Question:

Regarding Eternal Punishment in Hell for Crimes Other than Shirk:

The verse 4:48 says that God will forgive any sin for anyone, but you wrote that there are other sins which may lead a person to Hell forever. Is this not a contradiction? Could you please explain the following Hadeeth from Bukhari, which tells us that a person who dies without committing Shirk will enter Paradise, even if he had committed major sins?

Volume 9, Book 93, Number 470:

Narrated Mu’adh bin Jabal:
The Prophet said, “O Mu’adh! Do you know what Allah’s Right upon His slaves is?” I said, “Allah and His Apostle know best.” The Prophet said, “To worship Him (Allah) Alone and to join none in worship with Him (Allah). Do you know what their right upon Him is?” I replied, “Allah and His Apostle know best.” The Prophet said, “Not to punish them (if they do so).”

Volume 9, Book 93, Number 579:

Narrated Abu Dharr:
The Prophet said, Gabriel came to me and gave me the glad tidings that anyone who died without worshipping anything besides Allah, would enter Paradise. I asked (Gabriel), ‘Even if he committed theft, and even if he committed illegal sexual intercourse?’ He said, ‘(Yes), even if he committed theft and even if he Committed illegal sexual intercourse.”

Regards,

Answer:

Before trying to explain the narratives ascribed to the Prophet (pbuh), we must first try to determine what the Qur’an says on this issue.
Al-Nisaa 4: 48 says:

“God does not forgive that partners be associated to Him, besides that He may forgive anything for whom He pleases. Whoever associates partners to God is indeed guilty of a very grave sin.”

Then again Al-Nisaa 4: 116 says:

“God does not forgive that partners be associated to Him, besides that He may forgive anything for whom He pleases. Whoever associates partners to God has indeed strayed far away [from the right path].”

These verses do not mean that the only crime that would be punished by God is Shirk – i.e., ascribing partners to God – on the contrary, it means that even though man would deserve to be punished for every crime that He may have committed during the life of this world, God may forgive any crime for whomsoever He pleases, according to His mercy, justice and absolute knowledge, but He will NOT forgive the crime of Shirk for any person.

This, by no means, refutes the fact that there are other crimes like taking the life of another person and fornication (mentioned in Al-Furqaan 25: 68 – 69) that deserve eternal punishment in Hellfire.

As for the narratives that you have cited, they clearly seem to refer to those, whom the Prophet (pbuh) was calling towards Islam. It is with reference to these people and subsequently to all those who dissociate themselves from their polytheistic beliefs and enter the folds of Islam, that he is reported to have said that if they distance themselves from their past polytheistic beliefs and declare the oneness of God, God will grant them paradise, and forgive all their past transgressions, whatever their past crimes may have been. In this sense, this narrative entails the same message, which was entailed in the narrative cited by Muslim, where the Prophet (pbuh) is reported to have said to Am’r ibn al-`aas: i.e., ‘Acceptance of Islam does away with all that preceded it’

I hope this helps.

Regards,

UIUK team
November 10, 2004