What is Heaven 👼 & Hell 🔥?

Greetings!

When I was younger, my ideas of Heaven and Hell drove my choices in life.

The promise of eternal bliss in Heaven motivated me to be good, while the fear of endless suffering in Hell kept me from making poor choices.

It all seemed so simple back then:

- Be good and go to Heaven 👼

- Be bad and go to Hell. 🔥

But as I grew older, this black-and-white understanding started to unravel.

I remember the moment when I first questioned this understanding of Heaven and Hell.

I was sitting in the mosque, listening to the speaker describe the different punishments of hell. He spoke of the scorching flames, the boiling water, and the endless torture. 😣

I wondered: why would a loving and merciful God subject their creation through such torment? It seemed so contrary to the image of God who's All-Wise, All-Forgiving God who loves his creation 70 times more than a mother loves her child.

I couldn't shake the feeling that something was missing from this simplistic understanding of Heaven and Hell.

I began to wonder if there was a deeper truth waiting to be uncovered.

As I studied various religious texts and philosophies, I began to see these concepts in a new light.

This Sufi Comic is about a deeper understanding of Heaven and Hell.

Art by Charbak Dipta

I learned that we cannot understand Heaven and Hell just as physical places, but also as spiritual realities that we create through our choices and actions in this life.

Through the gift of free will, we make choices in this world. The Qur'an talks about how we have to confront our choices in the next world:

While we know the consequence of good choices is heaven, the Quran also says the most incredible pleasure one can experience is directly from God.

Similarly, hell is the consequence of poor choices. However, beyond the physical description, verses of the Quran describe hell as a place of despair, anxiety, and unending longing.

This gave me a nuanced definition of Heaven and Hell. Heaven is closeness to God, while Hell is the illusion of separation from God.

I say “illusion of separation” because, in reality, we can never be separate from God. The feeling of separation is an illusion.

The physical description of heaven and hell that we often hear about are manifestations of being either close or distanced from God.

This realisation was both sobering and empowering. It means that every choice I make, no matter how small, has the power to shape my spiritual reality.

If I act with love, wisdom, and integrity, I am taking steps towards Heaven, towards a closer connection with the Divine.

But if I succumb to anger, greed, or selfishness, I am moving in the direction of Hell, creating distance between myself and God.

This understanding fills me with a sense of responsibility, as heaven and hell are not abstract future realities but spiritual realities that can be experienced in the present.

The path to Heaven is not a single grand gesture, but a lifetime of small choices that gradually shape our souls and our destiny.

May we all have the wisdom and the courage to choose Heaven, in this moment and in every moment.

And through our choices, we work towards building heaven on earth.

Have thoughts to share? 🙂 Reply to this email or leave a comment here.

Warm regards,
Mohammed Ali

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