The Reality of European Spiritualists and Their Misunderstanding

Hazrat Faqir Noor Muhammad Sarwari
Qadri Kalachwi (RA)

This article contains translations of important excerpts from the chapter titled "The Reality of European Spiritualists and Their Misunderstanding", from the book "Irfan (part 2)" by Hazrat Faqir Noor Muhammad Sarwari Qadri Kalachwi (RA). This book was first published in 1942. It has two parts. Both parts also  have translations in English. The urdu version of the first volume can be read here and English version can be read here. I have to acknowledge that this translation is not very good and has various reasons to it:

1. I have tried to translate everything verbatim from Urdu to English with less regard for grammatical corection but to stay more in harmony with the text.
2. There are many jargon words specific to Islamic spiritualism which I do not know the meaning of and I do not possess an Urdu to English dictionary.
3. Translation is a cumbersome process.
4. I did the translation.

It is advisable that this article be read in connection with, and preferably after reading, An Account of Invocation of Jinns, Angels and Souls.

It is also advisable that this article be read in connection with, and preferably after reading, On Afterlife and Islamic Spirituality.

The motivation behind doing this translation very immediately was this interview of Richard Martini, 

New Pathway To Healing: An Interview With Richard Martini.

Now we want to make this thing clear that what beings are the safli (evil) souls that  European Spiritualists invoke and communicate with. And when they are asked that who are you, why do they reply that we are your forefather's and we are the souls of those people who have passed away from this world. And before this we have been living our lives on earth like you, and now we are living and are busy in spiritual progress in the seven communities (or planes or levels or realms) of the aalam-e-arwaah (the world of the souls).

If this is true then the beliefs of all religions, specially Islam, which are, judgement, the judgement day, hashar nashar (I think this translates to judgement too), azaab-e-qabar (punishment of the grave), munkar nakeer (some angels that ask questions in the grave), qayaam-e-qayaamat (again the setting of the judgement day), and the reality of heaven and hell etc., then belief vanishes in them. Because when these spirits are asked about these things they deny their existence. And say that there is no such thing like this. Neither there is hell nor heaven, nor is there any existence of a Godhead. Although because of spiritualism Europe's science-ridden materialists' previous naturalist and atheistic ideology has now changed and they have all become convinced of life after death and they have gotten redemption from the Christian Religion's old papal and priestly machinations.which had indulged them into the wrong consolations of tasliyyat (I don't know the translation, but I think that it means confession) and kaffaara (this is an urdu word which means to pay or worship, or do something similar to attain redemption from one's sins). Now everyone considers himself responsible for his deeds. But these spirits meaning safli souls' (I don't know the meaning of safli but I think that it means evil) and jinn devils' false descriptions have pushed them into a quagmire of a new type of atheism and irreligiousity and the ghost of Darwin's evolution has again overcome their hearts and minds. Meaning that this life is a natural thing and just like in the worldly life the human body is attaining the levels of material progress and evolution, similarly death is also synonymous with a natural change and after death human being keeps on accomplishing higher levels of spiritual progress and evolution. Before this, although to a certain extent, everyone had the fear of death, due to which those people used to refrain and shy away from doing bad deeds, but now the fear of death has vanished away from their hearts and the thought of reward and punishment has also vanished. Only the name and the process of progress and evolution has remained which is happening autonomously. Similarly the devil has pushed them in to a new kind of irreligiosity and atheism. Thus, the example of falling from the sky and getting stuck in the date palm suits truly with them. And similarly he has imprisoned them in the false idea that the miracles of the previous prophets were also of this kind and type of safli (evil?) and mad (mental, the word junooni) karishmas and when their mediums heal and cure the diseases created by mad ghosts then they think that previous prophets, specially Hazrat Isa (Alaihe Salaat-o-wassalam, meaning peace be upon Him) (i.e. Jesus Christ PBUH) who used to cure, handicapped or the blind by birth, he also had inside him this type of spiritual and healing power, the practice of which these people do in their churches with the help of passes etc. Even though, there is a diference equivalent of sky and the earth between every two of these safli (evil?) acrobatics and alvi (good in some sense?) miracles.

Now we consider it important to tell the souls or the spirits that are invoked by the spiritualists of Europe in their seances and those that say we are your forefathers who have passed away from your world or we are those dead humans' souls who inhibited the earth. We have passed away from this world and tell their relatives and kin their complete signs and whereabouts. Who they actually are? And what is their reality? 

It should be clear that the mediums of Europe are often women or weak, illiterate, or simple minded (or possibly innocent) men. Most of the mediums are affected by certain mental illnesses for a while. And the guide spirits that are appointed on them that mostly tells of itself as a foreign person. The most strange thing is that such infants who die after less than even a week or so, such infant children' souls' when invoked start talking, communicating and answering every question like grown up adults without training. Moreover, when some people die, they appear in spiritual seances and start talking without inhibition, even when they are not buried. Even though the person, after having undergone prolonged illness, the difficult process of death, enters the unseen and unheard barzakh (another jargon word, but it is one of the planes of the afterlife) and has to deal with different kinds of revolutions and storms therein. He, for no reason, has the pain and agony of leaving his beloved land, house, relatives and kin and solitude, how can he instantaneously get rid of all of these irritations and problems and start talking with the members of the seance? Thus, these are things which the refined wisdom cannot agree to accept.  Thus, what are these things that tell of themselves as the dead peoples' souls? If they are not souls, then how and why they are aware of all the information and circumstances of the souls.  

So the real thing is that according to Islamic beliefs when a human being is born, a devil is appointed and fixed for (and with) him. Therefore, when it was asked to Hazrat Muhammad Sallalaho Alaihe Wassalam (PBUH), You (PBUH) replied, "Yes, a devil has been fixed with me. But Allah Almighty has endowed me with dominance over him and my devil has become a Muslim". Such physical jinns and devils are born naturally with every human being and to him is also an hidden structure, to which some people refer to as duplicate. This structure is human soul's image, shadow, and complete model and all human feelings and knowledge. Besides this there are other subtle structures in human self. Our spiritual teacher Hazrat Sultan Baahu (Rehmat Allah Alaih) (May Allah's beneficience be upon Him) says in his book Noor-ul-Huda Kalaan:

There are bodies within the body of the human beings and there are various types of these bodies. And every type has a name given to it. Because Humans' body is like a magical treasure. The puzzle of this magic of body is solved by a person of spell by virtue of the name of Allah and attains inner and hidden wealth and blessing. Those hiddedn structures are described as follows:

(I am missing the translation because of the fact that there is use of Persian language here and some jargon).

On another occasion he says:

Nine types of subtle bodies come out of Arif Billah's body. Thus, four bodies are nafs-e-ammaara, nafs-e-lawwaama, nafs-e-mulhima and nafs-e-mutmainna. Three bodies are of the heart; qalb-e-saleem, qalb-e-muneeb, qalb-e-shaheed, and two bodies of the soul; rooh-e-jamaadi, rooh-e-nabaati.

On a third occasion he says that:

From every body, thousand rather so many bodies come out and then they assemble in to one body.

So this type of numerous bodies/structures exist in the human body and after death this type of human's symbolic bodies stay behind like offspring. Other than this there is Allah Almighty's uncountable invisible creation the quantity of which is not known to any other but Allah Almighty.

Translation 74:31: And none can know the hosts of your Lord but He.

One structure, namely humzaad which is called as duplicate in English is appointed with a human from the time of his/her birth. If the spiritualists of Europe invoke such an invisible subtle structure and he/she tells of him/her-self as the body and mind of or the soul of the same soul, then because of this an aspersion cannot be made about different divine religions' specially Islam's, beliefs and ideologies and various notions regarding human soul about punishment, judgment, etc stay untainted as they are. The existence of jinns is although true and shown in Europeans' old religious beliefs and they exist with the names of genie, fairy, devil etc. But the type of invisible subtle creation spiritualists encounter in or out of their seances, they describe themselves as dead peoples' souls. And whatever right or wrong those souls tell them they believe in that. Although one hundred years ago there was not a single person in Europe who was convinced about the existence of soul after death. Now only due to the invocation of souls in the spiritual seances and frequent visual exhibitions experiments has convinced Europe of life after death and a slight glimpse about the one  true thing among many beliefs and ideologies about the religion of Islam, which is life after death, has been known. And in spite of so many observations and experiments devil has indulged them in to a new type of atheism and naturalism. As Allah Almighty has said in surah Al-Anaam (chapter 6) of the Holly Quran:

111. And even if We had sent down unto them angels, and the dead had spoken unto them, and We had gathered together all things before their very eyes, they would not have believed, unless Allah willed, but most of them behave ignorantly.

112. And so We have appointed for every Prophet enemies - Shayatin (devils) among mankind and jinns, inspiring one another with adorned speech as a delusion (or by way of deception). If your Lord had so willed, they would not have done it, so leave them alone with their fabrications. (Tafseer Qurtubi, Vol.7, Page 67)

In the verses above, how has Allah

CONTINUED

Certainty in Belief is Dependent Upon Seeing

Hazrat Faqir Noor Muhammad Sarwari
Qadri Kalachwi (RA)

This article contains translations of important excerpts from the chapter titled "Certainty in Belief is Dependent Upon Seeing", from the book "Irfan (part 2)" by Hazrat Faqir Noor Muhammad Sarwari Qadri Kalachwi (RA). This book was first published in 1942. It has two parts. Both parts also  have translations in English. The urdu version of the first volume can be read here and English version can be read here.

It is also advisable that this article be read in connection with, and preferably after reading, On Afterlife and Islamic Spirituality.

Now we come to our real topic and describe the reality of nafs (the soul, or the self). It should be made clear that Allah shows to the seekers of path verses and signs of the aafaaq (skies) and anfas (souls, selves) so much so that they clearly find the truth.

سَنُرِيهِمْ آيَاتِنَا فِي الْآفَاقِ وَفِي أَنفُسِهِمْ حَتَّى يَتَبَيَّنَ لَهُمْ أَنَّهُ الْحَقُّ أَوَلَمْ يَكْفِ بِرَبِّكَ أَنَّهُ عَلَى كُلِّ 

شَيْءٍ شَهِيدٌ (حم 53:41)

We shall show them Our portents on the horizons and within themselves until it will be manifest unto them that it is the Truth. Dothnot thy Lord suffice, since He is Witness over all things?

In the verse quoted, a mention has been made about the world of aafaaq (the skies) and world of anfas (the souls), the whole universe is composed of these two worlds.

The world of Aafaaq (the skies) is also called as the world of creation, the apparent world, the witnessed world, the material world, the subtle world, the shape world, and the unreal world. And this is this world that the human being knows about and feels through his five senses.

The second world of anfas (the souls) is also called as the upper world, the inner world, the invisible world, the subtle world, the world of meaning and the real world. And this world is hidden from the apparent senses. The anfas world is real and the aafaaq world is its image. Both worlds have similar earth, sky, sun, moon, stars and all of the other things and two types of material and subtle subtle creation. In Quran-e-Pak Allah Almighty often discusses the reality of the invisible world with the subtle world and its creation. As Allah Almighty says.

الم  o ذَلِكَ الْكِتَابُ لاَ رَيْبَ فِيهِ هُدًى لِّلْمُتَّقِينَ  o  الَّذِينَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِالْغَيْبِ()

This is the Scripture whereof there is no doubt, a guidance unto those who ward off (evil). Who believe in the Unseen.

Normally with, يُؤْمِنُونَ بِالْغَيْبِ, it has been considered to bear faith without seeing. This can never be correct because faith and belief become firm with seeing. As there are three levels of belief: First is ilm-ul-yaqeen (knowledge of belief), ain-ul-yaqeen (vision of belief) and haq-ul-yaqeen, which mean identification, visual perception and discovery. Just like in the case of any issue or incident a man's testimony is true only if he has actually witnessed and seen the particular issue or the incident. Otherwise, without seeing the witness can be proven to be wrong. Similarly, in the case bearing testimony of oneness of Allah Almighty and on Prophethood of Hazrat Muhammad (May Allah's Peace and Blessings be upon) only those virtuous and people of enlightened conscience can be true who have seen the invisible accounts and the inner/hidden issues of Allah Almighty with the eyes of their inner self. Meaning that their kalimah (word of testimony):

اَشْهَدُ اَنْ لَّآ اِلٰهَ اِلَّا اللہُ وَحْدَهٗ لَا شَرِيْكَ لَهٗ وَ اَشْهَدُ اَنَّ مُحَمَّدً اعَبْدُهٗ وَرَسُوْلُهٗؕ

Translation: I bear witness that (there is) no god except Allah; One is He, no partner hath He, and I bear witness that Muhammad (Sall-Allahu Alayhi wa Sallam) is His Servant and Messenger.

is correct. Just like Allah Almighty showed the angels of the earth and the skies to Hazrat Ibrahim (AS) to strengthen his faith and belief. As it has been said: 

Translation: 6:75. Thus did we show Ibrahim (Abraham) the kingdom of the heavens and the earth that he be one of those who have Faith with certainty.

Rather Hazrat Ibrahim kept on begging and requesting Allah Almighty for peace of heart and solidarity of certainty in faith. As it is discussed in these verses:

Translation 2:260. And (remember) when Ibrahim (Abraham) said, "My Lord! Show me how You give life to the dead." He (Allah) said: "Do you not believe?" He [Ibrahim (Abraham)] said: "Yes (I believe), but to be stronger in Faith." He said: "Take four birds, then cause them to incline towards you (then slaughter them, cut them into pieces), and then put a portion of them on every hill, and call them, they will come to you in haste. And know that Allah is All-Mighty, All-Wise."

Then Allah showed the process of resurrecting the dead to Hazrat Ibrahim (AS). And if having certainty of faith without seeing had any value then why would Allah Almighty have increased Hazrat Ibrahim's faith by showing him the angels of the earth and the skies? And why would Hazrat Ibrahim have requested to see the resurrection of the dead?  So belief and faith and the certainty therein is dependent on seeing and reciting the kalimah of testimony without seeing is not correct at all. And such is the testimony of hypocrites. As we have described in the previous verses:

Translation 63:1. When the hypocrites come to you (O Muhammad ), they say: "We bear witness that you are indeed the Messenger of Allah." Allah knows that you are indeed His Messenger and Allah bears witness that the hypocrites are liars indeed.

So the issue of faith is all about the invisible. As it has been described in the conditions of faith (The detailed declaration of faith): 

I have faith in Allah and His Angels, His Books and His Messengers, and the Day of Judgment and that all good and evil and fate is from Allah and it is sure that there will be resurrection after death. 

And all of these are invisible things. And till the time a believer cannot see these hidden secret things his having faith in the invisible world is word of testimony is not at all correct and right. The starry eyed hypocrites who are blind since ever from this invisible real world, their formality driven and conceited faith is not equal to a piece of straw in value near God. Rather like hypocrites their verbal word is not becomes a cause and reason for their curse and doomed faith. The saying of Allah in this regard is:

Translation 17:72. And whoever is blind in this world (i.e., does not see Allah's Signs and believes not in Him), will be blind in the Hereafter, and more astray from the Path. 

The description about Hazrat Ibrahim (AS) that has been given of another occasion in Quran-e-Hakeem  that he after seeing the stars, moon and the sun after one another that this is my God. The real detail and description and explanation of these verses is extremely important. Allah says:

Translation 6:76: When the night covered him over with darkness he saw a star. He said: "This is my lord." But when it set, he said: "I like not those that set."

And when he saw the moon while it was shining, he said this is my lord. But when that set he got fed up of that too. And when he saw sun he considered it as his lord and god. But when that also set he showed annoyance with that too. Ultimately after seeing the actual noor (light) of God he said:

Translation 6:79. Verily, I have turned my face towards Him Who has created the heavens and the earth Hanifa (Islamic Monotheism, i.e. worshipping none but Allah Alone) and I am not of Al-Mushrikun (see V.2:105)".

So all the universe is composed of Aalam-e-Aafaaq (the visible world) and the aalam-e-anfas (the invisible world. Just like the visible world has material stars, moon and the sun, the invisible world also has subtle stars, moon(s) and sun(s). When the disciple achieves levels of discipleship in his inner self he has to pass through many inner places, levels and circumstances. And different enlightenments are bestowed upon him. Thus the enlightenment of nafs (the self) on the level (place) of naasoot appears in the form of star due to lights of the deeds. On some disciples when this type of light appears then he considers it as the light of Allah.But after some while when the disciple progresses and moves ahead from this level then this light disappears and dims. At this stage the disciple understands that this passing and dimming light is temporary and Allah's light (noor, actually the urdu word tajjalli is used here) is ahead which is eternal and perpetual. After this the tajjali-e-qalb (light of heart?) appears on the disciple on the level of malakoot (angels?) due to lights (anwaar) of names (asmaa) in the form of moon. Because this light is slightly brighter than than the previous light, due to this the disciple starts considering it as the the light of Allah Almighty. But after a while this light also disappears and the disciple understands that this could also not be the light of Allah Almighty. When the disciple progresses further then the light appears in the level of jabaroot due to anwaar-e-sifaat (lights of characteristics, traits, qualities) in the form of sun and the disciple (the actual word in Urdu saalik is used here and I do not know the real translation of the word in English) thinks that this electrifying and clear light is that of Allah Almighty. But when in the accomplished levels this light disappears, he abandons it by saying "I like not those that set." (verse 76:6). After this in the level of Laahoot the actual light of Allah Almighty appears on the disciple which does not dim or disappear in any way. At this stage the disciple knows that this is the actual, real and personal light of Allah Almighty. At this stage, like Hazrat Ibrahim (AS), by becoming appointed on the level of real unity of and by attaining close proximity of Allah Almighty he proclaims: 

Translation 6:79. Verily, I have turned my face towards Him Who has created the heavens and the earth Hanifa (Islamic Monotheism, i.e. worshipping none but Allah Alone) and I am not of Al-Mushrikun (see V.2:105)".

Meaning that I have turned my attention completely towards the personal light of Allah Almighty and I have become a complete knower by ridding myself off from all polytheism except the lights (anwaar) deeds, names and traits.

NOTE: Another relevant topic to this is that of the psychospiritual organs.

An Account of the Invocation of Jinns, Angels and Souls

Captain Black Beard's Ghost!

This article presents translations of important excerpts from the chapter titled "An Account of the Invocation of Jinns, Angels and Souls", from the book "Irfan" by Hazrat Faqir Noor Muhammad Sarwari Qadri Kalachwi (RA). This book was first published in 1942. It has two parts. Both parts also  have translations in English. The urdu version of the first volume can be read here and English version can be read here.

This is in response to the materialist views of the atheists who claim that once we die, we live in an eternal oblivion. The purpose of presenting this translation has many aspects but it is indeed not intended as a possible rebuttal. This is meant to give some food for thought to the present-day, and future, scientists, and intellectuals and to help them form concrete notions of any possible human afterlife. It is also advisable that this article be read in connection with, and preferably after reading, On Afterlife and Islamic Spirituality.

For the past one hundred years science of invocation of souls , which is called spiritualism, is published and practiced among the Europeans, it is much celebrated there. And this science has acquired a form of a worldwide religion over there. In the USA tens of millions of people believe and follow this religion and this religion has spread all across Europe. And there is not a single country in Europe where this religion's numerous spiritual gatherings, huge organizations, large scale societies, thousands of lecturers and hundreds of practitioners known as mediums are not present. Credible doctors, chemists, scientists, philosophers and even members of parliament are special members of these organizations and societies. There are plenty of daily newspapers and weekly magazines in Europe that publish the achievements of these spiritual organizations for the general public. Thus, in London "psychic news" is a famous newspaper which has a huge audience. And there are plenty of news papers that are publishing about this science. There are colleges for its education. Proper education of the science is given in London and "The British College for Psychic Science, London" is a big college for this science…. (continued)

The circles and gatherings that are established for the invocation of souls in Europe are called spiritual seances, spiritual circles, spiritual sittings. In these spiritual gatherings a medium's presence is extremely necessary and the success of the whole circle or gathering depends upon him/her. Medium is such a person upon whom some soul gets appointed naturally. Although now is colleges this spiritual excellence (mediumship) is somehow acquired but normally mediums become to be so naturally by birth, 

The Fox house in Hydesville

In these circles three persons sit around a table. One among them is the medium and the other two are his/her helpers. Rest of the people are spectators. Sometimes these gatherings are conducted successfully with hundreds of people. Thus, souls come and go in these gatherings. They talk, show faces, they transport physical objects in and out of closed locked rooms. They play drums, they take the medium out of the closed room. They touch the bodies of the attendees to make their presence felt. They make signs and write excerpts on walls. Rather this science has progressed so much there that with sophisticated photographic equipment and plates pictures of spirits can be taken which are photographed. Souls come and deliver lectures in these circles and gatherings and their voices are recorded on tapes. Thus, so many strange things are done that leave human wisdom dumbfounded and material wisdom and science is unable to explain it.

Casa Da Familia Fox

Here, for the purpose of keenness of the reader, I (the author) would like to describe  a brief history of this science. Initially when, where and how this science started and how did this gain tradition in the agnostic, atheistic countries of Europe.    The first strange incident of this science happened in 1846 in a village named, Hadesville, in the USA the detail of which is that in the town of Hadesville a man named Weekmaan used to live. In the house, rappings were heard for a few successive nights. The people of the house became so frightened of these invisible and unnatural voices that after a few months they left the house. After they left another man named John Fox settled in this house with his wife and two children. They also started hearing the same rappings in this house. When they informed the villagers of these voices the villagers rushed for the discovery of these voices. They learnt that an invisible hand and an unnatural object produced those rappings. A person named madam Fox told the people that some soul was responsible for this and that this was a soul of a traveller who was murdered, whose name was Sharl Ryan (I might be wrong in interpreting the name of the person correctly, but this was my guest guess). The story is that a few years ago this man appeared in this village while he was traveling and roaming around and stayed in that house for a night. Some other person who was staying in that house already, killed him out of his greed for former's possessions and money. When the news of those rappings spread most people started ridiculing this incident of spiritualism. Some even said that it was a white lie. This could never happen. After this poor John Fox, along with his family, moved out to another town named Rolter. News spread in this town and he became a subject of that town's atheists and materialists ridicule. People of Europe have a distinguishing feature that when ever they see and experience a new phenomenon, all of them start researching about that and do not abandon the subject unless they gain some knowledge about it. When the discussion of this incident gained momentum in Rolter, the people of that town sent a committee of scholars for inquiry over there for three times. But the committee could not reach at a decision and the townspeople made John Fox and the scholars a subject of their criticism and ridicule. For the newspapers all of the accounts became a source of entertainment and they ridiculed them a lot. But in the mean while strange spiritual incidents of this type started happening and rigorous research ensued and when the health of this science was proved then only in four years the knowledge of this problem spread in all of the USA very quickly and with much intensity and it became well known everywhere. Thus, people started using those rappings as ticks and clicks of the telegraph system and everywhere spiritual gatherings and circles established. People used to sit around a big table along with the medium. One person used to read out the alphabetical letters. When upon reaching the desired letter a rapping would be heard, they would make note of that letter. Like this they would collect all the letters, such as in the case of telegraph, and form words and phrases from them to see a complete utterance of what the soul had desired to say or a complete answer to a specific question. Like this initially the process of conversation with the souls began. 1854 had not yet finished when Washington's parliament took responsibility of research of these unnatural events. Meaning that after eight years of the mentioned incident Washington's members of the parliament themselves focused their attention to the research of it. The reason was that a rather long application with fifteen thousand signatures was presented to the members of the parliament. The application is as follows:

We, the signatories of the following, residents of the united states of America, beg to state that some unnatural and unusual incidents are occurring for a few days in this country and in various parts of Europe. These incidents appear mostly in northern, southern and central america. Nothing becomes known about these incidents. Common public is completely perplexed, bewildered and anxious. Because the purpose of this application is to gain attention of you people, that's why we state a few accounts of these incidents in this application:

1) These thousands of wise people have witnessed a hidden force that gives motion to huge and heavy bodies and completely topples them around. That is apparently against the laws of physics and is out of the common human knowledge and power. Up until now no man has been able to explain these incidents. 

2) In a dark room a light of different shape and color appears. Even though that room does not have any such substance in it before that is chemically reactive or is ignitable like phosphorous.

3) The strangest thing about these incidents which needs attention is that different types of sounds appear in the house. Sometimes such rappings are heard that point towards the presence of an invisible wise being. Sometimes machine or factory-like sounds are heard. Sometimes sound of a severe blizzard is heard. Sometimes such a voice is heard as if when a tide hits a wall due to wind. Sometimes a loud knock and cannon-like sound is heard of the intensity that nearby houses echo and vibrate. Sometimes this voice is like a human voice. Sometimes the voice of a horn-blow is heard from that house even though there is no such instrument in that house. It feels as if a harmonium, or a gramophone, or a sitar or a Saarangi (a string instrument) or horns gather by themselves in the house and start blowing. Nobody plays them. Sometimes these sounds are heard without the presence of horns. And all of these voices are produced according to the laws of physics the description of which is according to acoustic undulations. And they properly reach our ears. Researchers have tried hard to know the producers of these sounds but they have not been successful in their pursuit so far. We find it pertinent to describe the two principles here which are considered mandatory to solve this difficulty. First is that all of these incidents have been related to souls of men. (I am missing a sentence here because I don't think that I can translate it near to perfection). The explanation of this was done by its hidden force itself when it was asked about the question. Second renowned personalities of our country accept this. But other renowned personalities reject it saying that its research should be done under the power of the sciences of visibility so that the actual reason for the occurrence for these incidents could be known. We do not hold agreement with this last suggestion because after our research we have reached a conclusion that there is something that is against what can be called the reason for these incidents. We earnestly request you people that these events that are happening are completely true and certain. And their research and inquiry for the benefit of humanity is (….) required. Therefore your attention is extremely needed. Can every wise person not understand that perhaps the research of these incidents may produce an important result that may be beneficial for the literary, material and intellectual condition of the inhabitants of America? Something that may change out principle of economy al together? And may correct our faith and our philosophy? And that it could change the nature of our educational system?

We people, for the research of problems that may produce an important result for collective existence, consider it important to consult the gathering of you people for the betterment of our collective system. We, the compatriots, have come here to request you with extreme humility to guide us about these strange incidents. It would be good if you form a research committee for this no matter how much money is spent on that. We have a firm belief that whatever the committee will do, its results will provide the best benefits to our collective existence. We people have a hope that your respectable gathering will definitely accept our humble but important application.

After this the parliament of Washington made a research committee for this, which after research and inquiry announced the feasibility of this. After this, this knowledge spread all over united states of America. So much so that by 1898 the followers of this religion reached the count of twenty million. In 1870 common spiritual gatherings were 20, important gatherings were 150 and there were 207 lecturers and 22 mediums. One of the famous scholars of this was Professor "Admone" (This is how the pronunciation in Urdu translates to English. I suppose that the author intended to mention John W. Edmonds, but this is only a guess) who had been selected in the parliament many times. Professor Robert Hare of the United States of America wrote a book about this. Similarly professor Robert Dale Owen wrote a book titled "Boundaries of the Invisible World" in America. By the end of the last century there were almost 22 such newspapers that used to publish the achievements of such committees and organizations for the common people.

All of these scholars used to do research about this so that they could save the people from going astray. Because Allah Almighty had bestowed them with the knowledge of Physics, mathematics, science and philosophy. Scholars in England also indulged in the research of this when the news about the researches regarding this event reached the ears of the British.

Therefore the educational society of England, which was established in 1867, suggested in one of its congregations, that was held on 6th December 1869, that a committee be formed for the research of this type of spiritual incidents that will inform the people about the correct circumstances. Therefore, this committee remained busy in research and inquiry for 18 successive months. When after its research it announced the feasibility of the spiritual incident, the British nation was astonished. Professor Wallace wrote a book named "spiritual wonders". Among these scholars were a few who were staunch opponents of this science and that included Dr. George Sexton. He left opposition of this and read about this for 15 years. He says that after reading and experimentation I developed firm belief on the religion of spirituality and during my moments of research I had conversations with my demised relatives, elders and friends. Dr. Sawmarace (or possibly Chalmers), Dr. Haggen, and professor Myers etc. also researched about this. They established a "Society for psychical research" which used to publish a magazine ".... of the souls". It used to publish the research work concerning these types of unnatural incidents and events.

Like America and England, an interest in scholars of France also developed about this and like this science of spiritualism spread in Germany, Russia, Italy, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Holland, Sweden etc. and in all of Europe there are numerous societies and organizations about this science and numerous books on this have been written and newspapers and magazines are busy about publication of this science. The point is that in all of the Europe this science is clearly established. If we describe the comprehensive practices , the reality, and detailed accounts of this modern European science of spirituality, then it will constitute a separate huge book. Anyhow the important and mandatory details are listed here for addressing the curiosity of the keen reader. Although this dervish (the author) has never had a chance to sit in any of these types of spiritual circles and neither in our country Pakistan there is any such spiritual organization or society. But I have done a keen study of spiritualism and I have performed a comprehensive research on as to what sort of souls are these which these people invoke and considerable literature and many books concerning this science have crossed my eyes. It is important to discuss this science here because our youngsters, who are fans of new enlightenment, are so much mad about following the Europeans that they consider each and every word and action  and every ideology and belief of Europeans to be above and better than divine revelation. Bare this in mind that life after death and existence of soul and the issue of its reward and punishment etc. has become a firm belief and a certain ideology of your materialist priests of Europe and the British sages. But you are still riding on the devilish donkey of atheism and you are racing it towards the hell. If you have any doubt on our knowledge of invocation of souls, we don't mind that. You will after all agree with the beliefs and ideologies of your materialist priests. In which are included your renowned philosophers, doctors, scientists and wise politicians. If you find it hard to believe what we say then you can read these writing for yourself. And if you are not satisfied even then, you get a chance to go abroad for higher education in fields such as law, science, physics, engineering, etc. You can go and see for yourselves by taking part in those spiritual circles to testify what we say. But you people have the same plight over there that if you get a chance to spare time from your studies, you spend it on reading novels, viewing theaters and dance clubs and when you come back to your country you bring a paper permit to fill and empty your stomachs with food while sitting on the same donkey of atheism. And if by mistake someone talks to you about God and his prophet (may Allah's peace be upon him) and religion you show your irritation by saying that don't talk to us about these obsolete issues in this time of education and enlightenment. It is a pity that how heartlessly you commit murder of the wisdom and even upon doing this you are called wise and enlightened. Now we shall present forth you a few practices and the reality of this spiritual science. In our country also there is not a single city where this type of invisible and unnatural voices are not produced and this type of unusual events and incidents do not happen. We people abandon such houses for ever by considering them houses of ghosts and jinns and nobody dares to live in them. Moreover, in our country there are numerous mediums, upon whom some soul is attached naturally or from birth. We overlook these mediums considering some shadow of a jinn or a ghost or a disease. The difference is only that the Europeans, who are extremely brisk, have researched and inquired about this thing and created a series of communications with it, have derived beneficial results from it. And they have progressed it to the degree of a proper science and skill.  But we, like the inhabitants of the America's Hadesville village, are still running away from this, and still we have not moved one step further from its initial milestone. Our people of virtue and sages of the religion have, in their times, have shown such astonishing and unbelievable exhibitions of that. Today's European spiritual practitioners have no reality in front of them. And they hold, in front of the former, value less than infants. But we have pride as if son of a sultan is also sultan. And we are putting scars on the names of our dear sages with our impure and filthy selves. We are drowned from our head to feet and still we have pride and illusion about being close to God. We beg in streets and door to door but still we claim to be the contractors of the heaven. We cannot take care of our torn clothes and lice but the euphoria of being called the best Ummah is riding on our heads. We have become a statue of abjection and pity but the ecstasy of sacredness and piety rides so high in the head that it never gets off. The result is that our undeserving ummah is drenched in such a nervous disease from which there is little hope of resurrection. May Allah Almighty have mercy on this dead ummah. According to the Europeans there are three main principles of acquiring this knowledge: The first is meditation. The second is to focus the imagination and thoughts on a single point that is called concentration. Third, there are many ways of communicating with their senses. But the special and major methods are listed below:

The Ghosts Can Do It!

1) First, a huge table is made for this purpose below which there are wheels and that starts moving and rotating with a little force applied by the soul. Or there develops a tension in it around which sits a medium along with his/her two helpers and audience sit nearby. In every circle and meeting the presence of a medium is important and the soul gets imposed naturally on this medium. Initially the soul is invited to come in the circle. This is called as a guide spirit and through this other souls are invoked. In order to invoke the soul the medium has to go into unconsciousness, which is called a "trance" in English. The medium either imposes trance on him/her-self by self concentration, or he/she goes in a trance with the help of a helper who, with the magnetism of hypnotism makes the medium unconscious. In such a situation the soul or ghost to be imposed comes and gets imposed on its head. After this the process of dialogue and conversation begins with the soul. Dialogue and conversation initially commences like the  ticks and clicks of the telegraph. Meaning that a single rap can imply affirmation and a two raps imply a negation. One person asks the desired question on the table and the souls one time click is considered a "YES" and a double click is considered a "NO". 

2) A more developed form than this is that when the soul is imposed on the medium and the table starts revolving and moving and rappings start to be heard then one man reads alphabetical letters on the table and on which letter they hear a knock, that letter is written down on a paper by a person and like this whatever letters are collected are used to form words and phrases to get the answer to their questions and to get what the soul has to say. This is done when the imposed soul is educated. 

3) On the table a heart-shaped piece of wood is made that has a long end like a pointer. It has three wheels underneath it so that they can start moving with a little force of the soul. Medium places its both hands on this heart-shaped cow-tail wood and the helpers also occasionally place their fingers on the medium's hands so that a connection can be established with the soul. Alphabets are written in front of the table and the soul enters the body of the medium and turn by turn, from the 30 letters of the alphabet, points one by one with the end of the cow-tail stick and one person on the table copies these alphabets. Similarly the alphabets that are collected are used to form words and phrases like in the case of the telegram. 

4) The medium keeps a pencil in his/her hand and the soul gets imposed on him/her and gives it an unintentional (on behalf of the medium) movement to write what it, the soul, intends on paper or slate. This is the job of a more elevated medium and an educated soul. 

5) A pencil and papers are placed in an empty box and the medium places his/her hand on this and those papers automatically get written by the soul's intended writeup.

6) The sixth method is that the soul speaks from the mouth of the medium and answers the questions. Addresses the attendees and delivers lectures. Sometimes the soul adopts a physical and bodily shape and appears, touches the attendees, topples the things, rings bells, plays horns and drums. Sometimes it takes the medium away too. Brings things out of the locked rooms and takes the things that are out inside. The crux is that it does strange and weird things which are out of the scope of the material wisdom and knowledge and science and philosophy have not been able to explain them and human wisdom is unable to apprehend this knowledge.

Below are written some incidents of these spiritual scholars which happened with their interactions with the souls:

1) The first incident: A German medium namely Dr. Sirpox describes about his state that I tried to write on a paper 19 times through a soul and all of my sittings went in vein. But the 20th time when I sat for invocations, I felt a (……) and an unintentional motion in my hand. After that a cold gust of wind touched my face and hand. After this my hand started flowing on the invisible writeup and I started writing unintentionally the things about the world (or space) of the souls. The logic for this is that while writing down the spiritual things, I used to talk to the people sitting with me and my hand kept on writing the spiritual reasonable things. 

2) The second event: William Crookes writes that I saw a practitioner Aanis Fox that he would write a spiritual excerpt on one place and at the same time he would dictate some other topic to some medium and at the same time with a third man he would very easily argue about some third conflicting topic. 

3) A practitioner's statement is that he saw a boy who used to do mediumship. He was completely ignorant about education and civility. At the time of imposition of the soul he inquired him about problems of philosophy, logic and spirituality, for example, he inquired him about problems of invisible world, intention and ability, and gave comprehensive answers about all of these problems in extremely scholastic excerpts. Even though he did not know anything about these domains. 

4) Fourth Event: Research was done about a girl that upon imposition of the soul she knew eight different languages, for example, French, Spanish, Greek, Italian, Portuguese, Latin, Hindi and English. Even though she actually only knew English.

5) Fifth Event: William Crookes states that in a spiritual circle in which Mr. Home was the medium Florence Cook's soul appeared in her exactly physical and apparent form and I conversed with her by shaking hands with her.

6) Baron Glastow writes that on the 13th of the water month (I don't  know which month that is) 1886 I placed a white paper and a pencil in a locked box and kept the key with me and there was no limit to my astonishment that when I opened it I found it written. Then on the same day I tested the same process ten times and I was successful every time and the box would lay open in front of me and statements would themselves be written in front of me. After that I placed a white paper in front of me on the table without a pen and that was found written in front of me.

An incident of this dervish is that once upon a time this dervish was staying with a friend of his in Khushab. Some of his friends brought to me an old man and said that this man has a shadow of some jinn or ghost upon him since a long time. Please cure him so that this shadow should leave him and go away. Our people have this habit that they try to get rid of these ghosts. Thus, some commercial practitioners invite the spellbound and beat and torture him badly. Nonetheless, that old man was sat in front of me. That old man's whole appearance changed and his face became immensely scary and horrible. So much so that in that gathering who ever he would look at he would start shivering. At last that old man started reciting mantras of sanskrit language with such clarity as if he was some sage or pandit. He joined his hands and begged me: "Mahaaraj have mercy on me. I am a Hindu yogi. Peace be with your two sons (I had two sons at that time). I am your cow. Don't say anything to me." He did a lot of pleading like this. At last, in order to make me happy, he made a few foretelling statements that came out to be true verbatim afterwards. After that he asked me if he could leave. Thus, I told him to go and the old man took a long yawn and came back to his original form. When that old man was asked that if during the imposition of  ghost and the soul he remembered anything, he said that at that time he would become oblivious of everything and neither his ability or intention remained. Whatever speaks or does is the jinn or the soul that gets imposed on me. After that he also told that this soul never imposed on him with this much intensity. Because of its imposition my whole body aches. 

Thus human body is like a utensil and safli and alvi (spirituality specific jargon words) souls gets dissolved in it as if in a utensil a liquor, for example water, scent or pigment, acquires the shape of the utensil. 

In Europe in order to invite and invoke souls a few voluntary acts are done that serve as spiritual diet and food for them and they are drawn attention towards so that they come easily in spiritual circles easily and quickly. Included in these things is music also. Due to this, on one hand, the self of the medium gets attracted towards the world of the souls. Secondly, the souls love music. They get attracted to such parties and gatherings easily where music is played. Third, fragrance, for example smoke of bakhore is blowed and flowers are placed. This also helps in the invocation of the souls. Fourth, the houses in which the souls are invoked are kept relatively dark. Or red light is turned on in the houses.

Now we write in relation to these invisible things as to what is it that these people invoke. So this is to be remembered that in invisible worlds and delicate spiritual worlds the lowest and the most inferior world is that of the "aalam-e-naasoot's" (again Islamic spirituality specific jargon) asfalest world which is the home of all the "safli" selves. In these jinn, ghosts, devils and "safli" souls live. The latifa nafs (the psychospiritual organ) in the human self is the most resemblant and close to these "safli" creatures. The person whose self has resemblance with any one of these invisible "naasooti" creatures, then sometimes by gaining opportunity that matching creature, through jinn devils and "safli" souls, enters and dissolves into this person. And by making a permanent home in that persons self resides there forever. And just as a bird comes to its nest, this soul comes inside the human body often. And when one soul makes room and place for itself in it, it becomes a home and place for various other devilish and "safli" souls. And when this type of a soul enters a human self (the word here is wajood, which probably means the mind, body and soul). then it acquires its whole body, heart, brain and senses. And it exits and pushes out the actual self al most at the same time out of it. And that occupying soul talks, walks, thinks, understands, and works. This is the reason that in Europe the mediums for these "safli" souls are normally women and in our country also women are normally ghost-ridden and men are very few. Because women's hearts and brains are normally weak. Therefore, jinn devils and "safli" souls occupy the selves of them relatively easily. This "naasooti" world of the jinns, devils and the "safli" souls is the closest to us relative to the other subtle invisible worlds and our selves are normally in this world while we are dreaming. Jinn, devils and "safli" souls sometimes become a cause of such bodily and nervous illnesses that somehow cannot be treated by any means. This is the reason that people who take up the profession of mediumship in Europe normally do not have good health. But because the europeans have made this conquering of souls a profession, they perform trade with this. Therefore everyone who enters a spiritual circle or a gathering has to pay some fees and they have to buy tickets. That is why in every sitting and meeting a considerable amount is collected for the medium. And those practitioners and mediums that exhibit the most exhilarating miracles have the largest crowds of people around them. In such circles the seats and places are reserved a month before the meeting and it becomes very difficult to obtain a ticket. So it is a pity that such self centered people have converted this delicate and priceless knowledge also into a source of living and a profession. And instead of seeking advice and warning they earn through it for a few days of this life.

The purpose of describing the accounts of european's invocation of souls in this book is to invite people to develop faith in Quran-e-Kareem where miracles and spiritual abilities of prophets are written to a large extent. For example, the account of Prophet Suleman's invocation of queen Bilquees's throne with his spiritual power. If it can be correct for an invisible creature to transport things in and out of a closed locked room, then it is not difficult about the spiritual power of the king of all practitioners, the prophet Suleman (AS). Similarly it should be thought about the miracles of all the prophets and aulia Allah (friends of Allah) that they used to invoke angels and excellent souls to take such astonishing services from them that human wisdom remained dumbfounded in attaining knowledge of them.

In Europe in the circles of captivating the souls, these souls often appear either behind or on the left side of the medium. And this is particular about jinns, devils and "safli" souls that they appear behind and on the left side of the medium. Moreover, before these souls are invoked there, cold wind blows in the rooms. So much so that the temperature of the room falls considerably below the normal. And frequently the curtains of the room or something else also catches fire. And often when the medium is a woman she becomes naked at the time of imposition of the soul. All of these actions depict that they belong to the jinns and the "safli" souls. The accounts of after death experiences that have been obtained from these souls are more or less similar to our Islamic beliefs:

1. Souls see their friends and relatives as flesh and bones and when after the death of someone, people mourn, this is a source of agony for the dead (according to the teachings of Islam it is forbidden to mourn over the dead).
2. In life if someone is blind or lame or has other physical disability then after death that fault is removed due to some good deed while he was alive.
3. After the death people get rewarded according to their good or bad deeds.
4. On the inner side there are seven worlds for the souls. Good and virtuous souls live in the top most world (or realm) and with excellent communities and live serene and affluent lives. And the inferior "safli" souls live in the lower "safli" worlds and get punished for their deeds.
5. For the "alvi" (possibly meaning good) souls there are always available for them gardens, palaces, schools and other  luxurious things.
6. The male and female gender remains established there but in the "barzakh" marriage or nikkah or birth of children does not happen.
7. A statement of souls is that the problem of extension and rebirth (Aavagone or reincarnation) is completely false. And the soul cannot take birth in this world again. Every soul comes to this world once and acquires only a unique body.
8. The time for death is fixed and that cannot be changed, forward or backward, by a second.
9. For the souls there are in the next world spiritual masters that give them spiritual education and there are separate inner schools and colleges that have specific laws and regulations.
10. Souls can get to know a few future events and they come to living people and meet them in their dreams, meditations and even when they are awake.
11. Souls help their relatives and friends in their worldly affairs, as much as they can, and they become happy about their happiness and sad with their sorrows.

So there are such and similar other things which have similarity with Islamic beliefs and ideas.

On Afterlife and Islamic Spirituality

Heavenly Puss!

This article is written in response to Sam Harris's "This Must Be Heaven" .

I have been thinking of the issue of afterlife for quite a while now, and I read various articles about it written both from the religious (particularly Islamic) and scientific point of view. In particular I recently read Robert Lanza's account of death and afterlife, the main idea of which is that we never really die. I also saw your talk titled "death and the present moment", in which you assert that we live in nothingness once we die. It is vey interesting to see that you have brought up this article too. I think that this article is very informative, for me at least. Before reading this article I did not know about psychedelics or their ability to induce states to the human consciousness that you have talked about. Similarly, since I am not a neuroscientist by profession, I do not know what really constitutes a near death experience even though I have read about it before and its asserted connection with some possible afterlife. I also do not know that if it is an extremely honest thing to correlate a near death experience with an actual death experience. I have personally never had a spiritual experience of the sense you have stated, by your use of psychedelics, or the ones that are reported by spiritual masters of various religions (like Islam, Christianity and Hinduism etc.). So hearing or reading an account of that is also a new experience for me.

I have nonetheless become quite concerned about this never ending discussion about afterlife, existence of God, human freedom and morality etc. The reason for this is that since we obviously live in a time where our world is extremely globalized in the sense that everything that happens in the world nowadays, an account of that spreads across the globe within a blink of an eye. We know everything about so many cultures now that nothing is really a secret. And we tend to get affected, in good and bad ways, by whatever is happening around us. I think that it has become important that we discuss and try to solve matters that affect humanity. Religion, I believe, is the most important of such matters.

I believe that it is irrelevant if either I  or you or Alexander win or loose a debate. I think what is important is to find the truth, no matter what it is. To this end, it would be very interesting to actually know, beyond blind belief, that whether God, and consequently afterlife, exists or not. This is not that easy of an expedition to undertake. Specially, after having read your article I tend to appreciate more the limits of clinical trials of near death experience. And even if a near-perfect near death experience were to be conducted, a smart guy like you could justifiably argue about the authenticity of that. Indeed, to quench the thirst of intellectual curiosity is a difficult job to undertake. The conclusion we are left with at the moment, however, is that an after life may or may not exist. I believe that given our our current knowledge of such matters, this is the most rational stance.

But let's not shy away from what Islam has to say on this. And that too in full knowledge of what is happening around us. This is to say that let us see as to what Islam has to say in spite of what happened to Malaala Yousafzai very recently. This is also very important to understand because not only that, like all other religions, Islam claims to be the true religion of God, it is extremely blunt about the falsity of other religions. I  also think that it is important because Islam, as a religion, is under tight scrutiny in the West. You, Sam Harris, are, in point of view, the harshest and worst critic of Islam at the moment. Indeed, the points you raise in some of your books and articles are hard to be refuted. This includes the all time open issue of the existence of God. Islam, nonetheless, is not a secret religion. Everything about Islam is now available on the Internet. This also includes, the rules on jihad (with sword) and apostasy laws. Islam needs to be discussed. I believe that this would not be a futile effort and despite the fact that many people are strongly opinionated about the various doctrines they like to believe in or otherwise, I believe that even among them there is a large number of people who are openminded viz a viz faith literacy. And that whether a person believes in one doctrine or the other, I believe that it is not a bad idea to be faith literate.

Recently I came across a book on Islamic spirituality named "Irfan", which literally means wisdom. This is one of the various books I have read on religion and spirituality.  I believe that as far as Islamic spirituality is concerned, this is the most comprehensive book I have read so far. It has two volumes and the first one has also been translated to English. The facebook page of the book can be found here. The table of contents of the book include, and is not limited to (1) Proof of existence of God (Allah). (2) The important relationship between God and human beings. (3) The answer to the question that if God exists then why can He not be felt or known. (4) The thoughts of famous European scholars and scientists in relation to the identity of God. (5) An eye opening discussion on the reality of soul. (6) The relation between soul and breathe. (7) The comparison between science and religion. (8) The explanation of the Quranic verse that, "verily only in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find peace". (9) The rationale behind the eternity of human soul. (10) Reality of dreams and the difference between the dreams of common and virtuous people. (11) A discussion on the psychospiritual organs of human beings. (12) Origin of mesmerism and hypnotism. (13) Purpose of life and need for remembrance of Allah. (14) A discussion on telepathy. (15) The reason behind fear in the heart of believer at the time of death. (16) On the false idea of some people that sufism is only a conglomeration of various superstitions, thoughts and ideas. (17) On invocation of jinns, angels and souls. (18) And various chapters on polytheism, atheism, Hinduism and other religions. (19) On Jehad (20) Meditation.

The book contains many more chapters. I have just listed here a few for the purpose of brevity. Overall, the book covers almost every aspect of Islamic spirituality. The purpose I have introduced it here is not to counter argue with Sam or Alexander (about atheism or Christianity, so to say). The purpose, thus, is also not to prove a supremacy of the book or the Islamic belief system as well. The purpose is to inform the keen reader, who may be a Muslim or a non-Muslim about the existence of such a book on Islamic spirituality. The book obviously addresses jihad along with other aspects of Islam, such as what constitutes worship and a way of life. The book extensively deals with souls and jinns. The keen reader may then form a more clear opinion about Islam. The book was first published in 1942. Another purpose behind citing this book is that many a times I read about spirituality in an atheistic sense, specially on the blogs of Sam Harris, he explicitly defies the connections of the term with medieval superstition and connects it to some normal, natural breathing practice. The idea behind advocating such spirituality and meditation is primarily to empty one's mind. Such meditation, for instance, can be done by breathing in the word "Tea" and breathing out "Spoon". Islamic meditation, on the other hand, is done, for instance, by breathing in "Allah" and breathing out "Hoo". The idea behind both is to get peace of mind. But proponents of Islamic spirituality consider it only as one of the many secondary or even tertiary benefits. The primary purpose is to attain proximity to God. And the spiritual experience, of which Sam Harris is skeptical, and which I have never had to be honest, is only a secondary byproduct.

I nonetheless find it interesting and important to share this information for so many reasons. Some of them can be gleaned from the paragraphs above. I think that it is time that we, Muslims and non-Muslims alike, study Islam more thoroughly as it is playing pivotal role in shaping modern history. I believe that we all should agree that Islam is an important religion even if some of us do not consider it to be true.

On God, Souls, Afterlife and Islamic Philosophy

I recently came to know that there is a possibility that human beings do not have free will. This gave me a bit of a sigh of relief. I remember that a few years ago the topic of free will and its connection with Islam was broached up in front of me while I was sitting with a clique of learned people and I felt a little bit bad about myself as I did not have any clue as to what sort of a position I should take about it even if I had to do that in my mind. I still can't figure out the repercussions of not having free will. I don't know if it is a good thing or a bad thing to not have one.

After having read a lot of articles and a few books written against Islam, I tend to understand that one of the things that turns people off about this religion is its unreasonableness. This perceived, or real, or whatever, unreasonableness of Islam has many aspects to it: bizarre women rights, a lack of affinity for democracy, apostasy laws, militant jihad, a belief in the existence of a possibly imaginary God and in an afterlife, the ability of Muslims to get offended quickly on such trivial matters as publishing of funny caricatures showing their Prophet wearing turbans full of bombs and funny movies. All of these issues should be addressed and brought forward for the perusal of both Muslims and non-Muslims alike using certain unbiased scholastic methods. That whether Muslims have ever been capable of a philosophical thought process or not has to be seen through the lens of philosophical history of Islam.

A casual look at the early history of Islam suggests that study of philosophy was a well-established enterprise in Islamic civilization and that there was a considerable number of Muslim philosophers who addressed a variety of philosophical questions and raised numerous intellectual concerns that are still more or less relevant to the modern world. It is quite interesting to observe also that some of the notable Muslim philosophers, the names of whom have also never been unknown to the West, translated much of the significant Greek philosophy to Arabic. This includes the works of Aristotle and Plato. The notable Muslims philosophers are Al-Kindi, Al-Farabi, Avicenna, Averroes and Al-Gazel. These people and a few others are celebrated as Muslim philosophers in the Islamic as well as the Western world even today. 

I find it worth mentioning here a definition of philosophy that I read in a book titled "A History of Western Philosophy" written by Bertrand Russell. I liked the definition so much that I still have it in my memory. It is somewhat like:

"Philosophy is concerned with the study of issues that religion refused to address and that science could not address". 

I think that this is a really nice and comprehensive definition of philosophy. If we look at the works of the above mentioned Muslim philosophers, we may want to argue, and as also suggested by Russell, that these people were not really philosophers but interpreters of (mainly Greek) philosophy. Nonetheless, Nonetheless these, and other influential scholars of Islam, had considerable influence on the latter generations of Western philosophers.

It also turns out that these Muslims scholars, and earlier Muslim philosophy, addressed many issues that are quite relevant to todays scientists and philosophers. These domains include, but are not limited to, cosmology, evolution, optics, psychology, education, science etc. 

It is beyond the scope of this article to discuss in detail the achievements of earlier Muslims in each of these domains. The primary purpose of writing this article and of the research that it is based upon was to see that whether earlier Muslim philosophers were introspective about their religious beliefs or not. In other words it was sought to see specifically as to how the earlier Muslim philosophers conceived God, afterlife and other related concepts, such as that of an immaterial soul and its existence after death. It was also sought to investigate the nature of their openness on these issues in terms of mutual dialogues and criticisms of the related ideas. It was also sought to see as to whether such ideas had an element of oddity and idiosyncrasy attached to them given that they deviated from popular notions held by common people and, if so, how much of an appeal and impact they had on the thought process of general population. The last point is very cogent here as a study as it would reflect the general temperament of the society (both Muslim and non-Muslim) viz a viz the weirdness of philosophy. This is important because it is thought that philosophy does not naturally appeal to the average layman's mind.

A closer look at the history of early Islamic philosophy reveals that Muslim scholars and intellectuals were quite concerned about their, and each others', views about theological matters such as existence of God, nature of soul and that of afterlife. The eleventh century Islamic scholar, Bu Ali Sina, known as Avicenna to the West, developed a proof of God's existence. The proof makes use of certain formal proving techniques of that time. 

Similarly there was another Muslim intellectual, Al-Farabi, who was a predecessor of Avicenna, and from whom (along with the Greek philosophers Aristotle and Plato) the latter took considerable inspiration for his work. Al-Farabi did considerable work in the realms of metaphysics and cosmology. His work on astronomy is highly inspired by that of Ptolemy and additionally has an element of metaphysics concerning existence of God attached to it. I found the account of his work written on his Wikipedia page quite interesting and I am copying an excerpt from that over here for the perusal of the keen reader.

The process of emanation begins (metaphysically, not temporally) with the First Cause, whose principal activity is self-contemplation. And it is this intellectual activity that underlies its role in the creation of the universe. The First Cause, by thinking of itself, "overflows" and the incorporeal entity of the second intellect "emanates" from it. Like its predecessor, the second intellect also thinks about itself, and thereby brings its celestial sphere (in this case, the sphere of fixed stars) into being, but in addition to this it must also contemplate upon the First Cause, and this causes the "emanation" of the next intellect. The cascade of emanation continues until it reaches the tenth intellect, beneath which is the material world. And as each intellect must contemplate both itself and an increasing number of predecessors, each succeeding level of existence becomes more and more complex. It should be noted that this process is based upon necessity as opposed to will. In other words, God does not have a choice whether or not to create the universe, but by virtue of His own existence, He causes it to be. This view also suggests that the universe is eternal, and both of these points were criticized by al-Ghazali in his attack on the earlier philosophers.

Al-Ghazali, well known as Al-Gazel to the West, wrote a book titled "The Incoherence of Philosophers" to cite his differences with Avicenna and Al-Farabi. Al-Ghazali was latter refuted by Ibn-Rushd, known as Averros to the West, in his "Incoherence of the Incoherence". The latter incoherence by Averros is an interesting document in the sense that it is mostly in the form of a dialogue between himself and Al-Ghazali. More specifically, Averros, has taken critical comments and excerpts from the former incoherence and has given his rebuttals to them. A dialogue is copied here as an example from the latter Incoherence's chapter titled, "Showing That They Are Unable To Prove The Existence of a Creator of The World":

Ghazali says, on behalf of the philosophers:

The philosophers might answer: When we affirm that the world has a creator, we do riot understand thereby a voluntary agent who acts after not having acted, as we observe in the various kinds of agents, like tailors, weavers, and builders, but we mean the cause of the world, and we call it the First Principle, understanding by this that there is no cause for its existence, but that it is a cause of the existence of other things; and if we call this principle the Creator, it is in this sense. It is easy to establish by a strict proof an existent for the existence of which there is no cause. For we say that the world and its existents either have a cause or have not. If it has a cause, this cause itself either has or has not a cause, and the same can be said about the latter cause, and either we go on ad infinitum in this way, and this is absurd, or we arrive at a last term, and this end is the First Cause, which has no cause for its existence and which we call First Principle. And if the world existed by itself without cause, then it would be clear what the First Principle is, for we only mean by it an existent without a cause and which is necessarily eternal. However, it is not possible that the First Principle should be the heavens, for there are many of these and the proof of unity contradicts this, and its impossibility is shown on examination of the attribute of the principle. Nor can it be said that one single heaven, or one single body, the sun or any other body, can be the First Principle; for all these are bodies, and body is composed of matter and form, and the First Principle cannot be composite, as is clear on a second examination. Our intention is to show that an existent which has no cause is eternal by necessity and by universal consent, and only about its qualities is there a divergence of opinion. And this is what we mean by a first principle.

I say:

This argument carries a certain conviction, but still it,is not true. For the term `cause' is attributed equivocally to the four causes: agent, form, matter, and end. Therefore if this were the answer of the philosophers, it would be defective. For if they were asked which cause they mean by their statement that the world has a first cause, and if they answered, `That agent whose act is uncreated and everlasting, and whose object is identical with its act', their answer would be true according to their doctrine; for against this conception, in the way we expounded it, there is no objection. But if they answered `The formal cause', the objection would be raised  whether they supposed the form of the world to subsist by itself in the world, and if they answered, `We mean a form separate from matter', their statement would be in harmony with their theory; but if they answered, `We mean a form in matter', this would imply that the First Principle was not something incorporeal; and this does not accord with philosophical doctrine. Further, if they said, `It is a cause which acts for an end', this again would agree with the philosophical doctrine. As you see, this statement is capable of many interpretations, and how can it be represented there as an answer of the philosophers?

Clearly, it is not extremely clear as to what this small dialogue stands for, or what it tends to conclude. One would need to take a course in medieval philosophy to make sense out of these "incoherences". However, this is a dialogue which shows a contradiction of views concerning the creator of the universe. The crucial point worth noticing in this and the rest of the Muslim philosophy is that Muslim intellectuals did contemplate on the nature of God and that they used to argue about it. Kalam, the cosmological argument, particularly deals with the issue of existence of God. It is also interesting to note that in Islamic philosophy skepticism was established by Al-Ghazali as part of the orthodox Ashari school of Islamic theology.

Much has been written on the nature of human soul and afterlife as well. This has been done, for instance, by Al-Farabi and Avicenna. According to Al-Farabi, the afterlife is not a personal experience as commonly conceived from the vantage point of religious traditions such as Islam and Christianity. Any individual or the distinguishing features of the soul, or the self, so to say, are annihilated after the death of the body. According to him, only the rational faculty survives, and that too, only if it has attained perfection. And then, it becomes one with all other rational souls within the agent intellect and enters the realm of pure intelligence. 

One may conclude from this that the afterlife promised in the religious texts is not more than a metaphor. Much of these views were, however, inspired by works of Aristotle, of which the Muslim scholars were the chief interpreters at that time. 

A keen reading of Muslim philosophy also suggests that earlier Muslim scholars were also bounded in their work by the orthodox beliefs and ideas of Islam held by themselves and the people around. This restricted their views on topics such as existence of God and afterlife. Muslim intellectuals nonetheless addressed this issue.

The idea behind writing this article was not to argue that whether God exists or not. Rather it was to elucidate that the earlier Muslim scholars had to confront this and related issues due to one reason or the other and that this is what made them write huge volumes of books.

We live in an era where scientific knowledge has advanced to a stage that many of the ideas which were held sacred due to their inherent mystery can now be verified. We are definitely not living in times in which our views about the cosmos are not dominated by the Ptolemaic astronomy. We are living in an age where doctors can perform clinical near death experiences to verify whether the subject had any experiences of an afterlife or not. The results, no matter what they may be, demand from us to adopt and abide by certain ethical rules, specially when we are about to wrong someone's religious beliefs. This is important for the sustenance of the human race.

To make caricatures of personalities, whom people hold in high esteem, in the name of freedom of expression is a debilitating idea. It is quite natural that such gestures invite grotesque reactions. In similar vein, Muslims should also try to avoid getting uprooted at the slightest hint of a firecracker being blown elsewhere in the world.