19. The Far Side of Hell (1)

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The paradoxical nature of fire should be obvious by now. On the one hand, the Qur’an constantly refers to it as something close to a synonym for Hell itself. On the other hand, also in the Qur’an, it receives favourable mention in the parable of Light and in the story of Musa’s first encounter with revelation. It is clearly a destructive force, but the first reference to it in the Qur’an is associated with the light of guidance (Q2:17). Unlike the Garden, which grows luxuriantly, fruitfully, and never dies, fire tends to diminishment and exhaustion, yet its inhabitants are said to stay in it forever. How can we reconcile these disparities? Or do they, rather, symbolize a deeper polarity that holds in balance the natural contradictions of spiritual life itself?

The Fire of God must be both a scourge and a blessing, equally painful and necessary. I take that to be the relentless inner smoldering of Conscience – something that is terrible to lose, and yet equally disastrous to feed unchecked. To lose it now is to encounter it later in material form, in Hell. To give it full rein is to become demonically obsessive about always being right. Unmodulated, this fire parches the souls of the fanatics whom

The rebellion of Iblis, described on numerous occasions in the Qur’an, was the action of a proud paragon of devotion who was convinced that GOD had done him wrong, and that he was right. The wrath of injured pride consumed him as he surveyed the contemptible being, made of clay, who had been placed before him in the sight of GOD. He vowed to wage what he believes to be a holy war against this unjustly elevated upstart. And thus all the crimes of Satan are, despite their obvious evil, emblazoned with the argument of the end justifying the means. All he has to do is prove that GOD has erred, and that his insubordination was in the cause of truth. One could say, in fact, that the devil is in love with truth – his truth. He burns with the vehemence of his righteous anger.

There are, at the other extreme, insensible brutes whose moral compass is so sluggish as to barely register them as human. I am speaking here not of their intelligence, but of empathy for their fellow creatures. These are the psychopathic politicians, corporate executives, and common criminals who, with a stroke of the pen or a curl of the lip, command or condone the deaths and suffering of millions of innocents and then say that it was worth it. Their hearts are so hard that nothing but the Fire of GOD can penetrate them, find the good in them, and extract it over a long process described in terms of hooks, spears, bitter fruits, scalding drinks, and vigorous application of the warmth that had been buried and supposed lost within their souls.

With this latter type – the dull, the unfeeling, the blobs of humanity who care nothing for goodness or truth – Hell has its fuel.

Some of us are devils in human form, and our fire is within. And others of us – the vast majority – are fuel in human form; our destined portion of the Fire is outside, trying to get in. And thus, with a combination of fury and indifference, the composition of Hell is complete, and the action can get under way.

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