Recordings › Don't let people bully you into beliefs | Mufti Abu Layth · 21 Aug 2019 › Segment 2 of 5
Is the Quran's description of paradise and hell literal or symbolic?
averroes ibn rushd al-hafid maaliki malikite malikiyyah maliki school muftis akhirah akhira aakhirah akhirat hereafter jannah janna jannat jahannam jahanam jahannum koran quraan al-quran sufism soofi rahmah rahma rahmat ajr sawab thawab thawaab sawaabThe Quran's imagery of the afterlife as symbolic: his reading, and the freedom to disagree
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This segment2:38 to 9:10 · 6 min 32 sGeneral teaching
What this part covers
machinesummary, machine-writtenMufti Abu Layth reads the Quran's imagery of the afterlife as symbolic, chosen to resonate with the people it was revealed to, while holding that life continues after this world. Allah also describes himself in imagery, and people are free to disagree.
In more detail
Mufti Abu Layth says nobody needs to agree with his reading, since asking for agreement would be dogma. He explains symbolism with the examples of a white horse running free or a white dove standing for freedom: to him there is a continuity beyond this life that is complex to explain, and the imagery exists to help those who need it, since the Prophet said that no human can conceptualise the afterlife [?], and what cannot be conceptualised cannot be expressed literally in words. He adds that Allah describes himself with symbolic imagery, 'Allah is the light of the heavens and the earth', so if God can speak symbolically of himself, the same can apply to heaven and hell. He cites Ibn Rushd, whom he calls a Maliki legend, and the Sufi Ibn Arabi as having said similar things, Ibn Arabi holding that even God's punishment is a lower form of mercy and deriving 'adhab from 'udhuba, sweetness. He accepts that concepts such as being burnt for a crime clash for many people with compassion and mercy, and says this is why he reads the imagery as addressed to the people it was revealed to: shade and rivers of milk and honey appealed to them but would not appeal to someone in Alaska or the Arctic. He concludes that some take the imagery literally, others metaphorically and others symbolically, that people may disagree with him, and that his detailed videos are on YouTube.
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Position stated
Mufti Abu Layth holds that the imagery of the afterlife in the Quran is symbolic, chosen to appeal to the people it was revealed to, while there is a real continuity beyond this life that no human can conceptualise, and he says people are free to disagree with this reading.
“if you can't even conceptualize something how can you express it in words so to me the afterlife the imagery in the Quran is symbolic”
Category: teaching
Kind: general teachingTranscript
machine2:38 to 9:10 · click a time to seek · dotted terms open the glossary
is in my understanding symbolic now you don't need to agree with that I've not asked you to agree with that that would be ridiculous if I asked you to agree with me then that would just be dogma but you see to me that's my reading of the Quran we know Allah when he and people may say how first of all what is symbolism like let's say if I asked you to represent the concept of freedom how would you do it one example is you could have let's say
here's a here's an image let's say a beautiful white horse running fast along I mean it's running along this often is in a kind of a a picturesque scene that is used to demonstrate freedom the sim it symbolizes freedom a dove white dove is often used as symbolism for the concept of freedom to me the continuity that this dunya life does not end here
there is continuity that continuity is complex to explain so the this kind of imagery is simply symbolic it is just to help certain people who would need it to get party otherwise the Prophet himself said nobody can even conceptualize what the afterlife is about so the Prophet said or Mahaprabhu barely by shutting up not a single human could ever conceptualize if you can't even conceptualize if you can't even conceptualize
something how can you express it in words so to me the afterlife the imagery in the Quran is symbolic you may say well really and then I will draw your attention to Allah describing himself in the Quran and what is much greater than the afterlife is God himself and God uses imagery he uses symbolic imagery Allah who Norris emeriti will of Allah is the light of the heavens and year this is symbolism this isn't literal so if Allah can be symbolic when referring to himself what
is heaven in hell so that's an you see you may disagree with me and that's fine it doesn't bother me that you disagree with me there's been many people I mean if you look at great people in the past even a rushed the Maliki legend if you look at the great Sufi even ROV and his writings many of it and he's highly revered by the Sufis he said many similar he said this kind of he said exactly this but this is just all symbolic and he said that even when God says he's gonna punish people it's just a lower sense of mercy like it's still
he's gonna reward them that's what he meant and he said a verb comes from the word Zuba from sweetness but my point of saying this is that look there are certain proper concepts which are problematic to many people and I would accept that they have problematic so if we were to say that things like let's let's say you've done a crime and for that crime you must be burnt there is an element of a punishment being commensurate and many people will find
this concept in common clash so in in contrast they will find it kind of clashing with the concept of compassion the concept of mercy the concept of they find it many people most Muslims just don't think about it that deeply but if they did they will struggle because to them they will think well you know it shouldn't really be like that so this is why I've said look this is my reading of the Quran I feel that this imagery was they and it was they really for the for
the people it was revealed to and we are just an extension so saying that the Quran is enticing men towards let's say shade but if you lived in a cold part of the world if you lived in Antarctica or the north you know Arctic or Alaska I mean telling you that Heaven's gonna have shade it's not really appealing to you or telling you that look heaven is gonna have rivers of milk no I mean I don't think most men today is in this part of the world find that appealing at all in fact I'm sure many people will find it quite
the opposite they don't want a river of honey like I wouldn't want a river of honey I wouldn't want a river of milk but these kind of things were of appeal to when they were revealed so it just used imagery that would resonate with the people that's all so and you can disagree with that that's fine I'm not asking and there's many people who will take this literally there's others who will take it metaphorically and others who would take it symbolically and I've got look detailed videos on YouTube where I discuss this you can watch that and that's fine but I think you know
what's what's shocked what's interesting and amusing and also depressing was not as in depressing for me but depressing to think about what other people are going through people that there are what these people are trying to I mean miserably obviously if they're failing I mean it doesn't work with me but but with the amongst themselves they are bullying people into beliefs like let's bully this person because he believes something a bit different
believes people believes not even you know this bullying of all kinds this bullying of and bullies are always just evil right miserable low lives but this bullying in in institutions bullying in schools bullying in workplaces in in all kinds of environment this bullying of that nature that exists everywhere and this is to bully somebody so they they can't even be free in their beliefs how
Paragraphs overlapping 2:38 to 9:10. Full text on the recording page.
Cite this segment
Stable id, transcript version and tier are part of the citation. Every change to a transcript is logged.Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment 2019-08-21-S02, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/ewmbn7jv9dk/s/2/ (accessed 1 November 2026)
- APA 7
Mufti Abu Layth. (2019, August 21). Is the Quran's description of paradise and hell literal or symbolic? [Video, segment 2019-08-21-S02, auto-transcribed, may contain errors]. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Retrieved November 1, 2026, from https://muftiabulayth.org/r/ewmbn7jv9dk/s/2/
- Chicago author-date
Mufti Abu Layth. 2019. "Is the Quran's description of paradise and hell literal or symbolic?" Video, segment 2019-08-21-S02, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Recorded August 21, 2019. Accessed November 1, 2026. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/ewmbn7jv9dk/s/2/
- BibTeX
@misc{abulayth-2019-08-21-S02, author = {Mufti Abu Layth}, title = {{Is the Quran's description of paradise and hell literal or symbolic?}}, year = {2019}, month = {8}, date = {2019-08-21}, howpublished = {\url{https://muftiabulayth.org/r/ewmbn7jv9dk/s/2/}}, url = {https://muftiabulayth.org/r/ewmbn7jv9dk/s/2/}, organization = {Mufti Abu Layth Archive}, urldate = {2026-11-01}, note = {Segment 2019-08-21-S02, auto-transcribed, may contain errors} }
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