The State of the Assembled Creatures in viewing Hell

‘At this point, Hell will lift its gaze.  As soon as it spies the creatures assembled there, it will bolt towards them in order to devour them.  Its keepers will have to pull on its chains to hold it in check, for if it were left to its own devices, it would pounce upon every believer and unbeliever without distinction. Once it sees that it has been effectively restrained from attacking the assembled throng of creatures, it will simmer and boil with an intensity that can hardly be distinguished from the most furious kind of rage.  Then it will heave another sigh, and the resurrected creatures will hear the gnashing of its teeth.  This will cause their hearts to shudder and tremble with alarm.  They will fly into a state of panic, their eyes will glaze over, and their hearts will end up in their throats.”

Description of Hell

According to another report, somebody once said: “O Prophet of Allah. Describe Hell to us!” He responded to this (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) by saying:

Very well.  Like this earth in magnitude.  Seventy degrees of longitude. Dark black.  It has seven heads, and each of its heads has thirty doors.  The length of each of its doors is equal to the distance of a journey that would take three nights.  Its upper lip protrudes against its nose, while it trails its lower lip on the ground.  In each of its nostrils there is a shackle and an enormous chain, which is held in the grasp of seventy thousand angels, all of them rough, stern their teeth grimly gritted, their eyes like live coals, and their colours like the flames of fire.  While their nostrils give vent to lofty columns of flame and smoke, they stand at the ready, prepared at all times to receive and carry out the command of the All-Compelling One (Blessed and Exalted is He).

Hell is a Lover of Allah

Then the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) went on to say:

There will come a moment when Hell asks its Lord (Almighty and Glorious is He) for permission to perform an act of worshipful prostration.  He will give it permission to do so, and Hell will thereupon adopt an attitude of prostration for as long as Allah wills.  Then the All-Compelling One (Almighty and Glorious is He) will say “Now raise your head!”

He continued (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him):

Hell will raise its head at once, saying: “Praise be to Allah, who has made me the instrument by which He exacts retribution from those who disobey Him, and has not made anything in the whole of His creation an instrument by which to exact retribution from me!”

To this he added (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him):

Then Hell will say, over and over again, with a tongue that is fluent, and eloquent and smooth: “Praise be to Allah!”  For as long as Allah wills, it will go on repeating this declaration of praise, in a loud voice peculiar to itself alone. 

The Sigh of Hell overwhelms the Creatures with Fear

Then Hell will heave a deep sigh, which will so affect those who hear it that not a single one of them will fail to sink down on his knees—not one angel brought near to the Lord, not one prophet sent as a Messenger, and not one of those resurrected creatures who are present at the place of standing.

Then Hell will heave a second deep sigh, and not a single eye that still has a drop of moisture in it will fail to shed a tear.

Then Hell will heave a third deep sigh, and even if those who hear that sigh—be they human beings or jinn—were each endowed with the merit of seventy two prophets, they will surely be moved to embrace her as a man embraces a woman. 

The Fear of the Closest Friends of Allah the Majestic

Then Hell will heave a fourth deep sigh, and nothing that is capable of speech will fail to have its speech arrested.  The only exceptions will be Gabriel, Michael and [Abraham] the Bosom Friend of the All-Merciful One, each one of whom will say, as they cling to the Heavenly Throne “My own soul, my own soul, that is all I beg you to spare!”