Appendix 5, Heaven and Hell
Just as no allegory can convey the taste of chocolate to someone who never tasted it, no allegory can approximate the real experience; one must wait to experience it.“How can one describe, for example, the taste of chocolate to a person who never tasted chocolate? Allegory will have to be used. The person has to wait to actually taste chocolate in order to know what chocolate tastes like.”“Whatever allegory we use to describe the taste of chocolate can never approximate the real thing.”
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The descriptions of Heaven and Hell throughout the Quran are allegorical, and the Quran says so with the word Mathal, allegory, in verses such as 2:24-26, 13:35, and 47:15.“The descriptions of Heaven and Hell throughout the Quran are allegorical. And the Quran tells us so whenever such descriptions occur as independent statements, not within a general subject. See 2:24-26, 13:35, and 47:15. The word “Mathal” (allegory) is used in these verses.”
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The word Mathal in these verses could be removed and the sentences would still be perfect, so it is there to show that the descriptions of Heaven and Hell are allegorical.“Linguistically, the word “Mathal” in these verses can be removed, and we still have perfect sentences. But it is there because the descriptions of Heaven and Hell are allegorical.”
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What Heaven and Hell are really like is far beyond human comprehension, which is why allegory is needed to describe them.“What Heaven and Hell are really like is far beyond our comprehension. Hence the need for allegory.”
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