He spends several weeks or months drowned in these killing...

He spends several weeks or months drowned in these killing pleasures and gradually develops ulcers, heart disease, nerve disease and then he spends tens of years until the end of his life suffering because of this and he groans night and day. Can one object here why does a person who only sinned for several weeks or months have to suffer for tens of years? It is readily stated in response that this is the result of his own actions.

Even if he were to live longer than the Prophet Noah and were to live for tens of thousands of years and we were to continuously see him in pain and anguish, we would say that this is something he brought upon himself with his deeds. Punishment on the Day of Judgment is like this. Thus, no one can object to the justice of the situation. b.

This is wrong that some people assume that the time limit of the punishment must be the same extent as the sin because the relation between a sin and punishment is not a temporal one. It depends upon the result and quality of the sin. For instance, it is possible that a person in one second kills an innocent person and according to the laws of some countries, he is given life imprisonment.

Here we see that the time of the sin was one quickly passing second, whereas the punishment is for tens of years. No one considers this to be oppressive. Why? Because the question here is not one of days or weeks or months or years. It depends upon the quality of the sin and its result. c.

Eternity in hell and eternal punishment only belongs to those people who have closed all doors to salvation for themselves and they have drowned themselves in corruption, licentiousness, kufr and hypocrisy so that the darkness of sin takes over their entire being and, as a result, that person takes on the color of sin and kufr. The Holy Qur’an says: “Nay, those who seek gain in evil and are girt round by their sins — they are companions of the fire: therein shall they abide (forever).

“(2:81) These kinds of individuals have completely cut off their connection with God and have closed all doors to their salvation and well-being. These kinds of individuals are like birds which purposefully break their own wings, pull out their feathers, are obliged to walk forever upon the earth and are deprived of flying through the skies.

Noticing the three points given above clarifies the issue that eternal punishment which belongs to a particular group of hypocrites or kufar does not oppose the principle of justice.