Does Punishment in Hereafter Last Forever?
One of the questions raised about this issue is whether the punishment lasts forever.
In a session on interpretation of Surah Al-Fatihah, seminary scholar Ayatollah Abolqassem Alidoost discussed this issue. Following are excerpts from his remarks:
One of the questions that may come to some people’s mind is that if, according to some religious sources, punishment for some sinners is going to be eternal, how could it be compatible with God’s mercy?
God says in Verses 106 and 107 of Surah Hud: “The condemned ones will live in hell fire, sighing and groaning and there they shall live for ever, as long as the heavens and the earth endure, and as your Lord wills. Indeed, your Lord accomplishes whatsoever He will.”
The verse says: “As your Lord wills”. So it may be the case that for ever means as long as God wills.
As for the punishment in hell, there are three views. People commonly think that punishment is something outside of the one being punished. That is to say, we have something named hell and the sinner is placed in it. Another view is that punishment is inside. For example someone kills another person and then is plagued by remorse. The third view is that we have two hells: one inside and one outside.
To answer this question it would be helpful to bear in mind what Muhkamat (clear) and Mutashibhat (ambiguous) are.
We have a principle saying that God never does injustice to people. The Quran says in Verse 40 of Surah An-Nisa, “God does not do even an atom's weight of injustice. A good deed is multiplied by God and richly rewarded.”
This principle is very important and this verse is among Muhkamat.
Even if we do not understand what being eternal means, we clearly realize that God does not do injustice to anyone. This is a verse that has no ambiguity and is crystal clear. Allameh Tabatabaei says that we do not understand many things about the hereafter, for example things about punishment being physical or spiritual.
So we arranged the issue in a way that even if we cannot come up with a conclusive answer to the question, we know that God never does injustice while the issue of eternal punishment is among Mutashabihat.
