Examination of the Validity of Near-Death Experiences

Document Type : Research Paper

Author

Department of Islamic Philosophy and Theology, Allameh Tabataba’i University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

So far, various cases of near-death experiences have been reported by different people around the world. In addition to examining the reasons given in by the proponents and opponents of these experiences, this article proves that one cannot deem all these experiences as valid or invalid. Rather, various near-death experiences should be differentiated: (a) some experiences for which no natural explanation exists are valid; (b) some cases that are against rational and religious teachings are invalid; and (c) no decisive stance can be taken about some others; rather, one can deem the accuracy of these experiences as possible. Another important point is that the acceptance of the validity of some of these experiences does not mean that the experiencers have really entered the intermediary world and returned from it. Rather, their accuracy means that these experiences do not originate from mind and hallucination, but rather God has decided that the soul of some humans experiencing the near-death experiences get separated from their bodies so that those individuals can see parts of the realities related to the afterlife. This way, these experiences turn into a reminder of the afterlife for the experiencers and others.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

  1. ـ قرآن کریم

    1. ‏‫ابن‌سینا‏ (۱۳۸۱)‏. الاشارات و التنبیهات. قم: بوستان کتاب.
    2. ‏‫اعتمادی‌نیا، مجتبی‏ (۱۳۹۱)‏. بررسی انتقادی تفسیر زالسکی از تجربه‌های نزدیک به مرگ‏. هفت آسمان، 14(55)، 79-98.
    3. ‏‫جیمز، ویلیام‏ (۱۳۸۹)‏. تجربه دینی: اصل و منشأ دین‏. در دربارۀ تجربۀ دینی (ویرایش مایکل پترسون و .). ۱۳۸، تهران: هرمس.
    4. ‏‫خراسانی، محمدکاظم (۱۴۰۹ق)‏. کفایه الاصول. قم: مؤسسۀ النشر الاسلامی.
    5. ‏‫رضانیا، حمید و اعتمادی‌نیا، مجتبی (۱۳۹۳)‏. تجربه‌های نزدیـک به مرگ؛ بررسی چیستی و نحوۀ دلالت آن در اثبات حیـات پس از مـرگ‏. پژوهش‌های ادیانی، 3، 89-108.
    6. ‏‫ساعی، محبوبه و قاسمیان نژاد، علی‌نقی (۱۳۹۳)‏. بررسی چیستی تجربۀ نزدیک به مرگ و نقد دیدگاه‌های متناظر با آن‏. اندیشۀ نوین دینی، 10(38)، 7-24.
    7. ‏‫طباطبایی، سید محمدحسین (۱۳۶۰)‏. نهایه الحکمه. قم: مؤسسۀ النشر الاسلامی.
    8. ‏‫فلاحتی، حمید؛ فعالی، محمدتقی و الله بداشتی، علی‏ (۱۳۹۸)‏. تناسخ و مسئلة تجربه‌های نزدیک به مرگ‏. فلسفۀ دین، 16(2)، 329-349.
    9. ‏‫کلینی، محمد بن یعقوب‏ (۱۴۰۷ق)‏. الکافی. تهران: دارالکتب اسلامیه.
    10. ‏‫گوهری، عباس (۱۳۸۸)‏. نقدی بر واقع‌نمایی تجربیات لحظات نزدیک به مرگ بر اساس آموزه‌های قرآن و روایات‏. پژوهش دینی، 18، 83-103.
    11. ‏‫موزون، عباس (کارگردان)‏. (۱۴۰۱)‏. زندگی پس از زندگی (تجربۀ ایمان عبدالمالکی). شبکۀ 4، ۴ و ۵ اردیبهشت ۱۴۰۱،https://tv4.ir/episodeinfo/295944.
    12. ‏‫موزون، عباس (کارگردان)‏ (۱۴۰۰الف‌)‏. زندگی پس از زندگی (تجربۀ بهروز عظیمی). شبکۀ 4، ۱۴ اردیبهشت ۱۴۰۰،‌ https://tv4.ir/episodeinfo/246572.
    13. ‏‫موزون، عباس (کارگردان)‏ (۱۴۰۰ب‌)‏. زندگی پس از زندگی (تجربۀ مهدی اسفندیاری). شبکۀ 4، ۱۷ اردیبهشت ۱۴۰۰، https://tv4.ir/episodeinfo/246905.
    14. al-Kulayni, M. I. Y. (1986). al-Kāfī. Tehran: Dar al-Kotob al-Islamiyah. (in Arabic)
    15. Audi, R. (2005). Epistemology. London and New York: Routledge.
    16. Augustine, K. (2015). Near-Death Experiences are Hallucinations. In The Myth of an Afterlife (Michael Martin and Keith Augustine). United States of America: Rowman & Owman & Littlefield.
    17. Avicenna (2002). Al-isharat wa al-tanbihat. Qom: Bustan Ketab Publishing. (in Persian)
    18. E'temadi, M. (2012). A critical examination of Zaleski's interpretation of near-death experiences. Haft Aseman, 55, 79-98.
    19. Falahati, H., & Fa'ali, M. T., & Allah Bedashti, A. (2019). Reincarnation and the Question of Near-Death Experiences. Philosophy of Religion, 16(2), 329-349. (in Persian)
    20. Gohari, A. (2009). A critique on the reality of near-death experiences based on the teachings of the Qur'an and hadiths. Pazhouhesh Dini, 18, 83-103. (in Persian)
    21. Greyson, B. (2010). Seeing Dead People Not Known to Have Died: “Peak in Darien” Experiences. Anthropology & Humanism, 35(2), 159-171.
    22. Greyson, B.l & Bush, N. E. (1992). Distressing Near-Death Experiences. Psychiatry, 55(1), 95-110. https://doi.org/10.1080/00332747.1992.11024583
    23. Habermas, G. R. (2018). Evidential Near-Death Experiences. In The Blackwell Companion to Substance Dualism (Jonathan J. Loose, Angus J. L. Menuge, and J. P. Moreland). USA: Wiley- Blackwell.
    24. Hasker, W., & Taliaferro, C. (2019). Afterlife. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. https://doi.org/Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2019/entries/afterlife/>.
    25. Hick, J. (1990). Philosophy of Religion (4th ed.). USA: Prentice-Hall.
    26. James, W. (2010). Religious Experience. on Religious Experience. Malek Hoseini, Tehran: Hermes. (in Persian)
    27. Kellehear, A. (2003). Near-Death Experiences. In Encyclopedia of Death and Dying (Robert Kastenbaum). USA: Thomson Gale.
    28. Khorasani, M. K. (1988). Kefayah al-Osoul. Qom: institute of Islamic publication (in Arabic).
    29. Marsh, M. N. (2018). The Phenomenology of Near- Death and Out-of-Body Experiences: No Heavenly Excursion for “Soul. In The Blackwell Companion to Substance Dualism (Jonathan J. Loose, Angus J. L. Menuge, and J. P. Moreland). USA: Wiley- Blackwell.
    30. Moody, R. A. (2001). Life After Life. HarperOne.
    31. Moody, R. (2010). The NDE Phenomenon. In There Is Life After Death (Roy Abraham Varghese). USA: New Page Books.
    32. Mowzoon, A. (director) (2021a). TV show "Life After Life" (the experience of Behrouz Azimi), Chanel 4 of Iran, 14 Ordibehesht 1400 SH, https://tv4.ir/episodeinfo/246572. (in Persian)
    33. Mowzoon, A. (director) (2021a). TV show "Life After Life" (the experience of Mahdi Isfandiari), Chanel 4 of Iran, 17 Ordibehesht 1400 SH, https://tv4.ir/episodeinfo/246905. (in Persian)
    34. Mowzoon, A. (director) (2022). TV show "Life After Life" (the experience of Iman Abdolmaleki), Chanel 4 of Iran, 4 and 5 Ordibehesht 1401 SH, https://tv4.ir/episodeinfo/295944., (in Persian)
    35. Rezania, H., & Etemadi-nia, M. (2014). Near-Death Experiences; a Survey on Their Nature as Proof of Afterlife, Journal of Religious Research, 2(3), 89-108. (in Persian)
    36. Sa'ee, M., & Qasemian Nejad, A.N. (2014). Investigating what the near-death experience is and criticizing the views corresponding to it. A Research Quarterly in Islamic Theology (kalam) and Religious Studies, 10 (38), 7-24. (in Persian)
    37. Tabataba'i, S. M. H. (1981). Nihayah al-Hekmah,. Qom: institute of Islamic publication. (in Arabic)
Philosophy of Religion
Volume 19, Issue 4
January 2023
Pages 489-500

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics