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WHAT IS TENASUKH
(REINCARNATION)?
DOES
IT CONFORM IN ANY WAY TO THE TEACHINGS OF
ISLAM?
Tenasukh
refers to the transmigration of souls, the doctrine that after
death the soul moves on to inhabit another body. This
cycle continues as long as necessary. This doctrine is called
reincarnation. It is not Islamic.
Belief in
some form of reincarnation can be found in almost all
societies, whether primitive or sophisticated. Variations
exist according to the local and regional differences in faith
and popular culture. In the most materialistic societies
especially, whose formal culture denies any spiritual life,
there is almost a fashion for pseudo-religious belief among
certain small circles of people who claim for whatever reason
that the souls of the dead wander about, sometimes taking
physical form, and influence the living until they (the
spirits) settle into their “new” bodies. Rather than going
into such digressions, I will describe its main tenets and
consider it from the Islamic viewpoint.
One argument
for the antiquity of reincarnation is the “evidence” in
ancient literature, such as tales of metamorphosis for
example, Ovid’s colorful extravagances of that name, in which
“deities” take on human and animal forms, human beings
assume a diversity of different shapes, and so on. But these
tales do not constitute a doctrine; the doctrine proper is
that an individual spirit must pass through every “level”
of creation, every species of life form, whether animate or
inanimate, sentient or non-sentient. The emigration of a human
soul to another human body is called “transmigration,” and to
an animal body, “metamorphosis.”
If we reflect
upon this, we soon realize that the doctrine is an elaboration
on the soul’s immortality. Its kernel, the soul’s
immortality, is true; the rest is not. The doctrine also may
have arisen from seeing similar physical and other traits
between parents and offspring. In other words, the
biological phenomenon of heredity, perfectly
explained by genetics, are given a less
intelligible, indeed irrational, explanation by the
doctrine of reincarnation.
In addition,
we can see a correlation between reincarnation and such
similar false beliefs as incarnation (the doctrine that
God takes on human form or has a body in human form) and
union (the union of a human soul with God). This
doctrine also may come from the belief of a universal soul
taking on different forms, which gave rise to
monism.
The doctrine
is said to have emerged in the Nile basin and then spread as
far a field as India, for example, and then westward to
Greece. There, the eloquence of philosophers rationalized it
(incredibly, it seems to us) into a source of consolation and
hope for those who long for eternity. Among the major
religions, the doctrine entered Judaism through Kabbalists,
via Jewish thinkers into Christianity, and finally into the
ideas of some Sufis despite the hard labors of Muslim
theologians to refute such a distortion.
To support
it, every apologist put forward some “evidence.” For instance,
the Kabbalists mention the transformation of Niobe (mentioned
in the Old Testament) into a marble statue, and of Prophet
Lot’s wife into a pillar of salt. Others have referred to a
literal transformation of Jews into monkeys and
pigs.
Another
argument for it is that it explains an animal’s instinct and
intelligence, and the splendors of the plant kingdom, as they
once had human intelligence and vitality. This idea debases
humanity and shames its proponents. It is really difficult to
accept that such an assertion, even if made on the spur
of the moment, could be made by people of any understanding.
Certainly there is a program and a predetermined destiny
for plants and inanimate creations. But it is rather
far-fetched to trace the harmony and order we see in the plant
or mineral kingdoms to souls that formerly lived as or in
human beings. Actually, plants and trees have a certain life,
a plant-life, a direction of growth toward light and
moisture. But this does not mean that this is the activity of
a formerly human soul, or a soul on its way up the levels of
creation.
Despite
efforts to corroborate this, no one has ever received a
message from a plant confirming that it contains a soul that
once belonged to a human being, nor have we heard any person
say that they were once souls in a plant or animal. Tabloids
and other media spread tales of people recollecting “past
lives,” even recounting specific incidents. Where these
claims are not totally absurd and ridiculous, their substance
can easily be explained as recollections of what the
individual has seen or read and then, knowingly or otherwise,
elaborated and transformed as in any ordinary human
fiction.
The fact that
Niobe and Prophet Lot’s wife were transformed into marble and
salt statues, respectively, even if accepted literally, does
not prove reincarnation. What we have here is a physical
transformation having nothing to do with the soul’s
transmigration. Petrified bodies are not an arcane phenomenon:
many such corpses have been found preserved by the absolute
dryness of volcanic ashes. Consider the case of Pompeii, a
city destroyed by a sudden volcanic eruption and unearthed
from layers of ash only centuries later. Subsequent
excavations revealed numerous Niobe-like petrified
bodies. In these ruins, and in the petrified faces and bodies
of those so busy in their self-indulgent vices and so secure
in their arrogance, we can, if we wish, read the signs of
Divine wrath and punishment. Perhaps these figures had their
way of life solidified in ash and thus preserved so that
future generations might witness and take heed. To
interpret them as evidence of reincarnation is simply
untenable.
Belief in
reincarnation in Egypt, India, and Greece developed out
of a distorted version of belief in the Hereafter and from a
longing for immortality of the soul. Neither in Akhenaten’s
Egypt nor Pythagoras’ Greece knew of reincarnation.
Akhenaten believed when human life ends, a different one
starts in heaven. As soon as one dies, one’s soul sets off on
its journey to reach “the Greatest Court” in heaven. It goes
so high that it reaches the presence of Osiris, and hopes to
give an account of itself in words like these: “I have not
done falsehood against men. I have not impoverished my
associates. I have done no wrong in the Place of Truth. I have
not learned that which is not. I have done no evil. I have not
made people labor daily in excess of what was due to be done
for me ..” Those who can so speak join Orisis’
congregation; those who cannot, whose evil deeds outweigh
their good, are hurled into Hell and tortured by
demons.
Such sound
belief also is witnessed in epitaphs relating to Akhenaten’s
religion as follows: “What You have done is too much, and our
eyes cannot perceive most of them. O One, Only God! No one
possesses such might as You have. It is You who have created
this universe as You wish and You alone. It is You who decree
the world suitable for human beings, for all animals, whether
big or small, whether they walk on the Earth on their legs or
they fly up in the sky on their wings. And it is You alone who
sustain and nourish them. Thanks to You, all beauties
come into existence. All eyes see You by means of those.
Verily, my heart belongs to You (You are in my heart).” The
ideas quoted verbatim above were believed as truth some 4,000
years ago in Egypt.
Likewise, in
ancient Greece, belief in the Resurrection and the soul’s
immortality were quite sound. The great philosopher
Pythagoras, for example, believed that the soul, on leaving
the body, acquires its own kind of life. In fact, any soul has
this kind of life even before it quits the Earth. It is
commissioned with some responsibilities on Earth. If it
commits any evil, it will be punished, thrown into Hell,
and tormented by demons; if it does good, it will be given a
high rank and blessed with a happy life. Allowing for changes
that might have been made in his views over time, we can still
see that there are fundamental similarities with the Islamic
creed of the Resurrection. Plato’s account is not so different
either. In his famous The Republic, he says that the
soul on leaving the body forgets the material (corporeal) life
totally, and ascends into an appropriate spiritual realm
saturated with wisdom and immortality, where it is free from
all scarcity, deficiency, error, fear, and from the passion
and love that afflicted it on Earth. Being free of all evil
consequences of human nature, it is blessed with eternal
bliss.
In essence,
the doctrine of reincarnation, despite its numerous
variations, is a distorted version of a sound belief: the
soul’s immortality and the intrinsic human desire for
eternity. In addition, the human soul has an existence that is
different from, and even independent of, that of the body. For
example, St. Thomas Aquinas, one of the most famous Christian
theologians and philosophers, writes that the key concept of
humanity is that the soul and body are united in an apt
composite. He adds that animal souls develop with animal
bodies, whereas human souls are specially created at some
time during early development.
Over time,
borrowings from or interactions with certain ancient beliefs
have caused such false doctrines to filter into sound beliefs.
One cannot miss the relation between reincarnation and the
deification of Jesus, which is related to such false doctrines
as union and incarnation.
In a
comparable way, no doubt through mistaken (whether deliberate
or not) translations from the original language and later
distortions, the ancient Egyptian, Indian, and Greek religions
became unrecognizable. The doctrine of reincarnation may well
be one such alteration from an originally sound conception of
the soul’s immortality and its return to the Divine Judgment.
After reincarnation was inscribed into the beliefs of the
ancient Egyptians, it became one of the central themes of
songs and legends throughout the Nile region. Elaborated
further with the eloquent expressions of Greek philosophers,
it became, with the expansion of Greek influence, a widespread
phenomenon.
Hindus
consider matter the lowest manifestation of Brahman, and deem
the convergence of body and soul as demeaning to the soul, a
decline into evil. When a person dies, the only “death” is
that of the physical body. The mind, which contains a person’s
mental impressions, continues after the body’s death. When the
person is reborn, the “birth” is of a new physical body
accompanied by the old mind with the impressions or “grooves”
from previous lives. However, this process doesn’t go on
eternally. When the soul attains God-realization or
Self-realization, the law of karma is transcended, the Self
gives up its identification with the body and mind, and
regains its native freedom, perfection and bliss.
Hindus are
polytheistic. One of their gods is Vishnu. His preserving,
protecting powers have been manifested to the world in a
variety of forms, called Avatars, in which one or more of his
divine attributes were embodied in the shape of a human being
or an animal or a human-animal combined form, possessing great
and sometimes supernatural powers. All these Avatars of Vishnu
appeared in the world either to correct some great evil or to
effect some great good on earth. These avatars are ten in
number, however, the Bhagwad Purana increases them to
twenty two and adds further that are innumerable. It is
important to note that the all the Avatars are earthly form of
Lord Vishnu. The tenth and the last avatar of Vishnu, Kalki,
is yet to appear. Kalki will appear at the end of the Kalyuga,
when everything will have been upset and the world . This
avatar will appear seated on a white horse with a drawn sword
blazing like a comet.
According to
the Vedanta, one of the important Hindu religious
books, the soul is a part, a fragment, of Brahman that will
never be free of suffering and distress until it returns to
its origin. The soul achieves gnosis by isolating itself from
the ego and all wickedness pertaining to the ego, and by
running toward Brahman, just as a river flows to a sea. When
the soul reaches and unites with Brahman, it acquires absolute
peace, tranquility, and stillness. This doctrine also is found
in the Buddhist idea of Nirvana. There is an abatement of
active seeking, and a passivity of soul in the latter, whereas
the soul is dynamic in Hinduism.
Some Jewish
sects adopted reincarnation. After refusing belief in the
Resurrection and Judgment, the followers of such people, who
can be inordinately covetous of life yet remain fascinated by
the soul’s immortality, could do little else than accept
reincarnation. Later, the Kabbalists transferred it to the
Church of Alexandria through certain regional monastic orders.
The doctrine has had a negligible effect on Islam. However, it
was introduced to Muslims by the Gulat-i Shi‘a (an
extremist Shi‘a faction).
All ancient,
new, and contemporary versions of reincarnation have one root
characteristic: belief in incarnation. There is a shared
failure of intellect to both grasp and accept the Absolute
Transcendence of God. Corrupted by this failure, people
believe that the Divine mixes with the human, and that
the human will (or can) mix with the Divine. This error is,
except for Islam which has retained its strict purity of
belief, all but universal. The central figure in each
distorted belief is an incarnation or reincarnation─Aten in
Atenism, Brahman in Hinduism, Ezra (Uzair) in Judaism,
Jesus in Christianity, and ‘Ali in the Gulat-i Shi’a
faction who, if they exist at all within Islam, must be seen
as on its very outermost fringes. Allegations that some Sufi
writings and utterances support reincarnation are
either plainly malicious or the result of an absurdly
literal understanding of their highly symbolic and esoteric
discourse. Islamic scholars and theologians, certainly among
the 90 percent of Sunnis, unanimously and unequivocally
reject reincarnation as contrary to Islam. This is true of
scholars in every field jurisprudence, theology, Qur’anic
commentary (tafsir), or Hadith commentary. Their
reason: the absolute centrality in Islam that each individual
lives and dies according to his or her own destiny, carries
his or her own load, will be resurrected and called
individually to answer for his or her intentions and actions
and their consequences, and will be judged individually by God
(with perfect justice) according to the same
criteria.
We now
present the cardinal reasons why Islam rejects
reincarnation.
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Belief in
Islam requires belief in (both bodily and spiritually)
Resurrection and Judgment, when justice is meted out to each
individual soul according to that individual’s record in
life. If the individual soul passes into different lives, in
which form or personality will it be resurrected, commanded
to give account, and rewarded or punished?
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Despite its
darkness and density in contrast to water, air, and light,
earth is the means and source of all the varieties of the
works of Divine art, in meaning it has some superiority to
the other elements. Also, despite its density, on account of
being comprehensive and provided it is purified, the human
selfhood gains some kind of superiority to his/her other
senses and faculties. Likewise, the human body is a most
comprehensive and rich mirror to the manifestations of the
Divine Names. It has been equipped with the instruments to
weigh and measure the contents of all of the Divine
treasuries. For example, if the sense of taste in the tongue
was not the origin of as many measures as the varieties of
food and drink, it could not experience each and recognize
them; it could not measure them. Furthermore, the
instruments with which to experience and recognize the
manifestations of most of the Divine Names, and the
faculties for experiencing the most various and infinitely
different pleasures are also in the body. Since, as is
understood clearly from the conduct of the universe and the
comprehensiveness of humanity, the Maker of the universe
wants through the universe to make known all the treasuries
of His Mercy, and all the manifestations of His Names, and
to make us experience all the varieties of His bounties, for
sure, the world of eternal happiness, which is a mighty pool
into which the flood of the universe flows and a vast
exhibition of the products of the loom of the universe and
the everlasting store of the crops produced in the field of
the world, will resemble the universe to a degree. The
All-Wise Maker, the All-Com-passionate Just One, will give
as wages for the duties of the bodily organs and in reward
for their services and particular types of worship,
pleasures particular to each. To think otherwise would be
contrary to His Wisdom, Justice and Compassion. So, if the
individual soul lives in several, different bodies, in which
one will it be resurrected, commanded to give account, and
rewarded or punished?
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This world
is created to test and try the soul so that it may benefit
thereby. One focus of the test is belief in the ghayb
(the Unseen). According to reincarnation, those who live a
bad life pass into a lower form of life (animal, tree, etc.)
after death. After undergoing cycles of suffering, their
lives will end in some way, which means the end of the
cycles of reincarnation. Therefore, by its very nature,
reincarnation is not a final end and its cessation means
contradicting the world’s final destruction and the Supreme
Judgment.
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To get
round this, believers in this doctrine have a doctrine of
forgetfulness─the soul “forgets” its past existence. In that
case, for all practical purposes, having had (or not having
had) a past existence is of no consequence. Plainly, the
doctrine contradicts itself and has no bearing on the
“current” life except to make the individual accept his
or her condition, whatever it may be, without actively
striving for salvation.
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If each
individual is supposed to go through a painful cycle of
transmigration to acquire eternal bliss, then God’s
promise to punish the wicked and the sinful, and to reward
the good and the righteous, has no meaning for the
individual life. This is unacceptable for Providence,
for God is neither vain nor futile in His actions.
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The Qur’an
and other Divine Books state that sins will be forgiven (if
truly repented). This proves how unnecessary and cumbersome
a doctrine reincarnation is. How much better do the concepts
of mercy and forgiveness befit God, the Beneficent, Merciful
Creator.
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In Islam,
there is no sin that God will not forgive, as He wills.
God, the All-Mighty, reveals and promises in the Qur’an that
He will forgive those who repent and sincerely intend to
abandon such behavior. In this respect, God does not see how
great or little your sins are, nor how late your penitence
is. This may mean that a sinner who disobeys and rebels
against God throughout his or her life can be forgiven
by a single act of true repentance, done with absolute
sincerity and a profound understanding of servanthood and
dependence on God. Due to his/her very nature, every
sentient person feels the pain of committing sins in his/her
conscience and is given during his/her life-time so many
opportunities to repent for them and reform himself or
herself as there will be left no requirement for another,
painful life cycle. As for those whose hearts have been
hardened and sealed so that they will no longer be able to
awake to the truth, it would mean nothing to them even if
they were to pass through innumerable cycles of life.
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Long and
tiresome cycles of rebirth are contrary to the mercy, favor,
and grace of God, the All-Compassionate. If He wills, He
takes ordinary, worthless, inferior things and turns them
into what is purest, best, and beyond price. His
blessings and munificence are Infinite
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Many
followers of the Prophets led wicked lives but then reformed
within an incredibly short time and became revered models of
virtue for later generations. After meeting the
Prophets and embracing the Divine Message, some surpassed
previous followers and came to be even more revered. This
indicates that, by the favor of God, one can rise
easily and quickly to the summit, even if one seemed to be
destined for the pit. It shows, again, how
unnecessary the doctrine of souls “graduating” into
higher levels of being is. Indeed, the doctrine may have the
effect of lessening incentives to moral effort.
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To believe
that God, the All-Mighty, has created a soul for each
individual is part of belief in His Omnipotence. To believe
that a limited number of souls migrate from body to body
argues the illogical proposition that the Omnipotent is not
Omnipotent. The sheer abundance of life, its infinite
variety, its refusal of mere repetition of form, is
everywhere evident: God is indeed All-Mighty. There are
approximately 6 or 6.5 billion people in the world. In
recent times, we have learned how to prove that each
individual is absolutely unique─an idea urged by many verses
of the Qur’an by looking at fingerprints or genetic codes.
These facts are so reliable that they are used in forensic
science to identify criminals. Another example is the
observation, over 30 years, of millions of pictures of
snowflakes not one of which is ever exactly like any other.
We cannot even imagine how many snowflakes fall in one
season on one mountainside, let alone all that have ever
fallen. How foolish to imply, then, that the Omnipotent
could not create an infinite number of individual souls and
supply each with a unique body.
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Could not a
few million people out of the billions now living have at
least some marks, signs, evidence, or something convincing
to tell of their memories, adventures, and experiences in
different forms and bodies? Has there not been an
accumulation of knowledge, experience, and culture in some
of those reincarnated beings or those who have completed
their cycles? If this happened in only one out of a million
people, should we not expect to see a great number of people
now living with extraordinary virtue and competence? Should
we not have met a few of them even in our own countries? If
so, where are they?
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Even if
some in non-Muslim countries people claim to remember past
lives, why do so few people in the Muslim world make such
claims?
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It is his
or her soul which determines the bodily, distinguishing
features of a person. Thus, if the souls of the wicked come
to the world again in other bodies, should we not see
Nimrods, Pharaohs, Neros, Hitlers and many tyrants in
different periods of history? Even if we do not accept that
the soul determines one’s distinguishing features, then
should there not be many who claim that they are such and
such wicked people of the past? If a soul comes to the world
again oblivious of its former life, then what is the benefit
of coming to the world once more to reform itself?
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If
reincarnation educates souls so that they become pure enough
to attain salvation, would it not be logical for those
returning to the world to remember their former, sinful
lives and draw lessons from them?
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If the
souls of the wicked experience many cycles of life in
different bodies, would it not be an utter injustice and
mercilessness to many innocent parents because of their
babies who have come to their world carrying the souls of
those wicked ones? Whereas Islam declares that every person
comes to the world sinless.
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When a body
reaches an age (say of 3 or 4), a measure of physical
maturity, should we not expect the soul to emerge with all
that it has acquired and achieved in its former lives?
Should we not expect prodigies? There have been quite a few
prodigies in recorded history, but their special gifts need
not be the result of former lives. Such cases can be
explained equally well as a special combination of genetic
characteristics occurring in a particular time and place,
which is attributable to Divine Grace and Favor. Added to
this is the individual’s own supreme effort to understand
his or her own gift in the tradition and context in which it
is given.
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No faculty
unique to human beings has ever been found in any non-human
entity, whether animate or inanimate. But we should
expect such a discovery if there were any truth in
reincarnation. If a lower form of life is, so to speak, the
consequence (punishment) for particular evil deeds in a
previous life, then presumably the good in that life
(outweighed by the evil) must be carried forward. In other
words, some part of the individual’s previous life
should be retained in the next life. In this case, we would
expect the boundaries of particular forms to be frequently
burst open─with, for example, plants suddenly showing
animal-like properties. But, by the Mercy of God, zoology
and botany have not, for all their many welcome advances in
recent years, discovered any such monsters.
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If being a
human or an animal is the consequence of one’s deeds in a
former life, which existed first: human or animal, the
higher or the lower? Advocates of reincarnation cannot
decide or agree on any form for the first creature, for
every generation implies a preceding generation in order
that the succeeding generation may be considered as the
consequence of the former. And if generation is an evil, as
some who believe in reincarnation also believe, why did the
whole thing start? Why did life begin at all? Plainly, the
doctrine leads again and again to absurdity.
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