Islam - Its Meaning for Modern Man — Page 341
341 upon us this vast region for an inheritance, permitting us to make our abode in the Garden wherever we please. ’ How excellent, then, is the reward of the righteous workers” (39:74 ⎯ 75). Heaven and hell are not separate, defined and divided regions, but exist, as it were, coextensively. The Quran says that the extent of heaven is equal to the whole extent of the heavens and the earth (57:22). Someone once asked the Prophet: “If heaven occupies the whole extent of the heavens and the earth, then where is hell?” He replied with another question: “When there is day, where is night?” Night, of course, means the absence of light. Hell means a state of the soul whose faculties are defective or diseased and whose reactions, consequently, are painful in contrast with the pleasant and agreeable reactions of a healthy soul. It is true that the phraseology employed constantly creates in the mind physical images, but in the conditions of human existence in this life that is inescapable. The only language that man can understand is the language to which he is accustomed. It is only by means of paraphrase and explanation that an effort can be made to bring the human mind closer to some understanding of these conditions, the reality of which is indeed beyond the ken of man. The Quran explains that the conditions of the life after death will constitute symbolical representation of man’s thoughts, designs, and actions