Surah Al-Sâffât 37:63

إِنَّا جَعَلْنَاهَا فِتْنَةً لِّلظَّالِمِينَ

37:63 It cannot be repeated often enough that all Qur’ânic references to “Hell” are highly allegorical. Hell is a logical and moral necessity consequent to human beings evil actions. It satisfies the needs and spiritual necessities, brought on by resurrection. The low voice of conscience, nafs al-Lawwâmah will, after the resurrection, grow too strong to be ignored. Hell will goad the person on to purification. He shall be left with no alternative but to enter into an abyss, which will become a nursing mother to him (101:9). It is like a hospital where he will receive a remedy for his moral defects, a purgatory for his spiritual cure. The door to Heaven will eventually be opened for him when he is purged of all carnal desires and is free of the rust of his sins.

The nourishment of the inmates of Hell is, as the Holy Qur’ân says, the fruit of a tree called Zaqqûm. It will boil in their bellies. They will be thirsty but will be given only boiling water to drink. The description indicates that the fruit appears to act as a medicine.

In Indian herbal medicine, a fruit of the same name is known. Patients with a form of syphilis are treated with this fruit that grows on a dust coloured tree with small round leaves, without thorns. It has a pungent odor, tastes bitter, and has knots in its stems. The tips of its leaves resemble the heads of serpents. After eating, the patient feels hot, and hot water is given to them to drink, which causes a violent evacuation of the bowels. Motions after motions come, bringing out black deleterious matter from the stomach, and finally the patient is relieved and the underlying disease resolves (cf. 44:43; 56:52; 17:60).