The Fifth Matter
As is well‑known, Hell is beneath the earth, but we Sunnis cannot specify its location with any certainty. Nevertheless, what is clear is ‘beneathness;’ its being under the earth.
Our globe, like the other celestial bodies (nücûm), is a fruit of the world’s creation, which resembles the Tuba tree. What is beneath the fruit encompasses all that is under the tree’s branches. In consequence, Hell is among the branches under the earth. Its place is there wherever it is. Its distance below does not have to be long and contiguous. According to modern science, fire overruns most of the cosmos. This shows that beyond this Hell, which is the origin and basis of the fire and accompanies humankind on the road to eternity, will one day rend the veil and emerge, commanding attention. I want to draw attention to this point.
Secondly: It is under the earth and is its centre inside it. Because of this, the globe is pregnant with the seed of the Zakkum tree of Hell, and one day it will give birth to it. Indeed, the earth flying through space will lay such an egg that even if it is not Hell in its entirety, it will comprise its head or some other organ, folded up. On the Last Day, uniting with others of its parts, the ghastly demons of Hell will assault the people of rebellion.
Think of it! Even if you yourself are not destined for Hell, reckoning and calculation can take you that far. For heat increases one degree approximately every thirty‑three metres, which means it reaches around two hundred thousand degrees at the centre. This is two hundred times hotter than our heat, which generally reaches one thousand degrees, as is proved by the Hadith: “The fire of Hell is two hundred times fiercer than ours.”
Furthermore, part of Hell is extremely cold. This cold (zemherir) burns as it freezes. It is established by natural science (hikmet‑i tabiiyye) that fire may reach such a degree it freezes water. It instantaneously consumes the heat and burns with its cold. This means that fire encompasses all degrees, one of which is extreme cold.
Reminder It should be known that the world of the hereafter, which is destined for eternity, cannot be measured or dealt with with the criteria of this world, which doomed to pass. Be ready! The hereafter will be offered in small part for your consideration at the end of the Third Article.
Indication The testimony of the order established by all the sciences, and the instruction of philosophy’s (hikmet) inductive reasoning, and the intimations of the essence of humanity, and the signs of never‑ending human hope, and the indications of the repeated resurrections of all the realms of beings like the days and the years, and the hints of the lack of futility and pointers of pre-eternal wisdom, and tokens of infinite divine mercy, and the explicit statements of the Truthful Prophet (UWBP), and the guidance of the miraculous Qur’an, all reveal eight doors and two windows through which the eye of the intellect may behold the gardens of bliss of the hereafter.