The Sun & Moon Cast into the Hell-Fire
Taken from
Silsilah Ahadeeth As-Saheehah
of
Shaykh Al-Albaani
Translated by
Abbas Abu Yahya
From AbdulAziz bin al-Mukhtar bin Abdullaah ad-Danaaj who said he witnessed Abu Salmah bin AbdurRahman sitting in a Masjid at the time of Khalid bin Usayd; He said al-Hasan came and sat with him, and Abu Salmah narrated to us that Abu Hurairah narrated from the Prophet -sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam-who said:
” الشمس والقمر ثوران مكوران في النار يوم القيامة “.
‘The sun and the moon will both spin and erupt in the Hell-Fire on the Day of Judgement.’
So al-Hasan asked: ‘What was the sin of the sun and the moon?!’
Abu Salmah said: ‘Rather what I do is narrate to you from the Messenger of Allaah -sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam.’
So al-Hasan remained silent.’
Collected by Imam Tahawi in ‘Mushkill al-Athaar (1/66-67)
Also collected by al-Bayhaqi in the book ‘al-Ba’ath wa Nashoor’, also by Bazaar, al-Isma’aili and al-Khattabi all by way of Yunus bin Muhammad that AbdulAziz bin al-Mukhtar narrated to us with this narration.
I (Albaani) say: This Isnaad is Saheeh upon the conditions of Bukhari, and he narrated it in his book ‘as-Saheeh’ in a summarized form, and he said: Mussadad narrated to us that he said AbdulAziz bin al-Mukhtar narrated to us with the wording:
‘The sun and the moon will both spin in the Hell-Fire on the Day of Judgement.’
The Meaning of the Hadeeth
The intent of the Hadeeth is not what al-Hasan al-Basri presumed, that the sun and the moon will be in the Hell-Fire punished as a punishment for them, never, indeed Allaah –Azza wa Jal – does not punish he who obeys him from His creation, and from that creation is the Sun and the moon, as to what Allaah’s -Tabarak wa Ta’ala- saying indicates to:
أَلَمْ تَرَ أَنَّ اللَّهَ يَسْجُدُ لَهُ مَنْ فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَنْ فِي الْأَرْضِ وَالشَّمْسُ وَالْقَمَرُ وَالنُّجُومُ وَالْجِبَالُ وَالشَّجَرُ وَالدَّوَابُّ وَكَثِيرٌ مِنَ النَّاسِ وَكَثِيرٌ حَقَّ عَلَيْهِ الْعَذَابُ
<< See you not that to Allaah prostrates whoever is in the heavens and whoever is on the earth, and the sun, and the moon, and the stars, and the mountains, and the trees, and Ad-Dawaab (moving living creatures, beasts, etc.), and many of mankind? But there are many (men) on whom the punishment is justified. >>
Allaah -Ta’ala- mentions that His punishment is deserving for those who prostrate for other than Allaah -Ta’ala- in this Dunyaa. Like Tahawi mentions, therefore, when Allaah throws them into the Hell-Fire, then this can have two meanings:
The First: that they are the fuel for the Fire.
Al-Isma’aili said:
‘It does not necessitate that being placed in the Hell-Fire that they will be punished, since indeed Allaah has Angels and stones and other things in the Hell-Fire, so that they will be a punishment for the people of the Hell-Fire and a tool from the tools of punishment, and Allaah does what He wills of that punishment, but the Angels and stones will not be punished.’
The second is:
They will both be thrown into the Hell-Fire as remorse for those who worshipped them.
al-Khattabi said:
‘The intent of them being in the Hell-Fire is not that they will be punished there, but they will be a remorse for those who worshipped them in the Dunyaa, so that those people know that their worship of them was false.’
I say: this is the closest to the wording of the hadeeth and what supports this is that in the hadeeth of Anas collected by Abu Ya’ala as is mentioned in ‘al-Fath’ (6/214) it says:
‘so that those who used to worship them could see them.’
But I did not see it in his ‘Musnad’ and Allaah Ta’ala knows best.
[Taken from ‘Silsilah Ahadeeth as-Saheehah’ vol. 1 No. 124]