Hadith of the Divider of the Hell and the Heaven: Difference between revisions

Hadith Qasim al-Nar wa-l-Janna (Divider of the Hell and the Heaven) is a hadith from the Prophet (s) concerning the virtues of Imam ʿAli (a), where the Imam is characterized as the divider of the Hell and the Heaven. The hadith is cited in Shiite and Sunni sources in different wordings.

There are two major interpretations of the hadith by Muslim scholars: the first is that ʿAli’s friends and advocates will go to the Heaven, and his enemies will be in the Hell; and the other is that, on the day of resurrection, Imam ʿAli (a) will determine who would go to the Heaven and who would go to the Hell.

The hadith is deemed mutawatir (or frequently transmitted) by some Shiite and Sunni scholars, but some Sunni scholars have cited it with a particular chain of transmission, which they regard as unreliable.

“O ʿAli, indeed, you are the divider of the Heaven and the Hell.” According to Sahifa Imam Rida (a), “the Hell” comes before “the Heaven”: “Oh ʿAli, indeed, you are the divider of the Hell and the Heaven.” In some sources, the hadith continues as follows: “you take your lovers inside the Heaven and your enemies inside the Hell.”

“O ʿAli, indeed, you are the divider of the Heaven on the day of resurrection, telling the Hell this is mine and this is yours.”

“O ʿAli, indeed, you are the divider of the Hell, and indeed, you knock on the Heaven’s door, entering the Heaven without any reckoning.”

“The Divider of the Heaven and the Hell” is also said to be a title of Imam ʿAli (a). The hadith is cited in Imam ʿAli’s ziyara (attestation of pilgrimage) as well.

First, those who love Imam ʿAli (a) are indeed guided to the right path, and thus, they go to the Heaven, while his enemies are misguided, and hence, they go to the Hell. In reply to someone who denied the hadith of “I am the divider of the Hell,” Ahmad b. Hanbal, a Sunni jurist (d. 241 AH), adduced another hadith by the Prophet (s) concerning ʿAli (a): “No one loves you except a believer, and no one takes you as an enemy except a hypocrite,” and given that believers go to the Heaven and hypocrites go to the Hell, he infers that ʿAli is indeed the divider of the Hell.

Second, Imam ʿAli (a) is literally a divider of the Heaven and the Hell on the day of resurrection; that is, he says who would go to the Heaven and who would go to the Hell.

Some people have said that since Imam ʿAli (a) is an Imam, his deeds and words are authoritative, which implies that his followers go to the Heaven and those who defy him go to the Hell.

According to ʿAllama Majlisi and some Sunni scholars, the hadith of the divider of the Hell and the Heaven is mutawatir (frequently transmitted). Immediate Transmitters of the hadith include Jabir b. ʿAbd Allah, ʿAbd Allah b. ʿAbbas, ʿAbd Allah b. ʿUmar, ʿAbd Allah b. Masʿud, Abu-l-Tufayl, and Abu Salt Hirawi. Nevertheless, some Sunni scholars have just cited the hadith through Musa b. Turayf and ʿAbaya b. Ribʿi, who they regarded as unreliable transmitters, thus taking the validity of the hadith into question.

The hadith of the divider of the Hell features in Arabic and Persian poems. For instance, the following verses are attributed to Muhammad b. Idris Shafiʿi (d. 204 AH), the leader of the Shafiʿi denomination:

ʿAli—his love is the Heaven

The divider of the Hell and the Heaven

The truthful successor of Mustafa

The Imam of men and the jinn

Moreover, the following verses are attributed to Qutb al-Din Rawandi (d. 573 AH), a Shiite scholar of hadiths:

The divider of the Hell, having the good and being the good

So, Muhammad was a sun in the religion

 

After him, ʿAli is like a bright moon.