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== Expansions on the afterlife == | == Expansions on the afterlife == | ||
Reynolds notes the Qur’ans provides vivid depictions of hell are highly unlike the New Testament, where Jesus refers to afterlife punishment mostly allusively. The closest the Gospels describe hell is through the few images of “fire,” “wailing,” and “gnashing of teeth.”, for example in Matthew’s Parable of the Weeds, Jesus explains that at the end of the age, the Son of Man will send his angels that will cast evildoers into a fiery furnace where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt 13:40–42).<ref>Reynolds, Gabriel Said. ''Allah: God in the Qur'an (pp. 81-82).'' Yale University Press. Kindle Edition.</ref> He notes the much more constant an vivid Qur'anic descriptions far better match later Christian works that expanded the descriptions to be more gruesome, in order to scare the reader/audience.<ref>Ibid. pp. 88. | |||
''We might note how all of these traditions are meant to make humans yearn for paradise and fear hell. The Qur’an, from this regard, is a profoundly psychological work. Like a Christian preacher, like John Chrysostom or Saint Ephrem, the author of the Qur’an speaks of heaven and hell to persuade his audience to repent and believe. He does so in a way, however, that is distinct—emphasizing physical pain and physical pleasure in order, apparently, to make a greater impression on his audience. He puts a terrible tree into hell and young women in paradise.'' | |||
We might note how all of these traditions are meant to make humans yearn for paradise and fear hell. The Qur’an, from this regard, is a profoundly psychological work. Like a Christian preacher, like John Chrysostom or Saint Ephrem, the author of the Qur’an speaks of heaven and hell to persuade his audience to repent and believe. He does so in a way, however, that is distinct—emphasizing physical pain and physical pleasure in order, apparently, to make a greater impression on his audience. He puts a terrible tree into hell and young women in paradise. | |||
</ref>{{Quote|Reynolds, Gabriel Said. Allah: God in the Qur'an (pp. 82-83). Yale University Press. Kindle Edition.|The way that the Qur’an describes hell in particularly vivid, gruesome terms brings us back to something we mentioned in Chapter 1, namely, that the Qur’an in many ways is a “homiletic” work, a work written like a homily or sermon. The Qur’an’s intention is not simply to declare that those who disobey God will be punished, but to describe that punishment in a way which brings the awfulness of hell to life. Similarly, homilists in the early centuries of Christianity expanded dramatically on the New Testament allusions to hell. In a sermon attributed to John Chrysostom (d. 407) we read a description of hell with the sort of detail that we find in the Qur’an: It is a sea of fire—not a sea of the kind or dimensions we know here, but much larger and fiercer, with waves made of fire, fire of a strange and fearsome kind. There is a great abyss there, in fact, of terrible flames, and one can see fire rushing about on all sides like some wild animal…. There will be no one who can resist, no one who can escape: Christ’s gentle, peaceful face will be nowhere to be seen.<sup>15</sup>}} | |||
== The term sakīnah == | == The term sakīnah == | ||
The term sakīnah is a Rabbinic rather than a biblical one<ref>Bible Hub - [https://biblehub.com/topical/s/shekinah.htm Shekinah] | The term sakīnah is a Rabbinic rather than a biblical one<ref>Bible Hub - [https://biblehub.com/topical/s/shekinah.htm Shekinah] | ||