'Sin' means 'tooth' in the Arabic language

This is something new; I've received quite a few emails quite recently asking what Muslims believe about Hell. Specifically, people are interested in knowing if - like Christians - Muslims believe that everyone but them goes to Hell. (Perhaps this question is due to the latest and greatest list of sins that will send you to Hell, as just published by The Church.)

The answer to the Question is: No, Muslims do not believe that everyone but them goes to Hell.
Muslims also don't believe that by virtue of you being a Muslim, you are guaranteed a place in Heaven immediately.

Where you end up is based on your behaviour in this world. It's a simple equation: If you believe in the unity of God in all things ('there is no god but God', which is not, by any stretch, exclusive to Muslims) + if your good deeds outweigh your bad deeds, you're going to Heaven. We don't believe in purgatory (it's either Heaven or Hell) and so if your bad deeds outweigh your good, then you pay your dues in Hell and then when you've served your time, you go to Heaven.

When one thinks about it, it's actually pretty difficult to land your ass in Hell, according to Islam. (No doubt, when one reads the Quran and compares it to either the Torah or the Bible, the God presented within the Quran is a much kinder, gentler, friendlier, forgiving and merciful One than the one presented in the other Books. (Don't just take my word for it; read the Books and compare for yourself in an effort to form your own opinions.) For a Muslim, the answer as to 'why' this is the case is simple: It's because the other books once did have this same representation of God - until the actual texts themselves were edited to meet political, social, cultural, and gender-specific agendas driven by men. More importantly, as a Muslim, you believe that the Quran is the literal word of God and it's this text that we trust in more than others (literal word of God, yes, though it's our duty to recognise that much of the text is written in metaphor - something stated within the Quran itself)).

Of note is that Muslims believe that everyone eventually ends up in Heaven except for the non-Believers. (If you tell someone you don't love them, would you expect them to take you to their bed? If you don't love God, why would you expect Him to take you to his most precious place? Ultimately, in Islam, when one turns from God, one turns from Love - 'L' as Plato would express. But if you're an atheist, this doesn't matter because you don't believe in Heaven or Hell and so I don't even know why you're still reading. And I a have here just created a terrible analogy between Heaven and someone's bed, God forgive me.)

And even then, most all Muslims accept the fact that God's mercy is complete and unbound and so the statement of "...except for non-Believers" has to end with "W'Allahu a'llam".

Aside no1: For those of you currently reading the Quran in English - remember that you're reading an interpretation and not a translation. To truly understand the Quran, it must be read in Arabic. Sorry - it's just the way it goes, since translation is tainted by time and subject. The interpreted translation written today will differ from that which will be written in ten years from now whereas the Quran is as it was 1400 years ago, is as it will be 1400 years from today. This is why those who convert are usually interested in learning Arabic eventually (because, honestly, why would you ever rely on secondary sources when the primary source is available, if only you did the work?).

Before you say it, let me write a pre-emptive note to your thought: Les Miserables reads better in French, and Habermas actually makes more sense in German (or so I'm told), so chill out with the rhetoric about 'why Arabic? Arabs are trying to maintain a monopoly on and thus create a hierarchy in Islam' because Arabs only make up 21% of the world's Muslim population and (1) you don't need to learn Arabic in order to become a Muslim, and (2) no one expects you to learn Arabic after you become a Muslim, unless you're engaged enough and interested enough to do learn of your own desire to do so. Not to mention the fact that the two other Books were not sent to us in Arabic, but rather Hebrew and Aramaic. So seriously: chill.

Aside no2: 'Islam' is the name of the tradition. 'Muslim' is the title of the individual practicing the tradition: The Muslim Ummah (all Muslims the world over as one nation (never to be confused with the movement of supremacy known as The Nation of Islam) barring citizenship, and thus erasing the concept of nation State) is spoken of in the masculine, because Arabic - as with French - talks of a group in the masculine if 99 of them are women and only one of them is a man. 'Muslimah' is the female of the word 'Muslim', hence why I am a Muslimah.

Thanks for your questions! They're really interesting and thought provoking.

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Sin = One single tooth
Sini = My tooth
Sinak = Your tooth (if you are a boy and you are present)
Sinoh = His tooth (if he is absent)
Sinik = Your tooth (if you are a girl and you are present)
Sinha = Her tooth (if she is absent)

Snaan = All teeth
Snaani = My teeth
Snaanak = Your teeth (if you are a boy and you are present)
Snaanoh = His teeth (if he is absent)
Snaanik = Your teeth (if you are a girl and you are present)
Snaanha = Her teeth (if she is absent)

etc. ad infinitum to the tip of the Arabic grammatical iceberg (& you thought French was complicated?).