A Comparative Interpretation of Verses 105-108 in Surah Hood from the Perspective of “al-Mizan” and “al-Forqan” Commentaries about the Khulud (Eternity) of the People of the Heaven and the Hell

The Quran includes numerous verses that refer to the eternity of the people of the Heaven and the Hell. It speaks of a group of blissful people who reside in the Heaven forever and enjoy its blessings and another group of miserable people who are doomed be punished. There is disagreement among commentators and theologians over what eternity is and whether there is a difference between the eternity of the people of the Heaven and that of the Hell. Most of them believe ‘eternity’ denotes the same conception about the two groups of people: the people of the Heaven and the Hell will never be displaced. In this regard, the views of Allameh Tabatabaei and Mohammad Sadeqi are of great importance. Since, in some verses, the eternity of the people of the Heaven and the Hell has been said to depend on the persistence of the heavens and the earth, the meanings of ‘heaven’ and ‘earth’ and the degree of their persistence are first explored in this article, and then the question of eternity is examined. Some consider heaven and earth worldly entities, but Allameh Tabatabaei and Sadeqi believe they are otherworldly phenomena. In Allameh’s idea, they are permanent, but Sadeqi believes they are mortal. Hence, Allameh holds that the eternity of the people of the Hell is infinite, but according to Sadeqi, it is finite. From the results obtained, it can be concluded that, given the meaning of the word khulud and the verses talking about the equality of sin and punishment, Divine justice and God's innocence of all cruelty, the residence of the people of the Hell will be limited, and, given the Divine grace and mercy and considering the Quranic text, that of the people of the Heaven will be permanent.