What Is Worst Punishment in Hell?
It is a kind of regret that won’t change anything or make up for anything. The sinner would only say: “I wish I hadn’t”, but that would be to no avail.
This is according to Islamic seminary scholar Mahdi Hadavi Tehrani, speaking in a session on interpretation of Verse 62 of Surah Al-Waqi’a. Following are excerpts from his remarks at the session:
God says in Verse 62 of Surah Al-Waqi’ah: “You have surely known of the first creation. Why then, will you not remember!” According to Sheikh Tusi, the ‘first creation’ refers to this world, while the next world is the second creation.
Allameh Tabatabaei accepts Sheikh Tusi’s view, adding that God has not created the world in vain. That is, you know that the first creation is not in vain, therefore, there is going to be a second one as well.
Allameh Tabatabaei’s view here is a precise philosophical one. In philosophy, it is explained that the existence of the creature is always dependent on the Creator. Some said in the Middle Ages that God created the world and then abandoned it and retired. Trying to make it sound more logical, some others said whenever the order of the world is disturbed, God restores it. This is known as the watchmaker’s theory. These views in the West originated in their weak philosophy. The fact is that God has created the world and is running it all the time, and if He leaves the world to itself, everything will be disturbed.
Sometimes some people lack the understanding. They only eat and drink and use the blessings without paying attention to where these blessings have come from and who has created them. God says if you look around yourselves, you would believe in God by seeing what is in the world without even having a need to be educated about it.
In the verses of the Quran, we read that when one plants a seed and it turns into a plant, he should know that God is the one who develops the seed and makes it a plant.
The purpose of these verses is not talking about plants and their growth but reminding people of the Resurrection Day and recreation. God says you see your harvest. Is it you that makes it grow or is it God? If God wants to make them worthless, He can, and then you would regret it.
Maybe God wants to say that if your deeds in this world do not have real harvest, you are not going to benefit from them in the hereafter. The world is the farm whose harvest will be in the hereafter. If there is no harvest in the hereafter, what will one do? It has been said that probably regretting what a sinner has done in this world would be one of the worst punishments in hell.
We have a lot of opportunity in this world but we fail to benefit from it and do something God. We can at least recite Salawat. Ayatollah Bahjat would not miss even a moment for reciting Salawat or supplications. But we are not like this and will be regretting it on the Day of Judgment.
