Near-Death Experiences
Recent medical and psychological research has focused on the moments of
death, which have been reported to be surrounded by many strange phenomena to
consider and explain. Medicine studies these phenomena as "Near Death
Experiences," or NDEs, a rare abnormal phenomenon in which some who have
experienced accidents leading to clinical death have experienced strange events
and occurrences, some of which were described as good and beautiful, and some
of which were described as scenes of horror and agony. The patient's
description of a dark tunnel leading to a heavenly light far away at its end
was a common theme in all of these experiences.
The NDE begins with the dying person's consciousness exiting his body,
allowing him to see his body laid on his deathbed, surrounded by loved ones and
relatives who are crying for his separation. The dying befuddles their grief
because he believes he is in the best possible state; then he begins to pass
through a tunnel, at the end of which he sees a bright light: he imagines he is
on his way to paradise, but he actually meets his loved ones who have already
died; this increases his desire to stay in this new place. Soon after, he hears
the voice of a loved one who has died asking him to return to his natural body
because the hour of his death has not yet arrived and he has many tasks (in his
life) to complete first. He then comes back to consciousness.
Over the past four decades, the vast majority of near-death experiences
(NDEs) that have been publicly reported have been positive, sometimes even
glorious. The sobering fact that not all NDEs are as affirming has gone largely
unnoticed in the euphoria surrounding them: Some are extremely upsetting.
The research on this topic is challenging because some people who have had
such an experience vanish when questioned.
Nevertheless, three different types of distressing NDE—inverse, void, and
hellish—have been documented. These terrifying encounters include visits to
hell, conversations with demonic beings, and perhaps even torture and
suffering. Another set of tests is characterized by loneliness and deep
depression.[1]
Even though some experiences may be unusual, nine out of ten people in an
American survey by George Gallup admitted to passing through one of these
tunnels.
The experiences of approaching death are essentially the same across
peoples, civilizations, and races despite differences in culture, religion, and
geographic location. This suggests that the nature of the relationship between
the soul and the body in humans and its laws are universal across all peoples,
races, and civilizations.
Dr. Pim van Lommel[2] described
the NDEs as follows: "Some people who survived a life-threatening crisis
reported an extraordinary experience of near-death, and the number of such
experiences increases as recovery techniques progress," What these
experiences have involved and how they have affected patients appear to be
universal across all continents, cultures, and eras. Despite the terminology
used to describe and translate these experiences, which may be religious in
nature, they are objective in nature and lack an image that refers to a state
of individual culture.
These experiences can be defined as a memory report on full impressions
during a state of consciousness, including several common elements among people
who have met these experiences. This memory report includes common feelings
between almost all experienced people such as the experience of out-of-body
emergence, feelings of joy, vision of the tunnel and light, meeting dead
relatives, or reviewing the previous life.
“I have described many cases in which these trials
occurred, such as cardiac arrest, clinical death and fainting after the loss of
a large amount of blood or harm during brain surgery, brain bleeding, drowning
and asphyxiation, as well as in a number of serious diseases that did not end
in complete brain death." Writes Dr. Lommel.
Near-death experiences confirm that they are a type of susceptibility found
in the human psyche, which can occur in special circumstances as a function of
the brain, and cannot be considered as the result of dysfunction but reflects
the one nature of death that occurs in the brain in all human beings,
regardless of their religions, races and cultures, and also confirms that the
nature of the link between consciousness and the physical body is the same.
“This ability is like the other characteristics in
the human psyche, such as the ability to dream and learn, telepathy or moving
things through mental focus, supersensitive cognition and many responsibilities
that can be developed through a special sport, or come as a talent whose owner
has nothing to do with its existence”, says Edgar Cayce[3],
who believes it is an innate possibility of human death.
During the experience, one imagines that what is happening to him is the
death he always feared and there is no way back to life again. But some
patients see what is happening as reality: they believe that this stage is the
first premise to death, as this happened to many patients who were not
religious or not believers in the existence of another world or another life
after death. They converted to religious people working for God and stripped of
many worldly things becoming Spiritualists, aware of their moral existence.
These human experiences confirm that the human being consists of
both: a body and a soul, and that it is a being that transcends its mortal
body. Its immersion in the concerns of the living however refers to
that mistaken illusion that it is the body that appears to people is his
essence, but those who have experienced approaching death believe in their
supreme essence and that they are waiting for the day when they regain
their spiritual purity.
Many philosophers and thinkers believed in such a vision and are sure
that their apparent body contains what is superior to flesh and bone. The
prevailing view agreed upon by all researchers who believe in near-death
experiences is that: we all enter a world of human consciousness after we leave
the physical world in the event of death, which can be likened to the dream
state in which we move to another world in which the laws of our natural world
do not apply.
The Qur’an doesn’t explicitly mention Near Death Experiences (NDEs) as
we understand them today. However, it does address themes related to death, the
soul, and the afterlife, which can be connected to the concept of NDEs.
For instance, the Qur’an states:
“Every soul shall taste death. And only on the Day of Judgment will you
be paid your full recompense. So he who is drawn away from the Fire and
admitted to Paradise has attained [his desire]. For the life of this world is
but goods and chattels of deception.” (Qur’an 3:185)
This verse emphasizes the inevitability of death and the reality of the
afterlife, which aligns with the trans formative experiences reported by those
who have had NDEs[4].
Additionally, Islamic teachings describe the moments of death and the
transition to the afterlife. The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) narrated
what believers and non-believers will experience at the time of death,
including the presence of angels and the soul’s journey.
NDEs often involve out-of-body experiences, encounters with spiritual
beings, and a sense of moving towards a light, which can be seen as glimpses of
the afterlife described in Islamic texts[5].
[1] . Nancy Evans Bush, MA
and Bruce Greyson, MD; Distressing Near-Death Experiences: The Basics; Missouri
Medicine Journal, Nov-Dec 2014.
[2] . Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia
[3] . Edgar Cayce (18
March 1877 – 3 January 1945) was an American clairvoyant who claimed to channel
from his higher self while asleep in a trance-like state.
[5] . https://aboutislam.net/muslim-issues/science-muslim-issues/near-death-experiences-islamic-perspective/.
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