Dantes Inferno and Muslims Hell & Heaven - Essay Example

 Abstract This paper compares the Muslim’s concepts of hell & heaven with Dante’s inferno or Dante’s hell. The sources of anything related to Islam are Quran and Hadith. Therefore, the concepts of Muslim’s hell are taken from Quran & Hadith and are compared with what can be understood from Dante’s “Divine Comedy”. Keywords: Hell, Heaven, Limbo, Nine circles of hell, sin, Borgia, Round. Dante’s Inferno and Muslim’s Hell & Heaven The concept of hell is important in religions. Religions try to save human beings from evil deeds and a picture of a grim fate of evil doers is very essential. Guided by the Roman poet Virgil, Dante attempted to produce the picture of what hell might be like in his poem 'Divine Comedy'. He categorized various sins in according to their degrees of seriousness and produced the image of hell in parts which have an authority to punish the sins of a particular degree.1 According to Dante, there are nine circles that constitute the hell and are located within the earth. The religion of Islam has also got a very vivid image of hell which is explained in great detail in its literature i.e. Quran and Hadith. Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H) is believed to have visited the hell himself when he went on 'Miraj" (Quran 17:1). Muslim's belief in hell is quite different from Dante's hell in many ways. These differences are discussed in the coming paragraphs. The first difference between the two hells is of location. Dante's hell is believed to be within the earth, preferably underground. Muslim's hell, on the other hand, is not located within the earth. Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H) travelled at more than the speed of light upwards in the sky. That gives us an idea how far the hell is from the earth. He travelled seven skies and it is not possible for normal human beings to go beyond the boundary of even the first sky while they are alive. Second really important difference is of the constituents of the two hells. Dante's inferno consists of nine circles namely Limbo, lust, gluttony, greed, anger, heresy, violence, fraud, treachery. Muslim hell is a one gargantuan place which is larger than the planet earth. Another distinction between the two concepts is that in Dante’s inferno, people who prayed for forgiveness before their deaths are not found in hell but they labor for their freedom from their sins. Islam teaches that this world is a place of doing good deeds and refrain from sins. Forgiveness is granted in abundance by Allah. Even a person who has committed hundred murders can be forgiven in his life at once if he asks for Allah’s forgiveness from the deepest pit of his heart and does not repeat his sins. The first circle of Dante’s hell is Limbo. Limbo contains the people from different religions and beliefs who did not accept Christ but were good and pious and refrained from committed sins. They are not being punished there. It is a very contestable point from the view of Muslims. A Muslim is not a Muslim if he does not accept Jesus, Moses, Abraham, Noah, Jacob and many other prophets as the prophets of God. There is no point of a Muslim being in Limbo since he believes in the prophet hood of Jesus. But Christian’s views about Jesus deviate from Muslim’s views significantly as we probe deep into the matter. Further discussion would cause digression from our topic. Limbo means to contain people who did good deeds. In contrast, Islam says that people who do not believe in Kalma but do good deeds are rewarded them in their lives. After their death, being non-believers, their designated place is hell (Al-Muslim). The presence of past prophets in Limbo is also mentioned to Dante by Virgil in Divine Comedy. It says that they were taken from Limbo to heaven by Jesus. Islam says that all the prophets go to heaven and will lead their followers on the judgment day while holding flags in their hands. The second circle of Dante’s hell is for the punishment of lust. According to Dante, people overcame by lust are the first to be truly punished. The souls of these people are blown to and fro in the air by a stormy wind restlessly. Islam teaches that an adulterer faces three types of problems in the world and three in the hereafter. Discussing the part relating to hell, he will burn in the fire of hell forever. The fire of hell is ten times hotter than the fire of world. Another sin that can be related to lust is of masturbation. Dante’s hell has no mention of this sin but Islam says that that such a person would be among the seven types of people who would go to hell before anyone else does. (Ibn Kathir, n.d) Third circle of Dante’s hell is gluttony. The people who commit this sin are subjected to lie in a vile slush produced by a constant, icy rain. Dante again depicts the picture of punishment as it the sin is perceived in life. The people who committed gluttony would be blind, as they saw nobody but their-selves in life; having inability to hear, as they listened to no one but themselves; and lie in cold slush, just like the coldness oh their feelings in life. However, Islam has not regarded gluttony as a sin but sees it as an unfavorable habit. In Hadith, it is quoted, “A few morsels are enough for one to keep his back straight.” Also, “A Momin2 eats in one intestine and a pagan eats in seven intestines.” (Al-Muslim 23:5116) Therefore, Islam condemns gluttony but has not mentioned any specific punishment in hell for that. The fourth circle of Dante’s hell punishes greedy people who collected and hoarded material things voraciously in their lives and the people who wasted them. They are guarded by Plutus.3 Divided into two groups, they fight with each other using heavy weights as their weapons which are pushed by their chests. Islam says that a person who hoards material things and does not give Zakat will be bitten by a big python ceaselessly which would be made up of all the material things that he gathered due to his greed. (Sahih Bukhari) Anger is punished in the fifth circle in Dante’s hell. The people who could not overcome their anger in their lives fight with each other on the surface of swamp-like water. The people who were bad-tempered in their lives lie inside the water gurgling. Just like they kept on complaining and never tried to find any joy in their lives. Islam deals with this sin in aggregate sense. According to Hadith, “The best of you is the person who has a good behavior.” (Al-Muslim--Sharif) Therefore, good behavior is an essential part for being a Muslim. A Muslim not following this Hadith is in trouble. The sixth circle of Dante’s hell contains Heretics trapped in flamed tombs. Islam, on the other hand, discharges people, who deviate from the fundamental and crucial beliefs of Islam, out of the religion and they burn in hell forever. (Quran 47:9) In the seventh circle, the punishment for sins of the most serious degree starts. Guarded by the Minotaur4, it consists of three rings i.e. outer, middle and inner ring. The outer ring contains people who committed violence against people and property and are submerged in a river of boiling blood and fire to the level of their sin. For instance, Alexander the Great is immersed to the level of his eyebrows. Islam says that a person who murders a human being is the murderer of whole humanity. (Quran 5:32) His place is in hell eternally with a dreadful wrath of God upon him. In Dante’s hell, the suicide committers are punished in the middle ring of seventh circle. They are transformed into gnarled thorny bushes and trees, which are fed on by the Harpies5. Islam says that the suicides would burn eternally in hell. The inner ring of seventh circle punishes blasphemers, sodomites and usurers. The blasphemers lay, sodomites sit and usurers wander in groups on hot sand while fiery flakes rain on them. Quran and Hadith are silent about blasphemy but a blasphemer can be executed according to the Sharia6. The last two circles of Dante’s hell deal with people who commit fraud and treachery. The eighth circle is divided into ten Bolgie which are ditches of stones. Every Bolgia contains the people who committed a particular kind of treachery. For instance, Bolgia 1 is for pimps and seducers. Ninth circle consists of four Rounds that deal with treacheries of particular kinds in particular ways. For instance, Round 1 is for fratricides that are immersed in ice to the level of their faces. Islam says that lying is the foundation of treachery. A liar is cursed by God (Quran 24:7). A person who commits fraud is not one of the Muslims. These are condemned to burn in hell forever. The body parts that were used in the committing of these sins would speak their-selves of the things that they were made to do. Dante’s hell has been constructed with theology and other literatures by scholars. It also includes the aspects of human imagination that what should be the perfect punishment for a particular sin. It is like an organization with a hierarchical structure. Muslim’s concepts of hell and heaven are not manufactured by human beings. They come from Quran and Hadith. Dante’s hell explains what the punishments would be like for particular sins more than Muslim’s hell. For many type of sins, Quran just says “Azaabun Aleem” which means a “Dreadful Wrath”. Human beings cannot imagine the extent of pain and suffering which would be caused to them by Muslim’s hell. According to Hadith (Al-Muslim), “On the day of judgment, one person would be brought forward from the group of people that are condemned to hell. This person would have spent a luxurious life (never seen sadness). He would be given a slight tour of Hell. Then he would be asked whether he has ever seen any happiness in his life. He would answer in negation and swear to God that has never seen any kind of happiness. Then a person would be brought forward from the group of people who are destined to go to heaven. This person would have spent all his life in suffering and sadness; he would be given a very brief tour of heaven and would be asked whether he has ever seen any suffering in his life. He would swear to God that he has never seen any suffering in his life.” Such are the hell and heaven according to Islam and to think what they would be like in reality is out of the limitations of human mind. According to Hadith, the fragrance of Jannah (Heaven) can be smelt from 500 years of time away ((Musnad e Ahmed 2:6745). There are streams of milk and honey which never stop. Every person in heaven would have a property which would stretch farther than the area that he can see. There would be no hunger and no suffering. Very faithful Hoors (Very Beautiful Women) would be there who would never even think about another man. Many more things that human beings cannot even imagine would be there. All of this would be forever just in return for believing in and loving Allah and his Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). References Sayers, Dorothy. L. (1949). Notes. The Divine Comedy, Part 1: Hell. 19 Sayers, Dorothy. L. (1949). Notes. The Divine Comedy, Part 1: Hell. 75 The University of Texas at Austin. (n.d). Dante's Inferno. Retrieved Dec 10, 2010, from http://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu/index2.html Ibn Kathir. (n.d). Hell. Tafsir Ibn Kathir Vol. 5. 458. Alighieri Dante, Musa Mark. (2002). Canto X11. The Divine Comedy: Inferno. 176. Read More