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In religion and folklore, hell is a location or state in the afterlife in which are subjected to punishment after death. Religions with a linear divinity history sometimes depict hells as Eternity, such as in some versions of Christianity and Islam, whereas religions with reincarnation usually depict a hell as an intermediary period between , as is the case in the Indian religions. Religions typically locate hell in another Astral plane 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, Greek underworld, 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 mythology, Roman mythology, and Finnic religions include entrances to the underworld from the land of the living.
Related early Germanic terms and concepts include Proto-Germanic * xalja-rūnō(n), a feminine compound noun, and * xalja-wītjan, a neutral compound noun. This form is reconstructed from the Latinized Gothic plural noun * haliurunnae (attested by Jordanes; according to philologist Vladimir Orel, meaning 'witchcraft'), Old English helle-rúne ('sorceress, necromancer', according to Orel), and Old High German helli-rūna 'magic'. The compound is composed of two elements: * xaljō (* haljō) and * rūnō, the Proto-Germanic precursor to Modern English runic alphabet.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-wītjan (or * halja-wītjan) is reconstructed from Old Norse hel-víti 'hell', Old English helle-wíte 'hell-torment, hell', Old Saxon helli-wīti 'hell', and the Middle High German feminine noun helle-wīze. The compound is a compound of * xaljō (discussed above) and * wītjan (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).
Within the context of Zoroastrianism dualism, which posits the existence of the embodiment of good and evil, hell was considered to be the abode of the principle Devil called Ahriman. According to Mazdaism, the dead are not condemned to hell, but freely choose paradise or hell determined by their actions in life, which either corresponds to the values of God or the Devil. In the mythological narrative, hell is believed to be in the middle of the earth, a Chinvat Bridge over it, and the dead must pass over hell, but those who did evil in life will fall down. In hell, the souls are tormented by the inhabitants of hell; demons, and tortured according to their crimes and sins. However, their torment is not eternal, as eventually God would triumph over the Devil and his demons, destroy hell, restore cosmic order, and redeem the lost souls.
In the New Testament, part of the Christianity sacred scripture, references to hell are sparse. The Septuagint understanding of Hades is similar to the Hebrew Sheol, a place for the dead to await resurrection.Russell, Jeffrey Burton. The devil: Perceptions of evil from antiquity to primitive Christianity. Cornell University Press, 1987. p. 240-241 Gehenna, on the other hand, is portrayed as a place of eternal fire and punishment. According to the Book of Revelation, the Devil will also be defeated by being thrown into hell. As evident from apocrypha, such as Ethiopic Book of Enoch, the idea of the underworld and hell begin to conflate: In the Ethiopic Book of Enoch, the apostate Jews will suffer in Gehenna and for the Rabbis, it was a temporal punishment for Jews, but eternal damnation for the Gentile. Closely after the composition of the New Testament, the idea arose that the Devil is also a prisoner to hell.
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. Buddhistand particularly Tibetan Buddhistdescriptions of hell feature an equal number of hot and cold hells. Among Christian descriptions Dante Alighieri's Inferno portrays the innermost (9th) circle of hell as a frozen lake of blood and guilt.
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; (1989). 9780934977142, Italica Press. ISBN 9780934977142 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.
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 Aaru. 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,
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 Christianity and texts. The Essential Guide to Egyptian Mythology: The Oxford Guide, "Hell", p161-162, Jacobus Van Dijk, Berkley Reference, 2003,
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, See also letter by Prof. Griffith to The Independent, 32 December 1993
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. 126 Divine 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,
Modern understanding of Egyptian notions of hell relies on six ancient texts:
The souls in Kur were believed to eat nothing but dry dust and family members of the deceased would ritually pour into the dead person's grave through a clay pipe, thereby allowing the dead to drink. 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. 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; those that had been given sumptuous burials would be treated well, but those who had been given poor burials would fare poorly.
The entrance to Kur was believed to be located in the Zagros mountains in the far east. It had seven gates, through which a soul needed to pass. The god Neti was the gatekeeper. Gallu were a class of demons that were believed to reside in the underworld; their primary purpose appears to have been to drag unfortunate mortals back to Kur. They are frequently referenced in magical texts, and some texts describe them as being seven in number. Several extant poems describe the galla dragging the god Dumuzid into the underworld. The later Mesopotamians knew this underworld by its East Semitic name: Irkalla. During the Akkadian Empire, Ereshkigal's role as the ruler of the underworld was assigned to Nergal, the god of death. The Akkadians attempted to harmonize this dual rulership of the underworld by making Nergal Ereshkigal's husband.
In Yoruba religion mythology, 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, .) 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.
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.
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:
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.
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 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.
While these three terms are translated in the KJV as "hell", they have three very different meanings.
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 5
The 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 choice Catechism 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 Methodism, 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,Mt 25:31, 32, 46 where they will permanently separated from God. 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. 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". Some 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 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 grave 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.
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 tortured eternity in hell. 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. 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, 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". The 1993 Catechism of the Catholic Church states: "This state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed is called 'hell1033 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."
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. Iblis, the temporary ruler of hell,Gordon Newby A Concise Encyclopedia of Islam Oneworld Publications 2013 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 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, 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. Muhammad said that the fire of Jahannam is 70 times hotter than ordinary fire, and is much more painful than ordinary fire.
The seven gates of jahannam, mentioned in the Quran, inspired Tafsir ( 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
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 : 5:72 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 Qalb did not.
Although the earliest reports about Muhammad's journey through the heavens, do not locate hell in the heavens,
Medieval sources often identified hell with the seven earths mentioned in , inhabited by Shaitan, Zabaniyya, 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 p. 102
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. 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.
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 Svarga. 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 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. 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.
The hells are situated in the seven grounds at the lower part of the universe. The hellish beings are a type of souls which are residing in these various hells. They are born in hells by sudden manifestation. 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
Buddhist hells became "so much a part of many that during Funeral, the priests hang up scrolls depicting" similar scenes.
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.
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, However, the best-known Zoroastrian text to describe hell in detail is the Book of Arda Viraf. It depicts particular punishments for particular sins—for instance, being trampled by cattle as punishment for neglecting the needs of work animals.Chapter 75, Other descriptions can be found in the Book of Scriptures (Hadhokht Nask), Religious Judgments (Dadestan-i Denig) and the Spirit of Wisdom (Menog-i Khrad).
John Milton's Paradise Lost (1667) opens with the , including their leader Satan, waking up in hell after having been defeated in the war in heaven and the action returns there at several points throughout the poem. Milton portrays hell as the abode of the demons, and the passive prison from which they plot their revenge upon heaven through the corruption of the human race. 19th-century French poet Arthur Rimbaud alluded to the concept as well in the title and themes of one of his major works, A Season in Hell (1873). Rimbaud's poetry portrays his own suffering in a poetic form as well as other themes.
Many of the great epics of European literature include episodes that occur in hell. In the Roman poet Virgil's Latin epic, the Aeneid, Aeneas descends into Hades (the underworld) to visit his father's spirit. The underworld is only vaguely described, with one unexplored path leading to the punishments of Tartarus, while the other leads through Erebus and the Elysium.
The idea of hell was highly influential to writers such as Jean-Paul Sartre who authored the 1944 play No Exit about the idea that "Hell is other people". Although not a religious man, Sartre was fascinated by his interpretation of a hellish state of suffering. C.S. Lewis's The Great Divorce (1945) borrows its title from William Blake's Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1793) and its inspiration from the Divine Comedy as the narrator is likewise guided through hell and heaven. Hell is portrayed here as an endless, desolate twilight city upon which night is imperceptibly sinking. The night is actually the Apocalypse, and it heralds the arrival of the demons after their judgment. Before the night comes, anyone can escape hell if they leave behind their former selves and accept Heaven's offer, and a journey to heaven reveals that hell is infinitely small; it is nothing more or less than what happens to a soul that turns away from God and into itself.
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 Greek underworld) with Tartarus being the hellish component. In the Gorgias, Plato (c. 400 BC) wrote that souls of the deceased were judged after they Charon 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 Greek underworld, on the other hand, is more similar to Old Testament Sheol. The Romans later adopted these views.
East Africa
The hell of Swahili people mythology is called kuzimu, and belief in it developed in the 7th and 8th century under the influence of Muslim merchants at the coast. It is imagined as very cold.
West Africa
Serer religion rejects the general notion of heaven and hell. Thiaw, Issa Laye, "La religiosité des Serer people, 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 Death. 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". Henry Gravrand, "La civilisation sereer, vol. II: Pangool, Nouvelles éditions africaines, Dakar, 1990, pp 91–128, ( Jaaniw, variation: "Jaaniiw")
Pacific
The Bagobo of the Philippines have the otherworld "Gimokodan", 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.
East Asia
According to a few sources, hell is below ground, and described as an uninviting wet 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.
Judaism
Judaism does not have a specific doctrine about the afterlife, but it does have a mystical/Orthodox tradition of describing Gehinnom. Gehinnom is 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.
Christianity
The 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.
שְׁאוֹל ( Sheol) Ἅιδης ( Haïdēs) ᾌδης ( Ádēs) x10 infernus Hell Hades גֵיא בֶן־הִנֹּם ( Ge Hinom)גֵיא בֶן־הִנֹּם Hinnom : Jer.19:6 Εννομ ( Ennom) γέεννα ( géenna) x11 gehennae/gehennam Hell Hell (Not applicable) (Not applicable) Ταρταρόω ( Tartaróō) x1 tartarum Hell Hell
Other denominations
Islam
In Islam, Jahannam (in Arabic Language: 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, (2025). 9789004301214, Brill. ISBN 9789004301214 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 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 Sharia, or rejected his messengers. "Enemies of Islam" are sent to hell immediately upon their deaths. 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. 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. 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. Muslim Scholarly Discussions on Salvation and the Fate of 'Others' , Mohammad Hassan Khalil, p.223 "The Fitnah of Wealth", Abû Ammâr Yasir al-Qadhî
(2025). 9789004301214, Brill. ISBN 9789004301214 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. (2025). 9781135885243, Routledge. ISBN 9781135885243
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. The Baháʼí writings state that the soul is immortal and after death it will continue to progress until it finally attains God's presence.Baháʼu'lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Baháʼu'lláh, ed. by US Baháʼí Publishing Trust, 1990, pp. 155-156.
Buddhism
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 Reincarnation, which can then be further subdivided into degrees of agony or pleasure.) Of these realms, the hell realms, or Naraka, is the lowest realm of rebirth. Of the hell realms, the worst is Avici (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.
Hinduism
Early Vedic religion does not have a concept of hell. The Rigveda mentions three realms, bhūr (the earth), svar (the sky) and Loka or antarikṣa (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 Yamī), by virtue of precedence, becomes ruler of men and a judge on their departure.
Jainism
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.
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. 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.
Taoism
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.
(2025). 9780195415216, Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195415216 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 traditional and syncretic religion
Diyu is the realm of the dead in Chinese mythology. It is very loosely based upon the Buddhism 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.
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.
Mandaeism
The Mandaeism believe in purification of souls inside of Leviathan,Das Johannesbuch der Mandäer, ed. and transl. by Mark Lidzbarski, part 2, Gießen 1915, p. 98–99. whom they also call Ur.Hans Jonas: The Gnostic Religion, 3. ed., Boston 2001, p. 117. Within detention houses, so called ,Ginza Rba. Der Schatz oder das große Buch der Mandäer, ed. and transl. by Mark Lidzbarski, Quellen der Religionsgeschichte vol. 13, Göttingen 1925, p. 183. the detained souls would receive so much punishment that they would wish to die a Second death, which would, however, not (yet) befall their spirit.Ginza, ed. and transl. by Lidzbarski, p. 185–186. At the Eschatology, the souls of the Mandaeans which could be purified, would be liberated out of Ur's mouth.Kurt Rudolph: Theogonie. Kosmonogie und Anthropogonie in den mandäischen Schriften. Eine literarkritische und traditionsgeschichtliche Untersuchung, Göttingen 1965, p. 241. After this, Ur would get destroyed along with the souls remaining inside him,Ginza, ed. and transl. by Lidzbarski, p. 203. so they die the second death.Ginza, ed. and transl. by Lidzbarski, p. 321.
Wicca
The Gardnerian Wicca and Alexandrian Wicca sects of Wicca include "wiccan laws" that Gerald Gardner wrote, which state that wiccan souls are privileged with reincarnation, but that the souls of wiccans who break the wiccan laws, "even under torture", would be cursed by the goddess, never be reborn on earth, and "remain where they belong, in the Hell of the Christians".Gerald Gardner, The Gardnerian Book of ShadowsAlex Sanders, The Alexandrian Book of Shadows Other recognized wiccan sects do not include Gerald Gardner's "wiccan laws". The influential wiccan author Raymond Buckland wrote that the wiccan laws are unimportant. Solitary wiccans, not involved in organized sects, do not include the wiccan laws in their doctrine.
In literature
In his Divine Comedy ( Divine Comedy), set in the year 1300, Dante employed the concept of taking Virgil as his guide through Inferno (and then, in the second canticle, up the mountain of Purgatory). Virgil himself is not condemned to hell proper in Dante's poem but is rather, as a virtuous pagan, confined to Limbo just at the edge of hell. The geography of hell is very elaborately laid out in this work, with nine concentric rings leading deeper into Earth, and deeper into the various punishments of hell, until, at the center of the world, Dante finds Satan himself trapped in the frozen lake of Cocytus. A small tunnel leads past Satan and out to the other side of the world, at the base of the Mount of Purgatory.
See also
Further reading
External links
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