Extreme Cold The Messenger of Allah (sal Allahu al;aihi wa sallam) said: Hell complained to its Lord. It said: My Lord! Parts of me have consumed the other parts. He therefore allowed it two ventilating breaths: one breath in the winter, and one in the summer. So, the extreme heat you experience is from the scorching heat of Hell, and the extreme cold you experience is from the bitter cold of Hell. [Bukhari] This may seem counterintuitive but one of the features of Hell is that it indeed contains areas of extreme cold. Ibn Abbas said: The inhabitants of Hell will beg to be rescued from its heat, and they will be answered with a wind which is so cold that it will cause their bones to break. They will then ask to return to the heat. Mujahid said: They will flee to the bitter cold of Hell. When they fall into it, it will cause their bones to crumble such that the sounds of crunching will be audible. The great Syrian scholar Abu Sulayman ad-Darani once said: I walk out of my home, and my eyesight doesnt fall on anything around me except that I see in it either a blessing from Allah or a warning from Him. One such sign is the polar vortex bringing with it temperatures that make the inhabited land of the world colder then the south pole! Commenting on this hadith in the book Lataif al-Maarif (p. 318), Ibn Rajab al-Hambali said: There is no doubt that Allah created for His slaves two realms (Paradise and Hell) in which He will pay us back for our deeds. These realms are eternal, and we never die in them. He also created an immediate, temporal realm in which those deeds are to be performed. In this realm, we live and die. He tests us in this realm with certain commands and prohibitions. He has also tasked us with believing in things which we cannot see, including the fact that we will be recompensed for our actions, as well as to believe in the two realms He created for this purpose. He has revealed Scripture and sent Messengers, and provided clear proof for the existence of the Unseen which He has commanded us to believe in. He has provided signs which prove the existence of the two realms of recompense. One is of pure pleasure, unblemished by pain. The other is of pure punishment, utterly devoid of comfort. “As for this temporary realm in which we currently reside, it is a mix of pleasure and pain. Its pleasure reminds us of the pleasure in Paradise. Its pain reminds us of the pain in Hell. We are reminded of the unseen, delayed, eternal realms through certain things Allah has placed in this realm. For example, certain times and places remind us of Paradise. As for places, Allah has created some regions of Earth - like the lands of ash-Sham and others - such that they contain foods, beverages, clothing, and other worldly delights which remind us of the pleasures of Paradise. As for times, the pleasant aromas of spring remind you of the pleasures and aromas of Paradise. Also, the coolness you experience in the dawn hours reminds you of the coolness of Paradise. And some things remind you of Hell, as Allah has placed many things in this world to remind us of the Fire which has been prepared for those who rebel against Him. You are reminded of its pain and punishment through various places, times, physical objects, and so on. As for places, there are numerous locations on Earth which are known for their extreme heat and cold. Their extreme cold reminds us of Hells extreme cold, and their extreme heat reminds us of Hells heat and scorching wind. Yusuf bin Asbat said: This world was not created for us just to look at it. Rather, it was created for us to use it to look towards the Hereafter.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Nov 2014 18:28:00 +0000