The Food, Drink and Clothing of the People of Hell

 

The Food, Drink and Clothing of the People of
Hell

    The food of the people of Hell is ad-Daree and az-Zaqqum, and
their drink is al-Hameem, al-Ghasleen and al-Ghassaaq.

Allah (swt) says:

"No food will there be for them but a bitter Daree
obnoxious thorny plant, which will neither nourish nor satisfy
hunger". (88:6-7)

ad-Daree is a thorny plant know as ash-Shubruq that grows
in the Hijaaz. Ibn 'Abbaas said, "It is a low-growing thorny plant;
when it grows tall it is called daree". Qataadah said, "It is one
of the very worst types of food" (Ibn Rajab, at-Takhweef min
an-Naar, p.115). This food of the people of Hell will be of no
benefit whatsoever to them, and they will not enjoy it in the least;
this is one of the forms of punishment that they will suffer. Allah
(swt) says:

"Verily the tree of Zaqqum will be the food of the
sinful, like molten brass, it will boil in their insides, like the
boiling of scalding water." (44:43-46).

The Tree of Zaqqum is described in another
aayah:

"Is that [Paradise] the better entertainment or the
tree of Zaqqum [a horrible tree in Hell]? For We have truly made it
[as] a trial for the wrongdoers. For it is a tree that springs out
of the bottom of Hellfire, The shoots of its fruit-stalks are like
the heads of devils; Truly they will eat thereof and fill their
bellies therewith. Then on top of that they will be given to drink a
mixture made of boiling water. Then, shall their return by to the
blazing Fire of Hell". (37:62-68)

Elsewhere in the Qur'an, Allah (swt) says:

"Then, will you truly - O you that go wrong, and treat
[Truth] as Falsehood]! You will surely taste of the tree of Zaqqum.
Then you will fill your insides therewith, and drinkboiling water on
top of it. Indeed you will drink like diseased camels raging with
thirst! Such will be their entertainment on the Day of Requital!"
(56:51-66)

What we may understand from these aayaat is that this
tree is a repulsive tree, whose roots go deep into the bottom of
Hell, and whose branches stretch forth all over. Its fruits are so
ugly that they are likened to the heads of devils, so that everyone
may easily understand just how ugly they are, even though they have
never seen them. Although this tree is so vile and obnoxious, the
people of Hell will become so hungry that they will have no choice but to eat from it until they are full. When they have
filled their bellies, this food will start to churn like boiling
oil, which will cause a great deal of suffering to them. At that
point they will rush to drink al-Hameem, which is an extremely hot
water, and they will drink it like camels that drink and drink but
their thirst is never quenched because of some disease. Then it will
tear their innards:

"..[they] will be given to drink, boiling water, so
that it cuts up their bowels [to pieces]" (47:15)

This is the hospitality that will be offered to them on
that awesome Day. May Allah (swt) protect us from this by His Grace
and Mercy.

When the people of Hell eat this vile food of ad-Daree
and az-Zaqqum, they will choke because of its foulness:

"Verily with Us are fetters [to bind them] and a
raging Fire [to burn them], And a food that chokes and a Penalty
grievous". (73:12-13)

The food that makes people choke is the food that sticks
in the throat.

The Prophet (saw) portrayed for us the ugly and
terrifying nature of az-Zaqqum:

"If one drop from az-Zaqqum were to land on this
world, the people of earth and all their means of sustenance would
be destroyed. So how must it be for the one who must eat
it?" It was reported by at-Tirmidhi, who said, it is a sahih
hasan hadith. [Mishkaat al-Masaabeeh, 3/105, narrated by Ibn
'Abbaas]

Another kind of food that will be eaten by the people of
Hell is al-Ghasleen. Allah (swt) says:

"So no friend has he here this Day, Nor has he any
food except corruption [or filth] from the washing of wounds
[al-Ghasleen], which none do eat but those in sin".
(69:35-37)

"Yea, such! - Then shall they taste it - a boiling
fluid and a fluid dark, murky, intensely cold [ghassaaq]! And other
penalties of a similar kind - to match them!"
(38:57-58)

al-Ghasleen and al-Ghassaaq mean the same thing, which is
the festering pus that oozes out of the skin of the people of Hell.
It was suggested that it refers to the offensive discharge that
flows from the private parts of adulterous women, and the decaying
skin and flesh of the kuffaar. al-Qurtubee said, "It is the juice
of the people of Hell" [Yaqhadhat uli al-I'tibaar, p.
86]

Allah tells us that al-Ghasleen is just one of many
similarly obnoxious punishments.

The drink of the people of Hell will be al-Hameem. Allah
(swt) says:

"...and if they implore relief, they will be granted
water like melted brass that will scald their faces. How dreadful
the drink! How uncomfortable a couch to recline on!"
(18:29)

"...and he will be made to drink boiling, festering
water. He will sip it unwillingly, and he will find great difficulty
in swallowing it.." (14:16-17)

These aayaat mention four kinds of drink that the people
of Hell have to endure:

(1) al-Hameem: an extremely hot water.

As Allah says: "In its midst and in the midst of the
boiling hot water will they wander round!" (55:44)

This was explained as being ultra-hot water. And Allah
(swt) says: "They will be given to drink from a boiling hot
spring." (88:5)

(2) al-Ghassaaq: as discussed above.

(3) al-Sadeed (pus): what flows from the flesh and
skin of the Kaafir. Muslim reports from Jaabir that the Prophet
(saw) said, "Anyone who drinks
intoxicants will be made to drink the mud of
khabaal". They
asked, "O Messenger of Allah, what is the mud of khabaal?" He said,
"The sweat of the people of Hell", or "the juice
of the people of Hell".

(4) al-Muhl: according to the hadith of Abu Sa'eed
al-Khudri narrated by Ahmad and at-Tirmidhi the Prophet (saw)
said:

"It is like boiling oil, and when it is brought
near a person's face, the skin of the face falls off into
it". Ibn 'Abbaas said, "It is like very thick oil".

Some of the sinners will be fed the burning coals of Hell
as an appropriate punishment:

"Those who unjustly eat up the property of orphans,
eat us a Fire into their own bellies, and they will soon be enduring
a blazing Fire!" (4:10)

"Those who conceal Allah's revelations in the Book,
and purchase for them a miserable profit - swallow into themselves
naught but Fire.." (2:174)

As for the dress of the people of Hell, Allah (swt) has
told us that garments of fire will be tailor-made for them, as it
says in the Qur'an:

"..But for those who deny [their Rabb] for them will
be cut out a garment of
Fire;
over their heads will be poured out boiling water"
(22:19)

When Ibraaheem at-Taymi recited this Aayah he used to
say, "Glory be to Allah, Who has created garments out of
fire" (at-Takhweef min an-Naar, p.126)

Allah (swt) says, "And you will see the sinners that
Day bound together in fetters. Their garments of liquid pitch and
their faces covered with Fire". (14:49-50)

This pitch or tar is melted copper. According to a hadith
narrated by Muslim from Abu Maalik al-Ash'ari, the Prophet (saw)
said, "The woman who wails for the dead, if she does not
repent before she dies, she will be resurrected on the Day of
Resurrection, wearing a shirt of tar and a shield of scabs."
Ibn Maajah reported this with the wording, "The woman who
wails over the dead, who does not repent before she dies, Allah
(swt) will cut out for her a garment of tar and a shield of scabs".