http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell_in_Christian_beliefs
Hell, as it is perceived in the Western population, has its origins in Hellenized Christianity, particularly taken the Judaic belief of Hell from verses such as 2 Chronicles 28:3; 33:6; 2 Kings 23:10. Some say the concept comes from the Greek mythological belief at the time. One must keep in mind that these were the people early Christianity was ministering to and some symbols might be taken from their belief to make Christianity easier to understand in their way of thinking.
Judaism, at least initially,[1] believed in Sheol, a shadowy existence to which all were sent indiscriminately. Sheol may have been little more than a poetic metaphor for death, not really an afterlife at all: see for example Sirach and Isaiah 14:3-11. However, by the third to second century B.C. the idea had grown to encompass a far more complex concept. Notably, the King James Version of the Old Testament translates "Sheol" as both "the grave" and as "hell." [1]
The New Hebrew Sheol was translated in the Septuagint as 'Hades', the name for the underworld in Greek mythology and is still considered to be distinct from "Hell" by Eastern Orthodox Christians. In Strong's Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries and Concordances it is transliterated "Sheh-ole". The Lake of Fire and realm of Eternal Punishment in Hellenistic mythology was in fact Tartarus. Hades was not Hell in Hellenistic mythology, but was rather a form of limbo where the dead went to be judged. The New Testament uses this word, but it also uses the word 'Gehenna', from the valley of Hinnom, a valley near Jerusalem originally used as a location in which human sacrifices were offered to an idol called "Molech" (or Moloch).
2 Kings 23.10 (on King Josiah's reform):
And he defiled the Tophet, which is in the valley of Ben-hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter pass through the fire lmlk.
Jeremiah 32.35:
And they built the high places of the Ba‘al, which are in the valley of Ben-hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire lmlk; which I did not command them, nor did it come into my mind that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.
It was later used as a landfill in order to emphasize the disgusting nature of its original use. Ancient landfills were very unsanitary and unpleasant when compared to modern landfills; these places were filled with rotting garbage and the Hebrews would periodically burn them down. However, by that point they were generally so large that they would burn for weeks or even months. In other words they were fiery mountains of garbage. The early Christian teaching was that the damned would be burnt in the valley just as the garbage was. (It is ironic to note that the valley of Hinnom today is, far from being a garbage dump, a public park.) It is argued by theologians opposed to the concept of hell, but desirous to defend the Bible as a source, that a reference to a place on Earth where rubbish was burnt cannot refer to any conscious after-death state.[citation needed]
Punishment for the damned and reward for the saved is a constant theme of Christianity.
Gospels frequently portray images of the fiery destruction and torment of the wicked. Sometimes this destruction is their annihilation or eternal punishment when God's Kingdom gets established on earth (Matthew 3:10-12, Matthew 25:41-46, Luke 3:9, John 5:28-29). Other times it is the fate of the individual sinner (Matthew 5:22, Matthew 5:29-30, Luke 12:5, John 15:1-6). Sometimes the fate of the wicked is depicted not as flames or destruction but as darkness or exclusion (Matthew 8:12, Matthew 22:13, Matthew 25:30, Luke 13:22-28, Luke 16:19-28). Jesus himself describes a place of "weeping and gnashing of teeth"; this quotation appears six times in Matthew and once in Luke.
The Book of Revelation is also a rich source of hellish imagery(Revelation 12:9, Revelation 14:9-11, Revelation 19:20, Revelation 20:10, Revelation 20:14-15, Revelation 21:8). The "abyss" and "the Earth" are interpreted as references to Hell.
The most vivid New Testament account of the fate of the wicked in the afterlife is Luke 16:19-28 (Lazarus and Dives). In this account, nobody can pass from the bosom of Abraham to the place where the wicked burn or vice versa. Fire is not the only tormentor, thirst being another, and more that are not described; in this biblical passage it is also mentioned that the souls that are in Hell can see those that are in Heaven and vice versa. Many view this story as a parable, and as such, believe its meaning may not literally define the existence in the afterlife, but instead serve as a lesson about the dangers of wealth and the unwillingness to listen to God.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell
Although generally hell is often portrayed as a hot steaming and tormenting place for sinners there is one hell pit which is characterized differently from the other hell in Islamic tradition. Wail is seen as the coldest and the most freezing hell of all, yet its coldness is not seen as a pleasure or a relief to the sinners who committed crimes against God because the state of the Hell of Wail is a suffering of extreme coldness of blizzards ice and snow which no one on this earth can bear.
The lowest pit of all existing hells is the Hawiyah which is meant for the Hypocrites and two-faced people who claimed to believe in Allah and His messenger by mouth but denounce both in heart. Hypocrisy is the most dangerous sins of all despite the fact that Syirk (association of God with His creation) is the greatest sin viewed by Allah.
The lightest torture given by God in the hereafter to the unbeliever has been said to be given to Abu Talib. He was the father of Ali bin Abi Talib the fourth Caliph and the uncle of Muhammad. He helped Muhammad in his mission but failed to denounce his ancestral worship of pagan idols. He was said according the prophet to have suffered from the burning under his feet which makes his brain boiled.
The Qur'an also says that some of those who are damned to hell are not damned forever, but instead for an indefinite period of time. In any case, there is good reason to believe that punishment in Hell is not meant to actually last eternally, but instead serves as a basis for spiritual rectification.[5]
Even though the devil, or shaytan, is created from fire, he suffers in hell because hellfire is 70 times hotter than the fire of this world. It was also said that Shaytan is derived from shata, (literally `burned'), because it was created from a smokless fire. [6]
