So there is a hadith mentioning the fact that there will be people on the day of judgement who have not heard of Islam / received the message from God in their lifetime,and from what I understand they will enter "hell " but that this "hell" will not be burning , but rather cool and safe.
Here is the hadith:
Al-Aswad ibn Saree reported that the Prophet of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said:
“There are four (who will protest) to Allaah on the Day of Resurrection: the deaf man who never heard anything, the insane man, the very old man, and the man who died during the fatrah (the interval between the time of ‘Eesaa (Jesus, upon whom be peace) and the time of Muhammad SAWS (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him).
The deaf man will say, ‘O Lord, Islam came but I never heard anything.’ The insane man will say, ‘O Lord, Islam came but the children ran after me and threw stones at me.’ The very old man will say, ‘O Lord, Islam came but I did not understand anything.’ The man who died during the fatrah will say, ‘O Lord, no Messenger from You came to me.’ He will accept their promises of obedience, then word will be sent to them to enter the Fire. By the One in Whose hand is the soul of Muhammad, if they enter it, it will be cool and safe for them.”
My questions:
1) With regards to the deaf man, why would him being deaf prevent him from learning the message? Surely God is more than capable of informing a deaf person of Islam.
2) I don't understand how the second man is insane. Islam came and children ran after him and threw stones... ok? So what? How does that make him the insane man? Is it implied that he is insane for not following Islam because he was attacked? It just makes no sense whatsoever. I would love some insight on that.
3) Again, with regards to the old man who was unable to understand; well then I don't see what prevented God from reaching out to him prior to him being in this state, and even so, couldn't he make him understand anyway? Surely God is more than capable of not allowing this to be an obstacle.
4) The fatrah I believe is a time in which there were no prophets( If i'm not mistaken), and thus people were "excused" for not following anything in particular. Again, this situation is only allowed to happen by the will of God so why would there be a fatrah? What purpose does it serve to have humans roam freely and do as they please for this fatrah without being given the proper religion to follow?
5) Why are these people sent to "hell"? Even if it's safe for them and they will not be tortured, it certainly isn't heaven and it seems they are barred from entering heaven, so how is this fair?