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7. People of Hell are to eat. Their food is from fruits of a tree called Zaqqum. This dreadful and bitter tree grows at the bottom of Hell. Its fruit-stalks are like the heads of devils instead of being tender. People of Hell are to eat from it voraciously; and every time they are hungry there is nothing for them but this type of food. In this regard, Allah mentioned this food in few Surahs in the Qur'an.

(a) In Surah Al-Saffat (Those Ranged in Ranks), Allah says: Is that better entertainment or the Tree of Zaqqum? For We have truly made it (as) a trial for the wrongdoers. For it is a tree that springs out of the bottom of Hellfire: The shoots of its fruit-stalks are like the heads of devils: Truly they will eat thereof and fill their bellies therewith. Then on top of that they will be given a mixture made of boiling water... (Surah 37:Verse 62 - 67)

(b) In Surah Al-Dukhan (Smoke) Allah says: Verily the tree of Zaqqum will be the food of the sinful, -like molten brass; it will boil in their insides, like the boiling of scalding water. (Surah 44:Verse 43 - 46)

(c) In Surah Al-Waqi'ah (The Inevitable Event), Allah says: Then will you truly, O you that go wrong, and treat (Truth) as falsehood! 'You will surely taste of the Tree of Zaqqum. Then will you fill your insides there with. (Surah 56:Verse 51 - 53)

Mr. Yusuf Ali says in his explanatory notes number 4073 the following:

(a) It grows at the bottom of Hell
(b) Even its fruit-stalks, which should have been tender, are like the heads of devils
(c) Its produce is eaten voraciously
(d) On top of it, is a boiling mixture to cut up the entrails and every time they complete this round of orgies, they return to the same game.

A truly lurid picture, but more lurid in reality are the stages in Spiritual Evil:

(a) It takes its rise in the lowest depths of corrupted human nature
(b) Its tenderised affections are degraded to envy and hate
(c) The appetite for evil grows with what it feeds on
(d) Its "Cures" serve but to aggravate the disease, and
(e) The chain of evil is unending; one round is followed by another in interminable succession.

The other treatments that the people of Hell are going to face, may be summarised as follows:

1. Angels are assigned to take care of those people to go to Hell. Allah says in Surah Al-Muddathir (One Wrapped Up): And We have set none but angels as guardians of the Fire. (Surah 74:Verse 31)

2. Angels are to drag the criminals on their faces in Hell. In Surah Al-Furqan (The Criterion), Allah says: Those who will be gathered to Hell (prone) on their faces, they will be in an evil plight, and, as to Path, most astray. (Surah 25:Verse 34)

3. In Hell there will be a dialogue between the people of Hell and the guardian angels. People ask the angels to request Allah to reduce the penalty of hell. See Surah Ghafir (40:49). The answer is negative.

4. People of Hell are to argue among themselves and they are to accuse one another. You may read Surah Ghafir (40:47) and Surah Sad (38:64).

5. The hypocrites are to be at the bottom of Hell. Read Surah Al-Nisa' (4:145).

6. People of Hell are of both races, human beings and Jinns.

7. People of Hell call upon people of Paradise asking them to pour water upon them or some of the food they are eating. People of Hell were forbidden to receive any help from those of Paradise. In Surah Al-A'raf (The Heights) the Qur'an states the following: The Companions of the Fire will call to the Companions of the Garden: 'Pour down to us water or anything that God does for your sustenance.' They will say: 'Both these things has God forbidden to those who rejected Him.' (Surah 7:Verse 50)

8. The guardian of Hell is an angel whose name is Malik. It states that they ask him to request Allah to finish them from the torture of Hell. In Surah Al-Sukhruff the Qur'an states: They will cry: 'O Malik! would that your Lord put an end to us!' He will say, 'No, but you shall abide!' (Surah 43, Verse 77)

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