The Logic of Divine Punishment

“Say, ‘[God says], My servants who have harmed yourselves by your own excess, do not despair of God’s mercy. God forgives all sins: He is truly the Most Forgiving, the Most Merciful.  Turn to your Lord. Submit to Him before the punishment overtakes you and you can no longer be helped.  Follow the best teaching sent down to you from your Lord, before the punishment suddenly takes you, unawares, and your soul says, “Woe is me for having neglected what is due to God, and having been one of those who scoffed!”  Or it says, “If God had guided me, I would have joined the righteous!”  Or, faced by punishment, it says, “If only I could have another chance, I would join those who do good!”  No indeed! My messages came to you and you rejected them: you were arrogant and rejected the truth.’” (39:53-59)

Questioning “punishment” is a common place between disbelievers, to whom I belonged just 12 years ago.  We are all now seemingly for “restoration”, not “retribution” or “retaliation”.  But do we really believe in restoration instead of punishment?  Look at the world, where is the restoration in the US criminal justice system?  But let’s move to the topic of this reflection: does God not prioritize restoration to punishment?  If one reads the Quran carefully, one realizes that this is, as it were, a book of warning and good news.  The warning is the punishment for spreading corruption on the earth and disbelief in God or the Origin of Life, the Living.  And the reward is for those who do good and believe in the Origin of Life and Connect with that Origin.  Disconnection is the karmic effect ending to reside in Hell.  Now, we have all sort of gestures of wisdom against the notion of “Hell” in our modern discourse.  Why should God punish wrongdoers forever in Fire in Hell?  Is this God merciful and compassionate? 

Every surah in the Quran (except for one), starts with “In the Name of God, the Lord of Mercy, the Giver of Mercy."  So, what is Hell about?  Only through reading the Quran with principle of charity and empathy, as with any other text, we can connect with the message.  The message is clear, and it is restorative and based on redemption.  If we really abandon our criminal justice retributive system, we will come to the restorative message of the Quran.  In a restorative system, even a murderer can be forgiven, IF AND ONLY IF, he or she has realized one’s wrongdoing and is ready to restore the corruption and destruction that one has created.  However, if the guilty is not awakened to the horror of his or her crime, punishment will ensue.  This punishment is not for ‘retaliation’.  After providing the possibility of redemption and restoration, which means after creating a just society, we will be disgusted by those who won’t be awakened to the restorative path.  In that case, we have no choice but to punish the criminal.  This is also the same in the Quran.  Hell is for those who have corrupted their soul and never woke up from following their desires and whims and alienation from the Origin of Life.  Whether Hell is for eternity or not, is the question we don’t have any answer to it.  We can find both Hell is for eternity and also as long as God wills.  In our societies, if they are just and not constituted on the principle of exclusion and discrimination, those who can’t go to the path of restoration will be sentenced to death or life in prison.  Do we have any other option?  And if we corrupt our soul to the point of no return, do we have any option but Hell?  In the Quran, God constantly says, God forgives all sins and wrongdoing, if they redeem and restore their actions and character before the Day of Resurrection:

“This Scripture is sent down from God, the Almighty, the All Knowing, Forgiver of sins and Accepter of repentance, severe in punishment, infinite in bounty. There is no god but Him; to Him is the ultimate return.” (40:2-3)

“Those [angels] who carry the Throne and those who surround it celebrate the praise of their Lord and have faith in Him. They beg forgiveness for the believers: ‘Our Lord, You embrace all things in mercy and knowledge, so forgive those who turn to You and follow Your path. Save them from the pains of Hell and admit them, Lord, to the lasting Gardens You have promised to them, together with their righteous ancestors, spouses, and offspring: You alone are the Almighty, the All Wise.  Protect them from all evil deeds: those You protect on that Day from [the punishment for] evil deeds will receive Your mercy– that is the supreme triumph.’  But those who disbelieved will be told, ‘When you were called to the faith and rejected it, God’s disgust with you was even greater then than the self-disgust you feel [today].’  They will say, ‘Our Lord, twice You have caused us to be lifeless and twice You have brought us to life. Now we recognize our sins. Is there any way out?’  [They will be told], ‘This is all because when God alone was invoked you rejected this, yet when others were associated with Him you believed [in them].’ Judgement belongs to God the Most High, the Most Great.” (40:7-12)

“Have they not traveled through the land and seen how those who lived before them met their end? They were more numerous than them, stronger than them, and made a more impressive mark on the land, yet what they achieved was of no use to them at all.  When messengers came to them with clear signs, they reveled in the knowledge they had, and so they were engulfed by the very punishment they mocked: when they saw Our punishment, they said, ‘We believe in God alone; we reject any partner we ascribed to Him,’ but believing after seeing Our punishment did not benefit them at all– this has always been God’s way of dealing with His creatures– there and then the disbelievers were lost.” (40:82-85)