Names of the gates of Paradise and Hell
5-12-2011 | IslamWeb
Question:
What are the names of the gates of Paradise and the gates of Hell?
Answer:
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
Paradise has eight gates according to Sharee‘ah evidence. In a Hadeeth on the authority of ‘Ubaadah 
the Messenger of Allaah, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam , told of glad tidings for any Muslim who says, "I testify that none is worthy of worship except Allaah, that Allaah has no partners whatsoever, that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger, that ‘Eesa (Jesus) is the slave of Allaah, the son of His female slave, Allaah's word that He directed to Maryam (Mary) and a soul from Him, that Paradise is true, and that Hell is true," - that Allaah The Almighty would allow him to enter Paradise through any of its eight gates he chooses. [Bukhari and Muslim]
The eight gates of Paradise have names. Some of these names are mentioned in Sharee‘ah texts: The "Salah" (prayer) Gate, the "Jihaad" Gate, the "Sadaqah" (charity) Gate, the "Rayyaan" Gate, which is the gate for fasting, the "Ayman" (right) Gate and the "Al-Kaathimeen Al-Ghayth" Gate, which is for the suppression of anger. The names of the rest of the Gates of Paradise are not mentioned explicitly in the Sharee‘ah texts, but have been deduced from them: The "Tawbah" (repentance) Gate, the "Thikr" (mentioning Allaah) Gate, the "‘Ilm" (knowledge) Gate, the "Raadheen" (those who are content) Gate and the "Hajj" (pilgrimage) Gate.
As for the first four names, Abu Hurayrah quoted the Messenger of Allaah, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, as saying that any Muslim who spends a couple of things of the same type, i.e. a couple of Dirhams, a couple of slaves, a couple of camels, for the sake of Allaah, will enter Paradise from any gate, and would enter from the Gate of Salah if he observed voluntary prayer as his favored act of worship: from the Gate of Jihaad if he was a Mujaahid (one who performs Jihaad) and Jihaad was his favored act of worship; from the Gate of Rayyaan if he observed voluntary fasting as his favored act of worship; and from the Gate of Sadaqah if he gave voluntary charity as his favored act of worship. [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]
The evidence for the name of the fifth gate is a Hadeeth narrated on the authority of Abu Hurayrah on the Intercession of Prophet Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, on Judgment Day when the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, would be asked to let those who will not be reckoned enter from the Ayman Gate (the right gate). [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]
The sixth name was taken from a Hadeeth narrated on the authority of Al-Hasan 
saying that there would be a gate in Paradise from which no one would enter except those who once forgave a wrongdoing. [Ahmad] The name of one of the narrators in this chain of narration is not known, according to Al-'Haafith Ibn Hajar .
There is a consensus of opinion between the scholars of Hadeeth on the first four names. However, there is a difference of opinion on the other names. An-Nawawi said that the names of the other gates of Paradise were mentioned in two other Hadeeths: the Tawbah (repentance) Gate, the Gate for forgivers and anger suppressors, and the Gate for the contented. The eighth gate is most probably the one through which the 70 thousand people for whom the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, will intercede will enter.
Ibn Hajar said that the Hadeeth mentioned four gates. One of these gates must be for Hajj. The other two are a gate for the forgivers, and a gate for those who will not be judged. The remaining gate will be either the one for Thikr (mentioning Allaah), according to At-Tirmithi, or the one for knowledge.
Hell has seven gates. Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {And indeed, Hell is the promised place for them all. It has seven gates; for every gate is of them a portion designated."} [Quran 15:43-44]
We do not know of any authentic Hadeeth where the names of the gates of Hell are mentioned. However, there are some traditions attributed to the Companions 
on this matter. For example Al-Qurtubi quoted ‘Ali ibn Abi Taalib as saying that the Gates of Hell are one above the other. ‘Ali then put one of his hands above the other, saying that the Gates of Paradise are horizontal but the ones of Hell are vertical. `Ali added that the levels of Hell are ranked according to the degree of torture in descending order. From bottom to top are: Jahannam "Jehenna," Hutamah "crusher," Saqar "scorching fire, Jaheem "Hell-Fire," Latha "fierce blaze," Sa‘eer "blaze," and Haawiyah "abyss." He mentioned that each gate is 70 times hotter than the gate above it.
Commenting on the words of Allaah The Almighty {It has seven gates}, Ibn ‘Abbaas explained that the gates of Hell are Jahannam, Sa‘eer, Latha, Hutamah, Saqar, Jaheem and Haawiyah (the lowest one). [Ibn Abi Haatim]
Allaah Knows best.