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{{Short description|Abode of the dead in various cultures}}{{About|the abode of the dead in various cultures and religious traditions around the world}}{{pp-move-indef}}{{pp-semi-indef}}{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2022}}{{morefootnotes|date=June 2023}}File:Hortus Deliciarum - Hell.jpg|thumb|alt=|Medieval illustration of hell in the manuscript of Herrad of LandsbergHerrad of LandsbergFile:Hell-fresco-from-Raduil.jpg|thumb|Hell – detail from a fresco in the medieval church of St Nicholas in Raduil, BulgariaBulgaria(File:Belief in Hell.png|thumb|Belief in hell by country (2017–2020))In religion and folklore, hell is a location or state in the afterlife in which souls are subjected to punitive suffering, most often through torture, as punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as eternal destinations, the biggest examples of which are Christianity and Islam, whereas religions with reincarnation usually depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations, as is the case in the Indian religions. Religions typically locate hell in another dimension or under Earth’s surface. Other afterlife destinations include heaven, paradise, purgatory, limbo, and the underworld.Other religions, which do not conceive of the afterlife as a place of punishment or reward, merely describe an abode of the dead, the grave, a neutral place that is located under the surface of Earth (for example, see Kur, Hades, and Sheol). Such places are sometimes equated with the English word hell, though a more correct translation would be “underworld” or “world of the dead”. The ancient Mesopotamian, Greek, Roman, and Finnic religions include entrances to the underworld from the land of the living.

Overview

Etymology

File:Hel (1889) by Johannes Gehrts.jpg|thumb|Hel (1889) by Johannes Gehrts, depicts the Old Norse Hel, a goddess-like figure, in the location of the same name, which she oversees]]The modern English word hell is derived from Old English hel, helle (first attested around 725 AD to refer to a nether world of the dead) reaching into the Anglo-Saxon pagan period.Barnhart, Robert K. (1995) The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, page 348. HarperCollins {{ISBN|0-06-270084-7}} The word has cognates in all branches of the Germanic languages, including Old Norse hel (which refers to both a location and goddess-like being in Norse mythology), Old Frisian helle, Old Saxon hellia, Old High German hella, and Gothic halja. All forms ultimately derive from the reconstructed Proto-Germanic feminine noun *xaljō or *haljō (’concealed place, the underworld’). In turn, the Proto-Germanic form derives from the o-grade form of the Proto-Indo-European root *kel-, *kol-: ‘to cover, conceal, save’.For discussion and analysis, see Orel (2003:156) and Watkins (2000:38). Indo-European cognates include Latin cÄ“lāre (“to hide”, related to the English word cellar) and early Irish ceilid (“hides“). Upon the Christianisation of the Germanic peoples, extensions of the Proto-Germanic *xaljō were reinterpreted to denote the underworld in Christian mythology“hell, n. and int.” OED Online, Oxford University Press, January 2018, www.oed.com/view/Entry/85636. Accessed 7 February 2018. (see Gehenna).Related early Germanic terms and concepts include Proto-Germanic *xalja-rÅ«nō(n), a feminine compound noun, and *xalja-wÄ«tjan, a neutral compound noun. This form is reconstructed from the Latinized Gothic plural noun *haliurunnae (attested by Jordanes; according to philologist Vladimir Orel, meaning ‘witches’), Old English helle-rúne (’sorceress, necromancer’, according to Orel), and Old High German helli-rÅ«na ‘magic’. The compound is composed of two elements: *xaljō (*haljō) and *rÅ«nō, the Proto-Germanic precursor to Modern English rune.See discussion at Orel (2003:155–156 & 310). The second element in the Gothic haliurunnae may however instead be an agent noun from the verb rinnan (“to run, go“), which would make its literal meaning “one who travels to the netherworld”.Scardigli, Piergiuseppe, Die Goten: Sprache und Kultur (1973) pp. 70–71.Lehmann, Winfred, A Gothic Etymological Dictionary (1986)Proto–Germanic *xalja-wÄ«tjan (or *halja-wÄ«tjan) is reconstructed from Old Norse hel-víti ‘hell’, Old English helle-wíte ‘hell-torment, hell’, Old Saxon helli-wÄ«ti ‘hell’, and the Middle High German feminine noun helle-wÄ«ze. The compound is a compound of *xaljō (discussed above) and *wÄ«tjan (reconstructed from forms such as Old English witt ‘right mind, wits’, Old Saxon gewit ‘understanding’, and Gothic un-witi ‘foolishness, understanding’).Orel (2003:156 & 464).

Religion, mythology, and folklore

Hell appears in several mythologies and religions. It is commonly inhabited by demons and the souls of dead people. A fable about hell which recurs in folklore across several cultures is the allegory of the long spoons.{{fact|date=January 2023}}

Punishment

File:Fresque église huaro.JPG|thumb|240px|Preserved colonial wall paintings of 1802 depicting Hell,BOOK,books.google.com/books?id=A6nutjzmxvkC&q=historia+colonial+de+cusco&pg=PA382, 106, The Colonial Andes: Tapestries and Silverwork, 1530–1830, Elena Phipps, Joanna Hecht, Cristina Esteras Martín, 2004, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 0-300-10491-X, BOOK,books.google.com/books?id=Vpi5xwEACAAJ&q=SEBASTI%C3%81N+L%C3%93PEZ,+Santiago.+El+barroco+iberoamericano+1990, El bárroco iberoamericano. Mensaje iconográfico, 1990, Madrid, 241, Ediciones Encuentro, Santiago Sebastián López, 978-84-7490-249-5, WEB,mavcor.yale.edu/conversations/collections/painting-beyond-frame-religious-murals-colonial-peru, Painting Beyond the Frame: Religious Murals of Colonial Peru, Ananda Cohen Suarez, May 2016, MAVCOR of the Yale University, by Tadeo Escalante, inside the Church of San Juan Bautista in Huaro, PeruPeruPunishment in hell typically corresponds to sins committed during life. Sometimes these distinctions are specific, with damned souls suffering for each sin committed, such as in Plato’s Myth of Er or Dante’s The Divine Comedy, but sometimes they are general, with condemned sinners relegated to one or more chamber of hell or to a level of suffering.{{fact|date=January 2023}}In many religious cultures, including Christianity and Islam, hell is often depicted as fiery, painful, and harsh, inflicting suffering on the guilty.Examples from the New Testament include Mark 9:43–48, Luke 16:19–24, Revelation 9:11; from the Quran, Al-Baqara verse 24, and Al-Mulk verses 5–7. Despite these common depictions of hell as a place of fire, some other traditions portray hell as cold. Buddhist{{snd}}and particularly Tibetan Buddhist{{snd}}descriptions of hell feature an equal number of hot and cold hells. Among Christian descriptions Dante’s Inferno portrays the innermost (9th) circle of hell as a frozen lake of blood and guilt.BOOK, Alighieri, Dante, Dante Alighieri, trans. John Ciardi, Inferno, c. 1315, 2, June 2001, orig. trans. 1977, Penguin! Hebrew OT! Septuagint! Greek NT! times in NT! Vulgate! KJV! NIV|(Not applicable)|(Not applicable)

New York City>New York, Cantos XXXI–XXXIV, Divine Comedy, But cold also played a part in earlier Christian depictions of hell or purgatory, beginning with the Apocalypse of Paul, originally from the early third century;BOOK, Gardiner, Eileen, Visions of heaven and hell before Dante, 1989, Italica Press, 978-0-934977-14-2, 43, 18741120, the “Vision of Dryhthelm” by the Venerable Bede from the seventh century;Gardiner, Visions, pp. 58 and 61. “St Patrick’s Purgatory”, “The Vision of Tundale” or “Visio Tnugdali”, and the “Vision of the Monk of Eynsham”, all from the twelfth century;Gardiner, Visions, pp. 141, 160 and 174, and 206–7. and the “Vision of Thurkill” from the early thirteenth century.Gardiner, Visions, pp. 222 and 232. Polytheism Africa The hell of Swahili mythology is called kuzimu, and belief in it developed in the 7th and 8th century under the influence of Muslim merchants at the East African coast.BOOK, Crisafulli, Chuck, Thompson, Kyra, Go to Hell: A Heated History of the Underworld, 2010, Simon & Schuster, 978-1-4516-0473-3, 75,books.google.com/books?id=h-SHq2vPd-4C&pg=PA75, 5 August 2015, It is imagined as a very cold place. Serer religion rejects the general notion of heaven and hell.{{in lang|fr}} Thiaw, Issa Laye, “La religiosité des Seereer, avant et pendant leur islamisation”, [in] Éthiopiques, no. 54, volume 7, 2e semestre 1991 In Serer religion, acceptance by the ancestors who have long departed is as close to any heaven as one can get. Rejection and becoming a wandering soul is a sort of hell for one passing over. The souls of the dead must make their way to Jaaniw (the sacred dwelling place of the soul). Only those who have lived their lives on earth in accordance with Serer doctrines will be able to make this necessary journey and thus be accepted by the ancestors. Those who cannot make the journey become lost and wandering souls, but they do not burn in “hell fire”.{{in lang|fr}} Gravrand, Henry, “La civilisation sereer, vol. II: Pangool, Nouvelles éditions africaines, Dakar, 1990, pp 91–128, {{ISBN|2-7236-1055-1}} (Jaaniw, variation: “Jaaniiw”)According to the Yoruba mythology, there is no hellfire. Wicked people (guilty of e.g. theft, witchcraft, murder, or crueltyAsante, M. K.; Mazama, A.: Encyclopedia of African religion, vol. 1. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications. 2009, p. 238, {{ISBN|978-1-4129-3636-1}}.) are confined to Orun Apaadi (heaven of potsherds), while the good people continue to live in the ancestral realm, Orun Baba Eni (heaven of our fathers).Ogunade, R.: African Eschatology and the Future of the cosmos, www.unilorin.edu.ng. Ancient Egypt missing image! - El pesado del corazón en el Papiro de Hunefer.jpg - In this ~1275 BC Book of the Dead scene the dead scribe Hunefer’s heart is weighed on the scale of Maat against the feather of truth, by the canine-headed Anubis. The ibis-headed Thoth, scribe of the gods, records the result. If his heart is lighter than the feather, Hunefer is allowed to pass into the afterlife. If not, he is eaten by the crocodile-headed Ammit.WEB,www.egyptartsite.com/hall1.html, Egyptian Book of the Dead, Egyptartsite.com, 18 August 2012,www.egyptartsite.com/hall1.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20120926051942www.egyptartsite.com/hall1.html,">web.archive.org/web/20120926051942www.egyptartsite.com/hall1.html, 26 September 2012, With the rise of the cult of Osiris during the Middle Kingdom the “democratization of religion” offered to even his humblest followers the prospect of eternal life, with moral fitness becoming the dominant factor in determining a person’s suitability. At death a person faced judgment by a tribunal of forty-two divine judges. If they had led a life in conformance with the precepts of the goddess Maat, who represented truth and right living, the person was welcomed into the heavenly reed fields. If found guilty the person was thrown to Ammit, the “devourer of the dead” and would be condemned to the lake of fire.Religion and Magic in Ancient Egypt, Rosalie David, p. 158–159, Penguin, 2002, {{ISBN|0-14-026252-0}} The person taken by the devourer is subject first to terrifying punishment and then annihilated. These depictions of punishment may have influenced medieval perceptions of the inferno in hell via early Christian and Coptic texts.The Essential Guide to Egyptian Mythology: The Oxford Guide, “Hell”, p161-162, Jacobus Van Dijk, Berkley Reference, 2003, {{ISBN|0-425-19096-X}} Purification for those considered justified appears in the descriptions of “Flame Island”, where humans experience the triumph over evil and rebirth. For the damned complete destruction into a state of non-being awaits but there is no suggestion of eternal torture; the weighing of the heart in Egyptian mythology can lead to annihilation.The Divine Verdict, John Gwyn Griffiths, p233, BRILL, 1991, {{ISBN|90-04-09231-5}}See also letter by Prof. Griffith to The Independent, 32{{clarify|date=September 2012}} December 1993 WEB,www.independent.co.uk/opinion/letter-hell-in-the-ancient-world-1470076.html, Letter: Hell in the ancient world, Independent.co.uk, 18 September 2011, 28 October 2017, live,www.independent.co.uk/opinion/letter-hell-in-the-ancient-world-1470076.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20120901184319www.independent.co.uk/opinion/letter-hell-in-the-ancient-world-1470076.html,">web.archive.org/web/20120901184319www.independent.co.uk/opinion/letter-hell-in-the-ancient-world-1470076.html, 1 September 2012, The Tale of Khaemwese describes the torment of a rich man, who lacked charity, when he dies and compares it to the blessed state of a poor man who has also died.The Civilization of Ancient Egypt, Paul Johnson, 1978, p. 170; see also Ancient Egyptian Literature, Miriam Lichtheim, vol 3, p. 126Divine pardon at judgment always remained a central concern for the ancient Egyptians.“Egyptian Religion”, Jan Assman, The Encyclopedia of Christianity, p77, vol2, Wm. B Eerdmans Publishing, 1999, {{ISBN|90-04-11695-8}}Modern understanding of Egyptian notions of hell relies on six ancient texts:WEB,www.hell-on-line.org/TextsEGY.html, Eileen Gardiner, editor; Hell-On-Line:Egyptian Hell Texts; Book of Two Ways, Book of Amduat, Book of Gates, Book of the Dead, Book of the Earth, Book of Caverns, live,www.hell-on-line.org/TextsEGY.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20151105010042www.hell-on-line.org/TextsEGY.html,">web.archive.org/web/20151105010042www.hell-on-line.org/TextsEGY.html, 5 November 2015, The Book of Two Ways (Book of the Ways of Rosetau) The Book of Amduat (Book of the Hidden Room, Book of That Which Is in the Underworld) The Book of Gates The Book of the Dead (Book of Going Forth by Day) The Book of the Earth The Book of Caverns Asia The hells of Asia include the Bagobo “Gimokodan” (which is believed to be more of an otherworld, where the Red Region is reserved who those who died in battle, while ordinary people go to the White Region)pantheon.org/articles/g/gimokodan.html, Gimokodan, Encyclopedia Mythica, 10 August 2004. and in Indian religions, “Kalichi” or “Naraka”.According to a few sources, hell is below ground, and described as an uninviting wetBOOK, Carl Etter, Ainu Folklore: Traditions and Culture of the Vanishing Aborigines of Japan,books.google.com/books?id=-o8OAQAAIAAJ, 1949, Wilcox & Follett Company, 150, or fiery place reserved for sinful people in the Ainu religion, as stated by missionary John Batchelor.John Batchelor: The Ainu and Their Folk-Lore, London 1901, p. 567-569. However, belief in hell does not appear in oral tradition of the Ainu.Takako Yamada: The Worldview of the Ainu. Nature and Cosmos Reading from Language, p. 25–37, p. 123. Instead, there is belief within the Ainu religion that the soul of the deceased (ramat) would become a kamuy after death. There is also belief that the soul of someone who has been wicked during lifetime, committed suicide, got murdered or died in great agony would become a ghost (tukap) who would haunt the living, to come to fulfillment from which it was excluded during life.Norbert Richard Adami: Religion und Schaminismus der Ainu auf Sachalin (Karafuto), Bonn 1989, p. 45.In Taoism, hell is represented by Diyu. Ancient Mesopotamia File:Dumuzi aux enfers.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Ancient Sumerian cylinder seal impression showing the god Dumuzid being tortured in the Underworld by galla demons]]The Sumerian afterlife was a dark, dreary cavern located deep below the ground,WEB, Choksi, M., 2014, Ancient Mesopotamian Beliefs in the Afterlife,www.worldhistory.org/article/701/, World History Encyclopedia, worldhistory.org, live,www.ancient.eu/article/701/," title="web.archive.org/web/20170820114719www.ancient.eu/article/701/,">web.archive.org/web/20170820114719www.ancient.eu/article/701/, 20 August 2017, where inhabitants were believed to continue “a shadowy version of life on earth”. This bleak domain was known as Kur,BOOK, Black, Jeremy, Anthony, Green, Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary, The British Museum Press, 1992, 978-0-7141-1705-8, {{rp|114}} and was believed to be ruled by the goddess Ereshkigal.{{citation|last=Nemet-Nejat|first=Karen Rhea|author-link=Karen Rhea Nemet-Nejat|date=1998|title=Daily Life in Ancient Mesopotamia|publisher=Greenwood|isbn=978-0-313-29497-6|url=https://archive.org/details/dailylifeinancie00neme}}{{rp|184}} All souls went to the same afterlife, and a person’s actions during life had no effect on how the person would be treated in the world to come.The souls in Kur were believed to eat nothing but dry dust{{rp|58}} and family members of the deceased would ritually pour libations into the dead person’s grave through a clay pipe, thereby allowing the dead to drink.{{rp|58}} Nonetheless, funerary evidence indicates that some people believed that the goddess Inanna, Ereshkigal’s younger sister, had the power to award her devotees with special favors in the afterlife.JOURNAL, Barrett, Caitlín, Was Dust Their Food and Clay Their Bread? Grave Goods, the Mesopotamian Afterlife, and the Liminal Role of Inana/Ishtar, Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions, 2007, 7, 1, 7–65, 10.1163/156921207781375123, 55116377, During the Third Dynasty of Ur, it was believed that a person’s treatment in the afterlife depended on how he or she was buried;{{rp|58}} those that had been given sumptuous burials would be treated well,{{rp|58}} but those who had been given poor burials would fare poorly.{{rp|58}}The entrance to Kur was believed to be located in the Zagros mountains in the far east.{{rp|114}} It had seven gates, through which a soul needed to pass. The god Neti was the gatekeeper.{{rp|184}}{{rp|86}} Ereshkigal’s sukkal, or messenger, was the god Namtar.{{rp|134}}{{rp|184}} Galla were a class of demons that were believed to reside in the underworld;{{rp|85}} their primary purpose appears to have been to drag unfortunate mortals back to Kur.{{rp|85}} They are frequently referenced in magical texts,{{rp|85–86}} and some texts describe them as being seven in number.{{rp|85–86}} Several extant poems describe the galla dragging the god Dumuzid into the underworld.{{rp|86}} The later Mesopotamians knew this underworld by its East Semitic name: Irkalla. During the Akkadian Period, Ereshkigal’s role as the ruler of the underworld was assigned to Nergal, the god of death.{{rp|184}} The Akkadians attempted to harmonize this dual rulership of the underworld by making Nergal Ereshkigal’s husband. Europe {{see also|Hel (location)|Nav (Slavic folklore)}}The hells of Europe include Breton mythology’s “Anaon”, Celtic mythology’s “Uffern”, Slavic mythology’s “Peklo”, Norse mythology’s Náströnd, the hell of Sami mythology and Finnish “Tuonela” (“manala“). Ancient Greece and Rome In classic Greek mythology, below heaven, Earth, and Pontus is Tartarus, or Tartaros (). It is either a deep, gloomy place, a pit or abyss used as a dungeon of torment and suffering that resides within Hades (the entire underworld) with Tartarus being the hellish component. In the Gorgias, Plato (c. 400 BC) wrote that souls of the deceased were judged after they paid for crossing the river of the dead and those who received punishment were sent to Tartarus.Plato, Gorgias, 523a-527e. As a place of punishment, it can be considered a hell. The classic Hades, on the other hand, is more similar to Old Testament Sheol. The Romans later adopted these views. Abrahamic religions Hell is conceived of in most Abrahamic religions as a place of, or a form of, punishment.Heart of Buddha, Heart of China: James Carter – 2010, p 75 Judaism {{See also|Gehenna|Qlippoth|Sheol}}Judaism does not have a specific doctrine about the afterlife, but it does have a mystical/Orthodox tradition of describing Gehinnom. Gehinnom is not hell, but originally a grave and in later times a sort of Purgatory where one is judged based on one’s life’s deeds, or rather, where one becomes fully aware of one’s own shortcomings and negative actions during one’s life. The Kabbalah explains it as a “waiting room” (commonly translated as an “entry way“) for all souls (not just the wicked). The overwhelming majority of rabbinic thought maintains that people are not in Gehinnom forever; the longest that one can be there is said to be 12 months, however, there has been the occasional noted exception. Some consider it a spiritual forge where the soul is purified for its eventual ascent to Olam Habah (heb. עולם הבא; lit. “The world to come”, often viewed as analogous to heaven). This is also mentioned in the Kabbalah, where the soul is described as breaking, like the flame of a candle lighting another: the part of the soul that ascends being pure and the “unfinished” piece being reborn.According to Jewish teachings, hell is not entirely physical; rather, it can be compared to a very intense feeling of shame. People are ashamed of their misdeeds and this constitutes suffering which makes up for the bad deeds. When one has so deviated from the will of God, one is said to be in Gehinnom. This is not meant to refer to some point in the future, but to the very present moment. The gates of teshuva (return) are said to be always open, and so one can align his will with that of God at any moment. Being out of alignment with God’s will is itself a punishment according to the Torah.Many scholars of Jewish mysticism, particularly of the Kabbalah, describe seven “compartments” or “habitations” of hell, just as they describe seven divisions of heaven. These divisions go by many different names, and the most frequently mentioned are as follows:(edit.) Boustan, Ra’anan S. Reed, Annette Yoshiko. Heavenly Realms and Earthly Realities in Late Antique Religions. Cambridge University Press, 2004. Sheol (Hebrew: שְׁאוֹל – “underworld”, “Hades”; “grave“) Abaddon (Hebrew: אֲבַדּוֹן – “doom”, “perdition“) Be’er Shachat (Hebrew: בְּאֵר שַׁחַת, Be’er Shachath – “pit of corruption“) Tit ha-Yaven (Hebrew: טִיט הַיָוֵן – “clinging mud“) Sha’are Mavet (Hebrew: שַׁעֲרֵי מָוֶת, Sha’arei Maveth – “gates of death“) Tzalmavet (Hebrew: צַלמָוֶת, Tsalmaveth – “shadow of death“) Gehinnom (Hebrew: גֵיהִנוֹם, Gehinnom – “valley of Hinnom”; “Tartarus”, “Purgatory“) Besides those mentioned above, there also exist additional terms that have been often used to either refer to hell in general or to some region of the underworld: Azazel (Hebrew: עֲזָאזֵל, compd. of ez ×¢Öµ×–: “goat” + azal אָזַל: “to go away” – “goat of departure”, “scapegoat”; “entire removal”, “damnation“) Dudael (Hebrew: דּוּדָאֵל – lit. “cauldron of God“) Tehom (Hebrew: תְהוֹם – “abyss”; “sea”, “deep ocean“)Palmer, Abram Smythe. Studies on Biblical Studies, No. I. “Babylonian Influence on the Bible and Popular Beliefs: “TÄ•hôm and Tiâmat”, “Hades and Satan” – A Comparative Study of Genesis I. 2” London, 1897; pg. 53. Tophet (Hebrew: תֹּפֶת or תוֹפֶת, Topheth – “fire-place”, “place of burning”, “place to be spit upon”; “inferno“)Rev. Clarence Larkin. The Spirit World. “Chapter VI: The Underworld”. Philadelphia, PA. 1921. Moyer & LotterWright, Charles Henry Hamilton. The Fatherhood of God: And Its Relation to the Person and Work of Christ, and the Operations of the Holy Spirit. Edinburgh, Scotland. 1867. T. and T. Clark; pg. 88. Tzoah Rotachat (Hebrew: צוֹאָה רוֹתֵחַת, Tsoah Rothachath – “boiling excrement“)Rev. Edward Bouverie Pusey. What is of Faith as to Everlasting Punishment: In Reply to Dr. Farrar’s Challenge in His Ê»Eternal Hope,’ 1879. James Parker & Co., 1881; pg. 102, spelled “zoa rothachath”. Mashchit (Hebrew: מַשְׁחִית, Mashchith – “destruction”, “ruin“) Dumah (Hebrew: דוּמָה – “silence“) Neshiyyah (Hebrew: נְשִׁיָּה – “oblivion”, “Limbo“) Bor Shaon (Hebrew: בּוֹר שָׁאוֹן – “cistern of sound“) Eretz Tachtit (Hebrew: אֶרֶץ תַּחְתִּית, Erets Tachtith – “lowest earth“).Mew, James. Traditional Aspects of Hell: (Ancient and Modern). S. Sonnenschein & Company Lim., 1903.Rev. A. Lowy. Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology, Volume 10, “Old Jewish Legends of Biblical Topics: Legendary Description of Hell”. 1888. pg. 339 Masak Mavdil (Hebrew: מָסָך מַבְדִּ֔יל, Masak Mabdil – “dividing curtain“) Haguel (Ethiopic: ሀጉለ – “(place of) destruction”, “loss”, “waste“)Charles, Robert Henry. The Ascension of Isaiah. London. A. & C. Black, 1900. pg. 70.; synonymous with Abaddon, Sheol and Gehinnom in the sense of being the final abode of the damned. Ikisat (Ethiopic: አክይስት – “serpents”, “dragons”; “place of future punishment“)Sola, David Aaron. Signification of the Proper Names, Etc., Occurring in the Book of Enoch: From the Hebrew and Chaldee Languages London, 1852.Rev. X.Y.Z. Merry England, Volume 22, “The Story of a Conversion” 1894. pg. 151 Maimonides declares in his 13 principles of faith that the hells of the rabbinic literature were pedagogically motivated inventions to encourage respect of the Torah commandments by mankind, which had been regarded as immature.Maimonides’ Introduction to Perek Helek, ed. and transl. by Maimonides Heritage Center, p. 3–4. Instead of being sent to hell, the souls of the wicked would actually get annihilated.Maimonides’ Introduction to Perek Helek, ed. and transl. by Maimonides Heritage Center, p. 22-23. Christianity File:Valley of Hinom PA180090.JPG|thumb|“Gehenna”, Valley of HinnomValley of HinnomFile:Brooklyn Museum - The Bad Rich Man in Hell (Le mauvais riche dans l’Enfer) - James Tissot - overall.jpg|thumb|right|The parable of the Rich man and Lazarus depicting the rich man in hell asking for help to Abraham and Lazarus in heaven by James Tissot]]File:Harrowing of hell Christ leads Adam by the hand. On scroll in border, the motto ‘Entre tenir Dieu le viuelle’ (f. 125) Cropped.jpg|thumb|Harrowing of HellHarrowing of HellFile:Fra Angelico 010.jpg|thumb|The Last Judgment, Hell, c.1431, by Fra AngelicoFra AngelicoThe Christian doctrine of hell derives from passages in the New Testament. The English word hell does not appear in the Greek New Testament; instead one of three words is used: the Greek words Tartarus or Hades, or the Hebrew word Gehinnom.In the Septuagint and New Testament, the authors used the Greek term Hades for the Hebrew Sheol, but often with Jewish rather than Greek concepts in mind. In the Jewish concept of Sheol, such as expressed in Ecclesiastes,Ecclesiastes 9:10 πάντα ὅσα ἂν εὕρῃ ἡ χείρ σου τοῦ ποιῆσαι ὡς ἡ δύναμίς σου ποίησον ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν ποίημα καὶ λογισμὸς καὶ γνῶσις καὶ σοφία ἐν ᾅδῃ ὅπου σὺ πορεύῃ ἐκεῖ Sheol or Hades is a place where there is no activity. However, since Augustine, some {{which|date=July 2019}} Christians have believed that the souls of those who die either rest peacefully, in the case of Christians, or are afflicted, in the case of the damned, after death until the resurrection.BOOK, Hoekema, Anthony A, The Bible and the Future, 1994, Grand Rapids, Wm. B. Eerdmans, 92, {| class=“wikitable”

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While these three terms are translated in the KJV as “hell” they have three very different meanings.

• Hades has similarities to the Old Testament term, Sheol as “the place of the dead” or “grave”. Thus, it is used in reference to both the righteous and the wicked, since both wind up there eventually.BOOK, Unger, Merrill F., Merrill Unger, 1981, Unger’s Bible Dictionary, Moody Bible Institute, The, Chicago, 467,
• Gehenna refers to the “Valley of Hinnom”, which was a garbage dump outside of Jerusalem. It was a place where people burned their garbage and thus there was always a fire burning there.{{contradict inline|article=Gehenna|section=Rabbinical Judaism|date=July 2019}} Bodies of those deemed to have died in sin without hope of salvation (such as people who committed suicide) were thrown there to be destroyed.The New Schaf-Herzog Encyclopedia of religious Knowledge, p. 415 Gehenna is used in the New Testament as a metaphor for the final place of punishment for the wicked after the resurrection.The New Schaf-Herzog Encyclopedia of religious Knowledge pgs. 414–415
• Tartaróō (the verb “throw to Tartarus”, used of the fall of the Titans in a scholium on Illiad 14.296) occurs only once in the New Testament in II Peter 2:4, where it is parallel to the use of the noun form in 1 Enoch as the place of incarceration of the fallen angels. It mentions nothing about human souls being sent there in the afterlife.

According to the Roman Catholic Church, the Council of Trent taught, in the 5th canon of its 14th session, that damnation is eternal: “...the loss of eternal blessedness, and the eternal damnation which he has incurred...“Council of Trent, Session 14, Canon 5The Catholic Church defines hell as “a state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed”. One finds oneself in hell as the result of dying in mortal sin without repenting and accepting God’s merciful love, becoming eternally separated from him by one’s own free choiceCatechism of the Catholic Church, Article 1033 immediately after death.Catechism of the Catholic Church, Article 1035 In the Roman Catholic Church, many other Christian churches, such as the Methodists, Baptists and Episcopalians, and some Greek Orthodox churches,See Kallistos Ware, “Dare we hope for the salvation of all?” in The Inner Kingdom: Volume 1 of the Collected Works hell is taught as the final destiny of those who have not been found worthy after the general resurrection and last judgment,WEB,www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation+20:11-15, Revelation 20:11–15, Bible Gateway, live,www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation+20:11-15," title="web.archive.org/web/20071203142225www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation+20:11-15,">web.archive.org/web/20071203142225www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation+20:11-15, 3 December 2007, WEB,www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans+6:23, Romans 6:23, Bible Gateway, live,www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+6:23," title="web.archive.org/web/20080602120139www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+6:23,">web.archive.org/web/20080602120139www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+6:23, 2 June 2008, Mt 25:31, 32, 46 where they will be eternally punished for sin and permanently separated from God.BOOK, Evangelical Methodist Church Discipline, 15 July 2017, Evangelical Methodist Church Conference, English, 17, The nature of this judgment is inconsistent with many Protestant churches teaching the saving comes from accepting Jesus Christ as their savior, while the Greek Orthodox and Catholic Churches teach that the judgment hinges on both faith and works. However, many Liberal Christians throughout Mainline Protestant churches believe in universal reconciliation (see below), even though it contradicts the traditional doctrines that are usually held by the evangelicals within their denominations.NEWS,news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/699929.stm, BBC, Hell – it’s about to get hotter, 4 April 2000, 30 April 2012, Joe, Gooden, live,news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/699929.stm," title="web.archive.org/web/20121031013436news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/699929.stm,">web.archive.org/web/20121031013436news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/699929.stm, 31 October 2012, Regarding the belief in hell, the interpretation of Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus is also relevant.Heinrich Döring: Der universale Anspruch der Kirche und die nichtchristlichen Religionen, in: Münchener Theologische Zeitschrift 41 (1990), p. 78 et sqq.Some modern Christian theologians subscribe to the doctrines of conditional immortality. Conditional immortality is the belief that the soul dies with the body and does not live again until the resurrection. As with other Jewish writings of the Second Temple period, the New Testament text distinguishes two words, both translated “hell” in older English Bibles: Hades, “the grave”, and Gehenna where God “can destroy both body and soul”.WEB, 4.9 Hell,www.christadelphians.com/biblebasics/0409hell.html, The Christadelphians, 6 August 2015, A minority of Christians read this to mean that neither Hades nor Gehenna are eternal but refer to the ultimate destruction of the wicked in the Lake of Fire in a consuming fire after resurrection. However, because of the Greek words used in translating from the Hebrew text, the Hebrew ideas have become confused with Greek myths and ideas. In the Hebrew text when people died they went to Sheol, the graveWEB, Hirsch, Emil G, SHEOL,www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/13563-sheol, JewishEncyclopedia.com, 10 August 2015, live,www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/13563-sheol," title="web.archive.org/web/20150918204814www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/13563-sheol,">web.archive.org/web/20150918204814www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/13563-sheol, 18 September 2015, and the wicked ultimately went to Gehenna and were consumed by fire. The Hebrew words for “the grave” or “death” or “eventual destruction of the wicked”, were translated using Greek words and later texts became a mix of mistranslation, pagan influence, and Greek myth.WEB, Bedore, Th.D., W. Edward, Hell, Sheol, Hades, Paradise, and the Grave, September 2007,www.bereanbiblesociety.org/hell-sheol-hades-paradise-and-the-grave/, Berean Bible Society, 10 August 2015, live,web.archive.org/web/20150711233406/https://www.bereanbiblesociety.org/hell-sheol-hades-paradise-and-the-grave/, 11 July 2015, Christian mortalism is the doctrine that all men and women, including Christians, must die, and do not continue and are not conscious after death. Therefore, annihilationism includes the doctrine that “the wicked” are also destroyed rather than tormented forever in traditional “hell” or the lake of fire. Christian mortalism and annihilationism are directly related to the doctrine of conditional immortality, the idea that a human soul is not immortal unless it is given eternal life at the second coming of Christ and resurrection of the dead.Biblical scholars looking at the issue through the Hebrew text have denied the teaching of innate immortality.{{Citation | quote = Many biblical scholars down throughout history, looking at the issue through Hebrew rather than Greek eyes, have denied the teaching of innate immortality. | last = Knight | title = A brief history of Seventh-Day Adventists | page = 42 | year = 1999}}{{Citation |last=Pool |year=1998 |title=Against returning to Egypt: Exposing and Resisting Credalism in the Southern Baptist Convention |page=133 |quote=’Various concepts of conditional immortality or annihilationism have appeared earlier in Baptist history as well. Several examples illustrate this claim. General as well as particular Baptists developed versions of annihilationism or conditional immortality.’}} Rejection of the immortality of the soul, and advocacy of Christian mortalism, was a feature of Protestantism since the early days of the Reformation with Martin Luther himself rejecting the traditional idea, though his mortalism did not carry into orthodox Lutheranism. One of the most notable English opponents of the immortality of the soul was Thomas Hobbes who describes the idea as a Greek “contagion” in Christian doctrine.Stephen A. State Thomas Hobbes and the Debate Over Natural Law and Religion 2013 “The natural immortality of the soul is in fact a pagan presumption: “For men being generally possessed before the time of our Saviour, by contagion of the Daemonology of the Greeks, of an opinion, that the Souls of men were substances distinct from their Bodies, and therefore that when the Body was dead” Modern proponents of conditional immortality include some in the Anglican church such as N. T. WrightN. T. Wright For All the Saints?: Remembering the Christian Departed 2004 “many readers will get the impression that I believe that every human being comes already equipped with an immortal soul. I don’t believe that. Immortality is a gift of God in Christ, not an innate human capacity (see 1 Timothy 6.16).” and as denominations the Seventh-day Adventists, Bible Students, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Christadelphians, Living Church of God, The Church of God International, and some other Protestant Christians. The Catholic Catechism states “The souls of sinners descend into hell, where they suffer ‘eternal fire{{’ “}}. However, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the most senior Catholic in England and Wales, said “there’s nowhere in Catholic teaching that actually says any one person is in hell”.NEWS,www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-43596919, Vatican: Pope did not say there is no hell, 2018-03-30, BBC News, 2018-03-30, en-GB, live,www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-43596919," title="web.archive.org/web/20180331001451www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-43596919,">web.archive.org/web/20180331001451www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-43596919, 31 March 2018, The 1993 Catechism of the Catholic Church states: “This state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed is called ‘hell{{’ “}}1033 and “they suffer the punishments of hell, ‘eternal fire{{’ “}}.1035 The chief punishment of hell is eternal separation from God” (CCC 1035). During an Audience in 1999, Pope John Paul II commented: “images of hell that Sacred Scripture presents to us must be correctly interpreted. They show the complete frustration and emptiness of life without God. Rather than a place, hell indicates the state of those who freely and definitively separate themselves from God, the source of all life and joy.“{{Citation|url=https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/audiences/1999/documents/hf_jp-ii_aud_28071999.html|title=GENERAL AUDIENCE 28 July 1999|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161113172530w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/audiences/1999/documents/hf_jp-ii_aud_28071999.html|archive-date=13 November 2016}}

Other denominations

The Seventh-day Adventist Church’s official beliefs support annihilationism.“Fundamental Beliefs {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060310104717www.adventist.org/beliefs/fundamental/index.html |date=10 March 2006 }}” (1980) webpage from the official church website. See “25. Second Coming of Christ”, “26. Death and Resurrection”, “27. Millennium and the End of Sin”, and “28. New Earth”. The earlier 1872 and 1931 statements also support conditionalismSamuele Bacchiocchi, “Hell: Eternal Torment or Annihilation? {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150216040008www.biblicalperspectives.com/books/immortality_resurrection/6.htm |date=16 February 2015 }}” chapter 6 in Immortality Or Resurrection?. Biblical Perspectives, 1997; {{ISBN|1-930987-12-9}}, {{ISBN|978-1-930987-12-8}}{{page needed|date=January 2014}} They deny the Catholic purgatory and teach that the dead lie in the grave until they are raised for a last judgment, both the righteous and wicked await the resurrection at the Second Coming. Seventh-day Adventists believe that death is a state of unconscious sleep until the resurrection. They base this belief on biblical texts such as {{Bibleverse||Ecclesiastes|9:5|NIV}} which states “the dead know nothing”, and {{Bibleverse|1|Thessalonians|4:13–18|NIV}} which contains a description of the dead being raised from the grave at the second coming. These verses, it is argued, indicate that death is only a period or form of slumber.Adventists teach that the resurrection of the righteous will take place shortly after the second coming of Jesus, as described in Revelation 20:4–6 that follows Revelation 19:11–16, whereas the resurrection of the wicked will occur after the millennium, as described in Revelation 20:5 and 20:12–13 that follow Revelation 20:4 and 6–7, though Revelation 20:12–13 and 15 actually describe a mixture of saved and condemned people being raised from the dead and judged. Adventists reject the traditional doctrine of hell as a state of everlasting conscious torment, believing instead that the wicked will be permanently destroyed after the millennium by the lake of fire, which is called ‘the second death’ in Revelation 20:14.Those Adventist doctrines about death and hell reflect an underlying belief in: (a) conditional immortality (or conditionalism), as opposed to the immortality of the soul; and (b) the monistic nature of human beings, in which the soul is not separable from the body, as opposed to bipartite or tripartite conceptions, in which the soul is separable.Jehovah’s Witnesses hold that the soul ceases to exist when the person dies“What Does the Bible Really Teach?”, 2005, Published by Jehovah’s Witnesses and therefore that hell (Sheol or Hades) is a state of non-existence. In their theology, Gehenna differs from Sheol or Hades in that it holds no hope of a resurrection. Tartarus is held to be the metaphorical state of debasement of the fallen angels between the time of their moral fall (Genesis chapter 6) until their post-millennial destruction along with Satan (Revelation chapter 20).“Insight on the scriptures, Volume 2”, 1988, Published by Jehovah’s Witnesses.Bible Students and Christadelphians also believe in annihilationism.Christian Universalists believe in universal reconciliation, the belief that all human souls will be eventually reconciled with God and admitted to heaven.WEB,www.auburn.edu/~allenkc/chr-univ.html, What is Christian Universalism?, 17 December 2017,www.auburn.edu/~allenkc/chr-univ.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20171122135418www.auburn.edu/~allenkc/chr-univ.html,">web.archive.org/web/20171122135418www.auburn.edu/~allenkc/chr-univ.html, 22 November 2017, What is Christian Universalism by Ken Allen Th.D This belief is held by some Unitarian-Universalists.New Bible Dictionary, “Hell”, InterVarsity Press, 1996.New Dictionary of Biblical Theology, “Hell”, InterVarsity Press, 2000.Evangelical Alliance Commission on Truth and Unity Among Evangelicals, The Nature of Hell, Paternoster, 2000.According to Emanuel Swedenborg’s Second Coming Christian revelation, hell exists because evil people want it.Swedenborg, E. Heaven and its Wonders and Hell From Things Heard and Seen(Swedenborg Foundation, 1946 #545ff.) They, not God, introduced evil to the human race.Swedenborg, E. The True Christian Religion Containing the Universal Theology of The New Church Foretold by the Lord in Daniel 7; 13, 14; and in Revelation 21; 1, 2 (Swedenborg Foundation, 1946, #489ff.). In Swedenborgianism, every soul joins the like-minded group after death in which it feels the most comfortable. Hell is therefore believed to be a place of happiness for the souls which delight in evilness.offTheLeftEye: The Good Thing About Hell - Swedenborg and Life, YouTube, 14 March 2016.Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) teach that hell is a state between death and resurrection, in which those spirits who did not repent while on earth must suffer for their own sins (Doctrine and Covenants 19:15–17WEB,www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/19?lang=eng, Doctrine and Covenants 19, ). After that, only the Sons of perdition, who committed the Eternal sin, would be cast into Outer darkness. However, according to Mormon faith, committing the Eternal sin requires so much knowledge that most persons cannot do this.Spencer W. Kimball: The Miracle of Forgiveness, p. 123. Satan and Cain are counted as examples of Sons of perdition.

Islam

File:Muhammad and “shameless women” in Hell.jpg|thumb|Muhammad, along with Buraq and Gabriel, visit JahannamJahannamFile:The tree of Zaqqum (2012).jpg|thumb|The Tree of ZaqqumZaqqumIn Islam, Jahannam (in Arabic: جهنم) (related to the Hebrew word gehinnom) is the counterpart to heaven and likewise divided into seven layers, both co-existing with the temporal world,BOOK, Lange, Christian, Introducing Hell in Islamic Studies, 1–28, 10.1163/j.ctt1w8h1w3.7, 10.1163/9789004301368_002, Lange, Christian, Locating Hell in Islamic Traditions, 2016, Brill, 978-90-04-30121-4, filled with blazing fire, boiling water, and a variety of other torments for those who have been condemned to it in the hereafter. In the Quran, God declares that the fire of Jahannam is prepared for both mankind and jinn.(Qur’an 7:179) Qur’an 7:179 {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180317232420en.quranacademy.org/quran/7:179 |date=17 March 2018 }}Varza, Bahram. 2016. Thought-Provoking Scientific Reflections on Religion. New York: BOD Publisher After the Day of Judgment, it is to be occupied by those who do not believe in God, those who have disobeyed his laws, or rejected his messengers.WEB, A Description of Hellfire (part 1 of 5): An Introduction,www.islamreligion.com/articles/344/, Religion of Islam, 23 December 2014, live,www.islamreligion.com/articles/344/," title="web.archive.org/web/20141223233105www.islamreligion.com/articles/344/,">web.archive.org/web/20141223233105www.islamreligion.com/articles/344/, 23 December 2014, “Enemies of Islam” are sent to hell immediately upon their deaths.WEB, Islamic Beliefs about the Afterlife,www.religionfacts.com/islam/beliefs/afterlife.htm, Religion Facts, 23 December 2014,www.religionfacts.com/islam/beliefs/afterlife.htm," title="web.archive.org/web/20141223230705www.religionfacts.com/islam/beliefs/afterlife.htm,">web.archive.org/web/20141223230705www.religionfacts.com/islam/beliefs/afterlife.htm, 23 December 2014, Muslim modernists downplay the vivid descriptions of hell common during Classical period, on one hand reaffirming that the afterlife must not be denied, but simultaneously asserting its exact nature remains unknown. Other modern Muslims continue the line of Sufism as an interiorized hell, combining the eschatological thoughts of Ibn Arabi and Rumi with Western philosophy. Although disputed by some scholars, most scholars consider jahannam to be eternal.JOURNAL, Thomassen, Einar, Islamic Hell, Numen, 2009, 56, 2/3, 401–416, 10.1163/156852709X405062, 27793798, There is belief that the fire which represents the own bad deeds can already be seen during the Punishment of the Grave, and that the spiritual pain caused by this can lead to purification of the soul.WEB,www.eslam.de/begriffe/f/feuer.htm, Feuer, Not all Muslims and scholars agree whether hell is an eternal destination or whether some or all of the condemned will eventually be forgiven and allowed to enter paradise.WEB, A Description of Hellfire (part 1 of 5): An Introduction,www.islamreligion.com/articles/344/, Religion of Islam, 23 December 2014, No one will come out of Hell except sinful believers who believed in the Oneness of God in this life and believed in the specific prophet sent to them (before the coming of Muhammad)., live,www.islamreligion.com/articles/344/," title="web.archive.org/web/20141223233105www.islamreligion.com/articles/344/,">web.archive.org/web/20141223233105www.islamreligion.com/articles/344/, 23 December 2014, Muslim Scholarly Discussions on Salvation and the Fate of ‘Others’ , Mohammad Hassan Khalil, p.223 “The Fitnah of Wealth”, Abû Ammâr Yasir al-Qadhî{{Excessive citations inline|date=September 2021}}Over hell, a narrow bridge called As-Sirāt is spanned. On Judgment Day one must pass over it to reach paradise, but those destined for hell will find too narrow and fall into their new abode.BOOK, Encyclopedia of World Religions, Encyclopædia Britannica Store, 421,books.google.com/books?id=dbibAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA421, 978-1-59339-491-2, 2008, Iblis, the temporary ruler of hell,Gordon Newby A Concise Encyclopedia of Islam Oneworld Publications 2013 {{ISBN|978-1-780-74477-3}} is thought of residing in the bottom of hell, from where he commands his hosts of infernal demons.Robert Lebling Legends of the Fire Spirits: Jinn and Genies from Arabia to Zanzibar I.B.Tauris 2010 {{ISBN|978-0-857-73063-3}} page 30ANTON M. HEINEN ISLAMIC COSMOLOGY A STUDY OF AS-SUYUTI’S al-Hay’a as-samya fi l-hay’a as-sunmya with critical edition, translation, and commentary ANTON M. HEINEN BEIRUT 1982 p. 143 But contrary to Christian traditions, Iblis and his infernal hosts do not wage war against God,BOOK, Emerick, Yahiya, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Islam, 2011, Penguin, 978-1-101-55881-2, 3rd,books.google.com/books?id=Y6LQJWalzQkC&q=hell+in+islam&pg=PT97, his enmity applies against humanity only. Further, his dominion in hell is also his punishment. Executioners of punishment are the 19 zabaniyya, who have been created from the fires of hell.WEB, Surat Al-Alaq Verse 18.,quran.com/96:18, quran.com, “96:18 {سَنَدْعُ ٱلزَّبَانِيَةَ} {١٨ } We will call the angels of Hell. CITATION NOTE: (ٱلزَّبَانِيَةَ, transliterated to Az-Zabaniya, refers to the keeper angels of Jahannam/Hell.)”, Muhammad said that the fire of Jahannam is 70 times hotter than ordinary fire, and is much more painful than ordinary fire.WEB, Sahih Muslim 2843a,sunnah.com/muslim:2843a, sunnah.com, “The fire which sons of Adam burn is only one-seventieth part of the Fire of Hell. His Companions said: By Allah, even ordinary fire would have been enough (to burn people). Thereupon he said: It is sixty-nine parts in excess of (the heat of) fire in this world each of them being equivalent to their heat.”,

Seven stages of punishment

The seven gates of jahannam, mentioned in the Quran, inspired Muslim exegetes (tafsir) to develop a system of seven stages of hell, analogue to the seven doors of paradise. The stages of hell get their names by seven different terms used for hell throughout the Quran. Each is assigned for a different type of sinners. The concept later accepted by Sunni authorities list the levels of hell as follows, although some stages may vary:Roads to Paradise: Eschatology and Concepts of the Hereafter in Islam (2 Vols.): Volume 1: Foundations and Formation of a Tradition. Reflections on the Hereafter in the Quran and Islamic Religious Thought / Volume 2: Continuity and Change. The Plurality of Eschatological Representations in the Islamicate World. (2017). Niederlande: Brill. p. 174A F Klein Religion Of Islam Routledge 2013 ISBN 978-1-136-09954-0 page 92

1. Jahannam (جهنم Gehenna)
2. Laza (لظى fierce blaze)
3. Hutama (حُطَمَة crushing fire)
4. Sa’ir (سعير raging fire)
5. Saqar (سقر scorching fire)
6. Jahim (جحيم furnace)
7. Hawiya (هاوية infernal abyss)

The highest level (jahannam) is traditionally thought of as a type of purgatory reserved for Muslims. Polytheism (shirk) is regarded as a particularly grievous sin; therefore entering Paradise is forbidden to a polytheist (mushrik) because his place is hell;see (Quran 5:72): 5:72 {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160720070539quran.com/5:72 |date=20 July 2016 }} and the second lowest level (jahim) only after the bottomless pit for the hypocrites (hawiyah), who claimed aloud to believe in God and his messenger but in their hearts did not.BOOK, Lazarus, William P., Comparative Religion For Dummies, Wiley, 287,books.google.com/books?id=oTtcFiGbW2kC&pg=PA287, 978-1-118-05227-3, 2011,

Gatekeepers

• Sukha’il (صوخائيل) of Jahannam
• Tufa’il (طوفائيل) of Laza
• Tafta’il (طفطائيل) of Sa’ir
• Susbabil (صوصَابيل) of Saqar
• Tarfatil (طرفاطيل) of Jahim
• Istafatabil (اصطافاطابيل) of Hawiya

Christiane Gruber The Ilkhanid Book of Ascension: A Persian-Sunni Devotional Tale I.B.Tauris 2010 {{ISBN|978-0-857-71809-9}} page 54

In the heavens

File:Maalik opens the gates of hell.jpg|thumb|Muhammad requests Malik to show him Hell during his heavenly journey. Miniature from The David CollectionThe David CollectionAlthough the earliest reports about Muhammad’s journey through the heavens, do not locate hell in the heavens,BOOK, Colby, Frederick, Fire in the Upper Heavens: Locating Hell in Middle Period Narratives of Muḥammad’s Ascension, 124–143, 10.1163/j.ctt1w8h1w3.12, 10.1163/9789004301368_007, Lange, Christian, Locating Hell in Islamic Traditions, 2016, Brill, 978-90-04-30121-4, only brief references about visiting hell during the journey appears. But extensive accounts about Muhammad’s night journey, in the non-canonical but popular Miraj-Literature, tell about encountering the angels of hell. Malik, the keeper to the gates of hell, namely appears in Ibn Abbas’ Isra and Mi’raj. The doors to hell are either in the third or fifth heaven,Colby, F. S. (2008). Narrating Muhammad’s Night Journey: Tracing the Development of the Ibn ‘Abbas Ascension Discourse. US: State University of New York Press. p. 137 or (although only implicitly) in a heaven close God’s throne, or directly after entering heaven,Colby, F. S. (2008). Narrating Muhammad’s Night Journey: Tracing the Development of the Ibn ‘Abbas Ascension Discourse. US: State University of New York Press. p. 138 whereupon Muhammad requests a glaze at hell. Ibn Hisham gives extensive details about Muhammad visiting hell and its inhabitants punished wherein, but can only endure watching the punishments of the first layer of hell.Lange, C. (2016). Paradise and Hell in Islamic Traditions. Vereinigtes Königreich: Cambridge University Press. Muhammad meeting Malik, the Dajjal and hell, was used as a proof for Muhammad’s Night Journey.BOOK, Vuckovic, Brooke Olson, Heavenly Journeys, Earthly Concerns: The Legacy of the Mi’raj in the Formation of Islam, 2004, Routledge, 978-1-135-88524-3, {{page needed|date=February 2022}}

Beneath the earth

Medieval sources often identified hell with the seven earths mentioned in (Quran 65:12), inhabited by devils, harsh angels, scorpions and serpents, who torment the sinners. They described thorny shrubs, seas filled with blood and fire and darkness only illuminated by the flames of hell. One popular concept arrange the earths as follows:Miguel Asin Palacios Islam and the Divine Comedy Routledge 2013 ISBN 978-1-134-53650-4 page 88-89Patrick Hughes, Thomas Patrick Hughes Dictionary of Islam Asian Educational Services 1995 {{ISBN|978-81-206-0672-2}} p. 102

1. Adim or Ramaka (رمکا) - the surface, on which humans, animals and jinn live on.
2. Basit or Khawfa (خوفا)
3. Thaqil or ’Arafa (عرفه) - anthechamber
4. Batih or Hadna (حدنه) - a valley with stream of boiling sulphur.
5. Hayn or Dama (دمَا)
6. Sijjin, (سجىن dungeon or prison) or Masika (sometimes, Sijjin is at the bottom) - (Quran 83:7)
7. Nar as-Samum, Zamhareer or As-Saqar / Athara,JOURNAL, Tottoli, Roberto, ‮توتولي‬, ‮روبرتو‬, The Qur’an, Qur’anic Exegesis and Muslim Traditions: The Case of zamharÄ«r (Q. 76:13) Among Hell’s Punishments / ‮القرآن والتفاسير والروايات الاسلامية: سورة الانسان آية رقم‬ 13: الزمهرير من ألوان العقوبة في جهنم‬, Journal of Qur’anic Studies, 2008, 10, 1, 142–152, 10.3366/E1465359109000291, 25728276, or Hanina (حنينا) - venomous wind of fire and a cold wind of ice.

Baháʼí Faith

In the Baháʼí Faith, the conventional descriptions of hell and heaven are considered to be symbolic representations of spiritual conditions. The Baháʼí writings describe closeness to God to be heaven, and conversely, remoteness from God as hell.BOOK, Life After Death: A study of the afterlife in world religions, Masumian, Farnaz, Oneworld Publications, Oxford, 1995God in the Baháʼí Faith>God’s presence.Baháʼu’lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Baháʼu’lláh, ed. by US Baháʼí Publishing Trust, 1990, pp. 155-156.

Eastern religions

Buddhism

(File:Ngaye (Naraka) in Burmese art.jpg|thumb|Naraka in the Burmese representation)In “Devaduta Sutta”, the 130th discourse of the Majjhima Nikaya, Buddha teaches about hell in vivid detail. Buddhism teaches that there are five or six realms of rebirth, which can then be further subdivided into degrees of agony or pleasure.{{citation needed|date=July 2019}}) Of these realms, the hell realms, or Naraka, is the lowest realm of rebirth. Of the hell realms, the worst is AvÄ«ci (Sanskrit and Pali for “without waves“). The Buddha’s disciple, Devadatta, who tried to kill the Buddha on three occasions, as well as create a schism in the monastic order, is said to have been reborn in the Avici hell.Like all realms of rebirth in Buddhism, rebirth in the hell realms is not permanent, though suffering can persist for eons before being reborn again.{{citation needed|date=July 2019}} In the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha teaches that eventually even Devadatta will become a Pratyekabuddha himself, emphasizing the temporary nature of the hell realms. Thus, Buddhism teaches to escape the endless migration of rebirths (both positive and negative) through the attainment of Nirvana.The Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha, according to the Ksitigarbha Sutra, made a great vow as a young girl to not reach Nirvana until all beings were liberated from the hell realms or other unwholesome rebirths. In popular literature, Ksitigarbha travels to the hell realms to teach and relieve beings of their suffering.

Hinduism

File:Yama’s Court and Hell.jpg|thumb|Yama’s Court and Hell. The Blue figure is Yamaraja (The Hindu god of death) with his consort Yami and Chitragupta 17th-century painting from Government Museum, ChennaiChennaiEarly Vedic religion does not have a concept of hell. The Rigveda mentions three realms, bhÅ«r (the earth), svar (the sky) and bhuvas or antariká¹£a (the middle area, i.e. air or atmosphere). In later Hindu literature, especially the law books and the Puranas, more realms are mentioned, including a realm similar to hell, called Naraka. Yama as the first born human (together with his twin sister YamÄ«), by virtue of precedence, becomes ruler of men and a judge on their departure.In the law-books (the Smritis and the Dharmashashtras), Naraka is a place of punishment for misdeeds. It is a lower spiritual plane (called naraka-loka) where the spirit is judged and the partial fruits of karma affect the next life. In the Mahabharata, there is a mention of the Pandavas and the Kauravas both going to heaven. At first Yudhishthira goes to heaven, where he sees Duryodhana enjoying the realm; Indra tells him that Duryodhana is in heaven as he had adequately performed his Kshatriya duties. Then he shows Yudhishthira hell, where it appears his brothers are. Later it is revealed that this was a test for Yudhishthira and that his brothers and the Kauravas are all in heaven, and live happily in the divine abode of the devas. Various hells are also described in various Puranas and other scriptures. The Garuda Purana gives a detailed account of each hell and its features; it lists the amount of punishment for most crimes, much like a modern-day penal code.It is believed{{by whom|date=July 2019}} that people who commit misdeeds go to hell and have to go through punishments in accordance with the misdeeds they committed. The god Yama, who is also the god of death, presides over hell. Detailed accounts of all the misdeeds committed by an individual are kept by Chitragupta, who is the record keeper in Yama’s court. Chitragupta reads out the misdeeds committed and Yama orders appropriate punishments to be given to individuals. These punishments include dipping in boiling oil, burning in fire, torture using various weapons, etc. in various hells. Individuals who finish their quota of the punishments are reborn in accordance with their balance of karma. All created beings are imperfect and thus have at least one misdeed to their record; but if one has generally led a meritorious life, one ascends to Svarga, a temporary realm of enjoyment similar to Paradise, after a brief period of expiation in hell and before the next reincarnation, according to the law of karma.{{citation needed|date=July 2019}} With the exception of Hindu philosopher Madhva, time in hell is not regarded as eternal damnation within Hinduism.Helmuth von Glasenapp: Der Hinduismus. Religion und Gesellschaft im heutigen Indien, Hildesheim 1978, p. 248.According to Brahma Kumaris, the Iron Age (Kali Yuga) is regarded as hell.

Jainism

File:Seven Jain Hells.jpg|thumb|right|17th-century cloth painting depicting seven levels of Jain Hell and various tortures suffered in them. Left panel depicts the demi-god and his animal vehicle presiding over each Hell.]]In Jain cosmology, Naraka (translated as hell) is the name given to realm of existence having great suffering. However, a Naraka differs from the hells of Abrahamic religions as souls are not sent to Naraka as the result of a divine judgment and punishment. Furthermore, length of a being’s stay in a Naraka is not eternal, though it is usually very long and measured in billions of years. A soul is born into a Naraka as a direct result of his or her previous karma (actions of body, speech and mind), and resides there for a finite length of time until his karma has achieved its full result. After his karma is used up, he may be reborn in one of the higher worlds as the result of an earlier karma that had not yet ripened.The hells are situated in the seven grounds at the lower part of the universe. The seven grounds are:

1. Ratna prabha
2. Sharkara prabha
3. Valuka prabha
4. Panka prabha
5. Dhuma prabha
6. Tamaha prabha
7. Mahatamaha prabha

The hellish beings are a type of souls which are residing in these various hells. They are born in hells by sudden manifestation.BOOK, Sanghvi, Sukhlal, Commentary on Tattvārthasūtra of Vācaka Umāsvāti, L. D. Institute of Indology, 1974, Ahmedabad, trans. by K. K. Dixit, pp. 107 The hellish beings possess vaikriya body (protean body which can transform itself and take various forms). They have a fixed life span (ranging from ten thousand to billions of years) in the respective hells where they reside. According to Jain scripture, Tattvarthasutra, following are the causes for birth in hell:Sanghvi, Sukhlal (1974) pp.250–52

1. Killing or causing pain with intense passion
2. Excessive attachment to things and worldly pleasure with constantly indulging in cruel and violent acts
3. Vowless and unrestrained liferefer Mahavrata for the vows and restraints in Jainism

Meivazhi

According to Meivazhi, the purpose of all religions is to guide people to heaven.மரணம் நீக்க ஜீவ மருந்து: 9. Gods plan, YouTube, 3 August 2018. However, those who do not approach God and are not blessed by Him are believed to be condemned to hell.Meivazhi - The True Path, angelfire.com/ms/Salai/TruePath.html.

Sikhism

In Sikh thought, heaven and hell are not places for living hereafter, they are part of spiritual topography of man and do not exist otherwise. They refer to good and evil stages of life respectively and can be lived now and here during our earthly existence.BOOK,books.google.com/books?id=rFm9_Jc1ykcC&pg=PA271, A Complete Guide to Sikhism, Unistar Books, Singh, Jagraj, 2009, 271, 978-8-1714-2754-3, live,web.archive.org/web/20170424012358/https://books.google.com/books?id=rFm9_Jc1ykcC&pg=PA271, 24 April 2017, dmy-all, For example, Guru Arjan explains that people who are entangled in emotional attachment and doubt are living in hell on this Earth i.e. their life is hellish.{{Quotation|So many are being drowned in emotional attachment and doubt; they dwell in the most horrible hell.|Guru Arjan|Guru Granth Sahib 297WEB,www.srigranth.org/servlet/gurbani.gurbani?Action=Page&Param=297, Sri Granth: Sri Guru Granth Sahib, live,www.srigranth.org/servlet/gurbani.gurbani?Action=Page&Param=297," title="web.archive.org/web/20170903031902www.srigranth.org/servlet/gurbani.gurbani?Action=Page&Param=297,">web.archive.org/web/20170903031902www.srigranth.org/servlet/gurbani.gurbani?Action=Page&Param=297, 3 September 2017, }}

Taoism

{{unreferenced section|date=October 2017}}Ancient Taoism had no concept of hell, as morality was seen to be a man-made distinction and there was no concept of an immaterial soul. In its home country China, where Taoism adopted tenets of other religions, popular belief endows Taoist hell with many deities and spirits who punish sin in a variety of horrible ways.Buddhist hells became “so much a part of [many Daoist sects] that during funeral services[,] the priests hang up scrolls depicting” similar scenes.BOOK, World Religions: Eastern Traditions, Oxford University Press, Willard Gurdon Oxtoby, 2002, 0-19-541521-3, 2nd, Don Mills, Ontario, 401–402, 46661540, Typically, Daoist hells are “said to be ten in number” and “are sometimes said to be situated under a high mountain in Sichuan”. “Each is ruled by a king serving as judge, surrounded by ministers and attendants who carry out his decisions.” Punishment is usually “inflicted with the use of torture instruments”, although there are some non-physical and more metaphysical punishments. However, this type of Daoist hell is usually not final and a soul will make a journey of refining by going through at least several hells and their punishments until it is reincarnated into another body in the human world.

Chinese folk beliefs

File:ROM-ChineseGallery-DemonSculpture.png|upright|thumb|right|A Chinese glazed earthenware sculpture of “Hell’s torturer”, 16th century, Ming DynastyMing DynastyDiyu is the realm of the dead in Chinese mythology. It is very loosely based upon the Buddhist concept of Naraka combined with traditional Chinese afterlife beliefs and a variety of popular expansions and re-interpretations of these two traditions. Ruled by Yanluo Wang, the King of hell, Diyu is a maze of underground levels and chambers where souls are taken to atone for their earthly sins.Incorporating ideas from Taoism and Buddhism as well as traditional Chinese folk religion, Diyu is a kind of purgatory place which serves not only to punish but also to renew spirits ready for their next incarnation. There are many deities associated with the place, whose names and purposes are the subject of much conflicting information.The exact number of levels in Chinese hell – and their associated deities – differs according to the Buddhist or Taoist perception. Some speak of three to four ‘Courts’, other as many as ten. The ten judges are also known as the 10 Kings of Yama. Each Court deals with a different aspect of atonement. For example, murder is punished in one Court, adultery in another. According to some Chinese legends, there are eighteen levels in hell. Punishment also varies according to belief, but most legends speak of highly imaginative chambers where wrong-doers are sawn in half, beheaded, thrown into pits of filth or forced to climb trees adorned with sharp blades.However, most legends agree that once a soul (usually referred to as a ‘ghost’) has atoned for their deeds and repented, he or she is given the Drink of Forgetfulness by Meng Po and sent back into the world to be reborn, possibly as an animal or a poor or sick person, for further punishment.

Other religions

Zoroastrianism

Zoroastrianism has historically suggested several possible fates for the wicked, including annihilation, purgation in molten metal, and eternal punishment, all of which have standing in Zoroaster’s writings. Zoroastrian eschatology includes the belief that wicked souls will remain in Duzakh until, following the arrival of three saviors at thousand-year intervals, Ahura Mazda reconciles the world, destroying evil and resurrecting tormented souls to perfection.WEB,www.ubfellowship.org/archive/readers/601_zoroastrianism.htm, An Introduction to Zoroastrianism, Meredith Sprunger, 10 October 2008,www.ubfellowship.org/archive/readers/601_zoroastrianism.htm," title="web.archive.org/web/20070206152658www.ubfellowship.org/archive/readers/601_zoroastrianism.htm,">web.archive.org/web/20070206152658www.ubfellowship.org/archive/readers/601_zoroastrianism.htm, 6 February 2007, The sacred Gathas mention a “House of the Lie″ for those “that are of an evil dominion, of evil deeds, evil words, evil Self, and evil thought, Liars”.Yasna 49:11, WEB,www.avesta.org/yasna/y47to50b.htm, Avesta: Yasna, 11 October 2008, live,www.avesta.org/yasna/y47to50b.htm," title="web.archive.org/web/20081009200459www.avesta.org/yasna/y47to50b.htm,">web.archive.org/web/20081009200459www.avesta.org/yasna/y47to50b.htm, 9 October 2008, dmy-all, However, the best-known Zoroastrian text to describe hell in detail is the Book of Arda Viraf.WEB,www.hell-on-line.org/AboutZOR.html#The%20Fate%20of%20the%20Soul, About Zoroastrian Hell, Eileen Gardiner, 10 February 2006, 10 October 2008, live,www.hell-on-line.org/AboutZOR.html#The%20Fate%20of%20the%20Soul," title="web.archive.org/web/20081015035745www.hell-on-line.org/AboutZOR.html#The%20Fate%20of%20the%20Soul,">web.archive.org/web/20081015035745www.hell-on-line.org/AboutZOR.html#The%20Fate%20of%20the%20Soul, 15 October 2008, dmy-all, It depicts particular punishments for particular sins—for instance, being trampled by cattle as punishment for neglecting the needs of work animals.Chapter 75, WEB,www.avesta.org/pahlavi/viraf.html, The Book of Arda Viraf, 10 October 2008, live,www.avesta.org/pahlavi/viraf.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20081008091012www.avesta.org/pahlavi/viraf.html,">web.archive.org/web/20081008091012www.avesta.org/pahlavi/viraf.html, 8 October 2008, dmy-all, Other descriptions can be found in the Book of Scriptures (Hadhokht Nask), Religious Judgments (Dadestan-i Denig) and the Book of the Judgments of the Spirit of Wisdom (Mainyo-I-Khard).WEB,www.hell-on-line.org/TextsZOR.html#The%20Fate%20of%20the%20Soul, Zoroastrian Hell Texts, Eileen Gardiner, 18 January 2009, 24 August 2010, live,www.hell-on-line.org/TextsZOR.html#The%20Fate%20of%20the%20Soul," title="web.archive.org/web/20100917075010www.hell-on-line.org/TextsZOR.html#The%20Fate%20of%20the%20Soul,">web.archive.org/web/20100917075010www.hell-on-line.org/TextsZOR.html#The%20Fate%20of%20the%20Soul, 17 September 2010, dmy-all,

Mandaeism

{{See also|World of Darkness (Mandaeism)|Ur (Mandaeism)}}The Mandaeans believe in purification of souls inside of Leviathan,Hans Jonas: The Gnostic Religion, 3. ed., Boston 2001, p. 117. Within detention houses, so called Matartas,Ginza, ed. and transl. by Lidzbarski, p. 185–186. At the end of days, the souls of the Mandaeans which could be purified, would be liberated out of Ur’s mouth.Ginza, ed. and transl. by Lidzbarski, p. 203. so they die the second death.