Salaam and Greetings of Peace:
It is more important to find out the truth about one’s self than to find out the truth of Heaven and Hell. – Hazrat Inayat Khan
What are Heaven and Hell? They are the results of action, speech and thought — they are *results* and not self-dependent. Every Hell and Heaven may be different, and the same condition can be Hell to one and Heaven to another. Therefore we cannot understand them until we understand the self — and not just the nafs, but the innermost being.
Sufis willingly surrender Heaven and Hell to God, considering it a joy when Allah is present even in the midst of Hell, and a loss when Allah is absent even in the bosom of Paradise.
– Commentary by Hazrat Samuel L. Lewis (Sufi Ahmed Murad Chisti). From the Sufi Family Yahoo Newsgroup.
Note: This idea is part of the Sufi tale, The Judgment of God, which you can read by clicking the Sufi Novel tab at top, from Master of the Jinn: A Sufi Novel.
Ya Haqq!
Darvish 
But Allah explains heaven and hell , as a means for us to fear the idea of hell and not take it lightly, and to excel in good deeds and patience due to the fact we know heaven .
Salaam, Irving…I love The Bowl of Saki and also have enjoyed read the comments of Hazrat S.A.M.. Thanks for sharing. Maybe I will start putting some of them in my weblog also.
Hazrat Inayat Khan is one of my spiritual heroes. And his grandson, Pir Zia Inayat Khan, has put up such inspiring talks on the Sufi Order International website:
http://www.sufiorder.org/live/webcasts-arch.html
http://mail.sufiorder.org/~sufiteachings/
Ever since I’ve heard Pir Zia’s lectures and practiced some of his Muraqaba exercises, I have wanted to meet him. I hope that I get the chance while I’m in the United States.
salam, I think one of the main points is that one should seek the please of God and leave heaven and hell and secondary things.
Salaam Dear Sisters and Brother:
Thank you for the comments :) Jahandost, you have Sufi view of service :) And of course, Amal, we cannot take lightly Allah’s wrath, which is represented by the idea of hell, though Alhamdulillah, His mercy precedes His wrath. If fear and awe of Him exhort us to do good works, we are the better for it as an individual, an ummah, and a human race. Ned, you will meet him if you wish :) He is there for you. Only the desire to go is up to you.
Ya Haqq!
I think there is a clear explanation about Hell and Heaven in Quran. He explains comepletely difference between hell and heaven and who are pleased in the hereafter. I tend to agree with Amal..
If one worships out of fear of Hell or to receive rewards in the form of Heaven then really you are “worshipping” Heaven/Hell and not God.
O Allah! If I worship You for fear of Hell, burn me in Hell,
and if I worship You in hope of Paradise, exclude me from Paradise.
But if I worship You for Your Own sake,
grudge me not Your everlasting Beauty.
– Rabia al-Adawiyya
The point about hell is that if you are in hell Allah is not pleased with you and that you have been too bad an individual for Him to spare you from the punishment. I think the attitude of God, the Eternal Truth and Justice, toward you is what really matters in terms of the punishment in hell. The physical pain is secondary to people of the heart like many Sufis. But unfortunately most people don’t realize why it is such an awful thing to win the displeasure of God, the Infinitely Merciful One, the Truth. Such people might need to start their spiritual journey by fearing the punishment of hell first and realizing the importance of God’s pleasure then.
Personally I think that really nobody will make it to heaven without passing through hell first. Hell itself contains the seeds of an eternal heaven.
i do belive there is life after death so we need the key to go to heaven