Reward and Punishment
Reward, according to the people of truth, is not a right of the obedient that is obligatory on Allah, it is only Generosity from Him. It is the compensation by which Allah Compensates the believer with what pleases him in the Hereafter. The torture also is not obligatory on Allah to inflict upon the sinners; it is only Justice from Him, and it is what displeases the slave on Judgment Day. It is of two types, the greater torture and the lesser torture.
The greater torture is entering Hell, and the lesser torture is everything other than that; like the harm of the heat of the sun on Judgment Day, for the sun will be unleashed on the blasphemers. They will drown until the sweat of one of them reaches his mouth, and the sweat of one person will not mix with another person’s, rather, it will be restricted to him. The blasphemer will even say from the severity of what he suffers from it, “O my Lord, relieve me, even if that were by entering Hell.”
The pious believers will be under the shade of the ^Arsh. This is the meaning of the hadith,
سَبْعةٌ يُظِلُّهمُ الله في ظِلّهِ
[which means] “There are seven types of people whom Allah will shade with His shade,” i.e., in the shade of His ^Arsh.