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Why Are Five Billion People Going to Hell?

30 September, 2016
Q Assalamu Alaykum, If there is a population of 7 billion in the world. Muslims constitute only 1.57 billion. So what about the majority of the people following different religions? Are they all going to hell? Is it their fault that they are born in some other religion?

Answer

Wa Alaykum Assalam Dear Fadil,

Thank you for your question and for contacting Ask About Islam.

Islam is a very sensible religion. It makes sense. I have often found that when something in Islam doesn’t make sense to me it is because I have not understood it properly, not because it is wrong.

Now, it just doesn’t make sense to me that Allah would create the earth and all the people in it since the beginning of time, and plan right from the start that most of those people would go to hell.

Does that make sense to you? It doesn’t make sense that only two billion out of seven billion people be saved and that five billion of them perish through no fault of their own.

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If Allah is Merciful and Compassionate, which as Muslims we believe Him to be, then He is not a cruel god who would give some people no chance at all, whilst others would be destined to be saved, no matter what wickedness they do. If Islam is sensible, then that doesn’t make sense.

One of our problems as human beings is that we are very quick to judge others. Maybe that makes us less bad if there are others who are worse than we are. The fact, though, is that we have not been appointed as judges to send this one or that one to heaven or to hell. That is the responsibility of Allah Alone. He is the Judge.

As Muslims we believe that those people who reject the Message and the Messenger will be of the losers. But quite who those people are we can never say with any certainty. First of all, you cannot reject something you don’t know. And people cannot be punished for not knowing. They have done nothing wrong.

Which one of us knows the state of a person’s soul as the last breath leaves his body? So how can we judge and send one to heaven and one to hell? How many of us know whether the man claiming to be a good Muslim believes all that others think he believes?

Who knows if he didn’t give up belief in God and stopped praying altogether many years ago? Similarly, someone who is not Muslim may, in his heart, have a better understanding of Islam than his so-called Muslim neighbor.

All we can be sure of is that the message of Islam has everything within it to bring us happiness in this life and the next, whereas other religions and beliefs do not. Islam is the fullness of revelation, the complete package. By living as Muslims should live we stand a chance that Allah will accept our deeds and our belief.

There is enough we have all done to live in fear of a terrible Judgment. It is enough that we concentrate on our own lives, without giving out tickets to heaven or hell for others to collect.

Also by living as good Muslims live, there is a better chance that others in the world will come to see that the real Islam is beautiful, gentle and sweet.

I hope this helps answer your question,

Salam and please keep in touch.

About Idris Tawfiq
Idris Tawfiq was a British writer, public speaker and consultant.He became a Muslim around 15 years ago.For many years, he was head of religious education in different schools in the United Kingdom.Before embracing Islam, he was a Roman Catholic priest.He passed away in peace in the UK in February 2016 after a period of illness.May Allah (SWT) have mercy on him, and accept his good deeds. Ameen.