What Does the Quran Say About Re-birth or Re-incarnation
By S.
Arshad, New Age Islam
21 February
2022
People Are
Able To Go To Their Past Or Future Life According To Modern Spiritual
Development
Main
Points:
1. Past life
experience is now a reality.
2. Thousands of
people have seen their past and future life.
3. Karma haunts
human beings through births.
4. We inherit
unhereditary virtues or vices from our past lives.
5. Your family
members, friends or foes come in to your contact due to your Karma in the last
birth.
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Man has
made tremendous development and progress in every field of knowledge during its
entire journey on earth. In the modern age, man has not only made progress in
industrial field or in the field of science and technology it has also made
progress in the spiritual field as well Spiritualism has not remained the
monopoly of the sages or hermits who would isolate themselves in jungles or
mountains or confine themselves in monasteries. Spiritual knowledge or eschatological
knowledge was for centuries considered the privilege of saints or Sufis who
claimed only they knew the secrets of being or of the self or the reality of
existence. As human knowledge and civilisation advanced, the knowledge of
Spiritualism also developed. In the modern era, Spiritualism has taken the form
of a science and it can be called Spiritual Science.
Since
mysticism deals with the working of human psyche and a spiritual adept trains
his mind and his psyche to lift his consciousness above the mundane to enjoy
the eternal bliss, it can be called Spiritual Psychology. As Spiritual
Psychology has taken the form of science, it is being studied and practiced by
professionals who have a spiritual bent of mind and the hidden aspects of life,
spirit and mind are being explored and experienced.
Almost all
the religions have dealt with the issue of soul, the place of man on earth and
life after death. Though all the religions insist that death is inevitable,
they slightly differ on the stage after death. All the religions assert that
death is only a temporary stage in the journey of the spirit and that the
spirit does not die. It only leaves the body.
Though
Hinduism believes that a soul transmigrates after the death of a person and
enters another body of either a human being, animal or insect. Abrahamic
religions, particularly Islam does not profess the belief of transmigration or Awagawan.
The fundamental book of Islamic theory and practice, the holy Quran does not
mention Awagawan. It says that once man dies, he is destined to go to
Hell or Heaven on the basis of his deeds in his life on earth. The Quran also
says in a number of verses that the world will be dissolved on the Day of
Judgment and human beings will be judged on that day and their fate will be
decided according to their deeds on earth.
But there
are some other verses that speak of an unending cycle of creation and
dissolution of the universe. This is in consonance with the belief of Hindus
that the Hiranyagarbha (the physical manifestation of the Supreme Self) is
created and dissolved after a certain period of time which is called a Kalp.
One day of Hiranyagarbha is about 4.3billion years and it lives for one hundred
years. When it goes to sleep after the day's work, Pralay ( Qayamat) takes
place. When it dies after one hundred years, the complete dissolution of the
Universe takes place. This earth is said to be 4.3 billion years old that is
Hirangarbha's one day.
Since the
discourse of Muslim eschatology is limited only till the Day of Judgment and
the Hell and Heaven and the Houris, they do not go beyond Qayamat. They do not
discuss the verses that speak of the cycle of creation and dissolution
mentioned in the Quran.
There are a
number of verses in the Quran which say that the creation is repeated.
Translation of some verses are quoted here:
"Do they see not how God starts creation
then repeats it."(Al Ankabit:19)
"God creates the first time then repeats
it then you will return to Him."(Rum:11)
Similarly,
there are verses that say that this universe has been created for a fixed
period of time:
"What We have created in the heaven and
earth and between them is true and for a fixed period of time."(Al Ahqaf:3)
Both the
verses speaking of repetition of creation and dissolution for a fixed period of
time and are not contradictory but should been seen in different contexts.
Another
issue is that of transmigration of souls after a person's death. In Hindu and
Buddhist religious philosophy, the soul or spirit keeps transmigrating from
birth to birth. This belief is called Awagawan. According to this
philosophy, the cycle of birth and death or transmigration is the root cause of
suffering. So one should strive to end this cycle of Awagawan to attain
Nirvan or Moksha. The soul takes birth in good or bad body according to their
deeds in the past life. What does the Quran Say on the issue of Awagawan
or transmigration?
At least
one verse of the Quran touches on the issue. The verse is:
"We have ordained death for all of you We
cannot be prevented from transforming and recreating you in forms unknown to
you. You already know the first creation. So will you not remember."(Al Waqiah:60-62)
Different
translators have translated these verses in slightly different words but the
overall meaning of the verses is same. Pickthal and Mohsin Khan use the word
transfigure which is similar to transmigration.
It suggests
that a human being may be transformed by God into another being. That is his
soul may be transferred to the body of another human being or any other being
according to God's scheme of things. Even if this verse hints at transmigration
of souls, it does not contradict the Quranic stand that every human being will
be judged by his deeds in his single birth and not by accumulated deeds in all
his births.
Now we come
to the modern developments made in the field of spiritual science. There has
been considerable progress in this field. Particularly, people are able to
experience past life, and transmigration of souls is now a reality to them.
With the help of some spiritual techniques, people are able to go to their past
or even to their future life where they visualise some happenings in their past
life: What was their name, who was their husband or mother or son or friend in
that life and how they died. They see their soul rising up from their body.
They can also go to their future birth and can see where and in what body they
have been born and who their relatives are.
This has
become a reality. According to these past and future life experiences, a person
was born a Muslim in one birth, is a Hindu in his present birth and a Christian
in his future birth. Again a person was a female in his past birth and a male
in his present birth, or is a male in present birth and a female in future
birth. Another interesting fact according to these past and future life
experiences is that a woman's father takes birth as her husband in present life
or her father takes birth as her son in this life. A woman's present husband is
her friend in her future birth.
During the
past life experiences persons are also able to see and communicate with their
departed relatives like mother or father or father-in-law or mother-in- law and
is told by the departed soul that he or she has taken birth as his son or
daughter or cousin brother.
Mr N K
Sharma is one Reiki master who has helped more than 25000 people to go to their
past births and future life. These current experiences of men and women of
India authenticate the transmigration of souls. All these people are educated
people and not illiterate or superstitious people.
Mr N.
K.Sharma who has seen his past lives says that he could see his birth upto 3000
years back. He was a Buddhist monk. Then he took birth as a Hindu monk in
South. He was an Urdu writer three hundred years ago during the Mughal periid
and a pujari in a temple in Rajasthan in one birth.
He also
says that all the people in one's family or around him are in his contact in
present birth because of Karma in the previous birth. They were in his contact
during his past life either as his family member, or friend or enemy or
adversary. He says that the persons whom he knowingly or unknowingly hurt in
the past life came in his contact in this birth and hurt him in some way and
then went out of contact. A woman said that the nurse who took care of her in
her last birth is her mother in this life. A woman who often quarrels with her
mother says that in her past birth her mother was her neighbour with whom she
quarrelled a lot. So she has taken birth as ss mother in this life so that she
can dominate her as a mother and avenge her humiliation. Mr Sharma also says
that the persons whom you loved and cared in the last birth come back to you in
your family or in your contact in this birth due to the emotional bond in the
last birth..
There are a
lot of similar incidents that tell us of the effects of Karma and
transmigration of souls.
Now one may
say that one can go to the past but how can one go to the future. The answer
is: The sense of time and place is a characteristic feature of the material
world. In the heavenly space, time and space vanish and the existence is seen
as a unity. For example, we can see the beginning, the middle and the end of a
book by simply flipping through the pages or we can see both the ends and the
middle of a thread or of any similar object. Therefore, the spirit which is
omniscient and immanent can see past, future and present at the same. In the
Quran God says that all the minute details of a person's life--- his past, present
and future are recorded in the book. So an omniscient spirit can see the past,
present and future at the same time. According to the Buddhist philosophy, a
man's consciousness flows like a stream through several births and so the
memories of all the past lives are stored in the memory in the subconscious
mind. This stream of consciousness stops only at Nirvana stage. Therefore, a
man can awaken his stream of consciousness by adopting some spiritual
techniques.
The past
life experience of thousands of persons show that this field of knowledge will
become more developed and in future a common man will be able to see his past
and future. As every man will know his past life, the above quoted verses of
the Quran will be among the Muhkamat which seems to be among the Mutashabihat
now. And the experience of a person's past life will serve him as a warning
against evil deeds. He will know that his bad deeds in his past life has caused
him pain and misery in this life. So he should mend his ways and reform himself
so that he may not be subjected to another birth full of miseries and go to
heaven on the final Day of Judgment.
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S.
Arshad is a columnist with NewAgeIslam.com.
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-ideology/quran-rebirth-reincarnation-modern-spiritual/d/126415