Encyclopedia of Islam

Further reading: Ignaz Golziher, Introduction to Islamic 

Theology and Law. Translated by A. and R. Hamori 

(Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1981); 

Wael Hallaq, The Origins and Evolution of Islamic Law

(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004); Fazlur 

Rahman, Islam. 2d ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago 

Press, 2002); Joseph Schacht, An Introduction to Islamic 

Law (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1964).

Fire

 

(Arabic: 

al-nar)

Fire is not just an element of nature in Islam, it 

is also the equivalent of hell. Belief in a place of 

punishment for wrongdoers in the 

aFterliFe

 is 

widespread among the world’s religions. In Islam, 

belief in a fiery hell, together with belief in a 

heavenly 

paradise

 for the righteous, is regarded as 

an important component of 

Faith

. Muslims base 

their afterlife beliefs on the q

Uran

 and the 

hadith

,

where there are numerous statements about both 

the Fire and paradise. Historically, however, these 

beliefs were developed from afterlife ideas that 

had originated earlier among the ancient civiliza-

tions of the Middle East, Zoroastrianism and early 

Judaism and Christianity.

According to the Quran, the Fire was a hor-

rific “home” or “dwelling” where the sinful 

and unbelievers were forced to wear clothing 

of fire, drink scalding water, and eat poisonous 

fruit (Q 37:62–68; 22:19–21). Another Quranic 

name for the Fire was Gehenna (jahannam), a 

term for hell used in Judaism and Christianity. 

The Quranic depiction of the Fire was greatly 

enhanced in later medieval accounts about the 

afterlife that occur in the hadith, theological 

works, and visionary literature. According to 

some imaginative traditions, the realm of the 

K  240  

Fire

---

Fire was composed of seven levels, each with its 

own distinctive name, such as “abyss,” “blaze,” 

and “furnace.” People were assigned to the 

level that suited the degree of their sinfulness, 

together with the corresponding punishments 

that were administered by the angel Malik and 

his assistants. Some accounts described the Fire 

as a living creature—a monster with thousands 

of heads and mouths. According to Muslim 

theologians, wrongdoers would not necessar-

ily be punished in the Fire for eternity. Rather, 

punishment was finite, and wrongdoers might 

eventually be admitted to paradise once their 

sins had been atoned.

Belief in the Fire helped focus the attention 

of Muslims on holding fast to their faith and 

performing their religious obligations. Some 

medieval Sufis, however, held that too much 

concern with the Fire and paradise could dis-

tract spiritually minded mystics from achieving 

union with God. Others saw fire as a metaphor 

for the passion of the spiritual lover that ended 

with his or her annihilation in the beloved, God, 

or they interpreted it as the intense pain experi-

enced as a result of one’s separation from God. 

In more recent times, modernist thinkers and 

reformers have attempted to explain the Fire and 

paradise as psychological or spiritual conditions 

rather than actual places where people would 

live in the afterlife. Nonetheless, the prevailing 

view among Muslims today, as with most Mus-

lims in the past, is that punishment in the fires 

of hell is a reality that awaits all wrongdoers and 

unbelievers.

See also 

angel

; 

death

; 

eschatology

; s

atan

.