The Wisdom Behind There Being So Many People In Hell

 

The reason why there will be so many people in Hell is not
that the truth failed to reach them all, wherever or whenever they
lived. Allah does not blame anyone whom His call did not
reach:

"..Nor would We punish with Our Wrath until We had
sent a Messenger [to give warning]." (17:15)

"..And there never was a people, without a Warner
having lived among them [in the past]". (35:24)

The reason behind it is the fact that those who responded
to the Messengers were few in number, while those who disbelieved
were great. Furthermore, many of those who responded were not pure
and sincere in faith.

In his book, at-Takhweef min an-Naar, Ibn Rajab discussed
the reason why so few people will enter Paradise and so many will
enter Hell: "These hadith and other similar reports prove that most
of the children of Aadam will enter Hell, and that the followers of
the Messengers are few in number when compared to the rest of
mankind. Those who did not follow the Messengers will enter Hell,
except for those whom the Message did not reach, or who
could
not understand it because of the garbled form in which they heard
it. Many of those who claim to be followers of the Messengers are in
fact adhering to a distorted religion and an altered book, and they
too will be among the people of Hell, " as Allah (swt)
says:

"...But those of the sects that reject it [the
Qur'an] the Fire will be their promised meeting-place"
(11:17)

As for those who claim to follow the Book and Law of
Allah (swt) the true religion, many of them will also enter Hell.
These are the Munaafiqoon (the hypocrites) who will be in the lowest
level of the Fire. Many of those who
claim to follow it openly
and in secret will be tested by ambiguities and doubts - these are
the misguided inventors and followers of bid'ah (reprehensible
innovations, heresies). Several hadith have been narrated which
state that the ummah will split into seventy-odd sects, all of which
will be in the Hell except for one. Many people will also be tested
with forbidden desires for which the promised punishment is
Hellfire, although in this case it is not necessarily an eternal
punishment. No one from this ummah will be saved from the Fire, or
deserve the absolute promise of Paradise, apart from the one sect or
group, who follow the example and practice of the Prophet (saw) and
his Companions openly and in secret, and are saved from the
temptation and trials of desires and doubts. Such are very few
indeed, especially in latter times". (at-Takhweef min an-Naar, Ibn
Rajab, p.214)

The main reason why so many follow their desires is that
the love of such things is deeply rooted in the human
psyche:

"Fair in the eyes of men is the love of things they
covet: women and children; heaved-up hoards of gold and silver
[wealth]; horses branded [for blood and excellence]; and [wealth of]
cattle and well-tilled land. Such are the possessions of this
world's life.." (3:14)

Many people want to fulfill these desires in whatever way
they wish, without paying attention to the revealed laws of Allah
(swt), and by adhering to the customs of their forefathers in ways
that contradict these laws:

"Just in the same way, whenever We sent a Warner
before you [Muhammad] to any people, the wealthy ones among them
said: "We found our fathers following a certain religion, and we
will certainly follow in their footsteps". [The Warner] said: "What!
Even if I brought you better guidance than that which you found your
fathers following?" They said, "For us, we deny that you [Prophets]
are sent [on a mission at all]". (43:23-24)

Loving the ways of one's forefathers to the point of
sanctifying them is a disease which many nations are suffering from,
and its effects on the deeply-rooted desires of men are no less, if
it is not counted as a desire in
itself.

at-Tirmidhi, Abu Dawud, and an-Nasaa'ee report from Abu
Hurayrah (ra) that the messenger of Allah (saw) said, "When
Allah (swt) created Hell, He told Jibreel, "Go and look at it."
Jibreel went and looked at it, and when he came back he said, "By
Your Glory, I fear that no-one who hears of it will enter it". So He
surrounded it with desires, and said, "Go and look at it." Jibreel
went and looked at it, and when he came back, he said, "By Your
Glory, I fear that there will be no-one left who does not enter
it". (the version narrated by an-Nasaa'ee adds the words,
"and at what I have prepared for its inhabitants in it".) [Jaami
al-Usool, 10/250, # 8068. at-Tirmidhi described it as sahih
hasan].

al-Bukhaari and Muslim narrated from Abu Hurayrah that
the Prophet (saw) said, "Hell is veiled in desires and
Paradise is veiled in hardships".

Siddeeq Hasan Khan said, "What is meant by desires is
the things that people want and enjoy". al-Qurtubee said,
"Desires are all those things that people like and towards which
they are inclined, and surrounding a thing means placing something
all around it, so that it cannot be reached without going through
it". (Yaqadhat uli al-I'tibar, p.220)