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. ----- 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 expertise 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 differ 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 human beings, animals or insects. 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 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 tells is told by the departed soul that he has 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. Mr N. K. Sharma who has seen his past lives says that he could see his birth up to 3000 years. He was a Buddhist monk. Then he took birth as a Hindu monk in South. He was an Urdu writer three hundred years ago and a pujari in a temple in Rajasthan in one birth. He also says that al the people in one's family or around him are in his contact in present birth because of Karma. They were in his contact during his past life either his family member, or friend or enemy or adversary. He says that the person's whom he knowingly or unknowingly hurt in the past life came in his contact in this birth and hurt me in some way and then went out of contact. A woman said that the nurse who took care of me in my last birth is my 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 s mother in this life so that she can dominate her as a mother and avenge her humiliation. Mr Sharma also says that the person's whom you loved and cared in the last birth come back to you in your family or in your contact in this birth. There are a lot of similar incidents that tell 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 vanishes 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. 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. ----- S. Arshad is a columnist with NewAgeIslam.com. URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-ideology/quran-rebirth-reincarnation-modern-spiritual/d/126415 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism