al-Ghāfir

ذَلِكُمْ بِمَا كُنْتُمْ تَفْرَحُونَ فِي الْأَرْضِ بِغَيْرِ الْحَقِّ وَبِمَا كُنْتُمْ تَمْرَحُونَ

ادْخُلُوا أَبْوَابَ جَهَنَّمَ خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا فَبِئْسَ مَثْوَی الْمُتَكَبِّرِينَ

75. That [torment] was because you had been exulting in the earth without any right and that you used to rejoice extremely [in your error].
76. Enter the gates of Hell to abide therein and what an evil abode of the arrogant!

The Islamic faith is in man’s natural and primordial disposition (fitra). It is not against happiness which is in man’s original nature. It is only inappropriate exultations which are subject to criticism a number of whose instances are reflected in the Holy Qur’an. The blessed Verse 75 says:

They rejoiced in denying the Prophets, slaying believers, and suppressing the deprived and the weak. They were falsely proud of committing sins and breaking the law. Now they have to meet the consequences of such improper exultation, arrogance, negligence, and concupiscence in shackles and fetters and amid blazing flames of Hellfire. The verbal form tafrahun derives from f-r-h (“exult, rejoice”) which may be employed in an ameliorative sense, as in 30:4-5:

or a pejorative one, as reflected in the story of Korah⁶:

The difference between the two connotations should be distinguished and it is evident that it is employed pejoratively in the blessed Verse in question. The verbal form tamrahun derives from m-r-h and according to a number of Qur’anic exegets and lexicographers it designates

Some maintain that the word connotes rejoice in vain but some others hold that it implies rejoicing by making use of Divine Bounties in vain. These senses apparently refer to the same signification, since excessive rejoicing leads to error and is accompanied by sins, impurities, and concupiscent desires. Such vain exultations imbued with arrogance, neglect, vanity, and concupiscent desires lead man astray in the twinkling of an eye and impede him from comprehending the truth. Such attitude renders realities facetious and truths, vain. The fate reflected in the preceding Verses is in store for such people.

Verse 76 is addressed to the people condemned to torment who are being asked to

The Verse is a further emphasis on the fact that misfortunes stem from vanity and arrogance, serving as the origin of all evils, a veil before the truth seeking eyes of man, resistance to Messengers, and persistence in error. Again, we come across

of Hell in the blessed Verse in question. Does entering the gates of Hell indicate that each group enters a specific gate? Or a group enters different gates? It may imply that there are different gates and levels in Hell, in the manner of terrible prisons with labyrinthine corridors with many cells, and a number of those who were obdurately in error have to descend all these levels and find their everlasting abode on the lowest level at the depth of Hell!

In this vein, a tradition is narrated from the Commander of the Faithful, Imam ‘Ali (as) as the interpretation of a Qur’anic Verse⁷:

saying:

“Hell has seven gates. It has seven levels on top of each other.”

Then, he laid one hand on the other, saying:

“Like this!” ⁸

There is another interpretation according to which the gates of Hell, like those of Paradise, refer to different factors leading man to Hell or Paradise, e.g. sins and good righteous deeds, as reflected in Islamic traditions. The number seven indicates multiplicity rather than number. It is worthy of note that the eight gates of Paradise designate that Bounties exceed torments.