Episode 35 - Do the people of Hell deserve all this torment?

Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah. Dear brothers, when reading the Quran's description of the severity of the torment in the Hellfire, some may wonder: Does the shortcoming of the people of Hell in knowing Allah and drawing near to Him warrant all this torment? Shouldn't they be given another chance? Here, brothers, we must remember that the crime of the people of Hell was not that they did not exert enough effort to remember Allah, but that they exerted great effort in forgetting Allah!

Look at His saying: ((And for those who disbelieve, there is the Fire of Hell; they will not be given respite therein, nor will they be relieved from its torment. Thus do We recompense every ungrateful one (36). And they will cry out therein, 'Our Lord! Bring us out; we will do righteousness, not what we used to do.' Did We not grant you a lifetime in which to remember? And there came to you the Warner. So taste it, and the wrongdoers will not have any helper (37).)) (Fatir). ((Did We not grant you a lifetime in which to remember))...Brothers, repentance does not require a long time. A person may repent in a moment of awakening, reviewing what has passed in his life, feeling the severity of his heedlessness and distance from Allah, remembering the purpose of his existence in this life, so his eyes tear up and his tongue moves to say: (Forgive me, O Lord), and he sincerely resolves in his heart to leave sins and turn to Allah, and he begins to do so in action, stands up, purifies himself, and prays. Allah then destroys mountains of his evil deeds and replaces them with good ones!

How much time does all this require? A quarter of an hour? How many quarters of an hour have passed in your life? If you are, O listener of these words, in your thirties, then more than thirty-six thousand quarters of an hour have passed in which you are awake, an adult, and accountable! More than thirty-six thousand opportunities for repentance of this kind, not just one opportunity....((Did We not grant you a lifetime in which to remember)) Is neglecting and forgetting Allah throughout this period a crime deserving of severe punishment? Especially since you, O people of Hell, during this period: ((There came to you the Warner)). The verses of Allah are warnings, the hadiths of His Prophet (peace be upon him) are warnings, the wonders of creation spread everywhere, even within yourself, are warnings ((And in the earth are signs for those who are certain (20). And within yourselves. Do you not see (21).)), the deaths of your relatives, friends, and acquaintances, older and younger than you, are warnings, the diseases that afflict you are warnings, the dangerous situations from which Allah saves you are warnings, the appearance of gray hair in your hair, the weakness in your body, and the passing of every day of your life are warnings, the destruction of people around you by disasters, earthquakes, and storms are warnings...But...((And the signs and the warnings do not benefit a people who do not believe)). The universe around you, with its living and non-living things, its landscapes and sounds, the events that happen to you and to those around you, the news of past nations in the Quran and in historical records, all are warnings calling out to you: (O human: You are created by Allah, and you will return to Allah, so what have you prepared?)...((And there came to you the Warner)). Turning a blind eye to all of this throughout this entire period...Is this not a crime? Is forgetting Allah while everything in the universe around you and in the depths of your being reminds you of Him...Is forgetting Him after that not a crime? How much effort did this heedless person exert to forget Allah!! He did not forget a person who was kind to him in the past and then disappeared from his life, but he forgot Allah! How much did this heedless person occupy himself with sins and distractions to be able to rid himself of the cries of the universe and the cries of the depths of his being that say: (Return to Allah!)... ((Did We not grant you a lifetime in which to remember and there came to you the Warner, so taste it, and the wrongdoers will not have any helper)). O Allah, return us to You in a beautiful return and do not make us of the heedless. And peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah.