Punishments in the Islamic religion

Question

Before you read the rest, I want to clarify that I hate parents who physically and mentally punish their children. I feel that Islam agrees with this, i.e. hitting/beating children to crazy extents that you end up breaking their bones and making them bleed.

My question is about the following punishments which are received in hell:

Punishment for not fasting
hanging by their hamstrings, with the sides of their mouths torn and blood pouring from their mouths

Punishment for not giving zakat
plates of fire would be beaten out for him; these would then be heated in the fire of Hell and his sides, his forehead and his back would be cauterized with them. Whenever these cool down, (the process is) repeated during a day the extent of which would be fifty thousand years

Punishment for Malicious Gossip
You will receive surveor punishment

Punishment for not cleaning yourself properly
You will receive surveor punishment

Punishment for not acting out what he reads in the quran
You will receive surveor punishment

Punishment for consuming riba
Some of them will have bellies as big as houses

Punishment for not praying
the heads of some people will be crushed with rock because they were too heavy for them to get up and pray.

Source http://islamqa.info/en/ref/45325

For example, if I punished my children by hanging them by their hamstrings, with the sides of their mouths torn and blood pouring from their mouths, would be considered sick and evil, yet when this is the punishment given by God for not fasting, it's not considered evil? Especially when Islam says that God loves his creation more than a mother could ever live her children, and especially as God does not need your worship either. i.e. God Loves you more than your mother, God does not need your worship, but if you miss a fast, you are hung up by your hamstrings?

So my question if you missed it, why in Islam is it considered evil for parents to break the bones of their own children, but God destroying his creation and regenerating it again just to destroy it again is not considered evil?

Just a question which I wanted some clarification on.

As I said earlier: I want to clarify that I hate parents who physically and mentally punish their children. I feel that Islam agrees with this, i.e. hitting/beating children to crazy extents that you end up breaking their bones and making them bleed.

Answer 1

The question is a good one, and to see the answer, you have to understand that your question compares apples to oranges. As you say, it would be completely evil for a parent to apply such harsh punishment on his children. So why is God different?

God is nothing like a human. He has no errors in judgement. He not only understands causes and effects; he defines causality. So when people say that God is merciful, they are not describing God; they are defining "mercy". God alone understands why certain sins lead to particular punishments, and their assignment is not arbitrary. Therefore, God has the authority to apply the correct punishments for those sins.

Humans, on the other hand, are incomparable to God. We do have errors in judgement. We are affected by emotions rather than facts. We cannot know every single minute detail of any situation, let alone every situation.

Furthermore, we do not understand the application of the punishments. Scripture is written down in human language so that we can study it, but human language is insufficient to unambiguously convey human thought, let alone divine thought. And so, taking the authority to impose such dramatic punishments is overstepping our ability to judge. We simply cannot claim to fully understand when such punishments should be applied.

Answer 2

god is merciful than anyone in this world, as quran says:

In the name of God , the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful.(1:1)

i hopes god will forgive most of the wrong doings, since the above verse states god is merciful.

Question: if I punished my children by hanging them by their hamstrings, with the sides of their mouths torn and blood pouring from their mouths, would be considered sick and evil, yet when this is the punishment given by God for not fasting, it's not considered evil?

Quran says:

Indeed, those who believed and those who were Jews or Christians or Sabeans [before Prophet Muhammad] - those [among them] who believed in God and the Last Day and did righteousness - will have their reward with their Lord, and no fear will there be concerning them, nor will they grieve.(2:62)

from the above verse it is clear that jews,christians, sabeans got reward for their righteousnees.(yet these people don't practice fasting)

Question: why in Islam is it considered evil for parents to break the bones of their own children, but God destroying his creation and regenerating it again just to destroy it again is not considered evil?

God does not wrong people in any way; rather it is people who wrong themselves. (10:44)

My advice is ask god for forgiveness rather than searching for how will god punish for wrongdoings. Quran says:

He (Moses) said, ‘My Lord, I have wronged myself. Forgive me.’ So He forgave him. He is the Ever-Forgiving, the Most Merciful. (28:16)

But as for those who do evil actions and then subsequently repent and believe, in that case your Lord is Ever-Forgiving, Most Merciful. (7:153)

You who believe! If you have fear of God, He will give you discrimination and erase your bad actions from you and forgive you. God’s favour is indeed immense. (8:29)

Say (from Me): ‘My servants, you who have transgressed against yourselves, do not despair of the mercy of God. Truly God forgives all wrong actions. He is the Ever-Forgiving, the Most Merciful.’ (39:53)

Answer 3

If I'm answering the question correctly but some Muslim parents will physically punish their kids for improper behavior regardless what others may think but to "truly" answer your question God (Allah) has different "policies" than humans and I believe he feels that certain punishments He can inflict on humans (even if they are severe) that it's not another human being's place to do so. After all if a human being inflicts the exact same punishment that Allah inflicts on another human being that that particular human being can end up in jail or institutionalized.