My latest in PJ Media:
Zakir Naik is one of the most popular Islamic preachers and apologists in the world: his YouTube channel has 2.46 million subscribers, and copious videos explaining the clear truths of Islam, the limpid purity of the Qur’an, and abject falsity of Christianity and other religions. On Sunday, as the Good and Right-Thinking among us were celebrating the Pope’s lovefest with the Shi’ite leader Ayatollah Sistani in Iraq, Naik offered a cold dose of reality by affirming that every non-Muslim, no matter how righteous, even Mother Teresa, was roasting in hell for not accepting Islam. Many Christian sects also teach that nonbelievers will suffer in hellfire, but because of other elements of Islamic theology, Naik’s declaration had an ominous edge that the Christian groups’ teachings do not.
In no mood to engage in the “interfaith dialogue” niceties that are so fashionable, if utterly futile, these days, Naik tackled this issue head-on in a video entitled “Will Good Righteous Non-Muslims like Mother Teresa go to Hell?” He explained, according to OpIndia, that “there are four ways of going to Jannah (paradise). By the token of time, a man is in a state of loss except those who have Faith, those who are righteous, those who do Dawah and those who exhort people to do patience and perseverance. Minimum four criterias are required to go to Jannah.”
So what was Mother Teresa lacking? Naik elaborated: “For the sake of argument, let’s assume that Mother Teresa was righteous. In Islam, righteous includes a lot of things that I believe that Mother Teresa did not have. What about Imaan (Faith in Islam)? If she does Shirk (follow any religion other than Islam and thus prohibited).”
Shirk is the association of partners with Allah in worship, and in Islamic law, it is the worst sin of all. According to the Qur’an, the Christian idea that Jesus is the Son of God and the belief in the divinity of Christ in general is shirk. Committing it makes one an unbeliever (Qur’an 5:17) and places one under Allah’s curse (Qur’an 9:30). Naik cited Biblical texts, including statements of Jesus himself, that he claimed supported the Islamic view, and concluded: “So, according to Jesus Christ, Quran and the Bible, if anybody does Shirk, be it Mother Teresa or anyone else, they shall not enter Jannah.”
Proof That Muslims and Christians Don’t Worship the Same God
This is more than just religious triumphalism because of Islam’s doctrines regarding punishment of unbelievers not just in hell, but in this world as well. “As for those who disbelieve,” Allah declares in the Qur’an, “I will punish them with a heavy punishment in this world and the hereafter, and they will have no helpers” (3:56). How will the unbelievers be punished in this world? The believers will take care of that, as the Qur’an also says: “Fight them, and Allah will punish them by your hands, and he will lay them low and give you victory over them, and he will heal the hearts of people who are believers” (9:14).
There is more. Read the rest here.
Infidel says
So here’s a question I asked in the last thread on this topic: in either Christianity or Islam, if someone has been dead and already gotten to heaven or hell, is there any way that they are ever transferred from one to the other? This question is germane, since Mother Teresa has been dead for 24 years, and now our famous international dawa con-artist tells us that she will go to hell?
So where has she been all these years, according to him?
overman says
probably in purgatory.
somehistory says
Since the Bible indicates that “hell” is a condition of deep sleep while labeled by humans as “dead,” when people die, they go to “hell.”
The Bible says of Jesus Christ that God would not “leave my soul in Sheol (hades/hell)
Psalm 16:10
:”For you will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your holy one to rot in the grave.” New Living Translation
Acts 2:27
Job asked that God “hide him in Sheol,” because of all that satan was putting him through. (Job 14:13) Job expected to be resurrected from there at the appropriate time.
Jesus Christ promised a “resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous,” because everyone goes to “hell.”
Perhaps “evil” people like the mass-murdering raper of children, slave trading thief, filthy sack of slug slime, lying son of satan, and others of his ilk, will not be included in that “resurrection,” but that is for Christ to determine.
somehistory says
So, the answer is: if she went to heaven, then that is where she would stay.
But, as the Bible says, “there will be a resurrection” of people at some future time “in that day,” as Christ promised.
When I was a school kid, there was a song we sang about finding a rotten peanut, eating it anyway, getting sick and dying, going to heaven, doing a poor job of playing the harp, getting kicked out and going to “the other place,” and shoveling coal. The devil wasn’t pleased with that job either, so the peanut eater was kicked out of there to his place back where he was before he ate the rotten peanut.
Perhaps we should examine the life of Lazarus, whom Jesus resurrected after “he had surely begun to smell.”
When He was walking with the dead man’s sisters, he spoke of their brother as “sleeping.” They spoke of “knowing that he will rise in the last day.” (The day of resurrection for the people of earth.) And then, Jesus went to the tomb and called Lazarus out, promising that one day, “All those in the memorial tombs will hear His voice and come out.”
Infidel says
Somehistory, thanks for the explanation. So the way I read it – if one’s already in heaven, there’s no way that that person will be relocated to hell?
somehistory says
You are very welcome, Infidel.
and that is correct…once a person is taken to heaven, they are there to stay as they have proven their faith, and God is “sure” of their heart being wholly devoted to Him.
The Bible explains that a person who *will* be going to heaven still has to stay faithful, or they will lose that grand destiny.
mortimer says
Reply to infidel: the question of the afterlife is complex in Islam, since the Koranic passages and hadith passages on the topic are self-referentially incoherent. The answer to your question is that part of the Koran insists Jews, Christians and Sabians will be in heaven and part of the Koran insists they will be tortured for not believing in the prophet.
Infidel says
And that’s not the question I asked, and as usual, you’re great at answering unasked questions
curious george says
Where is Mother Teresa?
Only the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob knows if she went to heaven or hell.
One doesn’t get to heaven by doing good works, one gets to heaven by being born again and accepting Yeshua Ha’Mashiach as their Lord and Savior.
The trip to heaven or hell is a one way trip, for all of eternity.
“If our salvation is eternally secure, why does the Bible warn so strongly against apostasy?”
https://www.gotquestions.org/apostasy-salvation.html
Patrick White says
I’m one of the 6.98 billion people not following Zakir Naik’s YouTube channel. Instead, I am one of the many who have enjoyed the toe-curlingly funny video entitled Zakir Naik Debunked on that same site.
Raja says
There are many questions of the Bible that seek answers.
Here Infidel and Somehistory have sought to discuss the subject. Unlike Zakir and other Islamic leaders and preachers who make outlandish, contradictory and weird statements (like they did on corona virus infections), I have tried to present some studies on the relevant terms of the bible here:
“Why do some Christians teach that the “soul” is conscious after death, when the Bible plainly teaches that the dead are ‘asleep’?”
There are two significant words in the Greek New Testament for the English term “sleep.” Each of these is used both literally and figuratively, that is, for natural sleep, and also as a symbol for death.
The term katheudo occurs 22 times in the New Testament. In a literal sense it is used of “natural sleep” (Mt. 13:25; 25:5).
The term is employed with reference to death in only one passage. The daughter of a Jewish synagogue ruler, whose name was Jairus, had died (Mk. 5:35). Christ was bidden to the place where the girl was. When he arrived at the home, the Lord confidently said: “the child is not dead, but is sleeping” (v. 39).
That the maiden actually was dead admits of no doubt. The Savior used the term “sleep” figuratively, in view of the fact that this death was to be a temporary heartache. He then raised the twelve-year-old girl from her state of death. Luke says that her “spirit returned” and she rose up immediately (Lk. 8:55).
Another term in the New Testament for “sleep” is koimaomai (a form of koimao). The word is found 18 times. While koimaomai may refer on occasion to normal sleep (Mt. 28:13; Lk. 22:45), predominately (15 of the 18 times) this word is used figuratively for the “sleep” of death (see Mt. 27:52; 1 Cor. 15:20; 1 Thes. 4:13-15).
This metaphorical use of “sleep,” to describe the death of a body, is ancient. It is found in classical Greek (e.g., Homer, Illiad 11.241; Sophocles, El.509; et al.) and in the Septuagint (e.g., 36 times in 2 Kgs. & Chron, as in “he slept with his fathers” — cf. 2 Kg. 14:16).
I would encourage everyone to search internet for more answers.
JamesC. says
Zakir Naik is merely being consistent with Islamic doctrine – just as Christian clergy, or rabbis, ought to be. If orthodox Islam says Mother Teresa or the pope is hateful to allah for (say) committing shirk, fair enough.
The people who soften their convictions in order to avoid causing friction, are the ones who worry me. Such as popes who ignore the Uniqueness of Christ, in order to be pally with non-Christians. That is cowardice, not charity.
Raja says
More answers for my beloved counter jihadists Infidel and Somehistory.
The term hell is found in the King James Version of the English Bible. There is a great deal of confusion among Christian religious folks regarding this word due to the fact that the English form “hell” actually represents three different terms in the Greek New Testament.
Hades, Tartarus, and Gehenna.
Hades
The Greek hades is translated “hell” ten times in the KJV. Most recent versions transliterate the term, bringing it directly into English as Hades.
Tartarus
The apostle Peter wrote that:
“God spared not angels when they sinned, but cast them down to hell, and committed them to pits of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment . . .” (2 Pet. 2:4).
Here, “hell” is from the Greek term tartarosas, a participle, the noun form of which is Tartarus (so rendered in the footnote of the ASV). This is this word’s only occurrence in the New Testament.
Gehenna
The final and eternal abode of those who die apart from God is Gehenna. The word is found twelve times in the Greek New Testament. In eleven of these instances, it is Jesus Christ himself who employs the term.
Gehenna involves a state of awareness. It is very important that this point be made, because there are those who allege that hell will consist in the wicked being annihilated (C. Pinnock, 40; cf. LaGard Smith, 1988). In their view, the occupants of Gehenna will eventually cease to exist. This concept is flawed indeed.
The bible study on these subjects can run into many pages. The same cannot be reproduced here.Hope my brief answers help you to some extend. Thank you.
somehistory says
e tried to respond to your comment…this is the fourth time. If it doesn’t happen that it will allow me, I’m giving up for tonight. Now fifth time.
I agree with almost everything you wrote. Except to say, (this is short form) Gehenna and hell are not the
same. People are not sent to hell due to a “judgment” against them, but due to inherited sin, dying naturally.
Gehenna was in the Valley of Hinnom and was a place of eternal fires burning…day and night…to burn garbage thrown there. Even the bodies of dead animals and bodies of criminals were thrown there to be destroyed.
Jesus asked the Pharisees, “How are you to flee the Judgment of Gehenna,” knowing they would understand the question.
Fire destroys, completely consumes if it’s hot enough. And Gehenna was meant to completely destroy.
And He said, “He will say to those on His left, “Go off into destruction.” (Matthew 25) Destruction, not roasting and toasting and knowing suffering. The “eternal torment” they are said to suffer is the “torment” they will feel when they learn they are to be destroyed, it will never be replaced by other feelings, and so they will feel the “torment eternally.”
The “Lake of fire, that means the second death,” has been reserved for satan the devil, his demon angels, and for those humans who are “liars, adulterers, disgusting in their filth,” and all will be completely destroyed forever. It will be as though they never existed, as the Bible says, “even their memory will be forgotten, never to come to mind.”
However, Jesus also gave some really good news when He said, “Some of those living, will never die at all.”
In Revelation, these are said to be a “great crowd,” out of “every tongue, tribe, nation, peoples,” who go into everlasting life in Paradise. These are the ones in Matthew 25 who are said to be on “His right” and are told to “go into life.”
Raja says
Thank you, Somehistory for the reply. I will do my best to reply on the subject of inheritance of sin and on Gehenna.. Good night….
Raja says
Somehistoy,
The term inherited sin requires us to dwell more deeply in the subject, as we have “inherited” lots of things because of the disobedience of one man, Adam.
I would deal with Gehenna in this post.
Gehenna
The final and eternal abode of those who die apart from God is Gehenna. The word is found twelve times in the Greek New Testament. In eleven of these instances, it is Jesus Christ himself who employs the term.
Bertrand Russell, the agnostic British philosopher, once penned an essay titled: “Why I Am Not A Christian.” One of his main objections was this: “[Jesus] believed in hell.” At least he knew what the Lord taught on this matter, which is more than can be said of some who profess an acquaintance with the Scriptures.
Gehenna is a transliteration of an Old Testament Hebrew expression, “the valley of Hinnom,” which denoted a ravine on the southern side of Jerusalem. This valley was used by certain apostate Hebrews as a place where their children were offered into the fiery arms of the pagan god Molech (2 Chron. 28:3; 33:6). It was thus an area of suffering and weeping. When Josiah launched his reformation, this valley was regarded as a site of heinous abomination (2 Kgs. 23:10-14). It finally became the garbage depository of Jerusalem where there was a continual burning of refuse. Gehenna, being associated with these ideas, appropriately served as a symbolic designation for the place of suffering to which evil persons will be consigned following the Lord’s return. Let us now consider the New Testament passages in which Gehenna is mentioned.
Jesus spoke of Gehenna several times in his “Sermon on the Mount.” For instance, he warned that whoever addresses another: “You fool!” shall be in danger of the “hell of fire” (Mt. 5:22). This does not mean that a legitimate use of the appellation “fool” (or its derivatives) is prohibited (cf. Psa. 14:1; 1 Cor. 15:36; Gal. 3:1). Rather, the Lord condemns the explosive use of pejorative barbs for the sake of venting one’s personal rage.
Employing several examples of hyperbole (for the sake of emphasis), Christ stressed that it would be better to proceed through life with great loss (e.g. deprived of an eye or a limb), rather than having Gehenna as a final destiny (Mt. 5:29-30; cf. 18:9; Mk. 9:43-47).
On another occasion, the Lord said: “And be not afraid of them that kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Mt. 10:28; cf. Lk. 12:5).
In his blistering rebuke of the Jewish leaders who were on the brink of crucifying their own Messiah, Jesus charged:
“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you compass sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he is become so, you make him twofold more a son of hell than yourselves” (Mt. 23:15).
Then in the same discourse: “You serpents, you offspring of vipers, how shall you escape the judgment of hell?” (33).
The final use of Gehenna in the New Testament is where James affirms that the tongue “is set on fire of hell” (3:6). This may suggest that the ability to control one’s tongue (speech) is about as difficult as it would be to contain the continuously raging (the participle is a present tense) flames of Gehenna. The point may be with reference to character, namely that the tongue is frequently given to such poisons as are hellish in nature. Or maybe the destructive quality of the tongue is in view.
Hope this gives some insights on Gehenna. I have not dealt with the nature of Gehenna as that would be equally lengthy in discourse.
gravenimage says
Popular Islamic Preacher Says Mother Teresa Is in Hell Because She Wasn’t Muslim
………………..
But Muslims slaughtering innocent Infidels and raping sex slaves go to paradise–this is how pious Muslims think. *Ugh*.
somehistory says
test
Westman says
Zakir Naik is singing to the “why-are-the-kufaar-so-powerful?” choir to calm their nerves. They know, after watching Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, and the West cornering Iran that physical domination by Islam is finished and the consolation prize is seeing unbelievers burn in hell. Even it won’t happen because the story of Muhammad, being called by Allah, is a fraud.
Andrew Blackadder says
“I do not wish to go to Heaven, none of my friends are there”… Oscar Wilde…
Be afraid of those who are doing the will of god as there is nothing they will not do in his name.
If this silly silly wee man is the best that islamic teachers can come up….then please stop with the ” islam means peace” bullshit…
Hes an Indian given residence in Malaysia.
Stop calling Malaysia a moderate islamic Country, its is NOT.
gravenimage says
Actually, not all religions teach violence. Islam certainly does, though.
Jayell says
‘Mother Teresa Is in Hell Because She Wasn’t Muslim’ – interesting thought. How does he know? Is he getting messages in the ether from his islamic chums who are already down there? But I thought that we infidels were already supposed to be in hell, because the Disciples of the Great Prophet are trying to create it here and now. If that’s not actually their intention, they’re doing a pretty good job anyway.
jirtu says
It’s interesting to note that Mother Teresa–who is in hell, according to the imam–was Armenian (last name Boyajian) and the daughter of an Armenian who had fled from Turkey to Albania due to the Turkish government’s genocide of Armenians. Why genocide? Because Armenians are Christian and not Turks.
Infidel says
I always wondered about that: she was always described as Albanian, despite Albania being a muslim country. So her family fled from Turkey to Albania, and she moved from there to India
jirtu says
She grew up in Albania. She settled in India temporarily to help the poor, the orphans and people who needed medical help. Because of the huge demand for her services, she stayed there for many years.
Infidel says
Many years? She stayed there to the end, and died there
I remember one of her policies that was controversial: non-Christians who wanted to join her mission to serve people were denied admission due to their faith
somehistory says
Still having issues with posting comments. Trying for the third time today.
To Raja
When it comes to study and attempting to understand Scripture, I do not rely on the voice of agnostics or atheists.
I have made much study of the Bible, and if you noticed, I wrote to you about the origins of the word Gehenna…and what Jesus meant when He warned the Pharisees that it would be for them if they did not find a way to “flee the Judgment.”
As for people roasting and toasting and being tormented forever, which your posts seem to be suggesting, I recall the verse where our God said that He “does not take delight in the death of someone wicked, but desires all to attain to repentance.”
God is not going to be watching…or even knowing about…wicked people suffering forever in torment, being conscience of what is happening to them. That would mean He was taking some kind of “delight” in their death.If they were conscience in a torment of burning, God would know about it. So, they won’t be, can’t be. The actions of those who burned their children in the fire were repulsive to God and we were “made in His image.” Those actions are repulsive to Christians, and God said He never “comanded” any such things, nor did “they come into His mind.”He is not going to burn people forever in torment.
Furthermore, in Genesis, God said the punishment for disobedience would be to die. He warned Adam, and through Adam, warned Eve, that they “would die” if they ate of the one tree in the Garden forbidden to them.
When satan approached Eve, he cunningly asked her about eating, and Eve said that if she ate from it, she would “surely die.”
Then satan, lyingly said, “You positively will not die, but your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing (deciding for herself) good and bad.”
There are many verses in the Bible that explain that death is an end…no more thinking, actions, …anything…nothing goes on after dedeath as the “body returns to the dust,” and the “spirit returns to the God Who gave it.” Recall, He breathed into Adam “the breath…or spirit…of life, and Adam came to be a living soul.”
So when a person returns to dust, they know nothing. That is what happened to Adam and Eve. Their spirit of life returned to God. They are “conscience of nothing at all.”
If when they “died,” they had gone on “living’ in a fire of torment…that would not have been what God had told them, because death ends it all and the person returns to dust.
When people are thrown…in the near future…into the “lake of fire, which means the second death,” they will be returning…forever…to dust and their spirit of life will return to God. They will not have any future…no hope of ever living again through a resurrection.
The “second death,” has to be “death” like the first one people may suffer…no actions, no thinking, no feeling, no knowledge, but then it has the forever dead…like Adam and Eve are forever dead.God is not going to punish a person unendingly. The Bible says, “The wages sin pays is death.” Death brought on humankind by Adam doesn’t have to be permanent due to Christ’s sacrifice. but, the “Second death,” will be permanent due to willful sin on the part of the person dying that second time.No one will ever convince me that our Loving Creator would burn people in a torment of fire, with them being conscience of the burning pain. He is a God of Love. He’s not going to “take delight,” in putting people to death, but it won’t be a peaceful going to sleep, either. But, when it is done, it will be over and done, forever.
somehistory says
2nd attempt with this short comment. Please excuse my typos in the post above. They came about due to copying and pasting
James Lincoln says
somehistory,
On rare occasion, I have had trouble posting.
There is a “contact us” below on this website – someone may be able to help you out…
somehistory says
thanks, J.L.
At one point, I could not get to the site at all…it kept giving me an error and saying to check back . try again later.
When I could access the site, it was still giving me the error message. I was copying and pasting over and over.
somehistory says
I tried putting that comment as a ‘reply,’ but several tries and no go. so, I just put it as a comment and not a reply and it worked.
Raja says
Somehistory,
Thanks for the painstaking reply from your end. I tried to clear the misconceptions about the word hell as it has been interchanged with other words like Hades and Gehenna.
I am in agreement with you for the most part. God is also a just God, a divine person and with standards.He has always struggled with mankind due to his rebellion.He is also a consuming fire and dangerous. His vindictiveness was revealed through how he dealt with the enemies of His people (for what they did) when they were on the way to the promised land.
You are probably referring to the loving God as epitomized by Jesus Christ who was God in flesh on this earth. The God of the bible and god of the koran are opposites.
May be I should deal with the attributes of God in more detail, so that we can be on the same page.