Reincarnation Stories Told By Children Bring New Light On Soul Or Spirit: An Ideological Challenge To Islam?
By S.
Arshad, New Age Islam
26 October
2022
How Will
Muslims Confront New Developments Regarding The Soul Or Spirit.
Main
Points:
1. The Quran
says little about the soul or spirit.
2. New
developments regarding the soul present an ideological challenge to Islam.
3. Past life
experiences have become a reality.
4. Some people
claim they remember their past life family.
5. In India a
number of past life and rebirth cases have come to light.
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A five year
old girl belonging to a Hindi speaking Hindu family of Bikaner, Rajasthan in
India speaks English in Californian accent. Her parents say they have never
been to California and they do not see English programmes on the television.
The girl claims her original home is in California where they own cows and
camels. She also says she is a yoga teacher and performs some Yogasanas.
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Also Read: Islam
and Mysticism: Is ‘Nafs’ Soul? (Part - 1)
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A 14 year
boy of Palwal near Delhi border claims he knows his past life and his past life
family. In his previous birth, he had met with an accident and died when he was
35 years old. He was reborn in a family in a village 12 kilometres away from
his village. When he was three years old, he started telling his parents that
his original home was in another village and insisted them to take him to his
original home. When he grew 5 years old, his parents took him to his home of the
previous birth, he recognised his wife, four daughters, parents and his close
friend of the previous birth who was now fifty years old. He told them some
facts which only they knew.
There was a
very famous case of rebirth during Gandhi Ji’s time. A married woman of Lucknow
had died after giving birth to her son after a Caesarean operation. After her
death, her husband remarried. After some time, a girl child was born to a
family of Delhi. When she was three years old, she started telling her parents
that her original home was in Lucknow. Initially the parents ignored her claim
but as she grew older she insisted her parents more regularly to take her to
her original home. When she became 12 years old, she told her parents the
address of her previous home and the personal details and name of her husband.
The parents contacted the man in Lucknow and he confirmed that his first wife
had indeed died after the birth of their first son. The man came from Lucknow
and met the girl. She told the man some intimate truth to him which only the
husband and wife knew.
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Also Read: Islam
and Mysticism: Is ‘Ruh’ Soul? (Part 2)
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There are
similar cases of rebirth which cannot be denied as the people are alive. One
common feature of all these cases is that all these cases of rebirth are of
persons who had died an unnatural death.
If the
persons, who were children when they started claiming rebirth, are believed,
then our concept and belief about the soul and spirit will have to be
reoriented and the scriptures need to be reinterpreted in the light of new
developments regarding the soul. The recent developments (which are available
on YouTube) do not prove the Quran wrong because the Quran has not divulged
anything about the soul. And there must be some wisdom behind it. If the Quran
had categorically and clearly said something about the soul, there would not
have been any room for contradicting it for Muslims but since the Quran has
kept it a closely guarded secret, it has kept the door for new research on the
issue open.
Once the
people had asked thd prophet pbuh what the soul or spirit was. The revelation
to the question was:
"They
ask you concerning the soul, say the soul is from the Amr of God and you have
been given a little knowledge."(Bani Israel: 85)
The verse
can be interpreted as that God did not want to divulge the secrets about the
soul because the people during that time had not a developed intellect to
understand the depth of the soul and so the secret of the soul will be revealed
any future. There are a number of examples of revelations of secrets many
centuries after the revelation of particular verses. For example, the dead body
of Pharaoh was discovered in the 19th century. Noah's Ark was discovered in the
20th century. There is a verse in the Quran which says that God reveals secrets
of things in due course.
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Also Read: Islam
and Mysticism: What Else Is Confused With Soul? (Part 3)
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"The
time for every news (information) is predetermined and you will know it
soon."(Al
Anam: 67)
This verse
indicates that the truth or secrets of many things are guarded by God and
disclosed in a particular age according to His scheme of things. So the secrets
of soul is gradually being disclosed gradually in the 21st century.
Although
the Quran does not reveal anything about the soul, some hadiths tell us that
the soul hovers above the dead body after the death and goes with the funeral
procession till the grave. He can hear and see the people assembled at his home
and in the funeral procession. The boy of Palwal said that after his death, his
soul sat on the Neem tree in his courtyard for 12 days. He could see his
family members and relatives and would also try to talk to them but they did
not see or hear him. After the ritual of Hawan was completed on the 12th day,
he left his home and spend some days wandering in the wilderness.
According
to Reiki master N. K. Sharma, anyone can go to his past life and it is as easy
as dreaming. He claims that more than 20 thousand people have experienced their
past life and found out the root of the problems in their present life. How
this is possible can be understood through the belief of Buddhism on this
issue.
According
to Buddhism, man takes rebirth due to his Karma. His karma in this birth
determines his condition in the next birth. Buddhism also says that the soul is
not a separate entity in the body. It is not like water poured into a glass and
then poured out keeping the glass in its previous condition. A man's living
body is constituted of five elements: Physical body, feelings, ideation, mental
structure and consciousness. All the deeds, aspirations, passions, memories and
fears are kept stored up in his spirit. All these together make a new
personality in his new birth. Death does not break the flow of memories of the
previous birth. It only causes a temporary pause in the flow of consciousness.
Therefore,
the memories, aspirations and deeds of the previous lives remain stored up in
the consciousness and lie supressed. In case of accidental deaths, the break of
flow of consciousness is abrupt, that's why, the three people mentioned above
remembered their past life. Their case also shows that the soul has a deep
attachment to the family they left and, so they want to reunite with their
previous families. The man of Palwal had four daughters and one son. Therefore,
the soul showed deep attachment with them and wanted to come back to them.
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Also Read: The
Quran, Islamic Theology, Philosophy and the Sciences – On Soul and the Creation
of Man (Part 2)
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The
scholars of Buddhism and Upanishads also say that dreams are often glimpses of
one's past life. The people and places one sees in dreams are more often are of
his past life because of the memories stored up in the consciousness.
The Quran
on some occasions speaks of Nash'at al Aakhir (next life). Since we do
not interpret these verses from the point of view of rebirth, we interpret them
as the life in the Hereafter. In the light of the fast developments and
incidents related to rebirth, it can be said that in near or far future, people
will be aware of their past life and therefore will shape their behaviour and
deeds in the present life in order to have a good life in the next birth.
-----
S.
Arshad is a columnist with NewAgeIslam.com.
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-ideology/soul-spirit-ideological-challenge-reincarnation/d/128267
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