Jahannam

Jahannam (Arabic جهنم, DMG ǧahannam ) denotes the Hell in Islam. The Arabic word corresponds to the Hebrew Gehenna. The antonym is Jannah ( paradise ).

Construction

The Hell is intended as a fire pit over which a narrow bridge leading to heaven. All the souls of the dead have to go over this bridge, only the damned fall into the fire, if they are not redeemed by the grace of Allah. In the Quran, is an idea of hell as a kind of animal that howls and boil device ( cf. Qur'an 67:7 ) and the burst with rage and can be procured (see Koran 9:23 ) described.

As with the Christian hell the Islamic Hell is dominated by hellfire. The ability to attain paradise or hell, is the Islamic idea not only for Muslims but in principle also to the members of all religions.

Similar to the purgatory should also exist in the Hell a choice between the death and the general day of resurrection ( yaumu l - Qiyamah ) still to be cleansed of sin and by the grace of Allah still in the Jannah, Paradise collect.

Literary reference

Quran

In the Quran, is often of heaven and hell talk; it is said, for example, in the

• Sure 23.103: " But those who have mild scales, then even went to their forfeited. They will dwell in hell forever ", and in
• Sure 11.106-107: " The unhappy man will then be in the Hellfire, where they howl loudly and shout, and which they live as long as heaven and earth endure - to the extent not otherwise want your master. Your Lord does what he wants. "

Quote

In his book Through the desert from 1892, Karl May be its Arab hero Hadji Halef Omar on the question of the appearance and nature of mentioned there Dschehenna hell reply:

It should be noted that the writer got his information from written sources of the 18th and 19th centuries. It was not until 1899/1900 Karl May traveled to the Orient.