𝗠𝗮𝗱𝗿𝗮𝘀𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗻𝗮 𝗕𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗳𝗶𝘁𝘀 (13)

What will happen to the Sun and the Moon in the Hereafter? Question: Is it true that the sun will be placed into Hellfire on the Day of Resurrection, and what is the evidence for that? Sheikh Yahya ḥafidhahullāh (paraphrasing): The evidence is the statement of Allāh: “When the sun is folded up” (81:1). Its “folding up” refers to its being gathered and cast into the Fire, as has been mentioned. First it will be collected and wrapped up, and the moon will likewise be eclipsed, and they will both be thrown into the Fire. This was stated by Ibn Kathīr (may Allāh have mercy on him), and there are authentic ḥadīths supporting this. Among these is the ḥadīth narrated by Abū Hurayrah from the Prophet ﷺ: “The sun and the moon will be folded up on the Day of Resurrection.” This was reported exclusively by Al-Bukhārī, and this is his wording. Al-Bazzār also transmitted it and presented it with clarity. He said: “Ibrāhīm ibn Ziyād Al-Baghdādī narrated to us; Yūnus ibn Muḥammad narrated to us; ʽAbdulʽAzīz ibn Al-Mukhtār narrated to us, from ʽAbdullāh Ad-Dānāj, who said: I heard Abū Salamah ibn ʽAbdirraḥmān ibn Khālid ibn ʽAbdillāh Al-Qasrī in this masjid—the masjid of Kūfa—and Al-Ḥasan came and sat with him. He then related: Abū Hurayrah narrated to us that the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ said: ‘Indeed, the sun and the moon will be two luminaries in the Fire on the Day of Resurrection.’” Al-Ḥasan said, “What sin have they committed?” He replied, “I narrate to you from the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ, and you say, ‘What sin have they committed’?” Then he said: “This is narrated from Abū Hurayrah only through this route, and ʽAbdullāh Ad-Dānāj narrated nothing from Abū Salamah other than this ḥadīth.” Abū Yaʽlā also reported a narration with a similar meaning from Anas, in which it is said that they will be placed there so that those who worshipped them may see them—just as Allāh says: ‘Indeed, you and what you worship besides Allāh are the fuel of Hell; you will enter it’ (21:98). Aṭ-Ṭayālisī narrated it from this route in abridged form, and Ibn Wahb transmitted in his Kitāb Al-Ahwāl from ʽAṭāʾ ibn Yasār, regarding the Āyah ‘and the sun and the moon are brought together’ (75:9), that he said: “They will be gathered on the Day of Resurrection and then cast into the Fire.” Ibn Abī Ḥātim also reported a similar statement from Ibn ʽAbbās, in a mawqūf form. Al-Khaṭṭābī said: “The intent behind their being in the Fire is not that they will be punished thereby; rather, it is to rebuke those who worshipped them in the world, so that such people may know that their worship of them was false.” It has also been said that they were created from fire, and thus will be returned to it. Ismāʽīl said: “Their being placed in the Fire does not necessitate that they are being punished, for Allāh has in the Fire angels, stones, and other things that serve as punishment and instruments of punishment for the inhabitants of the Fire; they themselves are not punished.” In summary: the sun and the moon will indeed be folded up and cast into the Fire. This is a sound view, and—as has been made clear from the statements of the scholars—it does not imply that they are being punished.