Answered by Mohammad Ali:Walekum salam wr wb brother.
Its a good question. And to understand this question, first of all we have to develop a thinking and keep this thinking in mind. Otherwise let me give u guarantee. You would never ever be able to find answer of this question and be confused your whole life. Keep your nerves calm while reading all this and free your mind, we all are here to learn and not to debate.
There are 5billion + people on this planet called earth and most are in search of this question:
"What is the ultimate aim of our life?"
Most believe in a super natural power known as God and hold some aqaaid (beliefs) in their minds about God. So here is a beautiful news. About the thinking which we have to develop to find answer to such questions.
HUMAN INTELLECT/HUMAN MIND IS NOT A CRITERIA TO JUDGE GOD OR TO KNOW WHAT HE WANTS FROM HUMAN BEINGS.
God Almighty sent messengers & prophets and books. All of them for what? To give them answer of this question. God Almighty sent prophets as an example so that we follow them as they were the ones who knew the answer to this question:
"What is the ultimate aim of our life? To get Allah or Jannah or to get secure from Hell?"
So to find answer of this. Lets turn to the Book of Allah and the life of His Messenger Muhammad (sallalaho alayhi wassalam). Let me ask you a very honest question. Have u read Holy Quran with translation? Or its tafseer? Have u read the biography of Holy Prophet (pbuh) and his lifestyle? Although i know the question u are trying to ask. Its derived from a sufi saying which says:
"Dozakh ki ag se jannat ko jala dun. Jannat ki nehro se dozakh ko bhuja dun."
This saying promotes the idea that we people should not be greedy about getting jannah or should not be frightened about jahannum. We should simply do ishq with God Almighty and dive deep into this ishq without caring about Jannat & dozakh. My dear brother, if this concept is so kool, then please tell me why did Holy Prophet (sallalaho alayhi wassalam) say this:
"Whoever asks Allah for Jannah three times, Paradise says, “ Oh Allah enter him into Jannah. Whoever seeks protection with Allah from Hell three times, Jahanim says, “ Oh Allah protect him from the Fire.”
(Collected by At-Tirmithi Hadith number 2572 and others.)
Why did the Holy Prophet (pbuh) say this:
“When you pray Fajr, then say before speaking to any of the people, ‘Allaahumma ajirni min al-naar (O Allaah, protect me from the Hell Fire)’ seven times. Then if you die on that day, Allaah will grant you protection from the Fire. And when you pray Maghrib, then say before speaking to any of the people, ‘Allaahumma inni as’aluka al-jannah, Allaahumma ajirni min al-naar (O Allaah, I ask You for Paradise, O Allaah, protect me from the Fire)’ seven times. Then if you die that night, Allaah will grant you protection from the Fire.”
(Musnad Ahmed Hadith 17362, Sunan Abu Dawood Hadith 5079)
Why did Allah mentioned Hell & Paradise so many times in the Holy Quran and promising again and again to believers about Paradise and frightening again & again disbelievers from Hellfire? I can quote atleast 50 verses here which talk of Paradise. But i believe that u already know. I just want to explain my point which is the right aqeeda (belief) regarding your question is:
1- Read Holy Quran and biography of Holy prophet (pbuh) and simply follow it. That's it. No need to dwelve into deep philosophy about burning jannat & extinguishing jahannum.
2- Love with Allah Almighty comes first. But do not love Allah Almighty according to your thinking. Love Allah Almighty like He told us to love in Holy Quran and like Prophet sallalaho alayhi wassalam loved and taught to love.
3- Ask Allah for paradise & seek refuge from Hellfire because Prophet sallalaho alayhi wassalam ordered us to. If paradise & hell are stupid things of no value and one should never ever think of think of them then whats the point of them being mentioned in Holy Quran & ahadith?
4- Simply develop the thinking that you have to follow Quran and life of Holy Prophet (pbuh) and understand everything according to it. This is the manual. Like a machine has a manual. And when u dont understand something, u do not think from your mind that okay let me try this with machine, but u always turn to manual and read it to understand about the machine. Same goes for life and all your answers. Insha Allah you find them in Quran & aswa e hasana of Holy Prophet (pbuh).Jazak Allah. May Allah give you intellect to understand Quran & hadith and spend life accordingly. Ameen
