Basic Beliefs of Islam

Chapter 18 : First Phase of Our Existence -life Before Birth

We have come in this world from the body of our mother as a new born baby. But our appearance in this world as a new living species is not the first stage of our existence. We were created by Allah Subhanahu taala much before our bir th. Before our birth, we all were living somewhere in the universe as individual souls. This is what Quran and ahadith tell us about the origin of our existence. The Holy Quran says:

"When your Lord brought forth descendants from the loins of Adam's children, and made them testify concerning themselves (saying) AM I NOT YOUR LORD ? they replied :we bear witness that you are.....(this he did so ) so that you should not say on the Day of Judgment that we had no knowledge of this." (7:172)

This verse of the Holy Quran reminds us about a pact that was made between us and our Lord before our birth, that none other than Him is our God.

This confirms that we had an existence and conscious life before our bir th.

Those who don't believe in Quran will instantly reject this piece of infor mation i.e. pre-birth existence, on ground that it can not be testified on the basis of scientific experiments. But there are many things which scientists believe but they can not prove them by experiments. At least all scientists believe in some realities which are totally beyond the limits of experimental verifications.

Thus, it is true that we can not prove our pre-birth or after-death existence by any experiment but the incapability of proving it by experiment is not the valid ground to deny these facts.

We now know about the development of embryo during the various stages of the pregnancy (i.e., many facts about pre-bir th developments) which no one could have imagined hundreds years ago. Similarly we can never know many facts of our life that occurred before our birth or that will take place after our death. This shows the necessity of Divine books and Prophets which are the only reliable source of such information.

There is also a hadith of the Holy Prophet(sws) in which he has told us some impor tant facts of pre-birth existence.

The Holy Prophet (sws) said:

"The souls are (like) an army joined (in the world of spirits) whichever souls knew each other (in that world) are attracted towards each other (in this world) and whichever remained distant and indifferent (there) are disinterested to each other (in this world)". In another hadith, Imam Jafer as-Sadiq (as) says:

"Verily, Allah established brotherhood between the souls in the (world of ) shadows (souls), 2000 years before the creations of their bodies."

Similar hadith is also present in the Bukhari, in which the Holy Prophet said: "In their previous existence souls lived together as a community. Those who were spiritually close to each other there, remain close to each other here also, i.e., in this world. Those who were at distant from each other there, also have little affinity for each other here."

The essence of this hadith is that before our bir th we all humans were living as SOULS somewhere in the universe. Like in this world, some souls developed relationships with some other souls and the force of that attachment remains effective and we revive that relationship whenever we happen to meet them in this world.

The truth of this hadith is witnessed by all of us. i.e., we feel a sor t of deep admiration and likeness for some people and also a kind of repulsion with some other people.

In actuality, all souls have been created by Allah Subhanahu taala as an isolated singular. But after birth, we find ourselves associated with each other as parent-offspring and their derivatives.

Thus, we can extend our speculation on the basis of these ahadith, that the blood relationships that are formed after birth in this world such as brother-brother, brother-sister, sister-sister, parents-children have their roots in our souls.

i.e., souls which have developed deep love and affection for each other in the first world are implanted by Allah in genes to revive that former intimacy in this world. Otherwise, there is no any other good reason known to us to justify why there is always intense love and affection in these relations.

What is Soul

Every living creature has two important components in itself which makes him a living species. G Organic body.

G Soul.

Many scientists do not believe in the existence of Soul.

Organic body

As far as the organic body is concerned, scientists have discovered a large number of secrets about it. They have studied almost the whole body and its composition with the help of powerful microscopes. They can now explain the function of the body from its smallest parts through its largest ones.

So there is no doubt in the existence of body as it is clearly visible and understandable. But scientists do not know many facts about the body and therefore can not answer many basic questions such as;

G How the different organs of the body work?

G Why a dead body can not move, when the same body was amazingly doing incredible things just before the death?

G What goes out from the body which makes it totally inert and motionless immidiately after death?

G Why the same atoms and molecules which are present in the body do not show life in other substances? There is not a single peculiar or unusual atom or molecule in the human body.

So what makes the living and non-living things different from each other ? Scientists will never be able to understand all such questions unless they approach the last Prophet of God.

The Soul

As far as soul is concerned, we have very little knowledge about it. It is because, soul is totally invisible and beyond the reach of any powerful microscope. This is the reason that scientists do not recognize the existence of soul and declared it outside the scope of science. If we can not see or detect anything by our powerful instruments that does not mean that it does not exist.

Many tiny creatures such as microscopic insects, bacteria and viruses are invisible. But after the invention of powerful microscope, we can see them now and have no doubt about their existence. Today, majority of the ordinary people have not seen these microorganisms but still believe in their existence. It is because they trust the scientists and accept their observations.

Those who do not accept the reality of soul argue that they can not understand anything of this nature. But they should realize that soul is not the only secret of nature which they cannot fully comprehend.

There is an unending list of things in the universe about which scientists have either ver y little knowledge or know nothing. Soul is just one of them.

Similarly invisibility or incomprehensibility of soul is not the valid reason to deny its existence. The nature of soul is such that no scientist can detect its presence with the help of any powerful microscope or any other type of instrument.

Quran and ahadith are the only source of knowledge about the soul.

That is why we say that scientists can never discover the complete picture of anything unless they accept the leadership of Prophets and Imams. Just as students can not seek knowledge by books only but desperately need the help of professors and teachers, scientists also can not seek knowledge about the universe from their observations without the guidance of the Prophet and Divine book.

Quran has enlightened us about the Soul by giving the following information.

"They put questions to you about the SOUL, say : the Soul is an order of my Lord, you have been given, but a little knowledge." (17:85) This verse of the Holy Quran educates us, how to deal with the mysteries of the universe such as soul.

From this verse of the Holy Quran, we can infer the following impor tant points:

1 - There are many natural facts and phenomena which scientists and scholars will never be able to comprehend and Soul is one of them.

2 - The Soul is a Divine Command.

3 - The Prophet (sws) has not told much about the soul because scientists can not understand the Prophet's explanation due to their limited knowledge. This means that the basic nature of the soul is unimaginable and man can never conceive it. Thus, the whole picture of the soul is beyond the human perception. For example, we can

never know about the feelings of the man after his death. We can not know whether the dead person can hear or not. But the Holy Prophet disclosed this secret which no scientist or philosopher can correctly do. It is narrated that during the battle of Badr a number of the prominent leaders of Mushrakeen were killed.

The Prophet asked his companions to throw the bodies of the dead mushrakeen into a ditch near the battle field. Then the Holy Prophet (sws) himself went to that well and addressed the dead.

"We have found that what Allah had promised to us has come true. Have you also got what He promised to you ?"

Some companions of the Holy Prophet said : Prophet of Allah! do you talk with those who have been slain and are dead? Do they hear what you said? The Holy Prophet replied; Now they hear better than you.

From this tradition and from many other traditions, it becomes clear that in spite of the separation of body and the soul after death, the soul does not totally break its relation with body with which it was attached for years.

4 - As we know very little about the nature of the Soul, we can not say with cer tainty about actuality of such things as;

a - where in the body soul lives, b - does it live in the brain or is spread everywhere in the body.

However, there is no doubt that we all have soul in ourselves and our body is a vehicle or tool of the Soul.

As the entire organs of the body work under the full command of the organic brain, the brain itself is dictated by the Soul.

SOUL -- Brain's network -- Organs of the Body

All scientists believe without any difference of opinion that each and every organ of the body strictly follows the instructions of the brain. The brain does give instruction to special organs to perform work and only then they do cer tain kinds of work.

But SOUL is the master control center of the brain. Imam Ghazali, a renowned Sunni scholar of the 11th century beautifully expressed this fact in a very simple manner. He said;

Body is just a vehicle for the soul as a horse is for the rider; it is the soul that deter mines our journey in this life, just as the rider guides the travel of the horse in the land. Accountability, therefore, is for the rider, not the horse.

This is also clear from one of the hadith of the Holy Prophet (sws) in which he said; Actions will be judged according to intentions.

The intentions are always formed by the souls, and actions are simply their manifestations. The brain is only an instrument that brings the intentions into actions. The other par ts of the body are the means that carry out the function.

Judgments, intentions, planing, decisions, don't have any location within the cells of the brain nor can they be traced out in the hear t or any other part of the organic body.

The brain simply takes commands from the Soul and executes it through its army (appropriate organs of the body) solely for the pleasure of the Soul.

Thus for our every action and thought, the Soul is solely responsible. The rewards and punishments is also for the Soul only. Quran says;

"On that day we shall seal their mouths. There hands will speak to us, and their feet will testify to their misdeeds." (36:65)

"When they enter hellfire, their eyes and ears and the skins on their bodies shall give witness against them on account of the sins they have committed. They will address their skins asking them, why do you give witness against us? They will receive the answer: the Lord Who gave speech to all things and Who first created you has given speech to us too, certainly you will return to Him." (41:20-21)

This means that all our organs which were used by the Soul to seek its pleasure, will testify against our Soul and will speak on how they executed or performed the commands of our Soul.

Thus all kinds of pains and pleasures are experienced by the soul through the network of brain. This is why the Soul is absolutely responsible for all our actions whether good or bad.