Zamhareer ( ar, الزمهرير ) is a place of extreme cold at the bottom of hell in some
Islamic sources. It is characterized as being unbearably cold, with
blizzard
A blizzard is a severe snowstorm characterized by strong sustained winds and low visibility, lasting for a prolonged period of time—typically at least three or four hours. A ground blizzard is a weather condition where snow is not falling b ...
s, ice, and snow.
The term is mentioned once in the , stating the people in
paradise
In religion, paradise is a place of exceptional happiness and delight. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical or eschatological or both, often compared to the miseries of human civilization: in paradis ...
will neither see the
fires of the sun nor the unbearable cold of the moon. Some Islamic
exegetes
Exegesis ( ; from the Greek , from , "to lead out") is a critical explanation or interpretation of a text. The term is traditionally applied to the interpretation of Biblical works. In modern usage, exegesis can involve critical interpretation ...
advocate the idea that this term refers to a place in
Jahannam
In Islam, the place of punishment for unbelievers and other sin in Islam, evildoers in the afterlife, or hell, is an "integral part of Islamic theology",#ETISN2009, Thomassen, "Islamic Hell", Numen, 56, 2009: p.401 and has "occupied an important p ...
or
in the grave. Acccording to
hadith tradition (Bukhari and
Sahih Muslim
Sahih Muslim ( ar, صحيح مسلم, translit=Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim), group=note is a 9th-century ''hadith'' collection and a book of '' sunnah'' compiled by the Persian scholar Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj (815–875). It is one of the most valued bo ...
), God allows hell to take two breaths per year, one in summer and one in winter, releasing hell's extreme temperatures upon earth. According to
Ibn Abi al-Dunya
Abdullah ibn Muhammad ibn Ubaid ibn sufyan ibn Abi al-Dunya, Abu bakar, Baghdadi, known by his epithet of Ibn Abi al-Dunya (AH 207/8–281, 823–894 CE) was a Muslim scholar. During his lifetime, he served as a tutor to the Abbasid caliphs, al-Mu ...
, when the sinners beg the guardians of hell to leave the fire, they escape to ''Zamhareer'' and then beg to go back to the fire, because of it is unbearable cold. Others describe ''Zamhareer'' as a pit, where the bones of the damned are scattered.
[Tottoli, Roberto, and روبرتو توتولي. “The Qur’an, Qur’anic Exegesis and Muslim Traditions: The Case of zamharīr (Q. 76:13) Among Hell’s Punishments / القرآن والتفاسير والروايات الاسلامية: سورة الانسان آية رقم 13: الزمهرير من ألوان العقوبة في جهنم.” Journal of Qur’anic Studies, vol. 10, no. 1, Edinburgh University Press, 2008, pp. 142–52, http://www.jstor.org/stable/25728276.]
References
Afterlife places
Jahannam
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