Torture And Punishment In The Afterlife
If the concept of Crime and Punishment is Morally Unjust than Why would Countries all over the world punish the criminals in their states? Is the Entire judicial System Inhumane? Is there no need For Police & Law Enforcement? Is there no Need of Prisons? Are the punishments of Death Penalty, Life Imprisonment, Solitary Confinement Vindictive? Does Electrocution(death through Electric current) amounts to torture or not? What is the guarantee that if a convicted Terrorist or Rapist is released in society(Without Punishment by State), he wont Kill/Rape anyone again( after undergoing psychological treatment, education & awareness of his actions)? Doesn’t this relax attitude gives incentive for future wannabe criminals? Seeing zero consequences for their actions wont they take it as an encouraging sign and license to kill more and spread corruption? Wont this lax attitude spread anarchy and rebelliousness rather than peace and stability in the society? Isn’t a Human Being naturally capable of causing suffering to others? Is there a Free Will or Not or are we programmable robots? Does the human being use his freewill to commit crime and evil? Should the Criminals be given freedom or enslavement in prisons? If The World Justifies its Judicial Laws/Punishments as Morally Right/Justifiable/Good for Society than Why would Religious Punishments be Morally unacceptable in Afterlife? Isn’t it Illogical?
Peace! If I may share my two cents. I hope I can be of some help. First of all, Islamic scholars have debated this as well and the thing to note is that the concept of Heaven and Hell are from the matters whose reality we do not know (امور متشابهات). What we can say is that God has threatened with Hell but has not promised it, unlike His promise of Paradise. If He wills, He will carry out the threat. If He doesn’t, then, verily He is the Ever Merciful. Secondly, what I have felt is that, in a way, the concept of Hell is a blessing in disguise. What you say about doing good for the sake of it being good, we can agree on. But won’t you also agree that we as humans are weak in our endeavors? I believe one of the purposes of Hell is to motivate believers into refraining from wrongdoing, realizing that both promise of good and threats against evil will prove helpful in instances of weakness that we, on our time on Earth, are sure to face. Challenging mankind without these two aids would be too big a burden, perhaps, for most. Additionally, what I would say is that mankind, I have felt, are quick to grow casual about matters which do not have any special significance attached to them (like reward or punishment). So, I would conclude that what we know about Hell so far (what we are sure of, that is), is that it is acts as a blessing. When it is supposed to become a curse, we will be present before our Lord and may be able to humbly ask Him the questions of morality it raises. What do you say?