Jump to content

Draft:Near-death experience (NDE)

Add links
From wikishia

Near-death experience (NDE) (Persian: تجربه نزدیک به مرگ) is a parapsychological and spiritual event reported by people on the verge of death. These experiences have been considered similar to sleep and death due to the separation of the human soul from the body.

Some researchers have considered near-death experience as the most tangible phenomenon that proves the existence of the soul and the continuation of life after death. According to a group of researchers, considering the frequency of such experiences, one cannot doubt their actual occurrence; although there are some problems in the details of those experiences. To confirm and validate near-death experiences, the frequency of these experiences, their common features among various people with different religions, verses, and narrations have been cited. However, according to some philosophy and theology researchers, near-death experiences cannot prove the existence of the soul after death; because the world proven by these experiences is different from the world after death in Abrahamic religions such as Islam and Christianity.
Some of the reported common features in these experiences include: the feeling of the soul leaving the body, the feeling of peace and painlessness, entering a luminous cylindrical tunnel, meeting deceased people, and reviewing the past life of the experiencer. It is said that religious background and education have no effect on the essence and content of the near-death experience, but are only effective in its interpretation.
Numerous books have been written about near-death experiences; including Life After Life, Life at the Edges, Beyond Death, and Shenood (Listening). Also, the television talk show "Zindagi Pas Az Zindagi" (Life After Life) has been broadcast on this topic by the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting.

Definition and Status

Near-death experience (NDE) refers to parapsychologicalTemplate:Note and spiritual events reported by individuals who have been on the verge of death.[1] Near-death experience has been considered the most tangible phenomenon that proves the existence of the human soul and the continuation of life after death,[2] to the extent that Raymond Moody, an American philosopher and psychiatrist, said in an interview that after talking with thousands of people who have had near-death experiences, I have no doubt that our life does not end with death.[3] Some have also considered investigating near-death experiences as a way to gain awareness and remove anxieties about the phenomenon of death.[4]

Near-death experience is considered an interdisciplinary subject that has been given attention in the philosophy of religion, psychology of religion, and psychiatry.[5]

Raymond Moody is considered the first person who in 1975, by examining and analyzing these reports, wrote a book titled Life After Life[6] and named these events "near-death experiences".[7]

Difference from Dream and Death

According to Reza Mohammadi Shahroudi, one of the professors of Islamic theology, sleep, death, the world of dying (iḥtiḍār), and near-death experiences are of the same nature; because the soul in all these states establishes a connection with the world of malakūt and separates from the material world and the body.[8] Mohammadi Shahroudi believes that the separation of the soul from the material world has degrees and intensity and weakness; a level of it is death, which is a complete separation and there is no return to the material world, and another level is sleep or near-death experience, which is not a complete separation and only the soul's connection with the material world becomes weak.[9]

Difference from Mystical Revelation and Intuition

Near-death experience has been considered similar to revelation and observing great mystical and religious figures,[10] but differences between the two have also been mentioned; including that the mystic's revelation is the result of various scientific and practical ascetic practices[11] and its goal is to reach the divine encounter;[12] while near-death experience is not voluntary and merely everyday life events confront the person with such an experience.[13]

Common Features

The image of the book Jahān pas az marg

Researchers of near-death experiences, based on observing different experiencers, have extracted common features from near-death experiences, some of which are as follows:

  1. Feeling the occurrence of death.[14]
  2. Hearing the voices of those around exactly in the moments when the person is considered on the verge of death.[15]
  3. Feeling the soul leaving the body.[16]
  4. Feeling peace and painlessness; so that the experiencer does not feel the hardship of previous illnesses.[17]
  5. Entering a luminous cylindrical tunnel after the separation of the soul from the body.[18]
  6. Encountering an attractive and luminous being.[19]
  7. Meeting friends and relatives who had previously passed away.[20]
  8. Life review: Reviewing and looking at all events or part of the experiencer's life.[21]
  9. Immaterial time and place; a group of experiencers have spoken of seeing a supernatural realm, a pleasant scene full of extraordinary light and colors.[22]
  10. Non-arrival of the definitive time of death: Some experiencers have stated that it was instilled in them that their time of death has not yet arrived.[23]
  11. Reluctance to return to the world: Many experiencers have said that in that state they were faced with such an attractive and sweet condition that they had no desire to return to life.[24]

The Role of Religion in Interpreting Experiences

It is said that religious background and education have no effect on the essence and content of the near-death experience and its features, but are only effective in interpreting and explaining it.[25] Therefore, in encountering luminous beings—which is one of the common cases in these experiences—Christians consider him Jesus (a) and followers of other religions have referred to him as a sacred figure and an intimate angel.[26] A group of Muslim experiencers have reported that they have met some of the Shi'a Imams or Hazrat Abbas (a) and have enjoyed their intercession in surviving and returning to the world.[27]

Validation

There is disagreement on the validity of near-death experiences. A group of researchers (Muslim and non-Muslim) consider the actual occurrence of such experiences as certain, and some have considered it a hallucination and the result of brain activities.[28]

View of Muslim Researchers

A group of religious researchers consider the reports known as near-death experiences to be verifiable[29] and believe that the features stated for the state of dying (including seeing individuals who are not visible to others[30]) can be a confirmation for it; because the dying person, due to having a state of detachment and the weakening of the soul's attachment to the body, can see a part of the Barzakh world.[31]

According to Abd al-Husayn Khosrowpanah, although there are doubts in some of the reports of experiencers, considering their frequency, one cannot doubt the actual occurrence of near-death experiences.[32] Some researchers of philosophy and theology, citing the frequency of these experiences and their common features among seeing and blind people, religious and non-religious people, children and adults throughout history, have considered them valid.[33] In this regard, documents from the Qur'an and narrations have also been presented to confirm some of these experiences[34] and it has been claimed that there are common and different points between these experiences and Islamic teachings.[35]

According to some philosophy and theology researchers, near-death experiences cannot prove the existence of the soul after death; because the world proven by these experiences is different from the world after death described in Abrahamic religions such as Islam and Christianity.[36]

Some have also considered the confirmation or rejection of near-death experiences to be based on adapting them to the criteria of intellect, Sunna, and the Qur'an; when there is a reason to confirm or reject them, one can only speak of the possibility of those reports.[37]

View of Parapsychologists

Parapsychologists have also taken two kinds of positions regarding near-death experiences; some consider these reports as representing reality and consider it a proof for the immortality of the soul.[38] They have brought two reasons for their claim: one is the existence of numerous common features in these experiences[39] and the other is the profound impact of these experiences on the lives of experiencers and the change in their attitude towards death.[40] In contrast, some consider these reports as hallucinations and do not attach scientific value to them.[41] Susan Blackmore, one of the researchers in this field, believes that the numerous similarities in these experiences are the result of the brain and sensory activities of experiencers in moments near death.[42]

Bibliography

On the subject of near-death experiences, some have engaged in analyzing and examining it, and some have merely reported accounts in this field.

Analytical Works

  1. Life After Life, written by Raymond Moody, which is considered the first work on this subject and in which near-death reports of a number of people have been collected and examined.[43]
  2. Evidence of the Afterlife: The Science of Near-Death Experiences, written by Jeffrey Long.[44]
  3. Zindagi dar karanah-ha (Life at the Edges), written by Mojtaba Etemadinia; this work, looking at different approaches in interpreting these experiences, engages in a critical analysis about them.[45]
  4. Marg ashnayi: pazhuhishi dar bab-i chisti wa ab'ad-i mukhtalif-i tajruba-ha-yi nazdik bi marg (Death Familiarity: A Research on the Essence and Various Dimensions of Near-Death Experiences); this book is another work by Mojtaba Etemadinia in which he has analyzed and examined near-death experiences.[46]

Report-based Works

The image of the book Sih daqīqa dar qiyāmat
  1. An su-yi marg (Beyond Death) by Jamal Sadeqi, which deals with three memories about near-death experience and interviews with the owners of those experiences.[47]
  2. Sih daqiqa dar qiyamat (Three Minutes in the Hereafter): This book reports the return from death of one of the war wounded and more than one million copies have been printed.[48]
  3. Shenood (Listening): In this book, the near-death experience of a security official who regained consciousness after ten days of coma is narrated.[49]
  4. Embraced by the Light: A 7-volume collection written by Betty J. Eadie and others that reports Betty Jane's after-death experiences. This book is among the New York Times bestsellers.[50]
  5. Zindagi pas az zindagi (Life After Life) Program: A television talk show program "Life After Life" in the field of near-death experiences, produced and hosted by Abbas Mozon, has been broadcast in five seasons and each season in more than 30 episodes of 90 minutes from Channel 4 of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting during the month of Ramadan in the years 1399-1403 Sh (2020-2024).[51]

See Also

Notes

  1. ↑ Sāʿī & Qāsimiyān-Nizhād, "Barrasī-yi chīstī-yi tajruba-yi nazdīk bi marg wa naqd-i dīdgāh-hā-yi mutanāẓir bā ān", p. 9.
  2. ↑ Riḍāniyā & Iʿtimādīniyā, "Tajruba-hā-yi nazdīk bi marg, barrasī-yi chīstī wa naḥwa-yi dalālat-i ān dar ithbāt-i ḥayāt-i pas az marg", p. 90.
  3. ↑ Khusrawpanāh, "Tajruba-yi nazdīk bi marg wāqiʿiyyat yā pindār?", p. 48.
  4. ↑ Gawharī, "Naqdī bar wāqiʿ-namāyī-yi tajrubiyyāt-i laḥaẓāt-i nazdīk bi marg", p. 83.
  5. ↑ Khusrawpanāh, "Tajruba-yi nazdīk bi marg wāqiʿiyyat yā pindār?", p. 48.
  6. ↑ Gawharī, "Naqdī bar wāqiʿ-namāyī-yi tajrubiyyāt-i laḥaẓāt-i nazdīk bi marg", p. 93.
  7. ↑ Shānaẓarī & Faraḥnākiyān, "Iʿtibārsanjī-yi tajruba-hā-yi nazdīk bi marg dar qalamraw-i ilāhiyyāt-i Islāmī", p. 411; Sāʿī & Qāsimiyān-Nizhād, "Barrasī-yi chīstī-yi tajruba-yi nazdīk bi marg wa naqd-i dīdgāh-hā-yi mutanāẓir bā ān", p. 8.
  8. ↑ Muḥammadī Shāhrūdī, "Tajruba-hā-yi nazdīk bi marg", p. 132.
  9. ↑ Muḥammadī Shāhrūdī, "Tajruba-hā-yi nazdīk bi marg", pp. 133-134.
  10. ↑ Sāʿī & Qāsimiyān-Nizhād, "Barrasī-yi chīstī-yi tajruba-yi nazdīk bi marg wa naqd-i dīdgāh-hā-yi mutanāẓir bā ān", p. 8.
  11. ↑ Anwarī, Farhang-i buzurg-i sukhan, 1390 Sh, vol. 4, p. 3767.
  12. ↑ Qāsānī, Sharḥ manāzil al-sāʾirīn, 1385 Sh, p. 218.
  13. ↑ Shānaẓarī & Faraḥnākiyān, "Iʿtibārsanjī-yi tajruba-hā-yi nazdīk bi marg dar qalamraw-i ilāhiyyāt-i Islāmī", p. 440.
  14. ↑ Riḍāniyā & Iʿtimādīniyā, "Tajruba-hā-yi nazdīk bi marg, barrasī-yi chīstī wa naḥwa-yi dalālat-i ān dar ithbāt-i ḥayāt-i pas az marg", p. 94.
  15. ↑ Riḍāniyā & Iʿtimādīniyā, "Tajruba-hā-yi nazdīk bi marg, barrasī-yi chīstī wa naḥwa-yi dalālat-i ān dar ithbāt-i ḥayāt-i pas az marg", p. 94.
  16. ↑ Sāʿī & Qāsimiyān-Nizhād, "Barrasī-yi chīstī-yi tajruba-yi nazdīk bi marg wa naqd-i dīdgāh-hā-yi mutanāẓir bā ān", p. 10.
  17. ↑ Sāʿī & Qāsimiyān-Nizhād, "Barrasī-yi chīstī-yi tajruba-yi nazdīk bi marg wa naqd-i dīdgāh-hā-yi mutanāẓir bā ān", p. 10.
  18. ↑ Sāʿī & Qāsimiyān-Nizhād, "Barrasī-yi chīstī-yi tajruba-yi nazdīk bi marg wa naqd-i dīdgāh-hā-yi mutanāẓir bā ān", p. 11.
  19. ↑ Akbarī, Jāwidānagī, 1390 Sh, p. 324.
  20. ↑ Akbarī, Jāwidānagī, 1390 Sh, p. 324.
  21. ↑ Sāʿī & Qāsimiyān-Nizhād, "Barrasī-yi chīstī-yi tajruba-yi nazdīk bi marg wa naqd-i dīdgāh-hā-yi mutanāẓir bā ān", p. 11.
  22. ↑ Sāʿī & Qāsimiyān-Nizhād, "Barrasī-yi chīstī-yi tajruba-yi nazdīk bi marg wa naqd-i dīdgāh-hā-yi mutanāẓir bā ān", p. 12.
  23. ↑ Gawharī, "Naqdī bar wāqiʿ-namāyī-yi tajrubiyyāt-i laḥaẓāt-i nazdīk bi marg", p. 99.
  24. ↑ Sāʿī & Qāsimiyān-Nizhād, "Barrasī-yi chīstī-yi tajruba-yi nazdīk bi marg wa naqd-i dīdgāh-hā-yi mutanāẓir bā ān", p. 12.
  25. ↑ Shānaẓarī & Faraḥnākiyān, "Iʿtibārsanjī-yi tajruba-hā-yi nazdīk bi marg dar qalamraw-i ilāhiyyāt-i Islāmī", p. 413.
  26. ↑ Akbarī, Jāwidānagī, 1390 Sh, p. 324.
  27. ↑ "Guftigū bā Maytham-i ʿAbbāsiyān", shabaka-yi chahār-i sīmā; "Guftigū bā Īmān, tajruba-gar", shabaka-yi chahār-i sīmā.
  28. ↑ Gawharī, "Naqdī bar wāqiʿ-namāyī-yi tajrubiyyāt-i laḥaẓāt-i nazdīk bi marg", p. 100.
  29. ↑ Gawharī, "Naqdī bar wāqiʿ-namāyī-yi tajrubiyyāt-i laḥaẓāt-i nazdīk bi marg", p. 102.
  30. ↑ Gawharī, "Naqdī bar wāqiʿ-namāyī-yi tajrubiyyāt-i laḥaẓāt-i nazdīk bi marg", p. 92.
  31. ↑ Shānaẓarī & Faraḥnākiyān, "Iʿtibārsanjī-yi tajruba-hā-yi nazdīk bi marg dar qalamraw-i ilāhiyyāt-i Islāmī", p. 427.
  32. ↑ Khusrawpanāh, "Tajruba-yi nazdīk bi marg wāqiʿiyyat yā pindār?", p. 48.
  33. ↑ Shānaẓarī & Faraḥnākiyān, "Iʿtibārsanjī-yi tajruba-hā-yi nazdīk bi marg dar qalamraw-i ilāhiyyāt-i Islāmī", pp. 443-444.
  34. ↑ Shānaẓarī & Faraḥnākiyān, "Iʿtibārsanjī-yi tajruba-hā-yi nazdīk bi marg dar qalamraw-i ilāhiyyāt-i Islāmī", pp. 428-436.
  35. ↑ Shānaẓarī & Faraḥnākiyān, "Iʿtibārsanjī-yi tajruba-hā-yi nazdīk bi marg dar qalamraw-i ilāhiyyāt-i Islāmī", p. 445.
  36. ↑ Akbarī, Jāwidānagī, 1390 Sh, pp. 325-330.
  37. ↑ "Āyā mī-tawān bi riwāyat-hā-yi tajruba-yi pas az marg iʿtimād kard?", ISNA.
  38. ↑ Akbarī, Jāwidānagī, 1390 Sh, p. 324.
  39. ↑ Akbarī, Jāwidānagī, 1390 Sh, p. 325.
  40. ↑ Gawharī, "Naqdī bar wāqiʿ-namāyī-yi tajrubiyyāt-i laḥaẓāt-i nazdīk bi marg", p. 101.
  41. ↑ Gawharī, "Naqdī bar wāqiʿ-namāyī-yi tajrubiyyāt-i laḥaẓāt-i nazdīk bi marg", p. 100.
  42. ↑ Akbarī, Jāwidānagī, 1390 Sh, pp. 325-326.
  43. ↑ Gawharī, "Naqdī bar wāqiʿ-namāyī-yi tajrubiyyāt-i laḥaẓāt-i nazdīk bi marg", p. 93.
  44. ↑ "Muʿarrifī wa dānlūd-i kitāb-i Jahān pas az marg", ketabrah.
  45. ↑ "Zindagī dar karāna-hā", Patoq-i Kitāb-i Fardā.
  46. ↑ "Marg āshnāyī", Fidibo.
  47. ↑ "Ān sū-yi marg", Patoq-i Kitāb-i Fardā.
  48. ↑ "Kitāb-i Sih daqīqa dar qiyāmat", Shahid Ebrahim Hadi Publications.
  49. ↑ "Muʿarrifī wa dānlūd-i kitāb-i ṣawtī-yi Shunūd", ketabrah.
  50. ↑ "Kitāb-i Dar āghūsh-i nūr", Iran Ketab.
  51. ↑ "Zindagī pas az zindagī", shabaka-yi chahār-i sīmā.

References

  • Akbarī, Riḍā. Jāwidānagī. Qom, Muʾassasa-yi Būstān-i Kitāb, 1390 Sh.
  • "Ān sū-yi marg". Patoq-i Kitāb-i Fardā website. Accessed: Ābān 23, 1401 Sh.
  • Anwarī, Ḥasan. Farhang-i buzurg-i sukhan. Tehran, Sukhan, 1390 Sh.
  • "Āyā mī-tawān bi riwāyat-hā-yi tajruba-yi pas az marg iʿtimād kard?". ISNA. Published: Khurdād 10, 1400 Sh. Accessed: Ādhar 13, 1401 Sh.
  • "Farā-rawānshināsī". Migna. Published: Isfand 16, 1389 Sh. Accessed: Ābān 8, 1401 Sh.
  • Gawharī, ʿAbbās. "Naqdī bar wāqiʿ-namāyī-yi tajrubiyyāt-i laḥaẓāt-i nazdīk bi marg bar asās-i āmūza-hā-yi Qurʾān wa riwāyāt". In Nashriyya-yi Pizhūhish-i Dīnī, no. 18, Spring and Summer 1388 Sh.
  • "Guftigū bā Īmān, tajruba-gar". Shabaka-yi chahār-i sīmā. Accessed: Ādhar 13, 1401 Sh.
  • "Guftigū bā Maytham-i ʿAbbāsiyān, tajruba-gar". Shabaka-yi chahār-i sīmā. Accessed: Ādhar 13, 1401 Sh.
  • Khusrawpanāh, ʿAbd al-Ḥusayn. "Tajruba-yi nazdīk bi marg wāqiʿiyyat yā pindār?". In Nashriyya-yi Pāsdār-i Islām, no. 471-472, Tīr and Murdād 1400 Sh.
  • "Kitāb-i Bāzgasht". Shahid Ebrahim Hadi Publications. Accessed: Ābān 12, 1401 Sh.
  • "Kitāb-i Sih daqīqa dar qiyāmat". Shahid Ebrahim Hadi Publications. Accessed: Ābān 12, 1401 Sh.
  • Moody, Raymond. Zindagī pas az zindagī. Translated by Shahnāz Anūshīrawānī. Tehran, Muʾassasa-yi Khadamāt-i Farhangī-yi Rasā, 1373 Sh.
  • "Muʿarrifī wa dānlūd-i kitāb-i Jahān pas az marg". Ketabrah. Accessed: Ādhar 17, 1401 Sh.
  • "Muʿarrifī wa dānlūd-i kitāb-i ṣawtī-yi Shunūd". Ketabrah. Accessed: Ābān 12, 1401 Sh.
  • Muḥammadī Shāhrūdī, Riḍā. "Tajruba-hā-yi nazdīk bi marg". In Nashriyya-yi Pāsukh, no. 25, Spring 1401 Sh.
  • Qāsānī, ʿAbd al-Razzāq al-. Sharḥ manāzil al-sāʾirīn-i Khwāja ʿAbd Allāh Anṣārī. Edited by Muḥsin Bīdārfar. Qom, Bīdār, 1385 Sh.
  • Riḍāniyā, Ḥamīd, and Mujtabā Iʿtimādīniyā. "Tajruba-hā-yi nazdīk bi marg; barrasī-yi chīstī wa naḥwa-yi dalālat-i ān dar ithbāt-i ḥayāt-i pas az marg". In Nashriyya-yi Pizhūhish-hā-yi Adyānī, no. 3, Spring and Summer 1393 Sh.
  • Sāʿī, Maḥbūba, and ʿAlī-Naqī Qāsimiyān-Nizhād. "Barrasī-yi chīstī-yi tajruba-yi nazdīk bi marg wa naqd-i dīdgāh-hā-yi mutanāẓir bā ān". In Nashriyya-yi Andīsha-yi Nuvīn-i Dīnī, no. 38, pp. 7-24, Winter 1393 Sh.
  • Shānaẓarī, Jaʿfar, and Kumayl Faraḥnākiyān. "Iʿtibārsanjī-yi tajruba-hā-yi nazdīk bi marg dar qalamraw-i ilāhiyyāt-i Islāmī". In Hamāyish-i Bayn al-Milalī-yi Falsafa-yi Dīn-i Muʿāṣir, 1392 Sh.
  • Ṭabarsī, Faḍl b. Ḥasan al-. Majmaʿ al-bayān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Beirut, Dār al-Maʿrifa, n.d.
  • "Zindagī dar karāna-hā". Patoq-i Kitāb-i Fardā. Accessed: Ābān 12, 1401 Sh.
  • "Zindagī pas az zindagī". Shabaka-yi chahār-i sīmā. Accessed: Ābān 12, 1401 Sh.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikishia.net/w/index.php?title=Draft:Near-death_experience_(NDE)&oldid=206558"