Do ALL Kafirs/Non-muslims go to Hell for Eternity?

**abdushakur** · 22-12-2004, 01:15 PM

the reason why this has suddenly confused me is bcos of the following answer i read on sunnipath just now....

"4. Hinduism offers no eternal hell whereas in Islam a non-believer will abide in hell for eternity.

Hinduism certainly teaches belief in eternal hell in the possibility of enduring bad karma for evil people. Further, it is wrong to attribute to Islam the teaching that the non-believer will abide in hell forever. Rather, the disbeliever will; while the non-believer is given another chance until he either believes or disbelieves.

Hajj Gibril"

whats the difference between a "disbeliever" and a "non-believer"????

i know that some muslims do say that even christians and jews will eventually go to jannah....is the answer above related to that?

what is Hajj Gibril saying in his answer? And what are his qualifications?

forgive me for the multitude of Q's....its just that i was very confused after reading that answer above...

**faqir** · 22-12-2004, 01:18 PM

asalamu alaykum,

In this context, I think Sh. G.F. Haddad is using the word disbeliever to mean someone who has rejected the message of Islam after it having reached him whereas non-believer in this context is likely to be referring to those kufar who have not yet received the message of Islam.

And Allah knows best

[for info on the Shaykh see: http://www.sunnipath.com/about/shaykhgibrilhaddad.aspx]

and read his interview at www.deenport.com

**faqir** · 22-12-2004, 01:19 PM

Fate of Non Muslims in the Afterlife??

This was dealt with in the article [from: http://www.masud.co.uk <http://www.masud.co.uk/> , a brilliant site], a refutation of the idea of the 'universal validity of all religions,':

5. The Fate of Non-Muslims in the Afterlife

The reason that contemporary writers affected by the writings of Gunon and Schuon, such as Chittick and Gai Eaton (or such as Martin Lings, Titus Burckhardt etc.), seem to want the universal validity of all religions at any price, even to the extent of attributing it to masters like Muhyiddin ibn al-`Arabi ("in principle") or Emir `Abd al-Qadir ("he protected the Christians against massacre by taking them into his own home because he understood" [as if other scholars considered massacring them halal]) would seem to be the emotive impalatability of followers of other religions going to hell. Where is the mercy? Would Allah put someone in the hellfire merely for worshipping in another religion besides Islam?

This question is answered by traditional Islam according to two possibilities:

(1) There are some peoples who have not been reached by the message of the Prophet of Islam (Allah bless him and give him peace) that we must worship the One God alone, associating nothing else with Him. Such people are innocent, and will not be punished no matter what they do. Allah says in surat al-Isra',

"We do not punish until We send a Messenger" (Koran 17:15).

These include, for example, Christians and others who lived in the period after the spread of the myth of Jesus godhood, until the time of the prophet Muhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace), who renewed the call to pure monotheism.

The great Muslim scholar, Imam Ghazali, includes in this category those who have only been reached with a distorted picture of the Messenger of Islam (Allah bless him and give him peace), presumably including many people in the West today who know nothing about Allah's religion but newspaper stories about Ayatollahs and mad Muslim bombers. Is it within such people's capacity to believe? In Ghazali's view, such people are excused until after they have had an opportunity to learn the undistorted truth about Islam (Ghazali: "Faysal al-tafriqa," Majmu'a rasa'il al-Imam al-Ghazali, 3.96). This of course does not alter our own obligation as Muslims to reach them with the da'wa.

(2) A second group of people consists of those who turn away from God's divine message of Islam, rejecting the command to make their worship God's alone; whether because of blindly imitating the religion of their ancestors, or for some other reason. These are people to whom God has sent a prophetic messenger and reached with His message, and to whom He has given hearing and an intellect with which to grasp it but after all this, persist in associating others with Allah, either by actually worshipping another, or by rejecting the laws brought by His messenger (Allah bless him and give him peace), which associates their own customs with His prerogative to be worshipped as He directs. Such people have violated God's rights, and have accepted to go to hell, which is precisely what His messengers have warned them of, so they have no excuse:

"Truly, Allah does not forgive that any be associated with Him; but He forgives what is less than that to whomever He wills" (Koran 4:48).

In either case, Allah's mercy exists, though for non-Muslims unreached by the message, it is a question of divine amnesty for their ignorance, not a confirmation of their religions validity. It is worth knowing the difference between these two things, for one's eternal fate depends on it.

**salman** · 22-12-2004, 02:10 PM

Salamu Alaikum

sidi Faqir is right. A disbeliever is someone like Abu Jahl, who was shown the truth of Islam but rejected it. As for the non believers, they are those who did not receive the message at all or in a proper way. They will be given the chance to accept it in the afterlife.

As for disbelievers - then yes, hell is eternal for them.

Wallahu A'lam

**abdushakur** · 22-12-2004, 03:07 PM

jazakallah khayran and thanx bro faqir and salman.

so let me get this right....if my next door neighbour dies as a non-muslim having never really understood what islam teaches/enjoins then in the akhirah she will be asked if she wants to become muslim?

will this be asked directly by Allah ta'Ala Himself on the day of judgement with heaven and hell in view?
who would say no?!??!

im not being facetious....im just very confused as this is a bit new to me.

**IlyasLahoz** · 22-12-2004, 06:48 PM

Originally Posted by cantthinkofausername

jazakallah khayran and thanx bro faqir and salman.

so let me get this right....if my next door neighbour dies as a non-muslim having never really understood what islam teaches/enjoins then in the akhirah she will be asked if she wants to become muslim?

will this be asked directly by Allah ta'Ala Himself on the day of judgement with heaven and hell in view?
who would say no?!??!

im not being facetious....im just very confused as this is a bit new to me.

assalam 'alaikum,

Two things Sidi,
The first is a reminder to myself (and Allah knows I am lax in this regard) that was brought to mind by your post. That is, that one's neighbors should never leave this world without having learned about Islam, that is a paramount duty of ours, especially in the West. JazakAlalhKhayr for bringing this to mind.

Second, as I understand the Ghazalian view -and Allah Knows Best-, eternal damnation is for the one who has chosen disbelief, as the brothers have elucidated on this thread, and it is amnesty, from Allah's tremendous Rahma, that meets the 'non-believer' in the hereafter, not the chance to submit. (and
this is no subtle difference, see Shaykh Nuh on the maqam of the muslim vis a vis the rest of creation)

**GenN** · 22-12-2004, 08:08 PM

Assalmu alaykum,

a further question tghat arises here is "exactly what constitutes a person having heard about Islam i.e how much must he have heard and understood about Islam to be a disbeliver, ho many proofs must he have been given, to what extenet must he have had Islam explained"?

**abdushakur** · 24-12-2004, 11:13 AM

Originally Posted by AlexLahoz

as I understand the Ghazalian view -and Allah Knows Best-, eternal damnation is for the one who has chosen disbelief, as the brothers have elucidated on this thread, and it is amnesty, from Allah's tremendous Rahma, that meets the 'non-believer' in the hereafter, not the chance to submit. (and
this is no subtle difference, see Shaykh Nuh on the maqam of the muslim vis a vis the rest of creation)

is the Ghazalian view the accepted view amongst the ahlus sunnah wal jamah? is this a point of aqeedah?

i was never taught that a non-muslim would enter jannah if he/she had not been exposed to islam....but in my heart i do believe that how can such a person be thrown into jahannum for eternity. i was only taught that only muslims would enter jannah. may Allah forgive me if my thoughts are anti-haq.

can you provide sound evidences for the Ghazalian viewpoint?
(im really interestred....dont worry, im not a debater!)

Originally Posted by GenN

a further question tghat arises here is "exactly what constitutes a person having heard about Islam i.e how much must he have heard and understood about Islam to be a disbeliver, ho many proofs must he have been given, to what extenet must he have had Islam explained"?

yeh this is what puzzles me too...

it would be real good to see what the online ulama can provide on this...

**abdushakur** · 24-12-2004, 11:15 AM

AlexLahoz - sorry i cant access that Shaykh Nuh link at the mo cos im at work!

**Omar HH** · 26-12-2004, 11:07 PM

Ghazali's view is the Ashari Aqeedah view, and Ahlul Sunnah wa Jama'ah is both the Ashari and Maturidis.

According to the Asharis, your next door neighbor if she died and did not recieve the true message of Islam or had a distorted message of it will not be punished, because in the Qur'an it says "We will not punish until we send a messenger" and those people recieve Divine Amnesty.

As for someone who is told the undistorted truth about Islam but still does not believe, he is a REJECTOR and therefore if he dies on this belief and Allah (SWT) does not put Iman in his heart at the last moments of his life, he will be damned to the hellfire eternally.

This is my understanding, Allahu Alam
Jazakallahu Khayrun.