A Modern Insight into the Soul or Spirit

By S. Arshad, New Age Islam 9 October 2021 Modern Science Says That the Soul Feels Attached To the Body Even After the Death of A Man Main Points: 1. The soul of the deceased lingers around the body till it’s buried or cremated. 2. Modern science says that this fact can be used to revive a man within four minutes of his clinical death. 3. Hinduism also believes that the soul feels attached to the body of the departed. ----- Soul or spirit is the driving force of all the living beings in the universe. The divine scriptures, the Torah, the Bible and the Holy Quran do not elaborate much on the soul or spirit. Once when Jews came to the holy prophet of Islam pbuh and asked him about spirit, the verse revealed said that it was an amr of God and He has given little knowledge of it to man. However, Upanishads delve deep in the nature of soul or spirit. According to the Upanishads, the soul is all pervasive and the Supreme Soul (Brahman) is present in not in man but in all the living and non-living beings. It is also immanent in the entire universe. In the Quran, God says that He blew into man from His own soul. Thus the Quran also corroborates the view of the Upanishads but does not deal with the subject in detail leaving much to be thought and discussed. But modern scientific discoveries and researches on soul or spirit seem to bring science and religion closer. Scientists now say that even after a man is declared clinically dead by the doctors (his pulse and breathing stops), the man is not in fact totally dead. His brain cells remain alive till four minutes of his clinical death. The eminent Indian doctor in his book The Last 4 Minutes has mentioned this scientific fact. Therefore, there remains the possibility of his being revived within the four minutes after his clinical death. The soul or spirit does not leave the body of the ‘deceased’ immediately after his clinical death but hovers above or around him until the dead body is buried or cremated. That the spirit of the deceased does not leave the body immediately after the clinical death of the deceased has been corroborated by the NDEs (Near Death Experiences) of the people who came to life after a few seconds of minutes of their death. They said that their soul hovered above their body and they could see their relatives wailing or calling the doctors. This shows that the spirit become so much attached to its body that it does not easily want to leave it immediately. It only leaves the body permanently after the body is buried or destroyed through cremation. This is the reason, Islam asks Muslims to bury the dead as soon as possible. It is also said that people lamenting and crying over the body of the dead cause pain to the departing soul. It may be because the soul is present near the body and feels pain by the lamentations. Swami Bhaskaranand in his book The Essentials of Hinduism also says that after the death of a man, his soul or spirit shows attachment to the body and so Hindus are advised to cremate the dead body as soon as possible so that the soul can finally depart in peace. ----- S. Arshad is a columnist with NewAgeIslam.com. URL: https://www.newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/soul-spirit-insight/d/125539 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism