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{{Short description|Abode of the dead, in various cultures}}
{{About|the abode of the dead in various cultures and religious traditions around the world}}
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[[File:Fra Angelico 010.jpg|thumb|''The Last Judgment (detail),'' c.1431, by [[Fra Angelico]] depicting people being tormented in hell]]
In [[religion]] and [[folklore]], '''hell''' is a ___location or state in the [[afterlife]] in which [[soul]]s are subjected to [[punishment]] after death. Religions with a [[philosophy of history#Cyclical and linear history|linear]] [[divinity|divine]] history sometimes depict hells as [[Eternity|eternal]], such as in some versions of [[Christianity]] and [[Islam]], whereas religions with [[reincarnation]] usually depict a hell as an intermediary period between [[incarnation]]s, as is the case in the [[Indian religions]]. Religions typically locate hell in another [[Astral plane|dimension]] or under [[Earth]]'s surface. Other afterlife destinations include [[heaven]], [[paradise]], [[purgatory]], [[limbo]], and the [[underworld]].
Other religions, which do not conceive of the afterlife as a place of punishment or reward, merely describe an abode of the dead, the [[grave]], a neutral place that is located under the surface of Earth (for example, see [[Kur]], [[Greek underworld|Hades]], and [[Sheol]]). Such places are sometimes equated with the English word ''hell'', though a more correct translation would be "underworld" or "world of the dead". The ancient [[Ancient Mesopotamian religion|Mesopotamian]], [[Greek mythology|Greek]], [[Roman mythology|Roman]], and [[Finnic mythologies|Finnic]] religions include entrances to the underworld from the land of the living.
==Overview==
===Etymology===
[[File:Hel (1889) by Johannes Gehrts.jpg|thumb|''Hel'' (1889) by [[Johannes Gehrts]], depicts the Old Norse [[Hel (being)|Hel]], a goddess-like figure, in the [[Hel (___location)|___location of the same name]], which she oversees]]
The modern English word ''hell'' is derived from Old English ''hel'', ''helle'' (first attested around 725 AD to refer to a nether world of the dead) reaching into the [[Anglo-Saxon paganism|Anglo-Saxon pagan period]].<ref name=BARNHART348>[[Robert Barnhart|Barnhart, Robert K.]] (1995) ''The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology'', page 348. [[HarperCollins]] {{ISBN|0-06-270084-7}}</ref> The word has [[cognate]]s in all branches of the [[Germanic languages]], including Old Norse ''hel'' (which refers to both a [[Hel (___location)|___location]] and [[Hel (being)|goddess-like being]] in [[Norse mythology]]), [[Old Frisian]] ''helle'', [[Old Saxon]] ''hellia'', [[Old High German]] ''hella'', and [[Gothic language|Gothic]] ''halja''. All forms ultimately derive from the [[Linguistic reconstruction|reconstructed]] [[Proto-Germanic]] feminine noun *''xaljō'' or *''haljō'' ('concealed place, the underworld'). In turn, the Proto-Germanic form derives from the [[Indo-European ablaut|o-grade form]] of the [[Proto-Indo-European root]] *''kel-'', *''kol''-: 'to cover, conceal, save'.<ref name="HEL-NOUN">For discussion and analysis, see Orel (2003:156) and Watkins (2000:38).</ref> Indo-European cognates include Latin ''cēlāre'' ("to hide", related to the English word ''cellar'') and early Irish ''ceilid'' ("hides"). Upon the [[Christianisation of the Germanic peoples]], extensions of the Proto-Germanic *''xaljō'' were reinterpreted to denote the underworld in [[Christian mythology]]<ref name=BARNHART348/><ref>"hell, n. and int." ''OED Online'', Oxford University Press, January 2018, www.oed.com/view/Entry/85636. Accessed 7 February 2018.</ref> (see [[Gehenna]]).
Related early Germanic terms and concepts include Proto-Germanic *''xalja-rūnō(n)'', a feminine compound noun, and *''xalja-wītjan'', a neutral compound noun. This form is reconstructed from the Latinized Gothic plural noun *''haliurunnae'' (attested by [[Jordanes]]; according to philologist [[Vladimir Orel]], meaning '[[witchcraft|witches]]'), Old English ''helle-rúne'' ('sorceress, [[necromancer]]', according to Orel), and Old High German ''helli-rūna'' 'magic'. The compound is composed of two elements: *''xaljō'' (*''haljō'') and *''rūnō'', the Proto-Germanic precursor to Modern English ''[[runic alphabet|rune]]''.<ref name="HELL-RUNE">See discussion at Orel (2003:155–156 & 310).</ref> The second element in the Gothic ''haliurunnae'' may however instead be an agent noun from the verb ''rinnan'' ("to run, go"), which would make its literal meaning "one who travels to the netherworld".<ref>Scardigli, Piergiuseppe, Die Goten: Sprache und Kultur (1973) pp. 70–71.</ref><ref>Lehmann, Winfred, A Gothic Etymological Dictionary (1986)</ref>
Proto–Germanic *''xalja-wītjan'' (or *''halja-wītjan'') is reconstructed from Old Norse ''hel-víti'' 'hell', Old English ''helle-wíte'' 'hell-torment, hell', Old Saxon ''helli-wīti'' 'hell', and the Middle High German feminine noun ''helle-wīze''. The compound is a compound of *''xaljō'' (discussed above) and *''wītjan'' (reconstructed from forms such as Old English ''witt'' 'right mind, wits', Old Saxon ''gewit'' 'understanding', and Gothic ''un-witi'' 'foolishness, understanding').<ref name="HELVÍTI">Orel (2003:156 & 464).</ref>
===Religion, mythology, and folklore===
Hell appears in several [[mythology|mythologies]] and [[religion]]s. It is commonly inhabited by [[demon]]s and the [[soul]]s of dead people. A fable about hell which recurs in [[folklore]] across several cultures is the [[allegory of the long spoons]].{{citation needed|date=January 2023}}
=== Punishment ===
[[File:Fresque église huaro.JPG|thumb|Preserved colonial wall paintings of 1802 depicting Hell,<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A6nutjzmxvkC&q=historia+colonial+de+cusco&pg=PA382|page=106|title=The Colonial Andes: Tapestries and Silverwork, 1530–1830|author1=Elena Phipps|author2=Joanna Hecht|author3=Cristina Esteras Martín|year=2004|publisher=[[Metropolitan Museum of Art]]|___location=New York|isbn=0-300-10491-X}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vpi5xwEACAAJ&q=SEBASTI%C3%81N+L%C3%93PEZ,+Santiago.+El+barroco+iberoamericano+1990|title=El bárroco iberoamericano. Mensaje iconográfico|year=1990|___location=Madrid|page=241|publisher=Ediciones Encuentro|author=Santiago Sebastián López|isbn=978-84-7490-249-5}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://mavcor.yale.edu/conversations/collections/painting-beyond-frame-religious-murals-colonial-peru|title=Painting Beyond the Frame: Religious Murals of Colonial Peru|author=Ananda Cohen Suarez|date=May 2016|publisher=MAVCOR of the [[Yale University]]}}</ref> by Tadeo Escalante, inside the Church of San Juan Bautista in [[Huaro District|Huaro]], Peru]]
Punishment in hell typically corresponds to [[sin]]s committed during life. Sometimes these distinctions are specific, with [[Damnation#Religious|damned]] souls suffering for each sin committed, such as in Plato's [[Myth of Er]] or Dante's ''[[The Divine Comedy]]'', but sometimes they are general, with condemned sinners relegated to one or more chamber of hell or to a level of suffering.{{citation needed|date=January 2023}}
In many religious cultures, including Christianity and Islam, hell is often depicted as fiery, painful, and harsh, inflicting suffering on the guilty.<ref>Examples from the [[New Testament]] include [[Mark 9]]:43–48, [[Luke 16]]:19–24, [[Revelation 9]]:11; from the [[Quran]], [[Al-Baqara]] verse 24, and [[Al-Mulk]] verses 5–7.</ref> Despite these common depictions of hell as a place of fire, some other traditions portray hell as cold. Buddhist{{snd}}and particularly Tibetan Buddhist{{snd}}descriptions of hell feature an equal number of hot and cold hells. Among Christian descriptions [[Dante Alighieri|Dante]]'s ''[[Inferno (Dante)|Inferno]]'' portrays the innermost (9th) circle of hell as a frozen lake of blood and guilt.<ref>{{cite book
|last=Alighieri
|first=Dante
|author-link=Dante Alighieri
|others=trans. [[John Ciardi]]
|title= Inferno
|orig-date= c. 1315
|edition=2
|date=June 2001
|version=orig. trans. 1977
|publisher=Penguin
|___location=[[New York City|New York]]
|chapter=Cantos XXXI–XXXIV
|title-link=Divine Comedy
}}</ref>
But cold also played a part in earlier Christian depictions of hell or purgatory, beginning with the [[Apocalypse of Paul]], originally from the early third century;<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gardiner |first1=Eileen |title=Visions of heaven and hell before Dante |date=1989 |publisher=Italica Press |isbn=978-0-934977-14-2 |page=43 |oclc=18741120 }}</ref> the "[[Vision of Dryhthelm]]" by the Venerable [[Bede]] from the seventh century;<ref>Gardiner, ''Visions,'' pp. 58 and 61.</ref> "[[St Patrick's Purgatory]]", "The Vision of Tundale" or "[[Visio Tnugdali]]", and the "Vision of the [[Adam of Eynsham|Monk of Eynsham]]", all from the twelfth century;<ref>Gardiner, ''Visions'', pp. 141, 160 and 174, and 206–7.</ref> and the "Vision of Thurkill" from the early thirteenth century.<ref>Gardiner, ''Visions'', pp. 222 and 232.</ref>
==Examples in different religions==
===Ancient
[[File:The Weighing of the Heart.svg|thumb|In this ''[[Book of the Dead]]'' scene, a person's heart is weighed on the scale of [[Maat]] against the [[feather of truth]], by the canine-headed [[Anubis]]. The [[ibis]]-headed [[Thoth]], [[scribe]] of the [[gods]], records the result. If his heart is lighter than the feather, the person is allowed to pass into the [[Aaru|afterlife]]. If not, he is eaten by the crocodile-headed [[Ammit]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.egyptartsite.com/hall1.html |title=Egyptian Book of the Dead |publisher=Egyptartsite.com |access-date=18 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120926051942/http://www.egyptartsite.com/hall1.html |archive-date=26 September 2012 }}</ref>]]
With the rise of the cult of [[Osiris]] during the [[Middle Kingdom of Egypt|Middle Kingdom]], the "democratization of religion" offered to even his humblest followers the prospect of eternal life, with moral fitness becoming the dominant factor in determining a person's suitability.
At death a person faced judgment by a tribunal of forty-two divine judges. If they had led a life in conformance with the precepts of the goddess [[Maat]], who represented truth and right living, the person was welcomed into the heavenly [[Aaru|reed fields]]. If found guilty the person was thrown to [[Ammit]], the "devourer of the dead" and would be condemned to the [[lake of fire]].<ref>''Religion and Magic in Ancient Egypt'', Rosalie David, p. 158–159, Penguin, 2002, {{ISBN|0-14-026252-0}}</ref>
The person taken by the devourer is subject first to terrifying punishment and then annihilated. These depictions of punishment may have influenced medieval perceptions of the inferno in hell via early [[Christianity|Christian]] and [[Copt]]ic texts.<ref>''The Essential Guide to Egyptian Mythology: The Oxford Guide'', "Hell", p161-162, Jacobus Van Dijk, Berkley Reference, 2003, {{ISBN|0-425-19096-X}}</ref>
Purification for those considered justified appears in the descriptions of "Flame Island", where humans experience the triumph over evil and rebirth. For the damned complete destruction into a state of non-being awaits but there is no suggestion of eternal torture; the weighing of the heart in [[Egyptian mythology]] can lead to annihilation.<ref>''The Divine Verdict'', John Gwyn Griffiths, p233, BRILL, 1991, {{ISBN|90-04-09231-5}}</ref><ref>See also letter by Prof. Griffith to ''The Independent'', 32{{clarify|date=September 2012}} December 1993 {{cite web |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/letter-hell-in-the-ancient-world-1470076.html |title=Letter: Hell in the ancient world |website=[[Independent.co.uk]] |date=18 September 2011 |access-date=28 October 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120901184319/http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/letter-hell-in-the-ancient-world-1470076.html |archive-date=1 September 2012 }}</ref>
The Tale of Khaemwese describes the [[Dives and Lazarus|torment of a rich man]], who lacked charity, when he dies and compares it to the blessed state of a poor man who has also died.<ref>''The Civilization of Ancient Egypt'', Paul Johnson, 1978, p. 170; see also ''Ancient Egyptian Literature'', [[Miriam Lichtheim]], vol 3, p. 126</ref> Divine pardon at judgment always remained a central concern for the ancient Egyptians.<ref>"Egyptian Religion", Jan Assman, ''The Encyclopedia of Christianity'', p77, vol2, Wm. B Eerdmans Publishing, 1999, {{ISBN|90-04-11695-8}}</ref>
Modern understanding of Egyptian notions of hell relies on six ancient texts:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hell-on-line.org/TextsEGY.html|title=Eileen Gardiner, editor; Hell-On-Line:Egyptian Hell Texts; Book of Two Ways, Book of Amduat, Book of Gates, Book of the Dead, Book of the Earth, Book of Caverns|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151105010042/http://www.hell-on-line.org/TextsEGY.html|archive-date=5 November 2015}}</ref>
#''The Book of Two Ways'' (''Book of the Ways of Rosetau'')
# ''The Book of Amduat'' (''Book of the Hidden Room'', ''Book of That Which Is in the Underworld'')
# ''The Book of Gates''
# ''The Book of the Dead'' (''Book of Going Forth by Day'')
# ''The Book of the Earth''
# ''The Book of Caverns''
===Ancient Mesopotamia===
{{main|Ancient Mesopotamian underworld}}
[[File:Dumuzi aux enfers.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Ancient Sumerian [[cylinder seal]] impression showing the god [[Dumuzid the Shepherd|Dumuzid]] being tortured in the [[Kur|Underworld]] by ''[[gallu|galla]]'' demons]]
The [[Sumer]]ian afterlife was a dark, dreary cavern located deep below the ground,<ref name=Choksi2014>{{cite web|last=Choksi|first=M.|date=2014|title=Ancient Mesopotamian Beliefs in the Afterlife|url=http://www.worldhistory.org/article/701/|website=World History Encyclopedia|publisher=worldhistory.org|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170820114719/http://www.ancient.eu/article/701/|archive-date=20 August 2017}}</ref> where inhabitants were believed to continue "a shadowy version of life on earth".<ref name=Choksi2014/> This bleak ___domain was known as [[Kur]],<ref name=Black1992>{{cite book|last1=Black|first1=Jeremy|first2=Anthony|last2=Green|title=Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary|publisher=The British Museum Press|year=1992|isbn= 978-0-7141-1705-8}}</ref>{{rp|114}} and was believed to be ruled by the goddess [[Ereshkigal]].<ref name=Choksi2014/><ref name="Nemet1998">{{citation |last=Nemet-Nejat |first=Karen Rhea |title=Daily Life in Ancient Mesopotamia |date=1998 |url=https://archive.org/details/dailylifeinancie00neme |publisher=Greenwood |isbn=978-0-313-29497-6 |author-link=}}</ref>{{rp|184}} All souls went to the same afterlife,<ref name=Choksi2014/> and a person's actions during life had no effect on how the person would be treated in the world to come.<ref name=Choksi2014/>
The souls in Kur were believed to eat nothing but dry [[dust]]<ref name=Black1992/>{{rp|58}} and family members of the deceased would ritually pour [[libation]]s into the dead person's grave through a clay pipe, thereby allowing the dead to drink.<ref name=Black1992/>{{rp|58}} Nonetheless, funerary evidence indicates that some people believed that the goddess [[Inanna]], Ereshkigal's younger sister, had the power to award her devotees with special favors in the afterlife.<ref name=Choksi2014/><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Barrett |first1=Caitlín |title=Was Dust Their Food and Clay Their Bread? Grave Goods, the Mesopotamian Afterlife, and the Liminal Role of Inana/Ishtar |journal=Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions |date=2007 |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=7–65 |doi=10.1163/156921207781375123 |s2cid=55116377 | issn=1569-2116 }}</ref> During the [[Third Dynasty of Ur]], it was believed that a person's treatment in the afterlife depended on how he or she was buried;<ref name=Black1992/>{{rp|58}} those that had been given sumptuous burials would be treated well,<ref name=Black1992/>{{rp|58}} but those who had been given poor burials would fare poorly.<ref name=Black1992/>{{rp|58}}
The entrance to Kur was believed to be located in the [[Zagros mountains]] in the far east.<ref name=Black1992/>{{rp|114}} It had seven gates, through which a soul needed to pass.<ref name=Choksi2014/> The god [[Neti (deity)|Neti]] was the gatekeeper.<ref name=Nemet1998/>{{rp|184}}<ref name=Black1992/>{{rp|86}} Ereshkigal's ''sukkal'', or messenger, was the god [[Namtar]].<ref name=Black1992/>{{rp|134}}<ref name=Nemet1998/>{{rp|184}} ''[[Gallu|Galla]]'' were a class of demons that were believed to reside in the underworld;<ref name=Black1992/>{{rp|85}} their primary purpose appears to have been to drag unfortunate mortals back to Kur.<ref name=Black1992/>{{rp|85}} They are frequently referenced in magical texts,<ref name=Black1992/>{{rp|85–86}} and some texts describe them as being seven in number.<ref name=Black1992/>{{rp|85–86}} Several extant poems describe the ''galla'' dragging the god [[Dumuzid the Shepherd|Dumuzid]] into the underworld.<ref name=Black1992/>{{rp|86}} The later Mesopotamians knew this underworld by its [[East Semitic]] name: [[Irkalla]]. During the [[Akkadian Empire|Akkadian Period]], Ereshkigal's role as the ruler of the underworld was assigned to [[Nergal]], the god of death.<ref name=Choksi2014/><ref name=Nemet1998/>{{rp|184}} The Akkadians attempted to harmonize this dual rulership of the underworld by making Nergal Ereshkigal's husband.<ref name=Choksi2014/>
===Ancient Northern Europe===
{{see also|Hel (___location)|Nav (Slavic folklore)}}
The hells of Europe include [[Breton mythology]]'s "Anaon", [[Celtic mythology]]'s "Uffern", [[Slavic mythology]]'s "Peklo", [[Norse mythology]]'s [[Náströnd]], the hell of [[Sami mythology]] and [[Finnish mythology|Finnish]] "[[Tuonela]]" ("manala").{{cn|date=August 2024}}
===Ancient Greece and Rome===
{{Main|Tartarus}}
In classic [[Greek mythology]], below heaven, Earth, and [[Pontus (mythology)|Pontus]] is [[Tartarus]], or ''Tartaros'' ({{langx|grc|Τάρταρος}}). It is either a deep, gloomy place, a pit or abyss used as a dungeon of torment and suffering that resides within Hades (the entire [[Greek underworld|underworld]]) with Tartarus being the hellish component. In the ''[[Gorgias (dialogue)|Gorgias]]'', [[Plato]] (c. 400 BC) wrote that souls of the deceased were judged after they [[Charon|paid for crossing the river of the dead]] and those who received punishment were sent to Tartarus.<ref name="gorgias-sokrates">Plato, ''Gorgias'', 523a-527e.</ref>{{primary source inline|date=August 2024}} As a place of punishment, it can be considered a hell. The classic [[Greek underworld|Hades]], on the other hand, is more similar to Old Testament Sheol. The Romans later [[Interpretatio graeca|adopted these views]].
===
The hell of [[Swahili people|Swahili]] mythology is called ''kuzimu'', and belief in it developed in the 7th and 8th century under the influence of Muslim merchants at the [[East Africa]]n coast.<ref name="kuzimu">{{cite book|last1=Crisafulli|first1=Chuck|last2=Thompson|first2=Kyra|title=Go to Hell: A Heated History of the Underworld|date=2010|publisher=Simon & Schuster|isbn=978-1-4516-0473-3|page=75|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h-SHq2vPd-4C&pg=PA75|access-date=5 August 2015}}</ref> It is imagined as a very cold place.<ref name="kuzimu" />
===West Africa===
[[Serer religion]] rejects the general notion of [[heaven]] and hell.<ref name="Thiaw">{{in lang|fr}} [[Issa Laye Thiaw|Thiaw, Issa Laye]], "La religiosité des [[Serer people|Seereer]], avant et pendant leur islamisation", [in] ''Éthiopiques'', no. 54, volume 7, 2e semestre 1991</ref> In Serer religion, acceptance by the ancestors who have long departed is as close to any heaven as one can get. Rejection and becoming a wandering soul is a sort of hell for one [[Death|passing over]]. The souls of the dead must make their way to ''Jaaniw'' (the sacred dwelling place of the soul). Only those who have lived their lives on earth in accordance with [[Serer religion#Religious law|Serer doctrines]] will be able to make this necessary journey and thus be accepted by the ancestors. Those who cannot make the journey become lost and wandering souls, but they do not burn in "hell fire".<ref name="Thiaw"/><ref>{{in lang|fr}} [[Henry Gravrand|Gravrand, Henry]], "La civilisation sereer, vol. II: ''Pangool'', Nouvelles éditions africaines, [[Dakar]], 1990, pp 91–128, {{ISBN|2-7236-1055-1}} (''Jaaniw'', variation: ''"Jaaniiw"'')</ref>
In [[Yoruba religion|Yoruba]] mythology, wicked people (guilty of e.g. theft, witchcraft, murder, or cruelty<ref>Asante, M. K.; Mazama, A.: Encyclopedia of African religion, vol. 1. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications. 2009, p. 238, {{ISBN|978-1-4129-3636-1}}.</ref>) are confined to ''Orun Apaadi'' (''heaven'' of potsherds), while the good people continue to live in the ancestral realm, ''Orun Baba Eni'' (''heaven'' of our fathers).<ref>Ogunade, R.: African Eschatology and the Future of the cosmos, www.unilorin.edu.ng.</ref>
===Polynesia===
The [[Bagobo]] of the [[Philippines]] have the otherworld "Gimokodan", where the Red Region is reserved who those who died in battle, while ordinary people go to the White Region.<ref>pantheon.org/articles/g/gimokodan.html, Gimokodan, [[Encyclopedia Mythica]], 10 August 2004.</ref>
===East Asia===
According to a few sources, hell is below ground, and described as an uninviting wet<ref>{{cite book|author=Carl Etter|title=Ainu Folklore: Traditions and Culture of the Vanishing Aborigines of Japan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-o8OAQAAIAAJ|year=1949|publisher=Wilcox & Follett Company|page=150}}</ref> or fiery place reserved for sinful people in the [[Ainu people#Religion|Ainu religion]], as stated by missionary [[John Batchelor (missionary)|John Batchelor]].<ref>John Batchelor: [https://archive.org/details/ainutheirfolklor00batcrich/page/570/mode/2up ''The Ainu and Their Folk-Lore''], London 1901, p. 567-569.</ref> However, belief in hell does not appear in [[oral tradition]] of the Ainu.<ref name="yamada">Takako Yamada: ''The Worldview of the Ainu. Nature and Cosmos Reading from Language'', p. 25–37, p. 123.</ref> Instead, there is belief within the Ainu religion that the soul of the deceased (ramat) would become a [[kamuy]] after death.<ref name="yamada" /> There is also belief that the soul of someone who has been wicked during lifetime, committed [[Suicide#Religious views|suicide]], got murdered or died in great agony would become a [[ghost]] (tukap) who would haunt the living,<ref name="yamada" /> to come to fulfillment from which it was excluded during life.<ref name="adami">Norbert Richard Adami: ''Religion und Schaminismus der Ainu auf Sachalin (Karafuto)'', Bonn 1989, p. 45.</ref>
===Judaism===
{{See also|Gehenna|Qlippoth|Sheol}}
[[Judaism]] does not have a specific doctrine about the afterlife, but it does have a mystical/Orthodox tradition of describing [[Gehinnom]]. Gehinnom is originally a grave and in later times a sort of Purgatory where one is judged based on one's life's deeds, or rather, where one becomes fully aware of one's own shortcomings and negative actions during one's life. The [[Kabbalah]] explains it as a "waiting room" (commonly translated as an "entry way") for all souls (not just the wicked). The overwhelming majority of rabbinic thought maintains that people are not in Gehinnom forever; the longest that one can be there is said to be 12 months, however, there has been the occasional noted exception. Some consider it a spiritual forge where the soul is purified for its eventual ascent to [[Jewish eschatology#World to come|Olam Habah]] (''heb.'' עולם הבא; ''lit.'' "The world to come", often viewed as analogous to heaven). This is also mentioned in the Kabbalah, where the soul is described as breaking, like the flame of a candle lighting another: the part of the soul that ascends being pure and the "unfinished" piece being reborn.
According to Jewish teachings, hell is not entirely physical; rather, it can be compared to a very intense feeling of shame. People are ashamed of their misdeeds and this constitutes suffering which makes up for the bad deeds. When one has so deviated from the will of [[God in Judaism|God]], one is said to be in Gehinnom. This is not meant to refer to some point in the future, but to the very present moment. The gates of [[teshuva]] (return) are said to be always open, and so one can align his will with that of God at any moment. Being out of alignment with God's will is itself a punishment according to the [[Torah]].
Many scholars of Jewish mysticism, particularly of the [[Kabbalah]], describe seven "compartments" or "habitations" of hell, just as they describe seven divisions of heaven. These divisions go by many different names, and the most frequently mentioned are as follows:<ref>(edit.) Boustan, Ra'anan S. Reed, Annette Yoshiko. ''Heavenly Realms and Earthly Realities in Late Antique Religions''. Cambridge University Press, 2004.</ref>
*'''[[Sheol]]''' ([[Hebrew language|Hebrew]]: שְׁאוֹל – "[[underworld]]", "[[Hades]]"; "grave")
*'''[[Abaddon]]''' ([[Hebrew language|Hebrew]]: אֲבַדּוֹן – "doom", "perdition")
*'''Be'er Shachat''' ([[Hebrew language|Hebrew]]: בְּאֵר שַׁחַת, ''Be'er Shachath'' – "pit of corruption")
*'''Tit ha-Yaven''' ([[Hebrew language|Hebrew]]: טִיט הַיָוֵן – "clinging mud")
*'''Sha'are Mavet''' ([[Hebrew language|Hebrew]]: שַׁעֲרֵי מָוֶת, ''Sha'arei Maveth'' – "gates of death")
*'''[[Shade (mythology)|Tzalmavet]]''' ([[Hebrew language|Hebrew]]: צַלמָוֶת, ''Tsalmaveth'' – "shadow of death")
*'''[[Gehenna|Gehinnom]]''' ([[Hebrew language|Hebrew]]: גֵיהִנוֹם, ''Gehinnom'' – "valley of [[Hinnom]]"; "[[Tartarus]]", "[[Purgatory]]")
Besides those mentioned above, there also exist additional terms that have been often used to either refer to hell in general or to some region of the underworld:
*'''[[Azazel]]''' ([[Hebrew language|Hebrew]]: עֲזָאזֵל, compd. of ''ez'' עֵז: "goat" + ''azal'' אָזַל: "to go away" – "goat of departure", "scapegoat"; "entire removal", "damnation")
*'''[[Dudael]]''' ([[Hebrew language|Hebrew]]: דּוּדָאֵל – lit. "cauldron of God")
*'''[[Tehom]]''' ([[Hebrew language|Hebrew]]: תְהוֹם – "[[Abyss (religion)|abyss]]"; "sea", "deep ocean")<ref>Palmer, Abram Smythe. ''Studies on Biblical Studies, No. I.'' "Babylonian Influence on the Bible and Popular Beliefs: "Tĕhôm and Tiâmat", "Hades and Satan" – A Comparative Study of Genesis I. 2" London, 1897; pg. 53.</ref>
*'''[[Tophet]]''' ([[Hebrew language|Hebrew]]: תֹּפֶת or תוֹפֶת, ''Topheth'' – "fire-place", "place of burning", "place to be spit upon"; "inferno")<ref>Rev. Clarence Larkin. ''The Spirit World''. "Chapter VI: The Underworld". Philadelphia, PA. 1921. Moyer & Lotter</ref><ref>Wright, Charles Henry Hamilton. ''The Fatherhood of God: And Its Relation to the Person and Work of Christ, and the Operations of the Holy Spirit''. Edinburgh, Scotland. 1867. T. and T. Clark; pg. 88.</ref>
*'''[[Tzoah Rotachat]]''' ([[Hebrew language|Hebrew]]: צוֹאָה רוֹתֵחַת, ''Tsoah Rothachath'' – "boiling excrement")<ref>Rev. Edward Bouverie Pusey. ''What is of Faith as to Everlasting Punishment: In Reply to Dr. Farrar's Challenge in His ʻEternal Hope,' 1879''. James Parker & Co., 1881; pg. 102, spelled "zoa rothachath".</ref>
*'''[[Destroying angel (Bible)|Mashchit]]''' ([[Hebrew language|Hebrew]]: מַשְׁחִית, ''Mashchith'' – "destruction", "ruin")
*'''[[Dumah (angel)|Dumah]]''' ([[Hebrew language|Hebrew]]: דוּמָה – "silence")
*'''Neshiyyah''' ([[Hebrew language|Hebrew]]: נְשִׁיָּה – "oblivion", "[[Limbo]]")
*'''Bor Shaon''' ([[Hebrew language|Hebrew]]: בּוֹר שָׁאוֹן – "cistern of sound")
*'''Eretz Tachtit''' ([[Hebrew language|Hebrew]]: אֶרֶץ תַּחְתִּית, ''Erets Tachtith'' – "lowest earth").<ref>Mew, James. ''Traditional Aspects of Hell: (Ancient and Modern)''. S. Sonnenschein & Company Lim., 1903.</ref><ref>Rev. A. Lowy. ''Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology, Volume 10'', "Old Jewish Legends of Biblical Topics: Legendary Description of Hell". 1888. pg. 339</ref>
*'''Masak Mavdil''' ([[Hebrew language|Hebrew]]: מָסָך מַבְדִּ֔יל, ''Masak Mabdil'' – "dividing curtain")
*'''Haguel''' ([[Ge'ez language|Ethiopic]]: ሀጉለ – "(place of) destruction", "loss", "waste")<ref>Charles, Robert Henry. ''The Ascension of Isaiah''. London. A. & C. Black, 1900. pg. 70.; synonymous with Abaddon, Sheol and Gehinnom in the sense of being the final abode of the damned.</ref>
*'''[[Ikisat]]''' ([[Ge'ez language|Ethiopic]]: አክይስት – "serpents", "[[dragon]]s"; "place of future punishment")<ref>Sola, David Aaron. ''Signification of the Proper Names, Etc., Occurring in the Book of Enoch: From the Hebrew and Chaldee Languages'' London, 1852.</ref><ref>Rev. X.Y.Z. ''Merry England, Volume 22'', "The Story of a Conversion" 1894. pg. 151</ref>
[[Maimonides]] declares in [[Jewish principles of faith#Maimonides' 13 principles of faith|his 13 principles of faith]] that the hells of the rabbinic literature were pedagogically motivated inventions to encourage respect of the [[Torah]] commandments by mankind, which had been regarded as immature.<ref name="perek-helek-d">Maimonides' Introduction to Perek Helek, ed. and transl. by [[Maimonides Heritage Center]], p. 3–4.</ref> Instead of being sent to hell, the souls of the wicked would actually get annihilated.<ref name="perek-helek-c">Maimonides' Introduction to Perek Helek, ed. and transl. by [[Maimonides Heritage Center]], p. 22-23.</ref>
===Christianity===
{{Main|Hell in Christianity|Christian views on Hades}}
[[File:Valley of Hinom PA180090.JPG|thumb|[[Valley of Hinnom]], 2007]]
[[File:Brooklyn Museum - The Bad Rich Man in Hell (Le mauvais riche dans l'Enfer) - James Tissot - overall.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Parables of Jesus|parable]] of the [[Rich man and Lazarus]] depicting the rich man in hell asking for help to Abraham and Lazarus in [[Heaven (Christianity)|heaven]] by James Tissot]]
[[File:Harrowing of hell Christ leads Adam by the hand. On scroll in border, the motto 'Entre tenir Dieu le viuelle' (f. 125) Cropped.jpg|thumb|''[[Harrowing of Hell]]''. Christ leads Adam by the hand, c.1504]]
The Christian doctrine of hell derives from passages in the [[New Testament]]. The English word ''hell'' does not appear in the Greek New Testament; instead one of three words is used: the Greek words ''Tartarus'' or ''Hades'', or the Hebrew word ''Gehinnom''.
In the [[Septuagint]] and New Testament, the authors used the Greek term Hades for the Hebrew Sheol, but often with Jewish rather than Greek concepts in mind. In the Jewish concept of Sheol, such as expressed in Ecclesiastes,<ref>Ecclesiastes 9:10 πάντα ὅσα ἂν εὕρῃ ἡ χείρ σου τοῦ ποιῆσαι ὡς ἡ δύναμίς σου ποίησον ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν ποίημα καὶ λογισμὸς καὶ γνῶσις καὶ σοφία ἐν ᾅδῃ ὅπου σὺ πορεύῃ ἐκεῖ</ref> Sheol or Hades is a place where there is no activity. However, since [[Augustine]], some{{which|date=July 2019}} Christians have believed that the souls of those who die either rest peacefully, in the case of Christians, or are afflicted, in the case of the damned, after death until the [[resurrection]].<ref name="Hoekema">{{cite book|last=Hoekema|first=Anthony A|title=The Bible and the Future|year=1994|___location=Grand Rapids|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans|page=92}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Hebrew OT
! [[Septuagint]]
! Greek NT
! times in NT
! [[Vulgate]]
! [[KJV]]
! [[NIV]]
|-
|שְׁאוֹל (''Sheol'')<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H7585&t=KJV|title= Lexicon :: H7585 – shĕ'owl|author= <!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|website= Blue Letter Bible|publisher= BLB Institute|access-date= 26 February 2017|quote= 1Mos 37:35, 42:38, 44:29, 44:31|url-status= live|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20151105180247/https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H7585|archive-date= 5 November 2015|df= dmy-all}}</ref>
|Ἅιδης (''Haïdēs'')<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G86&t=KJV |title= Lexicon :: Strong's G86 – hadēs |author= <!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |website= Blue Letter Bible |publisher= BLB Institute |access-date= 28 January 2017 |url-status= live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120415063409/http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?strongs=G86 |archive-date= 15 April 2012 |df= dmy-all }}</ref>
|ᾌδης (''Ádēs'')<ref>{{LSJ|*(/aidhs|Ἅιδης|longref}}</ref>
|x10<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G86&t=KJV |title= Lexicon :: Strong's G86 – hadēs |author= <!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |website= Blue Letter Bible |publisher= BLB Institute |access-date= 28 January 2017 |quote= [[Mat.11:23]] 16:18 Luk.10:15. Ap.2:27,31. 1Kor 15:55.Upp.1:18 6:8 20:13,14 |url-status= live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170130145825/https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G86&t=KJV |archive-date= 30 January 2017 |df= dmy-all }}</ref>
|infernus<ref>{{L&S|infernus|infernus|ref}}</ref>
|Hell
|Hades
|-
|גֵיא בֶן־הִנֹּם (''Ge Hinom'')<ref>גֵיא בֶן־הִנֹּם [http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H2011&t=KJV Hinnom] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606172603/http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H2011&t=KJV |date=6 June 2011 }}: Jer.19:6</ref>
|Εννομ (''Ennom'')<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?strongs=H8612&t=lxx |title= Lexicon :: Strong's H8612 – Topheth |author= <!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |website= Blue Letter Bible |publisher= BLB Institute |access-date= 28 January 2017 |quote= καὶ ἐμίανεν τὸν Ταφεθ τὸν ἐν φάραγγι υἱοῦ '''Εννομ''' τοῦ διάγειν ἄνδρα τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ καὶ ἄνδρα τὴν θυγατέρα αὐτοῦ τῷ Μολοχ ἐν πυρί |url-status= live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170202120213/https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?strongs=H8612&t=lxx |archive-date= 2 February 2017 |df= dmy-all }}</ref>
|γέεννα (''géenna'')<ref>{{LSJ|ge/enna|γέεννα|longref}}</ref>
|x11<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G1067&t=KJV|title= Lexicon :: Strong's G1067 – geenna|author= <!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|website= Blue Letter Bible|publisher= BLB Institute|access-date= 28 January 2017|quote= Mat.5:22,29,30, 10:28, 18:09, 23:15,33. Mar. 9:43,45,47, Luk.12:05, Jak.3:6|url-status= live|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170130210048/https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G1067&t=KJV|archive-date= 30 January 2017|df= dmy-all}}</ref>
|gehennae<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.blueletterbible.org/search/search.cfm?Criteria=gehennae&t=VUL#s=s_primary_0_1|title= Blue Letter Bible: VUL Search Results for "gehennae"}}</ref>/gehennam<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.blueletterbible.org/search/search.cfm?Criteria=gehennam&t=VUL#s=s_primary_0_1|title= Blue Letter Bible: VUL Search Results for "gehennam"}}</ref>
|Hell
|Hell
|-
|(Not applicable)
|(Not applicable)
|Ταρταρόω (''Tartaróō'')<ref>{{LSJ|tartaro/w|Ταρταρόω|longref}}</ref>
|x1
|tartarum<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.blueletterbible.org/search/search.cfm?Criteria=tartarum&t=VUL#s=s_primary_0_1|title= Blue Letter Bible: VUL Search Results for "tartarum"}}</ref>
|Hell
|Hell
|}
While these three terms are translated in the KJV as "hell", they have three very different meanings.
* Hades has similarities to the Old Testament term, [[Sheol]] as "the place of the dead" or "grave". Thus, it is used in reference to both the righteous and the wicked, since both wind up there eventually.<ref>{{cite book |last=Unger |first=Merrill F.|author-link=Merrill Unger |year=1981 |title='''Unger's Bible Dictionary''' |publisher=Moody Bible Institute, The |___location=Chicago|page=467}}</ref>
* [[Gehenna]] refers to the "Valley of Hinnom", which was a garbage dump outside of Jerusalem. It was a place that contained a dump where people burned their garbage. Bodies of those deemed to have died in sin without hope of salvation (such as people who committed suicide) were thrown there to be destroyed.<ref>''The New Schaf-Herzog Encyclopedia of religious Knowledge'', p. 415</ref> Gehenna is used in the New Testament as a metaphor for the final place of punishment for the wicked after the resurrection.<ref>The New Schaf-Herzog Encyclopedia of religious Knowledge pgs. 414–415</ref>
* ''Tartaróō'' (the verb "throw to [[Tartarus]]", used of the fall of the Titans in a [[scholia|scholium]] on [[The Iliad|Iliad]] 14.296) occurs only once in the New Testament in II Peter 2:4, where it is parallel to the use of the noun form in [[1 Enoch]] as the place of incarceration of the fallen angels. It mentions nothing about human souls being sent there in the afterlife.
According to the Roman Catholic Church, the [[Council of Trent]] taught, in the 5th canon of its 14th session, that damnation is eternal: "...the loss of eternal blessedness, and the eternal damnation which he has incurred..."<ref>[http://www.thecounciloftrent.com/ch14.htm Council of Trent, Session 14, Canon 5]</ref>
The [[Catholic Church]] defines hell as "a state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed". One finds oneself in hell as the result of dying in [[mortal sin]] without repenting and accepting God's merciful love, becoming eternally separated from him by one's own free choice<ref>''Catechism of the Catholic Church'', Article 1033</ref> immediately after death.<ref>''Catechism of the Catholic Church'', Article 1035</ref> In the Roman Catholic Church, many other Christian churches, such as the [[Methodism|Methodists]], [[Baptists]] and [[Episcopalians]], and some [[Greek Orthodox]] churches,<ref>See Kallistos Ware, "Dare we hope for the salvation of all?" in ''The Inner Kingdom: Volume 1 of the Collected Works''</ref> hell is taught as the final destiny of those who have not been found worthy after the [[general resurrection]] and [[last judgment]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation+20:11-15|title=Revelation 20:11–15|website=Bible Gateway|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071203142225/http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation+20:11-15|archive-date=3 December 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans+6:23|title=Romans 6:23|website=Bible Gateway|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080602120139/http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+6:23|archive-date=2 June 2008}}</ref><ref>Mt 25:31, 32, 46</ref> where they will permanently separated from God.<ref name="EMCC2017">{{cite book |title=Evangelical Methodist Church Discipline |date=15 July 2017 |publisher=[[Evangelical Methodist Church Conference]] |language=English|page=17}}</ref> The nature of this judgment is inconsistent with many [[Protestant]] churches teaching the saving comes from accepting Jesus Christ as their savior, while the Greek Orthodox and Catholic Churches teach that the judgment hinges on both faith and works. However, many [[Liberal Christian]]s throughout [[Mainline Protestant]] churches believe in [[universal reconciliation]] (see below), even though it contradicts the traditional doctrines that are usually held by the evangelicals within their denominations.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/699929.stm |publisher=BBC |title=Hell – it's about to get hotter |date=4 April 2000 |access-date=30 April 2012 |first1=Joe |last1=Gooden |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121031013436/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/699929.stm |archive-date=31 October 2012 }}</ref> Regarding the belief in hell, the interpretation of [[Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus]] is also relevant.<ref>Heinrich Döring: ''Der universale Anspruch der Kirche und die nichtchristlichen Religionen'', in: Münchener Theologische Zeitschrift 41 (1990), p. 78 et sqq.</ref>
Some modern Christian theologians subscribe to the doctrines of [[Christian conditionalism|conditional immortality]]. Conditional immortality is the belief that the soul dies with the body and does not live again until the resurrection. As with other Jewish writings of the [[Second Temple]] period, the New Testament text distinguishes two words, both translated "hell" in older English Bibles: ''Hades'', "the grave", and ''Gehenna'' where God "can destroy both body and soul".<ref>{{cite web|title=4.9 Hell|url=http://www.christadelphians.com/biblebasics/0409hell.html|publisher=The Christadelphians|access-date=6 August 2015}}</ref> Some Christians read this to mean that neither Hades nor Gehenna are eternal but refer to the ultimate destruction of the wicked in the lake of fire after resurrection. However, because of the Greek words used in translating from the Hebrew text, the Hebrew ideas have become confused with Greek myths and ideas. In the Hebrew text when people died they went to [[Sheol]], the grave<ref>{{cite web|last1=Hirsch|first1=Emil G|title=SHEOL|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/13563-sheol|publisher=JewishEncyclopedia.com|access-date=10 August 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150918204814/http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/13563-sheol|archive-date=18 September 2015}}</ref> and the wicked ultimately went to Gehenna and were consumed by fire. The Hebrew words for "the grave" or "death" or "eventual destruction of the wicked", were translated using Greek words and later texts became a mix of mistranslation, pagan influence, and Greek myth.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Bedore, Th.D.|first1=W. Edward|title=Hell, Sheol, Hades, Paradise, and the Grave|date=September 2007|url=https://www.bereanbiblesociety.org/hell-sheol-hades-paradise-and-the-grave/|publisher=Berean Bible Society|access-date=10 August 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150711233406/https://www.bereanbiblesociety.org/hell-sheol-hades-paradise-and-the-grave/|archive-date=11 July 2015}}</ref>
[[Christian mortalism]] is the doctrine that all men and women, including Christians, must die, and do not continue and are not conscious after death. Therefore, [[annihilationism]] includes the doctrine that "the wicked" are also destroyed rather than [[tortured|tormented]] [[eternity|forever]] in hell. Christian mortalism and annihilationism are directly related to the doctrine of conditional immortality, the idea that a human [[soul]] is not immortal unless it is given eternal life at the [[second coming of Christ]] and [[resurrection of the dead]].
Biblical scholars looking at the issue through the Hebrew text have denied the teaching of innate immortality.<ref>{{Citation | quote = Many biblical scholars down throughout history, looking at the issue through Hebrew rather than Greek eyes, have denied the teaching of innate immortality. | last = Knight | title = A brief history of Seventh-Day Adventists | page = 42 | year = 1999}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Pool |year=1998 |title=Against returning to Egypt: Exposing and Resisting Credalism in the Southern Baptist Convention |page=133 |quote='Various concepts of conditional immortality or annihilationism have appeared earlier in Baptist history as well. Several examples illustrate this claim. General as well as particular Baptists developed versions of annihilationism or conditional immortality.'}}</ref> Rejection of the [[immortality of the soul]], and advocacy of Christian mortalism, was a feature of Protestantism since the early days of the [[Reformation]] with [[Martin Luther]] himself rejecting the traditional idea, though his mortalism did not carry into orthodox [[Lutheranism]]. One of the most notable English opponents of the immortality of the soul was [[Thomas Hobbes]] who describes the idea as a Greek "contagion" in Christian doctrine.<ref>Stephen A. State ''Thomas Hobbes and the Debate Over Natural Law and Religion'' 2013 "The natural immortality of the soul is in fact a pagan presumption: "For men being generally possessed before the time of our Saviour, by contagion of the Daemonology of the Greeks, of an opinion, that the Souls of men were substances distinct from their Bodies, and therefore that when the Body was dead"</ref> Modern proponents of conditional immortality include some in the [[Anglican church]] such as [[N. T. Wright]]<ref>N. T. Wright ''For All the Saints?: Remembering the Christian Departed'' 2004 "many readers will get the impression that I believe that every human being comes already equipped with an immortal soul. I don't believe that. Immortality is a gift of God in Christ, not an innate human capacity (see 1 Timothy 6.16)."</ref> and as denominations the [[Seventh-day Adventist Church|Seventh-day Adventists]], [[Bible Student movement|Bible Students]], [[Jehovah's Witnesses]], [[Christadelphians]], [[Living Church of God]], [[Church of God International (United States)|Church of God International]], and some other [[Protestant]] [[Christians]]. The Catholic Catechism states "The souls of sinners descend into hell, where they suffer 'eternal fire{{' "}}. However, [[Cardinal Vincent Nichols]], the most senior Catholic in England and Wales, said "there's nowhere in Catholic teaching that actually says any one person is in hell".<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-43596919|title=Vatican: Pope did not say there is no hell|date=2018-03-30|work=BBC News|access-date=2018-03-30|language=en-GB|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180331001451/http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-43596919|archive-date=31 March 2018}}</ref> The 1993 ''[[Catechism of the Catholic Church]]'' states: "This state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed is called 'hell{{' "}}<ref>1033</ref> and "they suffer the punishments of hell, 'eternal fire{{' "}}.<ref>1035</ref> The chief punishment of hell is eternal separation from God" (CCC 1035). During an Audience in 1999, [[Pope John Paul II]] commented: "images of hell that Sacred Scripture presents to us must be correctly interpreted. They show the complete frustration and emptiness of life without God. Rather than a place, hell indicates the state of those who freely and definitively separate themselves from God, the source of all life and joy."<ref>{{Citation|url=https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/audiences/1999/documents/hf_jp-ii_aud_28071999.html|title=GENERAL AUDIENCE 28 July 1999|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161113172530/http://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/audiences/1999/documents/hf_jp-ii_aud_28071999.html|archive-date=13 November 2016}}</ref>
====Other denominations====
The [[Seventh-day Adventist Church]]'s [[28 Fundamental Beliefs|official beliefs]] support [[annihilationism]].<ref>"[http://www.adventist.org/beliefs/fundamental/index.html Fundamental Beliefs] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060310104717/http://www.adventist.org/beliefs/fundamental/index.html |date=10 March 2006 }}" (1980) webpage from the official church website. See "25. Second Coming of Christ", "26. Death and Resurrection", "27. Millennium and the End of Sin", and "28. New Earth". The earlier 1872 and 1931 statements also support conditionalism</ref><ref>Samuele Bacchiocchi, "[http://www.biblicalperspectives.com/books/immortality_resurrection/6.htm Hell: Eternal Torment or Annihilation?] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150216040008/http://www.biblicalperspectives.com/books/immortality_resurrection/6.htm |date=16 February 2015 }}" chapter 6 in ''Immortality Or Resurrection?''. [[Biblical Perspectives]], 1997; {{ISBN|1-930987-12-9}}, {{ISBN|978-1-930987-12-8}}{{page needed|date=January 2014}}</ref> They deny the Catholic purgatory and teach that the dead lie in the grave until they are [[Last judgment|raised for a last judgment]], both the righteous and wicked await the resurrection at the [[Second Coming]]. Seventh-day Adventists believe that [[death]] is a state of [[Soul sleep|unconscious sleep]] until the resurrection. They base this belief on biblical texts such as {{Bibleverse||Ecclesiastes|9:5|NIV}} which states "the dead know nothing", and {{Bibleverse|1|Thessalonians|4:13–18|NIV}} which contains a description of the dead being raised from the [[Grave (burial)|grave]] at the second coming. These verses, it is argued, indicate that death is only a period or form of slumber.
Adventists teach that the resurrection of the righteous will take place shortly after the second coming of [[Jesus]], as described in Revelation 20:4–6 that follows Revelation 19:11–16, whereas the resurrection of the wicked will occur after the [[millennialism|millennium]], as described in Revelation 20:5 and 20:12–13 that follow Revelation 20:4 and 6–7, though Revelation 20:12–13 and 15 actually describe a ''mixture'' of saved and condemned people being raised from the dead and judged. Adventists reject the traditional doctrine of hell as a state of everlasting conscious torment, believing instead that the wicked will be permanently destroyed after the millennium by the [[lake of fire]], which is called 'the [[second death]]' in Revelation 20:14.
Those Adventist doctrines about death and hell reflect an underlying belief in: (a) conditional immortality (or conditionalism), as opposed to the [[immortality]] of the [[soul]]; and (b) the [[Christian anthropology|monistic nature]] of [[human beings]], in which the soul is not separable from the body, as opposed to [[bipartite (theology)|bipartite]] or [[tripartite (theology)|tripartite]] conceptions, in which the soul is separable.
[[Jehovah's Witnesses]] hold that the soul ceases to exist when the person dies<ref name="bibleteach">"What Does the Bible Really Teach?", 2005, Published by Jehovah's Witnesses</ref> and therefore that hell (Sheol or Hades) is a state of non-existence.<ref name="bibleteach" /> In their theology, Gehenna differs from Sheol or Hades in that it holds no hope of a resurrection.<ref name="bibleteach" /> Tartarus is held to be the metaphorical state of debasement of the fallen angels between the time of their moral fall (Genesis chapter 6) until their post-millennial destruction along with Satan (Revelation chapter 20).<ref>"Insight on the scriptures, Volume 2", 1988, Published by Jehovah's Witnesses.</ref>
[[Bible Student movement|Bible Students]] and [[Christadelphians]] also believe in annihilationism.{{cn|date=August 2024}}
[[Christian Universalism|Christian Universalists]] believe in [[universal reconciliation]], the belief that all human souls will be eventually reconciled with God and admitted to heaven.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.auburn.edu/~allenkc/chr-univ.html |title=What is Christian Universalism? |access-date=17 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171122135418/http://www.auburn.edu/~allenkc/chr-univ.html |archive-date=22 November 2017 }} What is Christian Universalism by Ken Allen Th.D</ref> This belief is held by some [[Unitarian Universalism|Unitarian-Universalists]].<ref>''New Bible Dictionary'', "Hell", InterVarsity Press, 1996.</ref><ref>''New Dictionary of Biblical Theology'', "Hell", InterVarsity Press, 2000.</ref><ref>[[Evangelical Alliance]] Commission on Truth and Unity Among Evangelicals, ''The Nature of Hell'', Paternoster, 2000.</ref>
According to [[Emanuel Swedenborg]]'s [[Second Coming]] [[Christianity|Christian]] revelation, hell exists because evil people want it.<ref>Swedenborg, E. [http://swedenborgdigitallibrary.org/contets/HH.html Heaven and its Wonders and Hell From Things Heard and Seen(Swedenborg Foundation, 1946 #545ff.)]</ref> They, not God, introduced evil to the human race.<ref>Swedenborg, E. [http://www.swedenborgdigitallibrary.org/contets/tcrtc.html The True Christian Religion Containing the Universal Theology of The New Church Foretold by the Lord in Daniel 7; 13, 14; and in Revelation 21; 1, 2] (Swedenborg Foundation, 1946, #489ff.).</ref> In [[The New Church (Swedenborgian)|Swedenborgianism]], every soul joins the like-minded group after death in which it feels the most comfortable. Hell is therefore believed to be a place of happiness for the souls which delight in evilness.<ref>offTheLeftEye: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpCWOpiTVds&t=2507s The Good Thing About Hell - Swedenborg and Life], YouTube, 14 March 2016.</ref>{{bsn|date=August 2024}}
Members of [[the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] (LDS Church) teach that hell is a state between death and resurrection, in which those spirits who did not repent while on earth must suffer for their own sins (Doctrine and Covenants 19:15–17<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/19?lang=eng|title=Doctrine and Covenants 19}}</ref>). After that, only the [[Son of perdition (Mormonism)|Sons of perdition]], who committed the [[Eternal sin]], would be cast into [[Outer darkness]]. However, according to Mormon faith, committing the Eternal sin requires so much knowledge that most persons cannot do this.<ref>[[Spencer W. Kimball]]: The Miracle of Forgiveness, p. 123.</ref> [[Satan]] and [[Cain]] are counted as examples of Sons of perdition.{{cn|date=August 2024}}
===Islam===
{{Main|Jahannam}}
[[File:Copenhagen, Davids Samling Inventarnummer 14-2014 fol. 1r Malik and Jibril open the gates of hell for Muhammad.jpg|thumb|[[Maalik]] (left) and Jibril open the red gates of hell for [[Muhammad]]]]
[[File:Copenhagen, Davids Samling Inventarnummer 14-2014 fol. 1v Muhammad meeting the tree Zaqqum.jpg|thumb|Islamic miniature of Muhammad visiting [[Zaqqum]], a tree in Hell, whose dwellers are compelled to eat the bitter fruit for eternity.]]
In Islam, ''[[Jahannam]]'' (in [[Arabic Language|Arabic]]: جهنم) (related to the Hebrew word ''gehinnom'') is the counterpart to heaven and likewise divided into seven layers, both co-existing with the temporal world,<ref name="Lange 2016 Introducing Hell in Islamic Studies">{{cite book |last1=Lange |first1=Christian |chapter=Introducing Hell in Islamic Studies |pages=1–28 |jstor=10.1163/j.ctt1w8h1w3.7 |doi=10.1163/9789004301368_002 |editor1-last=Lange |editor1-first=Christian |title=Locating Hell in Islamic Traditions |date=2016 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-30121-4 }}</ref> filled with blazing fire, boiling water, and a variety of other torments for those who have been condemned to it in the hereafter. In the Quran, God declares that the fire of Jahannam is prepared for both mankind and [[jinn]].<ref>[[Qur'an 7:179]] [https://en.quranacademy.org/quran/7:179 Qur'an 7:179] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180317232420/https://en.quranacademy.org/quran/7:179 |date=17 March 2018 }}</ref><ref>Varza, Bahram. 2016. ''Thought-Provoking Scientific Reflections on Religion''. New York: BOD Publisher</ref> After the Day of Judgment, it is to be occupied by those who do not believe in God, those who have disobeyed [[Sharia|his laws]], or rejected his [[Prophets in Islam#Prophets and messengers in Islam|messengers]].<ref>{{cite web|title=A Description of Hellfire (part 1 of 5): An Introduction|url=http://www.islamreligion.com/articles/344/|website=Religion of Islam|access-date=23 December 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141223233105/http://www.islamreligion.com/articles/344/|archive-date=23 December 2014}}</ref> "Enemies of Islam" are sent to hell immediately upon their deaths.<ref name=RFIBA>{{cite web|title=Islamic Beliefs about the Afterlife|url=http://www.religionfacts.com/islam/beliefs/afterlife.htm|website=Religion Facts|access-date=23 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141223230705/http://www.religionfacts.com/islam/beliefs/afterlife.htm|archive-date=23 December 2014}}</ref> [[Islamic Modernism|Muslim modernists]] downplay the vivid descriptions of hell common during Classical period, on one hand reaffirming that the afterlife must not be denied, but simultaneously asserting its exact nature remains unknown. Other modern Muslims continue the line of [[Sufism]] as an interiorized hell, combining the eschatological thoughts of [[Ibn Arabi]] and [[Rumi]] with Western philosophy.<ref name="Lange 2016 Introducing Hell in Islamic Studies"/> Although disputed by some scholars, most scholars consider jahannam to be eternal.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Thomassen |first1=Einar |title=Islamic Hell |journal=Numen |date=2009 |volume=56 |issue=2/3 |pages=401–416 |doi=10.1163/156852709X405062 |jstor=27793798 }}</ref><ref name="Lange 2016 Introducing Hell in Islamic Studies"/> There is belief that the fire which represents the own bad deeds can already be seen during the [[Punishment of the Grave]], and that the spiritual pain caused by this can lead to purification of the soul.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.eslam.de/begriffe/f/feuer.htm|title = Feuer}}</ref> Not all Muslims and scholars agree whether hell is an eternal destination or whether some or all of the condemned will eventually be forgiven and allowed to enter paradise.<ref name=RFIBA/><ref name="idiot"/><ref name=religion>{{cite web|title=A Description of Hellfire (part 1 of 5): An Introduction|url=http://www.islamreligion.com/articles/344/|website=Religion of Islam|access-date=23 December 2014|quote=No one will come out of Hell except sinful believers who believed in the Oneness of God in this life and believed in the specific prophet sent to them (before the coming of Muhammad).|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141223233105/http://www.islamreligion.com/articles/344/|archive-date=23 December 2014}}</ref><ref>''Muslim Scholarly Discussions on Salvation and the Fate of 'Others' '', Mohammad Hassan Khalil, p.223 ''"The Fitnah of Wealth",'' Abû Ammâr Yasir al-Qadhî</ref>{{Excessive citations inline|date=September 2021}}
Over hell, a narrow bridge called [[As-Sirāt]] is spanned. On [[Judgment Day]] one must pass over it to reach paradise, but those destined for hell will find too narrow and fall into their new abode.<ref name=EWR-421>{{cite book|title=Encyclopedia of World Religions|publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica Store|page=421|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dbibAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA421|isbn=978-1-59339-491-2|date=2008}}</ref> [[Iblis]], the temporary ruler of hell,<ref>Gordon Newby ''A Concise Encyclopedia of Islam'' Oneworld Publications 2013 {{ISBN|978-1-780-74477-3}}</ref> is thought of residing in the bottom of hell, from where he commands his hosts of infernal demons.<ref>Robert Lebling Legends of the Fire Spirits: Jinn and Genies from Arabia to Zanzibar I.B.Tauris 2010 {{ISBN|978-0-857-73063-3}} page 30</ref><ref>ANTON M. HEINEN ''ISLAMIC COSMOLOGY A STUDY OF AS-SUYUTI'S al-Hay'a as-samya fi l-hay'a as-sunmya with critical edition, translation, and commentary'' ANTON M. HEINEN BEIRUT 1982 p. 143</ref> But contrary to Christian traditions, Iblis and his infernal hosts do not wage war against God,<ref name="idiot">{{cite book|last1=Emerick|first1=Yahiya|title=The Complete Idiot's Guide to Islam|date=2011|publisher=Penguin|isbn=978-1-101-55881-2|edition=3rd|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y6LQJWalzQkC&q=hell+in+islam&pg=PT97}}</ref> his enmity applies against humanity only. Further, his dominion in hell is also his punishment. Executioners of punishment are the 19 [[zabaniyya]], who have been created from the fires of hell.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Surat Al-Alaq Verse 18. |url=https://quran.com/96:18 |website=quran.com |quote="96:18 {سَنَدْعُ ٱلزَّبَانِيَةَ} {١٨ } We will call the angels of Hell. CITATION NOTE: (ٱلزَّبَانِيَةَ, transliterated to Az-Zabaniya, refers to the keeper angels of Jahannam/Hell.)"}}</ref> Muhammad said that the fire of Jahannam is 70 times hotter than ordinary fire, and is much more painful than ordinary fire.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sahih Muslim 2843a |url=https://sunnah.com/muslim:2843a |website=sunnah.com |quote="The fire which sons of Adam burn is only one-seventieth part of the Fire of Hell. His Companions said: By Allah, even ordinary fire would have been enough (to burn people). Thereupon he said: It is sixty-nine parts in excess of (the heat of) fire in this world each of them being equivalent to their heat."}}</ref>
==== Seven stages of punishment ====
The seven gates of ''jahannam'', mentioned in the Quran, inspired [[Tafsir|Muslim exegetes]] (''tafsir'') to develop a system of seven stages of hell, analogue to the seven doors of paradise. The stages of hell get their names by seven different terms used for hell throughout the Quran. Each is assigned for a different type of sinners. The concept later accepted by Sunni authorities list the levels of hell as follows, although some stages may vary:<ref>Roads to Paradise: Eschatology and Concepts of the Hereafter in Islam (2 Vols.): Volume 1: Foundations and Formation of a Tradition. Reflections on the Hereafter in the Quran and Islamic Religious Thought / Volume 2: Continuity and Change. The Plurality of Eschatological Representations in the Islamicate World. (2017). Niederlande: Brill. p. 174</ref><ref>A F Klein Religion Of Islam Routledge 2013 ISBN 978-1-136-09954-0 page 92</ref>
#'''[[Jahannam]]''' (جهنم Gehenna)
#'''Laza''' (لظى fierce blaze)
#'''Hutama''' (حُطَمَة crushing fire)
#'''Sa'ir''' (سعير raging fire)
#'''Saqar''' (سقر scorching fire)
#'''Jahim''' (جحيم furnace)
#'''Hawiya''' (هاوية infernal abyss)
The highest level (''jahannam'') is traditionally thought of as a type of [[purgatory]] reserved for Muslims. Polytheism ([[shirk (Islam)|''shirk'']]) is regarded as a particularly grievous sin; therefore entering Paradise is forbidden to a polytheist ''([[Shirk (Islam)|mushrik]])'' because his place is hell;<ref>see [[Quran 5:72]]: [https://quran.com/5:72 5:72] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160720070539/http://quran.com/5:72 |date=20 July 2016 }}</ref> and the second lowest level (''jahim'') only after the bottomless pit for the hypocrites (''hawiyah''), who claimed aloud to believe in [[God in Islam|God]] and his messenger but in their [[Qalb|hearts]] did not.<ref name=lazarus-287>{{cite book|last1=Lazarus|first1=William P.|title=Comparative Religion For Dummies|publisher=Wiley|page=287|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oTtcFiGbW2kC&pg=PA287|isbn=978-1-118-05227-3|date=2011}}</ref>
=====Gatekeepers=====
*'''Sukha'il''' (صوخائيل) of Jahannam
*'''Tufa'il''' (طوفائيل) of Laza
*'''Tafta'il''' (طفطائيل) of Sa'ir
*'''Susbabil''' (صوصَابيل) of Saqar
*'''Tarfatil''' (طرفاطيل) of Jahim
*'''Istafatabil''' (اصطافاطابيل) of Hawiya
<ref>Christiane Gruber ''The Ilkhanid Book of Ascension: A Persian-Sunni Devotional Tale'' I.B.Tauris 2010 {{ISBN|978-0-857-71809-9}} page 54</ref>
==== In the heavens ====
[[File:Idris sees Paradise and Hell, Istanbul, Turkey, Topkapi Sarayi Müzesi, B. 249, fol. 16b.jpg|thumb|Islamic miniature depicting Idris taken to Heaven, becoming witness to Paradise and Hell there]]
Although the earliest reports about [[Muhammad]]'s [[Isra and Mi'raj|journey through the heavens]], do not locate hell in the heavens,<ref name="Colby 2016 Fire in the Upper Heavens">{{cite book |last1=Colby |first1=Frederick |chapter=Fire in the Upper Heavens: Locating Hell in Middle Period Narratives of Muḥammad's Ascension |pages=124–143 |jstor=10.1163/j.ctt1w8h1w3.12 |doi=10.1163/9789004301368_007 |editor1-last=Lange |editor1-first=Christian |title=Locating Hell in Islamic Traditions |date=2016 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-30121-4 }}</ref> only brief references about visiting hell during the journey appears. But extensive accounts about Muhammad's night journey, in the non-canonical but popular Miraj-Literature, tell about encountering the angels of hell. [[Malik]], the keeper to the gates of hell, namely appears in [[Ibn Abbas|Ibn Abbas']] [[Isra and Mi'raj]].<ref name="Lange 2016 Introducing Hell in Islamic Studies"/> The doors to hell are either in the third<ref name="Colby 2016 Fire in the Upper Heavens"/> or fifth heaven,<ref>Colby, F. S. (2008). Narrating Muhammad's Night Journey: Tracing the Development of the Ibn 'Abbas Ascension Discourse. US: State University of New York Press. p. 137</ref><ref name="Lange 2016 Introducing Hell in Islamic Studies"/> or (although only implicitly) in a heaven close [[Throne of God|God's throne]],<ref name="Colby 2016 Fire in the Upper Heavens"/> or directly after entering heaven,<ref>Colby, F. S. (2008). Narrating Muhammad's Night Journey: Tracing the Development of the Ibn 'Abbas Ascension Discourse. US: State University of New York Press. p. 138</ref> whereupon Muhammad requests a glaze at hell. [[Ibn Hisham]] gives extensive details about Muhammad visiting hell and its inhabitants punished wherein, but can only endure watching the punishments of the first layer of hell.<ref>Lange, C. (2016). Paradise and Hell in Islamic Traditions. Vereinigtes Königreich: Cambridge University Press.</ref> Muhammad meeting Malik, the Dajjal and hell, was used as a proof for Muhammad's Night Journey.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Vuckovic |first1=Brooke Olson |title=Heavenly Journeys, Earthly Concerns: The Legacy of the Mi'raj in the Formation of Islam |date=2004 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-88524-3 }}{{page needed|date=February 2022}}</ref>
==== Beneath the earth ====
Medieval sources often identified hell with the seven earths mentioned in [[Quran 65:12]], inhabited by [[Shaitan|devils]], [[Zabaniyya|harsh angels]], scorpions and serpents, who torment the sinners. They described thorny shrubs, seas filled with blood and fire and darkness only illuminated by the flames of hell.<ref name="Lange 2016 Introducing Hell in Islamic Studies"/> One popular concept arrange the earths as follows:<ref>Miguel Asin Palacios Islam and the Divine Comedy Routledge 2013 ISBN
978-1-134-53650-4 page 88-89</ref><ref>Patrick Hughes, Thomas Patrick Hughes ''Dictionary of Islam'' Asian Educational Services 1995 {{ISBN|978-81-206-0672-2}} p. 102</ref>
#'''Adim''' or '''Ramaka''' (رمکا) - the surface, on which humans, animals and [[jinn]] live on.
#'''Basit''' or '''Khawfa''' (خوفا)
#'''Thaqil''' or ''''Arafa''' (عرفه) - antechamber
#'''Batih''' or '''Hadna''' (حدنه) - a valley with stream of boiling sulphur.
#'''Hayn''' or '''Dama''' (دمَا)
#'''[[Sijjin]]''', (سجىن dungeon or prison) or '''Masika''' (sometimes, Sijjin is at the bottom) - [[Quran 83:7]]
#'''[[Nar as-samum|Nar as-Samum]]''', '''[[Zamhareer]]''' or '''As-Saqar''' / '''Athara''',<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Tottoli |first1=Roberto |last2=توتولي |first2=روبرتو |title=The Qur'an, Qur'anic Exegesis and Muslim Traditions: The Case of zamharīr (Q. 76:13) Among Hell's Punishments / القرآن والتفاسير والروايات الاسلامية: سورة الانسان آية رقم 13: الزمهرير من ألوان العقوبة في جهنم |journal=Journal of Qur'anic Studies |date=2008 |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=142–152 |doi=10.3366/E1465359109000291 |jstor=25728276 }}</ref> or '''Hanina''' (حنينا) - venomous wind of fire and a cold wind of ice.
===Baháʼí Faith===
In the [[Baháʼí Faith]], the conventional descriptions of hell and heaven are considered to be symbolic representations of spiritual conditions. The [[Baháʼí literature|Baháʼí writings]] describe closeness to God to be heaven, and conversely, remoteness from God as hell.<ref name="lafd">{{cite book
| title = Life After Death: A study of the afterlife in world religions
| last = Masumian
| first = Farnaz
| publisher = Oneworld Publications
| ___location = Oxford
| year = 1995
| isbn = 978-1-85168-074-0}}</ref> The Baháʼí writings state that the soul is immortal and after death it will continue to progress until it finally attains [[God in the Baháʼí Faith|God's presence]].<ref>[[Baháʼu'lláh]], [[Gleanings from the Writings of Baháʼu'lláh]], ed. by US Baháʼí Publishing Trust, 1990, pp. 155-156.</ref>
===Buddhism===
{{Main|Naraka (Buddhism)}}
[[File:Ngaye (Naraka) in Burmese art.jpg|thumb|[[Naraka (Buddhism)|Naraka]] in the Burmese representation]]
In "Devaduta Sutta", the 130th discourse of the [[Majjhima Nikaya]], Buddha teaches about hell in vivid detail. Buddhism teaches that there are five or six realms of [[Reincarnation|rebirth]], which can then be further subdivided into degrees of agony or pleasure.{{citation needed|date=July 2019}}) Of these realms, the hell realms, or ''Naraka'', is the lowest realm of rebirth. Of the hell realms, the worst is ''[[Avici|Avīci]]'' ([[Sanskrit]] and [[Pali]] for "without waves"). The Buddha's disciple, [[Devadatta]], who tried to kill the Buddha on three occasions, as well as create a schism in the monastic order, is said to have been reborn in the Avici hell.
Like all realms of rebirth in Buddhism, rebirth in the hell realms is not permanent, though suffering can persist for eons before being reborn again.{{citation needed|date=July 2019}} In the [[Lotus Sutra]], the Buddha teaches that eventually even Devadatta will become a [[Pratyekabuddha]] himself, emphasizing the temporary nature of the hell realms. Thus, Buddhism teaches to escape the endless migration of rebirths (both positive and negative) through the attainment of [[Nirvana]].
The [[Bodhisattva]] [[Ksitigarbha]], according to the [[Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva Pūrvapraṇidhāna Sūtra|Ksitigarbha Sutra]], made a great vow as a young girl to not reach Nirvana until all beings were liberated from the hell realms or other unwholesome rebirths. In popular literature, Ksitigarbha travels to the hell realms to teach and relieve beings of their suffering.
===Hinduism===
{{Main|Naraka (Hinduism)}}
[[File:Yama's Court and Hell.jpg|thumb|Yama's Court and Hell. The Blue figure is [[Yamaraja]] (The Hindu god of death) with his consort [[Yami]] and [[Chitragupta]] <br /> 17th-century painting from Government Museum, [[Chennai]].]]
Early [[Historical Vedic religion|Vedic religion]] does not have a concept of hell. The ''[[Rigveda]]'' mentions three realms, ''bhūr'' (the [[earth]]), ''svar'' (the [[sky]]) and ''[[Loka|bhuvas]]'' or ''antarikṣa'' (the middle area, i.e. air or [[atmosphere]]). In later Hindu literature, especially the law books and the ''[[Puranas]]'', more realms are mentioned, including a realm similar to hell, called ''[[Naraka]]''. [[Yama]] as the first born human (together with his twin sister [[Yamuna in Hinduism|Yamī]]), by virtue of precedence, becomes ruler of men and a judge on their departure.
In the law-books (the ''[[Smriti]]''s and the [[Dharmaśāstra|''Dharmashashtra''s]]), ''Naraka'' is a place of punishment for misdeeds. It is a lower spiritual plane (called ''naraka-loka'') where the spirit is judged and the partial fruits of [[karma]] affect the next life. In the ''[[Mahabharata]]'', there is a mention of the [[Pandavas]] and the [[Kauravas]] both going to [[Svarga|heaven]]. At first [[Yudhishthira]] goes to heaven, where he sees [[Duryodhana]] enjoying the realm; [[Indra]] tells him that Duryodhana is in heaven as he had adequately performed his [[Kshatriya]] duties. Then he shows Yudhishthira hell, where it appears his brothers are. Later it is revealed that this was a test for Yudhishthira and that his brothers and the Kauravas are all in heaven, and live happily in the divine abode of the [[Deva (Hinduism)|devas]]. Various hells are also described in various ''Puranas'' and other scriptures. The ''[[Garuda Purana]]'' gives a detailed account of each hell and its features; it lists the amount of punishment for most crimes, much like a modern-day penal code.
It is believed that people who commit misdeeds go to hell and have to go through punishments in accordance with the misdeeds they committed. The god [[Yama (Hinduism)|Yama]], who is also the god of death, presides over hell. Detailed accounts of all the misdeeds committed by an individual are kept by [[Chitragupta]], who is the record keeper in Yama's court. Chitragupta reads out the misdeeds committed and Yama orders appropriate punishments to be given to individuals. These punishments include dipping in boiling oil, burning in fire, torture using various weapons, etc. in various hells. Individuals who finish their quota of the punishments are reborn in accordance with their balance of [[karma]]. All created beings are imperfect and thus have at least one misdeed to their record; but if one has generally led a meritorious life, one ascends to [[Svarga]], a temporary realm of enjoyment similar to Paradise, after a brief period of expiation in hell and before the next reincarnation, according to the law of [[karma]].{{citation needed|date=July 2019}} With the exception of Hindu philosopher [[Madhva]], time in hell is not regarded as eternal [[damnation]] within Hinduism.<ref name="glasenapp">[[Helmuth von Glasenapp]]: Der Hinduismus. Religion und Gesellschaft im heutigen Indien, Hildesheim 1978, p. 248.</ref>
According to [[Brahma Kumaris]], the Iron Age (''[[Kali Yuga]]'') is regarded as hell.
===Jainism===
{{Main|Naraka (Jainism)}}
[[File:Seven Jain Hells.jpg|thumb|right|17th-century cloth painting depicting seven levels of Jain Hell and various tortures suffered in them. Left panel depicts the demi-god and his animal vehicle presiding over each Hell.]]
In [[Jain cosmology]], ''Naraka'' (translated as hell) is the name given to realm of existence having great suffering. However, a Naraka differs from the hells of [[Abrahamic religions]] as souls are not sent to Naraka as the result of a divine judgment and punishment. Furthermore, length of a being's stay in a Naraka is not eternal, though it is usually very long and measured in billions of years. A soul is born into a Naraka as a direct result of his or her previous [[Karma in Jainism|karma]] (actions of body, speech and mind), and resides there for a finite length of time until his karma has achieved its full result. After his karma is used up, he may be reborn in one of the higher worlds as the result of an earlier karma that had not yet ripened.
The hells are situated in the seven grounds at the lower part of the universe. The seven grounds are:
# Ratna prabha
# Sharkara prabha
# Valuka prabha
# Panka prabha
# Dhuma prabha
# Tamaha prabha
# Mahatamaha prabha
The hellish beings are a type of souls which are residing in these various hells. They are born in hells by sudden manifestation.<ref>{{cite book | last =Sanghvi | first =Sukhlal | title =Commentary on Tattvārthasūtra of Vācaka Umāsvāti | publisher =L. D. Institute of Indology | year =1974 | ___location =Ahmedabad |others=trans. by K. K. Dixit}} pp. 107</ref> The hellish beings possess ''vaikriya'' body (protean body which can transform itself and take various forms). They have a fixed life span (ranging from ten thousand to billions of years) in the respective hells where they reside. According to Jain scripture, [[Tattvarthasutra]], following are the causes for birth in hell:<ref>Sanghvi, Sukhlal (1974) pp.250–52</ref>
# Killing or causing pain with intense passion
# Excessive attachment to things and worldly pleasure with constantly indulging in cruel and violent acts
# Vowless and unrestrained life<ref>refer [[Mahavrata]] for the vows and restraints in Jainism</ref>
===Meivazhi===
According to [[Meivazhi]], the purpose of all religions is to guide people to heaven.<ref>மரணம் நீக்க ஜீவ மருந்து: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rxdwio938q0 9. Gods plan], YouTube, 3 August 2018.</ref> However, those who do not approach God and are not blessed by Him are believed to be condemned to hell.<ref>Meivazhi - The True Path, angelfire.com/ms/Salai/TruePath.html.</ref>
===Sikhism===
In Sikh thought, heaven and hell are not places for living hereafter, they are part of spiritual topography of man and do not exist otherwise. They refer to good and evil stages of life respectively and can be lived now and here during our earthly existence.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rFm9_Jc1ykcC&pg=PA271 | title=A Complete Guide to Sikhism | publisher=Unistar Books | last=Singh | first=Jagraj | year=2009 | page=271 | isbn=978-8-1714-2754-3 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170424012358/https://books.google.com/books?id=rFm9_Jc1ykcC&pg=PA271 | archive-date=24 April 2017 | df=dmy-all }}</ref> For example, [[Guru Arjan]] explains that people who are entangled in emotional attachment and doubt are living in hell on this Earth i.e. their life is hellish.
{{Blockquote|<poem>So many are being drowned in emotional attachment and doubt; they dwell in the most horrible hell.</poem>|Guru Arjan|Guru Granth Sahib 297<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.srigranth.org/servlet/gurbani.gurbani?Action=Page&Param=297|title=Sri Granth: Sri Guru Granth Sahib|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170903031902/http://www.srigranth.org/servlet/gurbani.gurbani?Action=Page&Param=297|archive-date=3 September 2017}}</ref>}}
===Taoism===
{{also|Diyu}}
Ancient [[Taoism]] had no concept of hell, as morality was seen to be a man-made distinction and there was no concept of an immaterial soul. In its home country [[China]], where Taoism adopted tenets of other religions, popular belief endows Taoist hell with many deities and spirits who punish sin in a variety of horrible ways.
Buddhist hells became "so much a part of [many Daoist sects] that during [[Funeral|funeral services]][,] the priests hang up scrolls depicting" similar scenes.<ref name=":100">{{Cite book |title=World Religions: Eastern Traditions |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |editor=Willard Gurdon Oxtoby |year=2002 |isbn=0-19-541521-3 |edition=2nd |___location=Don Mills, Ontario |pages=401–402 |oclc=46661540}}</ref> Typically, Daoist hells are "said to be ten in number" and "are sometimes said to be situated under a high mountain in [[Sichuan]]".<ref name=":100" /> "Each is ruled by a king serving as judge, surrounded by ministers and attendants who carry out his decisions."<ref name=":100" /> Punishment is usually "inflicted with the use of torture instruments", although there are some non-physical and more metaphysical punishments.<ref name=":100" /> However, this type of Daoist hell is usually not final and a soul will make a journey of refining by going through at least several hells and their punishments until it is reincarnated into another body in the human world.<ref name=":100" />
===Chinese traditional and syncretic religion===
{{Main|Diyu}}
[[File:ROM-ChineseGallery-DemonSculpture.png|upright|thumb|right|A Chinese glazed earthenware sculpture of "Hell's torturer", 16th century, [[Ming Dynasty]]]]
''Diyu'' is the realm of the dead in [[Chinese mythology]]. It is very loosely based upon the [[Buddhism|Buddhist]] concept of [[Naraka (Buddhism)|Naraka]] combined with traditional Chinese afterlife beliefs and a variety of popular expansions and re-interpretations of these two traditions. Ruled by [[Yama (East Asia)|Yanluo Wang]], the King of hell, Diyu is a maze of underground levels and chambers where souls are taken to atone for their earthly sins.
Incorporating ideas from [[Taoism]] and [[Buddhism]] as well as traditional Chinese folk religion, Diyu is a kind of purgatory place which serves not only to punish but also to renew spirits ready for their next incarnation. There are many deities associated with the place, whose names and purposes are the subject of much conflicting information.
The exact number of levels in Chinese hell – and their associated deities – differs according to the Buddhist or Taoist perception. Some speak of three to four 'Courts', other as many as ten.<ref name=":100" /> The ten judges are also known as the 10 Kings of [[Yama (Buddhism and Chinese mythology)|Yama]]. Each Court deals with a different aspect of atonement. For example, murder is punished in one Court, adultery in another. According to some Chinese legends, there are eighteen levels in hell. Punishment also varies according to belief, but most legends speak of highly imaginative chambers where wrong-doers are sawn in half, beheaded, thrown into pits of filth or forced to climb trees adorned with sharp blades.
However, most legends agree that once a soul (usually referred to as a 'ghost') has atoned for their deeds and repented, he or she is given the Drink of Forgetfulness by [[Meng Po]] and sent back into the world to be reborn, possibly as an animal or a poor or sick person, for further punishment.
===Zoroastrianism===
{{Main|Zoroastrian eschatology}}
[[Zoroastrianism]] has historically suggested several possible fates for the wicked, including annihilation, purgation in molten metal, and eternal punishment, all of which have standing in Zoroaster's writings. [[Zoroastrian eschatology]] includes the belief that wicked souls will remain in [[Duzakh]] until, following the arrival of three saviors at thousand-year intervals, [[Ahura Mazda]] reconciles the world, destroying evil and resurrecting tormented souls to perfection.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ubfellowship.org/archive/readers/601_zoroastrianism.htm |title=An Introduction to Zoroastrianism |author=Meredith Sprunger |access-date=10 October 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070206152658/http://www.ubfellowship.org/archive/readers/601_zoroastrianism.htm |archive-date=6 February 2007 }}</ref>
The sacred [[Gathas]] mention a "House of the Lie″ for those "that are of an evil dominion, of evil deeds, evil words, evil Self, and evil thought, Liars".<ref>[[Yasna]] 49:11, {{cite web | url=http://www.avesta.org/yasna/y47to50b.htm | title=Avesta: Yasna | access-date=11 October 2008 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081009200459/http://www.avesta.org/yasna/y47to50b.htm | archive-date=9 October 2008 | df=dmy-all }}</ref> However, the best-known Zoroastrian text to describe hell in detail is the [[Book of Arda Viraf]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.hell-on-line.org/AboutZOR.html#The%20Fate%20of%20the%20Soul | title=About Zoroastrian Hell | author=Eileen Gardiner | date=10 February 2006 | access-date=10 October 2008 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081015035745/http://www.hell-on-line.org/AboutZOR.html#The%20Fate%20of%20the%20Soul | archive-date=15 October 2008 | df=dmy-all }}</ref> It depicts particular punishments for particular sins—for instance, being trampled by cattle as punishment for neglecting the needs of work animals.<ref>Chapter 75, {{cite web | url=http://www.avesta.org/pahlavi/viraf.html | title=The Book of Arda Viraf | access-date=10 October 2008 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081008091012/http://www.avesta.org/pahlavi/viraf.html | archive-date=8 October 2008 | df=dmy-all }}</ref> Other descriptions can be found in the ''Book of Scriptures (Hadhokht Nask), Religious Judgments ([[Dadestan-i Denig]])'' and the ''Spirit of Wisdom ([[Menog-i Khrad]])''.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.hell-on-line.org/TextsZOR.html#The%20Fate%20of%20the%20Soul | title=Zoroastrian Hell Texts | author=Eileen Gardiner | date=18 January 2009 | access-date=24 August 2010 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100917075010/http://www.hell-on-line.org/TextsZOR.html#The%20Fate%20of%20the%20Soul | archive-date=17 September 2010 | df=dmy-all }}</ref>
===Mandaeism===
{{See also|World of Darkness (Mandaeism)|Ur (Mandaeism)}}
The [[Mandaeism|Mandaeans]] believe in purification of souls inside of [[Leviathan]],<ref name="johannesbuch-a">[[Mandaean Book of John|Das Johannesbuch der Mandäer]], ed. and transl. by [[Mark Lidzbarski]], part 2, Gießen 1915, p. 98–99.</ref> whom they also call [[Ur (Mandaeism)|Ur]].<ref name="jonas-gnostic">[[Hans Jonas]]: The Gnostic Religion, 3. ed., Boston 2001, p. 117.</ref> Within detention houses, so called [[Matarta]]s,<ref name="ginza-a">[[Ginza Rba|Ginza]]. Der Schatz oder das große Buch der Mandäer, ed. and transl. by [[Mark Lidzbarski]], Quellen der Religionsgeschichte vol. 13, Göttingen 1925, p. 183.</ref> the detained souls would receive so much punishment that they would wish to die a [[Second death]], which would, however, not (yet) befall their spirit.<ref name="ginza-b">Ginza, ed. and transl. by Lidzbarski, p. 185–186.</ref> At the [[Eschatology|end of days]], the souls of the Mandaeans which could be purified, would be liberated out of Ur's mouth.<ref name="rudolph-theogonie">[[Kurt Rudolph]]: Theogonie. Kosmonogie und Anthropogonie in den mandäischen Schriften. Eine literarkritische und traditionsgeschichtliche Untersuchung, Göttingen 1965, p. 241.</ref> After this, Ur would get destroyed along with the souls remaining inside him,<ref name="ginza-c">Ginza, ed. and transl. by Lidzbarski, p. 203.</ref> so they die the second death.<ref name="ginza-e">Ginza, ed. and transl. by Lidzbarski, p. 321.</ref>
===Wicca===
The [[Gardnerian Wicca]] and [[Alexandrian Wicca]] sects of [[Wicca]] include "[[wiccan laws]]" that [[Gerald Gardner]] wrote, which state that wiccan souls are privileged with reincarnation, but that the souls of wiccans who break the wiccan laws, "even under torture", would be cursed by the goddess, never be reborn on earth, and "remain where they belong, in the Hell of the Christians".<ref>Gerald Gardner, The Gardnerian Book of Shadows</ref><ref>Alex Sanders, The Alexandrian Book of Shadows</ref> Other recognized wiccan sects do not include Gerald Gardner's "wiccan laws". The influential wiccan author [[Raymond Buckland]] wrote that the wiccan laws are unimportant. Solitary wiccans, not involved in organized sects, do not include the wiccan laws in their doctrine.{{cn|date=August 2024}}
==In literature==
In his ''[[Divine Comedy|Divina commedia]]'' (''Divine Comedy''), set in the year 1300, [[Dante|Dante Alighieri]] employed the concept of taking [[Virgil]] as his guide through Inferno (and then, in the second canticle, up the mountain of [[Purgatory|Purgatorio]]). Virgil himself is not condemned to hell proper in Dante's poem but is rather, as a virtuous pagan, confined to [[Limbo]] just at the edge of hell. The geography of hell is very elaborately laid out in this work, with nine concentric rings leading deeper into Earth, and deeper into the various punishments of hell, until, at the center of the world, Dante finds [[Satan]] himself trapped in the frozen lake of [[Cocytus]]. A small tunnel leads past Satan and out to the other side of the world, at the base of the Mount of Purgatory.
[[John Milton]]'s ''[[Paradise Lost]]'' (1667) opens with the [[fallen angel]]s, including their leader [[Satan]], waking up in hell after having been defeated in the war in heaven and the action returns there at several points throughout the poem. Milton portrays hell as the abode of the demons, and the passive prison from which they plot their revenge upon heaven through the corruption of the human race. 19th-century French poet [[Arthur Rimbaud]] alluded to the concept as well in the title and themes of one of his major works, ''[[Une Saison en Enfer|A Season in Hell]]'' (1873). Rimbaud's poetry portrays his own suffering in a poetic form as well as other themes.
Many of the great epics of European literature include episodes that occur in hell. In the Roman poet [[Virgil]]'s Latin epic, the ''[[Aeneid]]'', Aeneas descends into [[Hades|Dis]] (the underworld) to visit his father's spirit. The underworld is only vaguely described, with one unexplored path leading to the punishments of Tartarus, while the other leads through [[Erebus]] and the [[Elysium|Elysian Fields]].
[[File:William Bouguereau - Dante and Virgile - Google Art Project 2.jpg|thumb|''[[Dante and Virgil|Dante and Virgil in Hell]]'' by [[William-Adolphe Bouguereau]], 1850]]
The idea of hell was highly influential to writers such as [[Jean-Paul Sartre]] who authored the 1944 play ''[[No Exit]]'' about the idea that "Hell is other people". Although not a religious man, Sartre was fascinated by his interpretation of a hellish state of suffering. [[C.S. Lewis]]'s ''[[The Great Divorce]]'' (1945) borrows its title from [[William Blake]]'s ''[[Marriage of Heaven and Hell]]'' (1793) and its inspiration from the ''[[Divine Comedy]]'' as the narrator is likewise guided through hell and heaven. Hell is portrayed here as an endless, desolate twilight city upon which night is imperceptibly sinking. The night is actually the [[Apocalypse]], and it heralds the arrival of the demons after their judgment. Before the night comes, anyone can escape hell if they leave behind their former selves and accept Heaven's offer, and a journey to heaven reveals that hell is infinitely small; it is nothing more or less than what happens to a soul that turns away from God and into itself.
==In popular culture==
[[Piers Anthony]] in his series ''[[Incarnations of Immortality]]'' portrays examples of heaven and hell via Death, Fate, Underworld, Nature, War, Time, Good-God, and Evil-Devil. [[Robert A. Heinlein]] offers a [[yin-yang]] version of hell where there is still some good within; most evident in his 1984 book ''[[Job: A Comedy of Justice]]''. [[Lois McMaster Bujold]] uses her five Gods 'Father, Mother, Son, Daughter and Bastard' in ''[[The Curse of Chalion]]'' with an example of hell as formless chaos. [[Michael Moorcock]] is one of many who offer Chaos-Evil-(Hell) and Uniformity-Good-(Heaven) as equally unacceptable extremes which must be held in balance; in particular in the ''[[Elric]]'' and ''[[The Eternal Champion (novel)|Eternal Champion]]'' series. [[Fredric Brown]] wrote a number of [[fantasy]] short stories about [[Satan]]'s activities in hell. [[Cartoonist]] [[Jimmy Hatlo]] created a series of [[cartoon]]s about life in hell called ''The Hatlo Inferno'', which ran from 1953 to 1958.<ref>[http://www.cartoonbrew.com/archives/jimmyhatlo.jpg Sample ''Hatlo Inferno'' comic:] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120415045157/http://www.cartoonbrew.com/archives/jimmyhatlo.jpg |date=15 April 2012 }}</ref>
==See also==
* {{annotated link|Appeal to fear}}
* {{annotated link|Divine retribution}}
* {{annotated link|Problem of Hell}}
* {{annotated link|The Well to Hell hoax}}
==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}
==Further reading==
*{{cite book|chapter=[[s:Sermons from the Latins/Sermon 13|Fifth Sunday: Hell]] |title=Sermons from the Latins|year=1902|publisher= Benziger Brothers|first=Robert|last=Bellarmine|author-link=Robert Bellarmine}}
* [[Thomas Boston|Boston, Thomas]]. ''Hell''. Diggory Press, {{ISBN|978-1-84685-748-5}}
* [[John Bunyan|Bunyan, John]]. ''A Few Sighs from Hell (Or The Groans of the Damned Soul)''. Diggory Press, {{ISBN|978-1-84685-727-0}}
*{{cite book|chapter=[[s:Think Well On't/Day 13|Day 13: On hell.]]|title=Think Well On't or, Reflections on the great truths of the Christian religion for every day of the month|year=1801|publisher=T. Haydock|first=Richard|last=Challoner|author-link=Richard Challoner}}
* [[Jonathan Edwards (theologian)|Edwards, Jonathan]]. ''The Justice of God in the Damnation of Sinners''. Diggory Press, {{ISBN|978-1-84685-672-3}}
*{{Cite Catholic Encyclopedia |wstitle=Hell |volume=7 |first=Joseph |last=Hontheim}}
* Gardiner, Eileen. ''Visions of Heaven and Hell before Dante.'' New York: Italica Press, 1989. {{ISBN|0-934977-14-3}}
*{{cite book|chapter=[[s:Sermons for all the Sundays in the year/Sermon 10|Sermon X.—Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany: On the pains of hell]] |title=Sermons for all the Sundays in the year|year=1882|publisher=Dublin|first=Alphonus|last=Liguori|author-link=Alphonsus Liguori}}
* {{cite book
|chapter=Hell? No!
|page=[https://archive.org/details/whyibecameatheis00loft/page/387 387]
|title=Why I became an atheist
|first=John W.
|last=Loftus
|___location=Amherst, NY
|publisher=[[Prometheus Books]]
|year=2008
|isbn=978-1-59102-592-4
|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/whyibecameatheis00loft/page/387
}}
* {{cite book
| editor-last = Metzger
| editor-first = Bruce M.
| editor2 = Michael D. Coogan
| title = The Oxford Companion to the Bible
| publisher = [[Oxford University Press]]
| year = 1993
| ___location = Oxford, UK
| url = https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780195046458
| isbn = 978-0-19-504645-8
}}
==External links==
{{
{{commons}}
{{wiktionary}}
{{wikibooks|God and Religious Toleration/Christianity#Is There a Hell?}}
* {{In Our Time|Hell|p0038xb6|Hell}}
* {{SEP|heaven-hell|Heaven and Hell in Christian Thought|Thomas Talbott}}
*
* [http://fortnightlyreview.co.uk/2016/05/hells-abolitions/ A cultural history of Hell] in [[The Fortnightly Review]]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070829155418/http://www.atheistfoundation.org.au/hell.htm Atheist Foundation of Australia] – 666 words about hell.
* [http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2002521 The Jehovah's Witnesses perspective]
* [http://veda.harekrsna.cz/encyclopedia/dying.htm Dying, Yamaraja and Yamadutas + terminal restlessness]
* [http://www.
* [http://www.swedenborgdigitallibrary.org/contets/HH.html Swedenborg, E. ''Heaven and its Wonders and Hell. From Things Heard and Seen''] (Swedenborg Foundation, 1946)
* [https://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/browse-subject Maps of hell at the "Hell and Heaven" subject, the Persuasive Cartography, The PJ Mode Collection], [[Cornell University Library]]
*[https://exchange.umma.umich.edu/resources/23935 Collection: Heaven, Hell, and Afterlives] from the [[University of Michigan Museum of Art]]
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