BEYOND THIS WORLD
Impressions of people who returned back from the brink of death and its analysis in the light of Qur‟an and Hadith
Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani
Translated By
Yaqeen Ul Haq Ahmad Sikander
Translator‟s Note
This book is the English version of "Dunya ke us Paar" by Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani. This book has been actually compiled from an essay of the author which was published in three parts in the daily "Jung", Karachi, during May 1996. This topic of "Near Death Experiences" is strange as well as interesting. To preserve this essay it was given the form of a book by the name "Dunya ke us Paar". At the end of the book a fatwa of Darul Uloom Karachi has also been included in which the topic was summarized in an easier format.
Finding the book compelling I decided to render it into English despite being busy with other writing projects. I have spent enormous effort in this translation as it is my first translation. I have tried to use the most appropriate words for translation in order to be closest to the original text and meaning, at the same time trying my best to keep it simple and easy. If there is anything good in this work, it is from Allah. All mistakes are mine.
I dedicate this translation, if worth dedicating, to all those unknown people who selflessly travel from place to place for Da‟wah and many a times suffer humiliation in the cause of Allah.
My special thanks are due to my parents, siblings, teachers and friends for their support, help and encouragement.
I pray to Allah (SWT) for accepting this work on my behalf. Aameen
CONTENTS
What will happen After Death?
Dr Raymond A. Moodi‟s Book
Strange Impressions of Dying People
Dr Melvin Morse and the Contemplations of Children
Pollster George Gallup‟s Survey
What is the Reality of these Contemplations?
The word "Tawwaffa" in the Qur‟an
The Relation between Body and the Soul
Sleep, Unconsciousness and the Period close to Death
A few words worth Honouring
A Question demanding Islamic Ruling
Reply of Darul Ifta Darul Uloom Karachi
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
THE WORLD BEYOND
Part I
What will happen After Death?
What will happen after death? The absolute and certain answer of this question can be known only from the Glorious Qur‟an and the Hadith. Today no person can answer this question upon his own witnessing as the person who really meets death does not return back.
Dr Raymond A Moodi‟s Book
But a few years back a book came under my reading in which some interesting experiences and contemplations of those people were collected who returned back after reaching upto the brink of death and they narrated in detail whatever they saw at the door of death. The name of that book is "Life After Life" and it has been written by an American doctor, Raymond A Moodi. Dr Moodi is actually a doctorate in philosophy. He has worked in the various branches of medical science especially taking interest in psychology and philosophy of medicine.
He had at first come to learn about an expert of psychology, Dr George Richi, who at a stage during suffering from double pneumonia, came very near to death. Then doctors tried artificial respiration etc. and finally they used the resuscitation method after which he returned back and became healthy. After becoming healthy he said that when he was considered dead, that time he witnessed some strange scenes. When Dr Moodi came to know about some more similar incidents, he started interacting and meeting with such people. After interviewing about a hundred and fifty people, he wrote this book. When this book was published, three hundred thousand of its copies were sold in the first year. After this Dr Moodi continued his research on this topic and penned down many more books on this theme among which I bought three books from America, some three or four years back. Their names are:
Life After Life
The Light Beyond
Reflection on Life After Life
Strange Impressions of Dying People
And whatever I am mentioning further has been has been extracted from these three books. In all these books only the experiences of those people have been mentioned who reached the extreme stage of illness and were declared clinically dead. But during this condition, the doctors used heart massage and other artificial respiration techniques as the last resort which proved successful on these people and they returned back to consciousness. Dr Moodi says that the people whom he interviewed belonged to different religions and places. Each one among them narrated the witnessed situation in his own way, somebody said something more, someone said less but despite of this, collectively the common elements which were almost present in everyone‟s narration are summarized as under:
A person is near to death. His physical condition has reached such a state that he himself hears his doctors to have him announced dead. Suddenly a pricking noise is heard and along with it is felt that he is entering a long and dark tunnel at an extreme speed. After this he suddenly feels that he has come out of his body. He sees his own dead body from a distance like a spectator. He sees he is standing at some prominent place and his body is lying still on the bed and the doctors are busy in trying to massage his heart or giving artificial respiration to him. In a short time he tries to regain his senses. He feels that in this new condition also he has a body but this new body is entirely different from that body which he has left. His state is different and his possessed powers are also different. After sometime in this very state he begins to see his friends and dear ones who had already died. And then he begins to see a „Being of Light‟ which tells him to examine his life. This saying is non-verbal and then that „Being of Light‟ brings before him rapidly all the important events of his life and makes him to observe it. At a particular stage then he sees a hurdle before him which he thinks to be the boundary between the worldly life and the post-death period. After coming close to this boundary he comes to know that now he has to return back, it is not the time of his death yet. After this by some unknown way he returns back to his body which he had left before on the bed. After becoming healthy he wants to share this experience with others but firstly he finds all the human words very less to express that state and secondly even if he tells the people about this experience, they begin to take it as a joke. So he remains silent.
Dr Moodi while summarizing these interviews of a hundred and fifty people also added to make it clear that he does not mean everyone among those hundred and fifty people narrated the experience in the same sequence rather he emphasized that someone narrated the whole story while someone narrated only a few parts and left others. Somebody‟s sequence was something while other‟s was something else. And to explain this event, different people adopted different set of words and interpretations. And almost everyone among those people said that whatever they saw is very difficult to interpret in words. A lady interpreted this difficulty of hers in the following manner:
"When I want to say all this to you, I face a real problem for whatever words I
know, all of them are three dimensional but whatever I saw (after being declared dead), it made me know that there are more than three dimensions. That is why to explain my state of that time exactly is very difficult because I am compelled to narrate my whole experience in three dimensional words".
However, among these experiences of various people, a few are of special significance. First the dark tunnel, second the separation from the body, third the vision of dead relatives and friends, fourth a Being of Light, and fifth witnessing of past life events. Among the details of all these events explained by various people, a few passages will be a source of interest.
The experience of passing through the dark tunnel was interpreted by someone as if he was swimming in a dark space. Somebody said that there was high darkness while somebody named it as a dark cave in which he was going down. Somebody interpreted it as a well while someone said that it was a dark valley. Somebody even said that he began to rise up in that darkness. But everybody said that these words are very scanty to explain that experience.
The event which was explained with utter awe and surprise by everyone was that they were separated from their bodies. A lady who was admitted in the hospital due to a heart attack explains that, "Suddenly I felt that my heart has stopped beating and I am coming out of my body. First I reached on floor and then slowly I began to rise up until I touched the ceiling like a piece of paper. From there I could clearly see that my body is lying down on bed while doctors and nurses were trying the last course of action. A nurse said, "Oh God! She is gone!" and another nurse tried to give my body mouth to mouth respiration. I could see the hair of that nurse from her back and I still remember her hair. Then they got a machine which gave shocks to my chest and I was watching my body frolicking.
This state of coming out from the body was interpreted by some persons as if they had got a new existence which was not like physical body and some said that it was another type of body which could see others but others could not see it. In this state some persons tried to talk to the doctors and nurses whom they could see but they couldn‟t hear them and in that state of weightlessness they were not only flying in the atmosphere but even if they tried to touch anything, their existence just pierced or passed through that object. Many more even said during that state time came to a halt and they were feeling that they were free from the shackles of time.
In this very state many persons saw their dead friends and dear ones and some people said that they saw many wandering souls. These wandering souls resembled with human beings but were somewhat different in looks from human beings. A person described them like this:
"Their head was bent down. They were looking grief stricken and dejected. All of them were joined with one another like a group tied in chains. I cannot remember if I ever saw their feet. I don‟t know what they were. Their colour was wispy; they seemed careless and made up of dust. It seemed that they were knit with one another, circling round the space and they didn‟t know
where they had to go….. They would start walking to one side then would turn left, walk a few steps, then they would turn right and turning to any side they would do nothing. It seemed that they were in search of something but what was it? I don‟t know….. It seemed that they had no knowledge even about themselves like who and what they are. They had no identity,,,,, Sometimes I even felt that someone among them wants to say something but couldn‟t say….." (Reflection on Life After Life, p. 19).
The majority of people whom Dr Moodi interviewed have narrated during their experiences about the Being of Light. These people say that after seeing it, it became certain that it is some existence but it had no body. It was completely just made up of light. In the beginning that light seemed soft but slowly it would intensify but even due to its extraordinary refulgence, the eyes could stare at it. Many people told that this Being of Light asked them to examine their life. Some people told other points of its speech but everyone agreed that whatever the Being of Light said, it was not through the medium of words and sound. Meaning that its words could not be heard, rather the mode of expression was totally incomparable in which its words would automatically be implanted into their thoughts. The majority of people who mentioned to have seen a Being of Light in their body-less state said that this „Being of Light‟ questioned them about their past life. The wordings of the question have been narrated differently by various people but the conclusion of everyone was almost same that it said, "What do you have to show me as to what you have done with your life?"
Also these people have said that this Being of Light started to show us the incidents of their past life one by one. How were these incidents shown? The detail of it is more interesting but I will tell that next week InshaAllah. And with it I will also discuss my views about these incidents.
Part 2
Last week, by virtue of books by Dr Raymond Moodi, I mentioned the experiences and contemplations of those people who as a result of severe illness or accident reached the door of death and returned back. Among those many people said that after passing through the dark tunnel they saw a strange Being of Light. He asked them about their past life and then in a moment that Being of Light itself showed them all the incidents of their past life one by one. For example, a lady while narrating her experience says:
"When I saw that Being of Light, it first of all asked me that what have you got from your life to show me? And along with this question I began to see the incidents of my past life. I was very astonished…What was happening? Because suddenly I felt that I have fully reached the beginning of my childhood period and then the incidents of every year of my life till now came before me all at once…..I saw that I am a small girl and playing near the pool close to my room. During that period I saw many incidents which had happened to my sister. I saw some past incidents with my neighbours. I saw myself in kindergarten. I saw the toy which I liked very much. I had broken that and wept for long. Then I got included in girls scouts and incidents of grammar school began to appear before me….. In the same way I passed the stages of junior school, senior high school and graduation until I reached the present life. All the incidents were coming before me in the same sequence in which they occurred and all these incidents were looking extremely apparent to me. The scenes were just like being viewed from outside. Now the incidents were completely three dimensional and colours could also be seen. There was movement in them. For example, when I saw myself breaking the toy, I could see all those actions.
While I watching these scenes, I couldn‟t see the Being of Light. It went off before my eyes just after saying "What have you done?" In spite of this, I felt that it‟s still present there and it‟s showing me these scenes. It was not that the Being of Light itself wanted to know that what have I done in my life, he already knew all this but by bringing these scenes before me, it wanted that I recapitulate those incidents. This entire incident was very strange. I was present there; I was really watching all these scenes and all those scenes were coming before me very rapidly but in spite of their rapidness, they were slow enough to be very well perceived by me. The flow of time was not much. I couldn‟t believe it, just seems that a light came and went off. It seemed that all this happened in less than five minutes. Although most probably it would have taken more than thirty seconds but I cannot tell you clearly".
Another person narrated his experience like this, "When I passed through that long dark place then at the last end of the tunnel, I saw my whole childhood incidents rather my whole life which was before me like a glittering light. It was totally not like pictures rather I guess that they resembled more with thoughts. I can‟t define that state to you but it is confirmed that my whole life was present there. All those incidents were seen together by me there. I mean it‟s not one thing at a time, rather everything could be seen simultaneously. I could see those small and big tasks done by me and a desire was kindled in
my heart that I wish I hadn‟t done this work and I wish I could return and undo those jobs" (Life After Life, p. 69).
Among those people who narrated these contemplations before Dr Moodi, some even said that during the last stage of this experience, they saw something like a barrier and either somebody said or automatically they got this thought in mind that the time has not yet come to cross this barrier and as a result of this they again went back to their bodies & returned to the routine world. Some people said that this barrier was like a body of water, some said that it was a dust-coloured fog, some interpreted it as a door, some said that it was like the fencing around a field & some even said that it was just a line.
Dr Melvin Morse and the Contemplations of Children
This book of Dr Moodi (Life After Life) was first published in 1975 in which he has explained the result of interviews of about a hundred and fifty persons during a period of eight years. Along with it he had also said that this research neither deserved to be called a scientific proof nor was he in position to give responsible calculation and estimate of these incidents. But this book of his caught the attention of many other doctors towards this topic and after that many people made these types of experiences their theme of writing.
One of those books has been written by Dr Melvin Morse which has been published under the name "Closer to the Light". He is a specialist of child diseases and he began to find out whether these types of incidents occur with children also. He was of the opinion that mature people can witness some scenes due to being overcome by their mental imaginations but the minds of children are free from such imaginations. So if the proof of these incidents is also found in them then the reality of these contemplations can become further strong.
Accordingly, he has mentioned in this book that many children have also undergone such experiences and he has himself met those children and tested their statements. His impression is that those children didn‟t lie but they had really seen those scenes. Running upon 236 pages, this book is based upon such types of incidents & their scientific analysis.
Pollster George Gallup‟s Survey
Another person Pollster George Gallup made a survey of those people who had undergone such contemplations all over America. His survey‟s startling summary is that 5% of America‟s total population have reached near death and undergone these contemplations. Dr Moodi also continued his research further and he wrote in his second book (The Light Beyond) that after a hundred and fifty people, he further interviewed a thousand more persons and its results were almost same as before.
However this time some people added new facts unlike among first hundred and fifty people among whom nobody specifically mentioned anything like paradise or hell but during this new research many people mentioned about a "Beautiful city of lights". Some saw many beautiful gardens and in their statements interpreted them as paradise. Some people clearly mentioned the scenes of hell. A person said: "I kept on going down, below was dark, people were screaming very badly and there was fire. Those people were asking me for water…"
The interviewer questioned, "Did you go down through a tunnel?" He replied, "No, it was bigger than a tunnel, I was going down swimming". He was asked further "How many people were screaming there? And were their bodies covered or not?" He replied, "They were too many to be counted. In my opinion they were definitely a million and there were no clothes on their bodies" (The Light Beyond, p. 26, 27).
What is the Reality of these Contemplations?
What is the reality of all these contemplations? Some persons are of the view that in western countries the fondness to keep secrets is increasing to the level of craze and these books can be a new point of this craze. Although this presumption cannot be totally wiped out but after 1975 the way in which the influential groups have taken notice of these experiences and researched on them, this presumption becomes quite far-fetched. This view has also been discussed in detail by Dr Moodi that those people whom he interviewed were not interested in giving false reports and the end result being that so many people from diverse regions have given similar reports thus making it impossible to infer the falsity of such claims.
Some doctors expressed the view that use of some intoxicating drugs and medicines can also produce this type of state in which a man feels different from his environment and sometimes his brains gives visible form to false concepts and he starts getting Hallucinations. Perhaps these people may have reached this state due to a prior experience of it. But Dr Moodi after experimenting both of these conditions separately expressed his view that those people whom he interviewed, apparently their contemplations were different from hallucinations. Dr Melvin Morse after researching upon this presumption in a more scientific way declared his final result that these contemplations were not hallucinations.
They also discussed the presumption that religious imaginations of these people were imprinted upon their minds in such a way that in state of unconsciousness or dreaming, those imaginations came before them in the form of a visualization which they could feel. Dr Moodi refuted this presumption also on the grounds that among those people whom he met, many people were not convinced about religion or were so strange to it that no impressions of any religious imaginations could overcome them. Then what were these contemplations? What is the outcome of these? And what is known about this from Qur‟an and Sunnah? On this topic I will say something next week, InshaAllah.
Part 3
In the previous two parts, I had mentioned the summary of the statements of those people who returned back after reaching the door of death. They saw themselves separating from their body. They passed through a dark tunnel, they saw a Being of Light and then that Being of Light presented before them the outline of their previous life. It is clear that these people didn‟t encounter death for if they did, they wouldn‟t return back. Dr Moodi who himself noted down the statements of these people also said that these people didn‟t see death but they definitely saw some strange scenes after coming near to death.
Hence the term which they have devised for these contemplations is known as "Near Death Experience" which they briefly refer to as NDE and this very term was adapted by the authors. So if the statements of these people are accepted as truth, Dr Moodi‟s final view being that to deny so many people at the same time is not easy for him, still it‟s apparent that they didn‟t see the scenes of the post-death period. But it can be said that in state of senselessness they saw some glimpses of that world whose door is death.
The word "Tawwaffa" in the Qur‟an
As medical science believes in only those things which can be seen by the eyes or which can be felt by other senses, that is why till now they have not discovered anything like „soul‟ in the human body and also haven‟t penetrated the reality of „soul‟ (and perhaps the whole reality about the soul cannot be known by man while living because the Glorious Qur‟an while addressing the questions of people about the soul states that Soul is due to my Lord‟s order and you have been given very little knowledge about it).
But from Qur‟an and Sunnah it is clearly known that life is the name of the strong bond between the body and the soul and death is the breaking of it. In this regard, this point is worth remembering that in our language the word „Wafaat‟ which we use for death is actually derived from a word "Tawwaffa". Before the revelation of the Glorious Qur‟an, this word was not used for death in Arabic language. In Arabic language there are about twenty four words which are used to explain the meaning of death. But „Wafaat‟ or „Tawwaffa‟ had no meaning in this context.
The Glorious Qur‟an used this word first time for death and its reason was that the words devised by Arabs of the time of ignorance were all based on the belief that there is no life after death. The Glorious Qur‟an by using the word "Tawwaffa" in an elegant style refuted this belief. "Tawwaffa" means to recover or collect something fully & by using this word for death, it is being pointed at time of death, the soul of man is called back after being separated from the body. Explaining this truth in clear terms, the Glorious Qur‟an mentions in Surah Zumar:
"It is Allah that takes the souls (of men) at death; and those that die not (He takes) during their sleep: those on whom he has passed the decree of death, He keeps back (from returning to life), but the rest He sends (to their bodies) for a term appointed. Verily in this are signs for those who reflect" (Surah Zumar: 42).
On the other hand, for bestowing life to Aadam (AS), the Glorious Qur‟an has interpreted it with blowing in of the soul.
The Relation between Body and the Soul
From these narrations of the Glorious Qur‟an, it becomes clearly known that life is the name of body‟s strong bond with the soul. The stronger the body‟s relationship will be with the soul, the characteristics of life will be more clear and salient. And the weaker this relationship will be, the characteristics of life will diminish accordingly.
In the state of consciousness, this relationship between the body and the soul is very strong. That‟s why in this state the life is present with all its characteristics and complete senses. In this state all the senses of a person are working. All his body parts are attentive and ready for their respective jobs. Man uses his authority fully and there is no hurdle in his thinking and understanding.
But in state of sleep the bond between the body and the soul gets weakened resulting in a state of sleep, in which all the signs of life are not present in man. He gets unaware about his surroundings. In a state of sleep he cannot use his body parts at his will nor is he in a position of thinking or understanding according to normal routine. But even in this condition, the soul‟s bond with the body is strong enough so that the sensation of actions befalling his body remains intact. Accordingly if any person will prick his body with a needle on feeling its pain he gets awakened.
Sleep, Unconsciousness and Period close to Death
A step further ahead from sleep is unconsciousness. In this state the relation of body with the soul gets even more weakened than in sleep. That is why in state of total unconsciousness even if lancets are drawn over a man‟s body, he does not feel any pain and by taking advantage of this quality of unconsciousness, this state of human body is used for major operations. In this condition much of the characteristics and features of life disappear but still the heartbeat and breathing continues by which it is known that a person is alive.
At a step even further from unconsciousness one more state overshadows a few people in period of severe illness which in common terms is interpreted as „a state close to death or a state hardly distinguishable from death‟. In this state all the apparent signs of life disappear and not only a mediocre but even the doctors can not see any apparent sign of life. The heartbeat stops, breathing stops, the blood pressure disappears, the body temperature drops to nil but in some hidden part of the brain the impulse of life is still present.
This is the condition in which the doctors as the last resort try artificial ways to normalize breathing or heartbeat. These methods succeed in some people and thereafter the patient returns back to the normal life and just by his returning it becomes clear that he had not died and his soul hadn‟t completely departed from the body.
This is the weakest state of life in which the soul‟s relation with the body becomes scant. Then the weaker the soul‟s relation gets with the body, the more it gets freed from the grip of the body. This freedom is meager in state of sleep, more in state of unconsciousness and even much more in state of being „close to death‟ in which the soul‟s bond with the body remains very little and it is freed from the grip of the body to a large extent. In this state if any human‟s perception is involved into his soul‟s journey beyond this material life and if he sees any glimpse of the after world then it is not inconceivable.
And in history records are found where these types of people saw some scenes from the after world. If the statements of the people which I have reproduced previously with reference to Dr Moodi are accepted to be free from lies and deception then their witnessing those scenes can also be of this same kind but in this regard some guidelines are important to be kept in mind.
A few guidelines worth Honouring
1. Those people who saw these scenes had not encountered death so whatever they saw can be the glimpses of the other world but not those events that happen after death.
2. The state in which those people saw these scenes was actually a state of life and atleast life was still remaining in some hidden parts of the brain. So in these contemplations the possibility of possession of brain is not far from inference.
3. All those people who narrated their contemplations agreed that they cannot explain those contemplations in words; still they took the support of restricted words to explain this state. Accordingly it is still suspicious as how far were they successful in explaining that state in words. Also what was the accuracy with which they remembered the statements? On this basis all the details of these contemplations cannot be relied upon nor can this be made the basis of any belief about the happenings of the post-death period. The realities which are important for us to know about the post-death period have reached to us from the blemish-free way of Revelation of Allah through Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and the Revelation of Allah is not in need of any authentication of this type but the Qur‟an and Sunnah have supported some parts of these contemplations through explanation.
For example, it has been proved true by both Qur‟an and Sunnah without any doubt that life is not confined to extent of this world only which we can see spreading all over our surroundings but beyond this world there is an another world too whose state we cannot perceive well in the shackles of materialistic impurities.
The incidents of that world are free from the familiar measures of time and space to which we have grown accustomed in this worldly life. Here we cannot imagine as to how a job which needs years to finish can be completed in a moment, but the incidents of that world are free from these shackles of time.
The Glorious Qur‟an says, "Verily a Day in the sight of your Lord is like a thousand years of your reckoning" (Surah Hajj, v.47). What‟s this world? What are its demands? And what type of preparation is needed to reach it? For answering these questions prophets come because we cannot know these facts by our senses and Intelligence. Lastly these facts have been narrated to us by Prophet Muhammad (SAW) through Divine Islamic law (Shari‟ah). And the one who has to prepare for that world properly must learn about the Shari‟ah. Then the realities of that world will be explained and the correct way of reaching that world will also be known.
THE END
A Question demanding Islamic Ruling
What do Islamic scholars say about this matter that Daily Jung, Karachi, Dated 21-01-98, Wednesday column reported which was not worth forgetting in which Dr Syed Amjad Ali has penned down his incident that he got heart attack on 23-03-1984. He writes about this attack in detail and has mentioned in this detail that, "I remained dead for twenty minutes and then I was declared to be dead. Before dying I saw a person made up of light coming near to me by just touching whose body my own body‟s essence with a rapid speed started to flee from my feet towards my head and I fully became a weightless person made up of light. I was very peaceful in the companionship with that man of light. I moved all over the ward and examined the Intensive Care Unit and then stood in a corner. It all happened with the blink of an eye. I remained close to my body with that man of light and kept watching what was happening with my body. On my right side a red halo of light had been created instantly. I was peacefully enjoying these lights of the halo of the tunnel as if I was a member of another world. I was disconnected with the medical procedure done to my body. The waves of energy were rising up from different parts of the hospital. I was told that these are the supplications of people. When I got message by telepathy that I had to return back, I didn‟t like it but there was no other way. Swimming up in the air, I penetrated into my empty body and I felt that in past too I have been carrying this weight of my body, and in future too till the appointed time I have to carry it. Then when my eyes opened I had been returned back to this world".
So what do Islamic scholars have to say about the following questions:
Can any person get alive again after being dead for twenty minutes?
Is it possible that the dead person can roam about with any man of light?
Does the soul of the dead person see whatever is happening there?
Questioner: Hafiz Noor Muhammad.
Darul Ifta Darul Uloom Karachi‟s Reply
The scenes and incidents which were witnessed by the mentioned person are not the incidents of post-death period because if the death had come then he wouldn‟t return back to world but it can be said that in state of being close to death and in that state of senselessness he saw some glimpses of that world.
Its detail is like this that life is the name of strong bond between body and the soul. The stronger soul‟s relationship with the body, the characteristics of life will be clearer and salient and the weaker this relationship will be, the characteristics of life will diminish accordingly.
In the state of consciousness, this relationship between the body and the soul is very strong. That‟s why in this state the life is present with all its characteristics and complete senses. In this state all the senses of a person are working. All his body parts are attentive and ready for their respective jobs. Man uses his authority fully and there is no hurdle in his thinking and understanding. But in state of sleep, the bond between the body and the soul gets weakened whose result is that in state of sleep, all the signs of life do not appear over man. He gets unaware about his surroundings. In state of sleep he cannot use his body parts by his authority nor that time he is in position of thinking and understanding according to normal routine. But even in this condition, the soul‟s bond with the body is strong enough that the sensation of actions befalling his body remains still intact. Accordingly, if any person will prick his body with a needle then after feeling its pain, he gets awakened.
A step further ahead from sleep is unconsciousness. In this state the relation of body with the soul gets even more weakened than in sleep. That is why in state of total unconsciousness even if lancets are drawn over man‟s body, he does not feel any pain and by taking advantage of this quality of unconsciousness, this state of human body is used for major operations. In this condition much of the characteristics and features of life get disappeared but still the heartbeat and breathing remains by which it is known that a person is alive.
A step even further from unconsciousness, one more state overshadows a few people in period of severe illness which in common terms is interpreted as „a state close to death or a state hardly distinguishable from death‟. In this state all the apparent signs of life disappear and not only a mediocre but even the doctors also could not see any apparent sign of life. The heartbeat stops, breathing stops, the blood pressure disappears, the body temperature almost gets nil but in some hidden part of the brain the impulse of life is still present. This is the condition in which the doctors as the last source try artificial ways to normalize breathing or heartbeat. These ways get successful on some people and after this practice the patient returns back to the normal life and just by his returning it becomes clear that he had not died yet and his soul hadn‟t completely departed from the body. This is the weakest class of life in which the soul‟s relation with the body remains very little. Then the weaker the soul‟s relation gets with the body, the more it gets freed from the shackles of the body. This freedom is less in state of sleep, more than that in state of
unconsciousness and even much more in state of being „close to death‟ in which the soul‟s bond with the body remains very little and up to much extent it is freed from the shackles of the body. In this state if any human‟s perception gets involved in his journey of soul and beyond this material life if he sees any glimpse of the after world then it is not inconceivable. And in history records are found where these types of people saw some scenes from the after world but about them some guidelines are important to be kept in mind:
1. The above mentioned person and those people who saw these scenes, they had not encountered death yet so whatever they saw can be the glimpses of the other world but not those events that happen after death.
2. The state in which those people saw these scenes was actually a state of life and at least life was still remaining in some hidden parts of the brain. So in these contemplations the possibility of possession of brain is not far from inference.
(Extracted from "Zikr o Fikr" by Muhammad Taqi Usmani)
And Allah Subhana Wa Ta‟ala knows Best.
Muhammad Yaqoob
Darul Ifta Darul Uloom Karachi,
24-05-1419 AH
About the Author
Justice (R) Mufti Maulana Sheikh Muhammad Taqi Uthmani was born in 1943 at Deoband, a city in the Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh, India. He is an eminent Islamic Hanafi scholar living in Pakistan. He served as a judge on the Federal Shariat Court of Pakistan from 1980 to 1982 and the Shari'a Appellate Bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan from 1982 to 2002. He is an expert in the fields of Islamic Jurisprudence (fiqh), economics, Hadith and Tasawwuf. He also held a number of positions on the boards of prestigious Islamic institutions. He is the brother of another notable Islamic scholar, Mufti Muhammad Rafi Usmani and Maulana Wali Razi.
After completing the Alim course at Darul Uloom Karachi, he specialized in fiqh under the guidance of his eminent father, Grand Mufti of Pakistan, Mufti Muhammad Shafi Usmani. He received his Takhassus degree in Islamic education from Darul Uloom Karachi in 1961. He also holds a Master of Arts degree in Arabic literature from the University of Punjab and a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree from the University of Karachi. He pioneered the concept of Islamic banking in Pakistan when he established the Meezan Bank. He has authored a number of books in Arabic, Urdu, and English on Islamic topics in addition to a large number of articles on Islamic banking and finance published in a number of journals and magazines.
In March 2004, United Arab Emirates Vice President and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum presented an award to him in recognition of his lifetime service and achievement in Islamic finance during the annual International Islamic Finance Forum (IIFF) in Dubai.
He currently teaches Sahih al-Bukhari, fiqh, and Islamic economics at Darul Uloom Karachi and is also known for his Islahi Khutbat.
About the Translator
Yaqeen Ul Haq Ahmad Sikander is a young, dynamic & versatile person – An Activist, Writer, Orator and Counsellor. He specializes in many disciplines like Psychology, Islamic Studies, Motivation, Interpersonal Relations, Counselling, Leadership, Debating and Sexuality. He was born on 6th June, 1991 in the Valley of Kashmir, India. Son of a business man, he is the youngest among the three siblings. His mother, a home maker and a post graduate in Political Science raised him up along with his brothers and laid a strong academic and moral foundation for him.
Yaqeen Ul Haq is also one of the world‟s youngest published Islamic Authors. He wrote his first book "The True Purpose of Life" at the age of 17. His book was highly appreciated by many scholars. So far he has written four books. His other books include "Beyond the World", The Divine Inspirations" & "A Beginners Guide to Islamic Belief". Apart from that he is the author of numerous articles dealing with diverse issues. His write-ups regularly appear on many newspapers, websites and journals.
Yaqeen Ul Haq is very ambitious having excellent communication, presentation and analytical skills. He is a Polyglot and knows English, Urdu, Arabic, Kashmiri, Hindi & a bit of Bahasa Melayu. He has diligently concluded various projects at academic level of Training and Development. He has also attended various International programs about Peace Leadership.
Yaqeen Ul Haq is also the founder and designer of "Inspire Me", a workshop on Personality Development, Inspiration, Motivation, Success & Overcoming Failures & Stress. He also provides counselling to the needful, students & teenagers regarding various issues.
Currently, Yaqeen Ul Haq lives in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and is an undergraduate student majoring in Psychology with a minor in Islamic Revealed Knowledge at International Islamic University Malaysia. He is also continuing to interact with many scholars, people & students aiming towards a better life and spiritual high.
In his free time Yaqeen loves volunteering, camping, debating, travelling, and spending time with his family.
Yaqeen Ul Haq can be reached at http://www.yaqeenulhaq.info or can be mailed at Yaqeen@ymail.com
Impressions of people who returned back from the brink of death and its analysis in the light of Qur‟an and Hadith
Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani
Translated By
Yaqeen Ul Haq Ahmad Sikander
Translator‟s Note
This book is the English version of "Dunya ke us Paar" by Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani. This book has been actually compiled from an essay of the author which was published in three parts in the daily "Jung", Karachi, during May 1996. This topic of "Near Death Experiences" is strange as well as interesting. To preserve this essay it was given the form of a book by the name "Dunya ke us Paar". At the end of the book a fatwa of Darul Uloom Karachi has also been included in which the topic was summarized in an easier format.
Finding the book compelling I decided to render it into English despite being busy with other writing projects. I have spent enormous effort in this translation as it is my first translation. I have tried to use the most appropriate words for translation in order to be closest to the original text and meaning, at the same time trying my best to keep it simple and easy. If there is anything good in this work, it is from Allah. All mistakes are mine.
I dedicate this translation, if worth dedicating, to all those unknown people who selflessly travel from place to place for Da‟wah and many a times suffer humiliation in the cause of Allah.
My special thanks are due to my parents, siblings, teachers and friends for their support, help and encouragement.
I pray to Allah (SWT) for accepting this work on my behalf. Aameen
CONTENTS
What will happen After Death?
Dr Raymond A. Moodi‟s Book
Strange Impressions of Dying People
Dr Melvin Morse and the Contemplations of Children
Pollster George Gallup‟s Survey
What is the Reality of these Contemplations?
The word "Tawwaffa" in the Qur‟an
The Relation between Body and the Soul
Sleep, Unconsciousness and the Period close to Death
A few words worth Honouring
A Question demanding Islamic Ruling
Reply of Darul Ifta Darul Uloom Karachi
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
THE WORLD BEYOND
Part I
What will happen After Death?
What will happen after death? The absolute and certain answer of this question can be known only from the Glorious Qur‟an and the Hadith. Today no person can answer this question upon his own witnessing as the person who really meets death does not return back.
Dr Raymond A Moodi‟s Book
But a few years back a book came under my reading in which some interesting experiences and contemplations of those people were collected who returned back after reaching upto the brink of death and they narrated in detail whatever they saw at the door of death. The name of that book is "Life After Life" and it has been written by an American doctor, Raymond A Moodi. Dr Moodi is actually a doctorate in philosophy. He has worked in the various branches of medical science especially taking interest in psychology and philosophy of medicine.
He had at first come to learn about an expert of psychology, Dr George Richi, who at a stage during suffering from double pneumonia, came very near to death. Then doctors tried artificial respiration etc. and finally they used the resuscitation method after which he returned back and became healthy. After becoming healthy he said that when he was considered dead, that time he witnessed some strange scenes. When Dr Moodi came to know about some more similar incidents, he started interacting and meeting with such people. After interviewing about a hundred and fifty people, he wrote this book. When this book was published, three hundred thousand of its copies were sold in the first year. After this Dr Moodi continued his research on this topic and penned down many more books on this theme among which I bought three books from America, some three or four years back. Their names are:
Life After Life
The Light Beyond
Reflection on Life After Life
Strange Impressions of Dying People
And whatever I am mentioning further has been has been extracted from these three books. In all these books only the experiences of those people have been mentioned who reached the extreme stage of illness and were declared clinically dead. But during this condition, the doctors used heart massage and other artificial respiration techniques as the last resort which proved successful on these people and they returned back to consciousness. Dr Moodi says that the people whom he interviewed belonged to different religions and places. Each one among them narrated the witnessed situation in his own way, somebody said something more, someone said less but despite of this, collectively the common elements which were almost present in everyone‟s narration are summarized as under:
A person is near to death. His physical condition has reached such a state that he himself hears his doctors to have him announced dead. Suddenly a pricking noise is heard and along with it is felt that he is entering a long and dark tunnel at an extreme speed. After this he suddenly feels that he has come out of his body. He sees his own dead body from a distance like a spectator. He sees he is standing at some prominent place and his body is lying still on the bed and the doctors are busy in trying to massage his heart or giving artificial respiration to him. In a short time he tries to regain his senses. He feels that in this new condition also he has a body but this new body is entirely different from that body which he has left. His state is different and his possessed powers are also different. After sometime in this very state he begins to see his friends and dear ones who had already died. And then he begins to see a „Being of Light‟ which tells him to examine his life. This saying is non-verbal and then that „Being of Light‟ brings before him rapidly all the important events of his life and makes him to observe it. At a particular stage then he sees a hurdle before him which he thinks to be the boundary between the worldly life and the post-death period. After coming close to this boundary he comes to know that now he has to return back, it is not the time of his death yet. After this by some unknown way he returns back to his body which he had left before on the bed. After becoming healthy he wants to share this experience with others but firstly he finds all the human words very less to express that state and secondly even if he tells the people about this experience, they begin to take it as a joke. So he remains silent.
Dr Moodi while summarizing these interviews of a hundred and fifty people also added to make it clear that he does not mean everyone among those hundred and fifty people narrated the experience in the same sequence rather he emphasized that someone narrated the whole story while someone narrated only a few parts and left others. Somebody‟s sequence was something while other‟s was something else. And to explain this event, different people adopted different set of words and interpretations. And almost everyone among those people said that whatever they saw is very difficult to interpret in words. A lady interpreted this difficulty of hers in the following manner:
"When I want to say all this to you, I face a real problem for whatever words I
know, all of them are three dimensional but whatever I saw (after being declared dead), it made me know that there are more than three dimensions. That is why to explain my state of that time exactly is very difficult because I am compelled to narrate my whole experience in three dimensional words".
However, among these experiences of various people, a few are of special significance. First the dark tunnel, second the separation from the body, third the vision of dead relatives and friends, fourth a Being of Light, and fifth witnessing of past life events. Among the details of all these events explained by various people, a few passages will be a source of interest.
The experience of passing through the dark tunnel was interpreted by someone as if he was swimming in a dark space. Somebody said that there was high darkness while somebody named it as a dark cave in which he was going down. Somebody interpreted it as a well while someone said that it was a dark valley. Somebody even said that he began to rise up in that darkness. But everybody said that these words are very scanty to explain that experience.
The event which was explained with utter awe and surprise by everyone was that they were separated from their bodies. A lady who was admitted in the hospital due to a heart attack explains that, "Suddenly I felt that my heart has stopped beating and I am coming out of my body. First I reached on floor and then slowly I began to rise up until I touched the ceiling like a piece of paper. From there I could clearly see that my body is lying down on bed while doctors and nurses were trying the last course of action. A nurse said, "Oh God! She is gone!" and another nurse tried to give my body mouth to mouth respiration. I could see the hair of that nurse from her back and I still remember her hair. Then they got a machine which gave shocks to my chest and I was watching my body frolicking.
This state of coming out from the body was interpreted by some persons as if they had got a new existence which was not like physical body and some said that it was another type of body which could see others but others could not see it. In this state some persons tried to talk to the doctors and nurses whom they could see but they couldn‟t hear them and in that state of weightlessness they were not only flying in the atmosphere but even if they tried to touch anything, their existence just pierced or passed through that object. Many more even said during that state time came to a halt and they were feeling that they were free from the shackles of time.
In this very state many persons saw their dead friends and dear ones and some people said that they saw many wandering souls. These wandering souls resembled with human beings but were somewhat different in looks from human beings. A person described them like this:
"Their head was bent down. They were looking grief stricken and dejected. All of them were joined with one another like a group tied in chains. I cannot remember if I ever saw their feet. I don‟t know what they were. Their colour was wispy; they seemed careless and made up of dust. It seemed that they were knit with one another, circling round the space and they didn‟t know
where they had to go….. They would start walking to one side then would turn left, walk a few steps, then they would turn right and turning to any side they would do nothing. It seemed that they were in search of something but what was it? I don‟t know….. It seemed that they had no knowledge even about themselves like who and what they are. They had no identity,,,,, Sometimes I even felt that someone among them wants to say something but couldn‟t say….." (Reflection on Life After Life, p. 19).
The majority of people whom Dr Moodi interviewed have narrated during their experiences about the Being of Light. These people say that after seeing it, it became certain that it is some existence but it had no body. It was completely just made up of light. In the beginning that light seemed soft but slowly it would intensify but even due to its extraordinary refulgence, the eyes could stare at it. Many people told that this Being of Light asked them to examine their life. Some people told other points of its speech but everyone agreed that whatever the Being of Light said, it was not through the medium of words and sound. Meaning that its words could not be heard, rather the mode of expression was totally incomparable in which its words would automatically be implanted into their thoughts. The majority of people who mentioned to have seen a Being of Light in their body-less state said that this „Being of Light‟ questioned them about their past life. The wordings of the question have been narrated differently by various people but the conclusion of everyone was almost same that it said, "What do you have to show me as to what you have done with your life?"
Also these people have said that this Being of Light started to show us the incidents of their past life one by one. How were these incidents shown? The detail of it is more interesting but I will tell that next week InshaAllah. And with it I will also discuss my views about these incidents.
Part 2
Last week, by virtue of books by Dr Raymond Moodi, I mentioned the experiences and contemplations of those people who as a result of severe illness or accident reached the door of death and returned back. Among those many people said that after passing through the dark tunnel they saw a strange Being of Light. He asked them about their past life and then in a moment that Being of Light itself showed them all the incidents of their past life one by one. For example, a lady while narrating her experience says:
"When I saw that Being of Light, it first of all asked me that what have you got from your life to show me? And along with this question I began to see the incidents of my past life. I was very astonished…What was happening? Because suddenly I felt that I have fully reached the beginning of my childhood period and then the incidents of every year of my life till now came before me all at once…..I saw that I am a small girl and playing near the pool close to my room. During that period I saw many incidents which had happened to my sister. I saw some past incidents with my neighbours. I saw myself in kindergarten. I saw the toy which I liked very much. I had broken that and wept for long. Then I got included in girls scouts and incidents of grammar school began to appear before me….. In the same way I passed the stages of junior school, senior high school and graduation until I reached the present life. All the incidents were coming before me in the same sequence in which they occurred and all these incidents were looking extremely apparent to me. The scenes were just like being viewed from outside. Now the incidents were completely three dimensional and colours could also be seen. There was movement in them. For example, when I saw myself breaking the toy, I could see all those actions.
While I watching these scenes, I couldn‟t see the Being of Light. It went off before my eyes just after saying "What have you done?" In spite of this, I felt that it‟s still present there and it‟s showing me these scenes. It was not that the Being of Light itself wanted to know that what have I done in my life, he already knew all this but by bringing these scenes before me, it wanted that I recapitulate those incidents. This entire incident was very strange. I was present there; I was really watching all these scenes and all those scenes were coming before me very rapidly but in spite of their rapidness, they were slow enough to be very well perceived by me. The flow of time was not much. I couldn‟t believe it, just seems that a light came and went off. It seemed that all this happened in less than five minutes. Although most probably it would have taken more than thirty seconds but I cannot tell you clearly".
Another person narrated his experience like this, "When I passed through that long dark place then at the last end of the tunnel, I saw my whole childhood incidents rather my whole life which was before me like a glittering light. It was totally not like pictures rather I guess that they resembled more with thoughts. I can‟t define that state to you but it is confirmed that my whole life was present there. All those incidents were seen together by me there. I mean it‟s not one thing at a time, rather everything could be seen simultaneously. I could see those small and big tasks done by me and a desire was kindled in
my heart that I wish I hadn‟t done this work and I wish I could return and undo those jobs" (Life After Life, p. 69).
Among those people who narrated these contemplations before Dr Moodi, some even said that during the last stage of this experience, they saw something like a barrier and either somebody said or automatically they got this thought in mind that the time has not yet come to cross this barrier and as a result of this they again went back to their bodies & returned to the routine world. Some people said that this barrier was like a body of water, some said that it was a dust-coloured fog, some interpreted it as a door, some said that it was like the fencing around a field & some even said that it was just a line.
Dr Melvin Morse and the Contemplations of Children
This book of Dr Moodi (Life After Life) was first published in 1975 in which he has explained the result of interviews of about a hundred and fifty persons during a period of eight years. Along with it he had also said that this research neither deserved to be called a scientific proof nor was he in position to give responsible calculation and estimate of these incidents. But this book of his caught the attention of many other doctors towards this topic and after that many people made these types of experiences their theme of writing.
One of those books has been written by Dr Melvin Morse which has been published under the name "Closer to the Light". He is a specialist of child diseases and he began to find out whether these types of incidents occur with children also. He was of the opinion that mature people can witness some scenes due to being overcome by their mental imaginations but the minds of children are free from such imaginations. So if the proof of these incidents is also found in them then the reality of these contemplations can become further strong.
Accordingly, he has mentioned in this book that many children have also undergone such experiences and he has himself met those children and tested their statements. His impression is that those children didn‟t lie but they had really seen those scenes. Running upon 236 pages, this book is based upon such types of incidents & their scientific analysis.
Pollster George Gallup‟s Survey
Another person Pollster George Gallup made a survey of those people who had undergone such contemplations all over America. His survey‟s startling summary is that 5% of America‟s total population have reached near death and undergone these contemplations. Dr Moodi also continued his research further and he wrote in his second book (The Light Beyond) that after a hundred and fifty people, he further interviewed a thousand more persons and its results were almost same as before.
However this time some people added new facts unlike among first hundred and fifty people among whom nobody specifically mentioned anything like paradise or hell but during this new research many people mentioned about a "Beautiful city of lights". Some saw many beautiful gardens and in their statements interpreted them as paradise. Some people clearly mentioned the scenes of hell. A person said: "I kept on going down, below was dark, people were screaming very badly and there was fire. Those people were asking me for water…"
The interviewer questioned, "Did you go down through a tunnel?" He replied, "No, it was bigger than a tunnel, I was going down swimming". He was asked further "How many people were screaming there? And were their bodies covered or not?" He replied, "They were too many to be counted. In my opinion they were definitely a million and there were no clothes on their bodies" (The Light Beyond, p. 26, 27).
What is the Reality of these Contemplations?
What is the reality of all these contemplations? Some persons are of the view that in western countries the fondness to keep secrets is increasing to the level of craze and these books can be a new point of this craze. Although this presumption cannot be totally wiped out but after 1975 the way in which the influential groups have taken notice of these experiences and researched on them, this presumption becomes quite far-fetched. This view has also been discussed in detail by Dr Moodi that those people whom he interviewed were not interested in giving false reports and the end result being that so many people from diverse regions have given similar reports thus making it impossible to infer the falsity of such claims.
Some doctors expressed the view that use of some intoxicating drugs and medicines can also produce this type of state in which a man feels different from his environment and sometimes his brains gives visible form to false concepts and he starts getting Hallucinations. Perhaps these people may have reached this state due to a prior experience of it. But Dr Moodi after experimenting both of these conditions separately expressed his view that those people whom he interviewed, apparently their contemplations were different from hallucinations. Dr Melvin Morse after researching upon this presumption in a more scientific way declared his final result that these contemplations were not hallucinations.
They also discussed the presumption that religious imaginations of these people were imprinted upon their minds in such a way that in state of unconsciousness or dreaming, those imaginations came before them in the form of a visualization which they could feel. Dr Moodi refuted this presumption also on the grounds that among those people whom he met, many people were not convinced about religion or were so strange to it that no impressions of any religious imaginations could overcome them. Then what were these contemplations? What is the outcome of these? And what is known about this from Qur‟an and Sunnah? On this topic I will say something next week, InshaAllah.
Part 3
In the previous two parts, I had mentioned the summary of the statements of those people who returned back after reaching the door of death. They saw themselves separating from their body. They passed through a dark tunnel, they saw a Being of Light and then that Being of Light presented before them the outline of their previous life. It is clear that these people didn‟t encounter death for if they did, they wouldn‟t return back. Dr Moodi who himself noted down the statements of these people also said that these people didn‟t see death but they definitely saw some strange scenes after coming near to death.
Hence the term which they have devised for these contemplations is known as "Near Death Experience" which they briefly refer to as NDE and this very term was adapted by the authors. So if the statements of these people are accepted as truth, Dr Moodi‟s final view being that to deny so many people at the same time is not easy for him, still it‟s apparent that they didn‟t see the scenes of the post-death period. But it can be said that in state of senselessness they saw some glimpses of that world whose door is death.
The word "Tawwaffa" in the Qur‟an
As medical science believes in only those things which can be seen by the eyes or which can be felt by other senses, that is why till now they have not discovered anything like „soul‟ in the human body and also haven‟t penetrated the reality of „soul‟ (and perhaps the whole reality about the soul cannot be known by man while living because the Glorious Qur‟an while addressing the questions of people about the soul states that Soul is due to my Lord‟s order and you have been given very little knowledge about it).
But from Qur‟an and Sunnah it is clearly known that life is the name of the strong bond between the body and the soul and death is the breaking of it. In this regard, this point is worth remembering that in our language the word „Wafaat‟ which we use for death is actually derived from a word "Tawwaffa". Before the revelation of the Glorious Qur‟an, this word was not used for death in Arabic language. In Arabic language there are about twenty four words which are used to explain the meaning of death. But „Wafaat‟ or „Tawwaffa‟ had no meaning in this context.
The Glorious Qur‟an used this word first time for death and its reason was that the words devised by Arabs of the time of ignorance were all based on the belief that there is no life after death. The Glorious Qur‟an by using the word "Tawwaffa" in an elegant style refuted this belief. "Tawwaffa" means to recover or collect something fully & by using this word for death, it is being pointed at time of death, the soul of man is called back after being separated from the body. Explaining this truth in clear terms, the Glorious Qur‟an mentions in Surah Zumar:
"It is Allah that takes the souls (of men) at death; and those that die not (He takes) during their sleep: those on whom he has passed the decree of death, He keeps back (from returning to life), but the rest He sends (to their bodies) for a term appointed. Verily in this are signs for those who reflect" (Surah Zumar: 42).
On the other hand, for bestowing life to Aadam (AS), the Glorious Qur‟an has interpreted it with blowing in of the soul.
The Relation between Body and the Soul
From these narrations of the Glorious Qur‟an, it becomes clearly known that life is the name of body‟s strong bond with the soul. The stronger the body‟s relationship will be with the soul, the characteristics of life will be more clear and salient. And the weaker this relationship will be, the characteristics of life will diminish accordingly.
In the state of consciousness, this relationship between the body and the soul is very strong. That‟s why in this state the life is present with all its characteristics and complete senses. In this state all the senses of a person are working. All his body parts are attentive and ready for their respective jobs. Man uses his authority fully and there is no hurdle in his thinking and understanding.
But in state of sleep the bond between the body and the soul gets weakened resulting in a state of sleep, in which all the signs of life are not present in man. He gets unaware about his surroundings. In a state of sleep he cannot use his body parts at his will nor is he in a position of thinking or understanding according to normal routine. But even in this condition, the soul‟s bond with the body is strong enough so that the sensation of actions befalling his body remains intact. Accordingly if any person will prick his body with a needle on feeling its pain he gets awakened.
Sleep, Unconsciousness and Period close to Death
A step further ahead from sleep is unconsciousness. In this state the relation of body with the soul gets even more weakened than in sleep. That is why in state of total unconsciousness even if lancets are drawn over a man‟s body, he does not feel any pain and by taking advantage of this quality of unconsciousness, this state of human body is used for major operations. In this condition much of the characteristics and features of life disappear but still the heartbeat and breathing continues by which it is known that a person is alive.
At a step even further from unconsciousness one more state overshadows a few people in period of severe illness which in common terms is interpreted as „a state close to death or a state hardly distinguishable from death‟. In this state all the apparent signs of life disappear and not only a mediocre but even the doctors can not see any apparent sign of life. The heartbeat stops, breathing stops, the blood pressure disappears, the body temperature drops to nil but in some hidden part of the brain the impulse of life is still present.
This is the condition in which the doctors as the last resort try artificial ways to normalize breathing or heartbeat. These methods succeed in some people and thereafter the patient returns back to the normal life and just by his returning it becomes clear that he had not died and his soul hadn‟t completely departed from the body.
This is the weakest state of life in which the soul‟s relation with the body becomes scant. Then the weaker the soul‟s relation gets with the body, the more it gets freed from the grip of the body. This freedom is meager in state of sleep, more in state of unconsciousness and even much more in state of being „close to death‟ in which the soul‟s bond with the body remains very little and it is freed from the grip of the body to a large extent. In this state if any human‟s perception is involved into his soul‟s journey beyond this material life and if he sees any glimpse of the after world then it is not inconceivable.
And in history records are found where these types of people saw some scenes from the after world. If the statements of the people which I have reproduced previously with reference to Dr Moodi are accepted to be free from lies and deception then their witnessing those scenes can also be of this same kind but in this regard some guidelines are important to be kept in mind.
A few guidelines worth Honouring
1. Those people who saw these scenes had not encountered death so whatever they saw can be the glimpses of the other world but not those events that happen after death.
2. The state in which those people saw these scenes was actually a state of life and atleast life was still remaining in some hidden parts of the brain. So in these contemplations the possibility of possession of brain is not far from inference.
3. All those people who narrated their contemplations agreed that they cannot explain those contemplations in words; still they took the support of restricted words to explain this state. Accordingly it is still suspicious as how far were they successful in explaining that state in words. Also what was the accuracy with which they remembered the statements? On this basis all the details of these contemplations cannot be relied upon nor can this be made the basis of any belief about the happenings of the post-death period. The realities which are important for us to know about the post-death period have reached to us from the blemish-free way of Revelation of Allah through Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and the Revelation of Allah is not in need of any authentication of this type but the Qur‟an and Sunnah have supported some parts of these contemplations through explanation.
For example, it has been proved true by both Qur‟an and Sunnah without any doubt that life is not confined to extent of this world only which we can see spreading all over our surroundings but beyond this world there is an another world too whose state we cannot perceive well in the shackles of materialistic impurities.
The incidents of that world are free from the familiar measures of time and space to which we have grown accustomed in this worldly life. Here we cannot imagine as to how a job which needs years to finish can be completed in a moment, but the incidents of that world are free from these shackles of time.
The Glorious Qur‟an says, "Verily a Day in the sight of your Lord is like a thousand years of your reckoning" (Surah Hajj, v.47). What‟s this world? What are its demands? And what type of preparation is needed to reach it? For answering these questions prophets come because we cannot know these facts by our senses and Intelligence. Lastly these facts have been narrated to us by Prophet Muhammad (SAW) through Divine Islamic law (Shari‟ah). And the one who has to prepare for that world properly must learn about the Shari‟ah. Then the realities of that world will be explained and the correct way of reaching that world will also be known.
THE END
A Question demanding Islamic Ruling
What do Islamic scholars say about this matter that Daily Jung, Karachi, Dated 21-01-98, Wednesday column reported which was not worth forgetting in which Dr Syed Amjad Ali has penned down his incident that he got heart attack on 23-03-1984. He writes about this attack in detail and has mentioned in this detail that, "I remained dead for twenty minutes and then I was declared to be dead. Before dying I saw a person made up of light coming near to me by just touching whose body my own body‟s essence with a rapid speed started to flee from my feet towards my head and I fully became a weightless person made up of light. I was very peaceful in the companionship with that man of light. I moved all over the ward and examined the Intensive Care Unit and then stood in a corner. It all happened with the blink of an eye. I remained close to my body with that man of light and kept watching what was happening with my body. On my right side a red halo of light had been created instantly. I was peacefully enjoying these lights of the halo of the tunnel as if I was a member of another world. I was disconnected with the medical procedure done to my body. The waves of energy were rising up from different parts of the hospital. I was told that these are the supplications of people. When I got message by telepathy that I had to return back, I didn‟t like it but there was no other way. Swimming up in the air, I penetrated into my empty body and I felt that in past too I have been carrying this weight of my body, and in future too till the appointed time I have to carry it. Then when my eyes opened I had been returned back to this world".
So what do Islamic scholars have to say about the following questions:
Can any person get alive again after being dead for twenty minutes?
Is it possible that the dead person can roam about with any man of light?
Does the soul of the dead person see whatever is happening there?
Questioner: Hafiz Noor Muhammad.
Darul Ifta Darul Uloom Karachi‟s Reply
The scenes and incidents which were witnessed by the mentioned person are not the incidents of post-death period because if the death had come then he wouldn‟t return back to world but it can be said that in state of being close to death and in that state of senselessness he saw some glimpses of that world.
Its detail is like this that life is the name of strong bond between body and the soul. The stronger soul‟s relationship with the body, the characteristics of life will be clearer and salient and the weaker this relationship will be, the characteristics of life will diminish accordingly.
In the state of consciousness, this relationship between the body and the soul is very strong. That‟s why in this state the life is present with all its characteristics and complete senses. In this state all the senses of a person are working. All his body parts are attentive and ready for their respective jobs. Man uses his authority fully and there is no hurdle in his thinking and understanding. But in state of sleep, the bond between the body and the soul gets weakened whose result is that in state of sleep, all the signs of life do not appear over man. He gets unaware about his surroundings. In state of sleep he cannot use his body parts by his authority nor that time he is in position of thinking and understanding according to normal routine. But even in this condition, the soul‟s bond with the body is strong enough that the sensation of actions befalling his body remains still intact. Accordingly, if any person will prick his body with a needle then after feeling its pain, he gets awakened.
A step further ahead from sleep is unconsciousness. In this state the relation of body with the soul gets even more weakened than in sleep. That is why in state of total unconsciousness even if lancets are drawn over man‟s body, he does not feel any pain and by taking advantage of this quality of unconsciousness, this state of human body is used for major operations. In this condition much of the characteristics and features of life get disappeared but still the heartbeat and breathing remains by which it is known that a person is alive.
A step even further from unconsciousness, one more state overshadows a few people in period of severe illness which in common terms is interpreted as „a state close to death or a state hardly distinguishable from death‟. In this state all the apparent signs of life disappear and not only a mediocre but even the doctors also could not see any apparent sign of life. The heartbeat stops, breathing stops, the blood pressure disappears, the body temperature almost gets nil but in some hidden part of the brain the impulse of life is still present. This is the condition in which the doctors as the last source try artificial ways to normalize breathing or heartbeat. These ways get successful on some people and after this practice the patient returns back to the normal life and just by his returning it becomes clear that he had not died yet and his soul hadn‟t completely departed from the body. This is the weakest class of life in which the soul‟s relation with the body remains very little. Then the weaker the soul‟s relation gets with the body, the more it gets freed from the shackles of the body. This freedom is less in state of sleep, more than that in state of
unconsciousness and even much more in state of being „close to death‟ in which the soul‟s bond with the body remains very little and up to much extent it is freed from the shackles of the body. In this state if any human‟s perception gets involved in his journey of soul and beyond this material life if he sees any glimpse of the after world then it is not inconceivable. And in history records are found where these types of people saw some scenes from the after world but about them some guidelines are important to be kept in mind:
1. The above mentioned person and those people who saw these scenes, they had not encountered death yet so whatever they saw can be the glimpses of the other world but not those events that happen after death.
2. The state in which those people saw these scenes was actually a state of life and at least life was still remaining in some hidden parts of the brain. So in these contemplations the possibility of possession of brain is not far from inference.
(Extracted from "Zikr o Fikr" by Muhammad Taqi Usmani)
And Allah Subhana Wa Ta‟ala knows Best.
Muhammad Yaqoob
Darul Ifta Darul Uloom Karachi,
24-05-1419 AH
About the Author
Justice (R) Mufti Maulana Sheikh Muhammad Taqi Uthmani was born in 1943 at Deoband, a city in the Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh, India. He is an eminent Islamic Hanafi scholar living in Pakistan. He served as a judge on the Federal Shariat Court of Pakistan from 1980 to 1982 and the Shari'a Appellate Bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan from 1982 to 2002. He is an expert in the fields of Islamic Jurisprudence (fiqh), economics, Hadith and Tasawwuf. He also held a number of positions on the boards of prestigious Islamic institutions. He is the brother of another notable Islamic scholar, Mufti Muhammad Rafi Usmani and Maulana Wali Razi.
After completing the Alim course at Darul Uloom Karachi, he specialized in fiqh under the guidance of his eminent father, Grand Mufti of Pakistan, Mufti Muhammad Shafi Usmani. He received his Takhassus degree in Islamic education from Darul Uloom Karachi in 1961. He also holds a Master of Arts degree in Arabic literature from the University of Punjab and a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree from the University of Karachi. He pioneered the concept of Islamic banking in Pakistan when he established the Meezan Bank. He has authored a number of books in Arabic, Urdu, and English on Islamic topics in addition to a large number of articles on Islamic banking and finance published in a number of journals and magazines.
In March 2004, United Arab Emirates Vice President and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum presented an award to him in recognition of his lifetime service and achievement in Islamic finance during the annual International Islamic Finance Forum (IIFF) in Dubai.
He currently teaches Sahih al-Bukhari, fiqh, and Islamic economics at Darul Uloom Karachi and is also known for his Islahi Khutbat.
About the Translator
Yaqeen Ul Haq Ahmad Sikander is a young, dynamic & versatile person – An Activist, Writer, Orator and Counsellor. He specializes in many disciplines like Psychology, Islamic Studies, Motivation, Interpersonal Relations, Counselling, Leadership, Debating and Sexuality. He was born on 6th June, 1991 in the Valley of Kashmir, India. Son of a business man, he is the youngest among the three siblings. His mother, a home maker and a post graduate in Political Science raised him up along with his brothers and laid a strong academic and moral foundation for him.
Yaqeen Ul Haq is also one of the world‟s youngest published Islamic Authors. He wrote his first book "The True Purpose of Life" at the age of 17. His book was highly appreciated by many scholars. So far he has written four books. His other books include "Beyond the World", The Divine Inspirations" & "A Beginners Guide to Islamic Belief". Apart from that he is the author of numerous articles dealing with diverse issues. His write-ups regularly appear on many newspapers, websites and journals.
Yaqeen Ul Haq is very ambitious having excellent communication, presentation and analytical skills. He is a Polyglot and knows English, Urdu, Arabic, Kashmiri, Hindi & a bit of Bahasa Melayu. He has diligently concluded various projects at academic level of Training and Development. He has also attended various International programs about Peace Leadership.
Yaqeen Ul Haq is also the founder and designer of "Inspire Me", a workshop on Personality Development, Inspiration, Motivation, Success & Overcoming Failures & Stress. He also provides counselling to the needful, students & teenagers regarding various issues.
Currently, Yaqeen Ul Haq lives in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and is an undergraduate student majoring in Psychology with a minor in Islamic Revealed Knowledge at International Islamic University Malaysia. He is also continuing to interact with many scholars, people & students aiming towards a better life and spiritual high.
In his free time Yaqeen loves volunteering, camping, debating, travelling, and spending time with his family.
Yaqeen Ul Haq can be reached at http://www.yaqeenulhaq.info or can be mailed at Yaqeen@ymail.com
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