Translation
As for those who are in despair (for their previous beliefs and denial of reality of Afterlife) will find themselves deep in what they were warned of [fire], moaning and groaning, unable to escape as long as the heavens and the earth will endure, unless your Sustainer God wills otherwise. Indeed, your Sustainer God is free to do what He intends. As for those who are happy (as they were anticipating such a reality and prepared for it) will find themselves in paradise, residing in it, as long as the heavens and the earth will endure, unless your Sustainer God wills otherwise; a gift, though, never to be exhausted. 508
Therefore, do not remain in doubt about what they worship—they worship (without thoughts or understanding) what their forefathers worshipped. We [God] will compensate them (for their belief and conducts) to its fullest measure, undiminished.509
Interpretation
508 The contrast of heaven (garden) and hell (fire) is provided here as a broad concept and in terms of overarching conditions and continuity. Those who lack faith in God and deny the afterlife will suffer despair in this life and will find themselves in hellfire, where there will be pain, suffering, anguish, and utter despair that we can’t even imagine possible. But those who have faith in God and have understood the reality of afterlife will find happiness in life here on earth and in paradise in the afterlife. The continuity of hell and heaven seems to be conditional to the continuity of the universe and the earth, with some caveats. With respect to the suffering in hell, it is conditional to God’s intention (mercy), as He is free to do what He intends, whereas with respect to happiness for the faithful, there is a commitment of perpetuity, even if the conditions of the universe and the earth are altered (14:48). Even though the hell and paradise are explained in the revelations in earthly terms, the true condition of the hellfire and bliss of paradise are beyond human imagination, as attested by a Hadith of the prophet when he said that the grandeur of the paradise is not something that human eyes have ever seen or the human mind ever imagined. Verse 14:48 also makes reference that even our earth and the skies around us will be changed to something different: “On the day (event) when the earth will be changed into a different earth and the heavens as well and they (people) will come forth to God, the One, the Supreme.” This is followed by a clear reminder in a subsequent verse, 14:52: “This is a message for the people, that they may be warned as such; that they may know that God is One and that people with consciousness may pay attention.”
The time limitation of hellfire seems to have been implied in several places in the Qur’an as in 4:168–169, 33:63–65, 72:23, and 78:21–23, where the word “abadan” or “ahqab” has been used to signify a long time without specificity or perpetuity. Certain Hadiths of the Prophet also imply that eventually all dwellers of hellfire who have an iota of faith will be relieved by interventions from prophets, angels, and good people with God’s permission, and by God Himself through His infinite mercy. Regarding God’s rewards (in paradise), there are various verses that imply its continuity in perpetuity as God defines it, with or without paradise as commonly understood, such as the current verse (108) as well as 95:6, 15:45–48, 38:53–54, 41:8, 44:56, 98:7–8.
509 Here the newly faithful—the followers of the Prophet—are asked to have absolute clarity of what the Arabs of their time were worshiping: not the true One God, but many deities that their forefathers had imagined and developed into a religious worship. Blindly following the rituals and worships of previous generations is a root cause of religious degradation and eventual corruption of faith and religion, something that every generation of believers needs to pay attention to and work diligently to reform and restore true faith in God and conviction in human goodness.
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REFLECTION
The concept of personal accountability to God and to fellow human beings for our lives and the blessings that come with free choices, knowledge, and resources, gifted by God and put at our disposal, is very central to Islamic concept of faith and human dignity.
ACTION
The consequences that follow from the choices that we make, those we make freely, not out of coercion or ignorance but with deliberation or willful negligence, will be punished or rewarded by God as part of the construct of our natural world. Such consequences are no different than the law of gravity, when large bodies of masses interact or chemical reactions happen when atoms and molecules of different composition come into contact, as prescribed by God and put into natural laws that govern our lives and our universe.