In the name of Allāh,
the Beneficent, the Merciful.
Peace and Blessings of Allāh on Mohammad.
DEDICATED TO
Allāh–the Glorious and the High,
Lord of the worlds
AND TO
Mohammad–who brought the world
to our feet and eternity to our arms.
*
JESUS–SOUL & HELL
The soul is not immortal. It is indestructible by man –man cannot harm or destroy it. Allāh God is the Creator and Vanquisher of all.
Islam teaches that man has a soul–(Qur’an 39:42). So does Judaism–(Exodus 30:12; Deut; 13:6). And the Book of Job says:
“(The Lord) In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind”–(Job 12:10).
Jesus also taught that man has a soul. Jesus says: “…fear him which is able to destroy BOTH soul and body in hell”–(Matt. 10:28).
Jesus also says: “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”–(Matthew 16:26; Mark 8:36-37).
If man became a “living” soul after receiving the breath of life, then prior to that he was a dead soul (?)–(Gen. 2:7). Man is a combination of body and soul.
Seems that man is comprised of four components:
(1) form/body; which other visible creations have;
(2) life, which gives growth; and which plants and ani-mals have;
(3) soul, which gives consciousness; and which ani-mals have;
(4) Spirit of God, which gives reasoning; and which only man has).
If man did not have a soul and the body itself was the soul, Jesus would not declare “fear him (God) which is able to destroy BOTH soul AND body in hell;” and for man to “lose” his own soul or to take something “in exchange” for his soul; and for Job to say, “(the Lord) In whose hand is the SOUL of EVERY living thing, AND the breath of all mankind”–(Matt. 10:28; Job 12:10).
That Lazarus said nothing about heaven or hell after Jesus resurrected him–(John 11:43-44) is because “the dead know not anything”–(Eccl. 9:5). The dead will be judged and assigned his heaven/hell AFTER the Resur-rection–(Revelation 20:12-13).
“The soul that sinneth, it shall die”–(Ezek. 18:4). It is the soul that is the motivating factor in committing an act; the body is the medium through which the act is produced. Thus, it is the soul that would bear the consequence or enjoy the benefit of the actions.
“The living know that they shall die; but the dead know not anything”–(Eccl. 9:5).
The comatose and the surgical patient also know nothing and feel nothing, yet they are not devoid of life.
The dead is not conscious because it is the soul that gives con-sciousness.
The body (earth) is one medium and soul is another medium. That the complete man –body and soul– is of these two medium is evident from the fact that after it was created from dust –the first stage– the breath of God –the second stage– was breathed into him.
Immortality of the soul means it cannot be destroyed by man; only by Allāh, the Creator.
That man is not a soul but that man has a soul is made even clearer by Job who says: “But his flesh upon him shall have pain, and his SOUL WITHIN HIM shall mourn”–(Job 14:22).
Jesus also taught about HELL. Jesus says that the sinful shall receive the “greaterdamnation” of “hell;” and that in the “fur-nace of fire” there shall be “wailing and gnashing of teeth”–(Matt. 23:14, 33; 13:42).
Jesus spoke of “everlasting fire” that “never shall be quen-ched”–(Matt. 18:8; Mark 9:43).
Jude 1:7 speaks about “the vengeance of eternal fire.”
Jesus also says that they that have done good shall raise up “unto the resurrection of life” and those who have done evil shall raise up “unto the resurrection of damnation”–(John 5:29). And that “whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire”–(Matt. 5:22).
This “hell” referred to by Jesus cannot be the Gehenna, the valley near Jerusalem, which was originally a place of child sacrifice and later became a pit for burning garbage. It would be erroneous to take Jesus’ speaking of “everlasting fire” and of the “furnace of fire” and of “eternal fire” to mean the valley outside Jerusalem, when this Gehenna outside of Jerusalem is no longer in existence and when it could not be “everlasting.”
The belief of some that the eternal punishment for the wicked is that after the judgment they will be cast into eternal death, goes against the teaching of Jesus.
As already noted, Jesus told the sinful that they shall receive the “greater damnation” of “hell” and that in the “furnace of fire” there shall be “wailing and gnashing of teeth”–(Matt. 23:14, 33; 13:42).
There could not be a “greater” damnation (punishment) and “wailing and gnashing of teeth” if sinners will be cast into eternal death, because the dead knows nothing, has no feeling, and cannot experience any suffering–(Ecclesiastes 9:5, 10).
Since the dead knows nothing, Jesus could not have descended into hell for three days and undergone suf-fering. Neither can it be said that there is no hell or that by hell it is meant the hole/grave the dead is put into, when the Apostles’ Creed states that Jesus was “buried” AND “descended” to hell. According to this Creed Jesus was subjected to TWO conditions –“buried” and “des-cended.” To where did Jesus “descended” if there was no hell?).
If sinners were all put to a final death as punishment then a minor criminal would be subjected to the same fate as the major criminal. This would not be justice. Even in the human justice a criminal is punished only according to the severity of the crime.
As for those individuals who do not care to be in heaven/ paradise, and would commit any crime and lewdness to have a lordly life, they would not suffer any consequences for their evil actions. But to this, Jesus rightly says in John 5:29 that they that have done good shall raise up “unto the resurrection of life” and those who have done evil shall raise up “unto the resurrection of damnation.” And “damnation” means “sending to hell, eternal punishment”–(The Oxford Paperback Thesaurus).
That sinners will not be put to a final death forever, is evi-denced by Jesus who said that the righteous shall go into “life eternal” and the “wicked and slothful servant” shall go away into “everlasting punishment”–(Matt. 25:26, 46).
Sinners cannot be subjected to “everlasting punishment” if they are put to death forever.
Further, Jesus (after giving several parables about how people choose the better of things over the inferior), says that similarly at the end of the world the wicked will be separated from the just; and that the angels will cast the wicked “into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth”–(Matt. 13: 49-50).
It would be pointless for Jesus to speak of “everlasting fire” and of “wailing and gnashing of teeth” if the punishment of the wicked was “death” in which condition they know nothing, has no feeling and therefore cannot experience any suffering.
It would be doubly pointless if this “hell” means the Gehenna near Jerusalem, which is no longer in existence, and when there may be thousands who are to be sent to this “ETERNAL FIRE”; and when only the HEREAFTER is “eternal.”
If sinners will be put to a final death as punishment, it would be pointless to resurrect them from their current death.
As stated, the soul is not immortal. It is indestructible by man –man cannot harm or destroy it. Allāh God is the Creator and Vanquisher of all.