not chastise man unless for some great purpose, which is to set him again on the road to the higher life, after purifying him from evil.
The ultimate object of the life of man is that he shall live in the service of God: “And I have not created the jinn and the men except that they should serve Me” (51:56). The man who lives in sin is debarred from the Divine presence,44 but, being purified by fire, is again made fit for Divine service. Hence Hell is called, in one place, the friend (maulā) of the sinners45, and their mother (umm) in another.46 Both descriptions are a clear indication that Hell is intended to raise up man by purifying him from the dross of evil, just as fire purifies gold of dross. It is to point to this truth that the Holy Qur’ān uses the word fitnah (the assaying of gold, or casting it into the fire to purify it), both of the persecutions which the faithful undergo in this life47 and of the punishment which the evil-doers shall suffer in Hell.48 Thus the faithful are purified through their suffering, in the way of God, in this life; and the evil-doers shall be purified by hell-fire. Hell is called a “friend” of sinners, because through suffering it will prepare them for spiritual progress, and it is called their “mother”, because in its bosom they will be brought up, so that they may be able to tread the path of a new life.
Another consideration, which shows that this chastisement is of a remedial nature, is that, according to the teachings of the Holy Qur’ān and the Sayings of the Holy Prophet, all those who are in Hell, shall ultimately, when they are fit for a new life, be released from it. This is a point on which great misunderstanding prevails even among Muslim theologians. They make a distinction between the Muslim sinners and the non-Muslim sinners, holding that all Muslim sinners shall be ultimately taken out of Hell, but not the non-Muslim sinners. Neither the Holy Qur’ān nor the Ḥadīth upholds this view. There are two words khulūd and abad used in connection with the abiding in Hell or Paradise, and both these words, while, no doubt, indicating eternity, also bear significance of a long time. Not only do all authorities on Arabic lexicology agree on this, but the use of these words in the Holy Qur’ān also makes it quite clear. The word khulūd has been freely used regarding the chastisement in Hell of Muslim as well as of non-Muslim sinners. One example of its use for Muslim sinners is that
44 83:15.
45 57:15.
46 101:9.
48 37:63.