The Slap

A young man went to study for a long while. On returning to his home after his studies, he asked his parents to find him an Islamic scholar who could answer two questions that he had. His parents found a learned Muslim scholar who met the young man.


The young man said that his two questions were:1) Does God exist? If so, show me his shape. 2) If the devil was created from fire, why at the end will he be thrown into hell which is also made of fire. The fire wouldn’t hurt him.
The Muslim scholar suddenly slapped the young man hard on his face. The young man asked in pain, ‘Why are you getting angry?’ The learned scholar answered, ‘I am not angry. The slap is my answer to your two questions. Do you feel any pain?’ ‘Of course,’ replied the young man. ‘So you believe that pain exists?’ asked the scholar. ‘Yes,’ replied the young man. ‘Then show me its shape,’ said the scholar. The young man said he could not. ‘That is the answer to the first question,’ said the scholar.


‘What is my hand created of?’ asked the scholar. The young man replied, ‘Flesh.’ ‘And what is your face made of?’ asked the scholar. ‘Flesh,’ replied the young man. ‘What did you feel after I slapped you?’ asked the scholar. ‘Pain,’ said the young man. ‘That is my second answer,’ replied the scholar. ‘Even though the devil is created from fire and hell is also fire, yet hell will be a painful place for the devil.’