[HPLovecraft]

Originally Posted by kirant

Not to derail this topic, but to further this line of thought, weren't most references to fire and brimstone (in most references) in reference to Gehenna? Originally, I think Hell was called "Sheol" (correct me if I'm wrong. I'm just talking off the top of my head), the resting place of the damned (and was more defined as a dark place), but both Gehenna, the fire and brimstone location, and Sheol were translated into Hell by the King James translation.

It makes sense in my mind at least. At Gehenna (an actual location near Jerusalem), you'd be burned instead of being buried for being a heretic, which is pretty consistent with all the descriptions between religions. The difference is that they don't really specify that it's a literal event - Your physical body is literally being burned. The Valley of Hinnom, which is the name of Gehenna now, had a constant fire going at the time, so if you weren't exactly a nice guy towards God, they'd throw your body there, were you'd burn for eternity (or so it seemed)

So if we combine this with the passage quotes, it's basically stating that you'll be thrown into this longstanding fire (which also housed a lot of sulfur. I think this is the origin of "fire and brimstone Hell") by Allah.

My understanding, which certainly isn't authoritative by any stretch of the imagination, was that "Gehenna" was a place sacred to some people that practised some ancient pagan rituals dedicated to the Levantine god Moloch. People were supposedly burned alive there, and reference to that made its way into the Torah and some other books:

Leviticus 18:21: "And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Moloch"

Jeremiah 7:31-32: And they have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into my mind. Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when it will no more be called Topheth, or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter; for they will bury in Topheth, because there is no room elsewhere.

I got those quotes from online, though, so they may not be completely accurate, but there are others, as well.

From there, these references then made their way into the New Testament (as in, the books that now compose the New Testament), taking on a definitively mythological aspect that you can already see forming in Isaiah there, and from there made their way into the Qur'an (Jahannam). Any sort of actual human sacrifices conducted there would have long since ceased by then, and while I've read before that there was a garbage heap burning there, I've also read that there isn't any actual archaeological evidence for it or any early references made of that really being the case. Even so, though, I think the ancient pagan rituals that went on there are still more than enough to explain the origin of the concept. It's interesting reading, though, and seems so plainly obvious I can't understand how some people can still believe in the existence of a Judeo-Christian "hell" after reading the history of the word and concept.