will have concerns enough of his own. (Surah ' Abasa, 33-37)
As we are to learn from the verses of the Qur' an, family ties will be broken on the Day of Judgment, and those who now boast of their families will receive no help from them:
Then when the Trumpet is blown, that Day there will be no family ties between them; they will not be able to question one another. (Surat al-Mu' minun, 101) Neither your blood relations nor your children will be of any use to you. On the Day of Rising He will differentiate between you. Allah sees what you do. (Surat al-Mumtahana, 3)
Allah also informs us in the verse quoted below that the hoarding of possessions in the life of this world will offer no benefit to the arrogant in the hereafter: The Companions of the Ramparts will call out to men they recognise by their mark, saying, "What you amassed was of no use to you, nor was your arrogance." (Surat al-Araf: 48) These people, though they considered themselves powerful, because they failed to grasp that Allah possesses everything, will see the truth of this fact in the hereafter. As well, they will come to understand that neither their fortune nor their power would suffice to save them from the fearsome torment of Hell:
Who has amassed wealth and hoarded it! He thinks his wealth will make him live for ever. No indeed! He will be flung into the Shatterer. And what will convey to you what the Shatterer is? The kindled Fire of Allah reaching right into the heart. It is sealed in above them. (Surat al-Humaza, 2-8)
