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

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 Divider of the Hell and the Heaven” is a hadith from the Prophet (s) about Imam ʿAli (a), which is cited in different wordings:

* “O ʿAli, indeed, you are the divider of the Heaven and the Hell.” According to ''[[Sahifa Imam al-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.”

Moreover, there are hadiths in which Imam ʿAli (a) refers to himself as the divider of the Heaven and the Hell, including “I am the distinguisher (faruq) who distinguishes between the truth and the falsehood; I take my friends inside the Heaven and my enemies inside the Hell.”

“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.

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 Shafi'i]] (d. 204 AH), the leader of the Shafiʿi denomination:

'''ʿAli—his love is the Heaven'''

'''After him, ʿAli is like a bright moon.'''

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