1. Projection of Antique Architectural Confinement:
Surah 104:8–9 describes Hellfire as being sealed over the damned using "extended columns" (ʿamadin mumaddadah). Relying on physical masonry, structural pillars, and architectural barriers to prevent escape mirrors 7th-century human prison design rather than a transcendent spiritual realm.
2. Physical Engineering applied to Immaterial Judgment:
Depicting divine judgment as requiring physical structural reinforcements to confine human souls reflects a localized, human-centric worldview that applies primitive physical engineering concepts to eternal, spiritual realities.
Surah 104 (Al-Humazah) pronounces judgment upon slanderers and hoarders of wealth, describing their final destination as a closed-in, fiery vault reinforced with extended pillars.
The description of hellfire in this chapter relies on localized, physical engineering concepts to describe a transcendent spiritual reality.
Surah 104:8-9:
Indeed, Hellfire will be closed down upon them, In extended columns.
The Logical Inversion: The text defines ultimate divine wrath as trapping the wicked inside a vault sealed with physical "extended columns" or metal pillars ('amadin mumaddadah).
This imagery is entirely derived from 7th-century human prisons, where inmates were locked behind heavy physical gates reinforced by columns to prevent escape.
Critics point out that an omnipotent God does not need to build physical masonry or install architectural structural pillars to keep immaterial human souls or demonic entities confined within a spiritual dimension of judgment. This emphasizes a localized, human imagination relying on physical confinement imagery.