C) Spiritual experiences.

1. Tranquility:

By focusing in remembering Allah, we can achieve inward tranquility. Allah had commanded to the effect:

Those who believe, and whose hearts find tranquility in the remembrance of Allah: for without doubt in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find tranquility.¹³⁶

2. The Divine World:

By focusing in remembering Him constantly, we will inevitably find ourselves drawn into the Divine World full of tranquility. Allah had commanded to the effect:

Men who remember Allah, standing, sitting, and lying down on their sides, and contemplate the creation in the heavens and the earth.¹³⁷

3. Freeing the soul

Once you have reached a certain degree of tranquility, you are able to experience the freeing of your soul from your physical body. This is sometime refers to as “Out of Body Experience (OBE).” Allah had commanded to the effect:

Call back the soul, if ye are true¹³⁸

4. The mind

Once you have experience OBE, mentally you are able to discern that your mind is a component by itself separates from your soul and unless your mind combines itself with your soul, your soul will be aimless. Once the mind has combined itself with your soul then your soul is able to travel in the spiritual world. During your spiritual travel, at any place you stop, your mind can mentally instruct itself to return to your body. After it has returned to your body, your mind can then instruct itself to return back to your soul which is waiting at the place you left it. Throughout this event, your mind sees your soul or body (as the case may be) unobstructed. Allah had commanded to the effect:

And He gave you hearing and sight as well as the heart (mind): little thanks do ye give!¹³⁹

O soul (including the mind), in rest and satisfaction! Come back thou to thy Lord, well pleased (thyself), and well-pleasing unto Him”¹⁴⁰

When we are asleep, Allah holds our mind and soul and releases them back if we are destined to live. We are then awakening to a new day in our lives. Allah had commanded to the effect:

It is Allah that takes the souls (of men) at death; and those that die not (He takes) during their sleep: those on whom He has passed the decree of death, He keeps back (from returning to life), but the rest He sends (to their bodies) for a term appointed. Verily in this are Signs for those who reflect.¹⁴¹

It is He who doth take your souls by night, and hath knowledge of all that ye have done by day: by day doth He raise you up again; that a term appointed be fulfilled.¹⁴²

When the soul and mind are released to return to our body after our sleep, sometime the soul reaches the body first before the mind. This explains why sometimes a person is awaken but not mentally alert; this is particularly so in children.

At times, the mind reaches the body first but before the soul can enter the body an unseen entity sat on the body hindering the soul from entering the body. When this happened, the mind will scream and shout but of no avail because it is done mentally. When and until the soul manages to enter your physical body, you are in a state of paralysis.

This similarly explained a comatose person. If his mind is still with him but not his soul, he can hear and understand what being said around him and eventhough he is immobilised, tears may flow from his eyes.

If we dream and our souls in our dream are able to think then our minds are together with the souls. However, if our minds are not with our soul then we are but seeing our aimless souls (in the dream).

5. The Third eye

Many confused between the Third eye and the eyes which can see the unseen. The latter is where a person is able to see the unseen all the times or sporadically. As for the former, it is the opening or a window or a (third) eye at the centre of the forehead just above the gap (or the meeting point) of the two eyebrows. From the said opening, our soul (in micro form) exudes facing forward just in front of our forehead. Before the opening happened, we will experience the turning of our eyeballs inward (180 degrees). Hence many a deceased person had the white of his eyes visible when he died. This is because his black eyes followed the soul exuding at his forehead. Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) had said to the effect:

“When a person died, his white of the eyes are left, this is because the eyes followed the path of the soul leaving the body.”

Allah had commanded to the effect:

They fear a day in which the hearts and eyes shall turn about.¹⁴³

Then why do ye not (intervene) when (the soul of the dying man) reaches the throat¹⁴⁴

Once the soul exudes from the third eye, the mind is free to rotate 360 degrees inside the brain and can see as well as hear whatsoever going on in the immediate vicinity including the unseen. However none of those around you know or see the predicament you are into. Allah had commanded to the effect:

If thou couldst but see how the wicked (do fare) in the flood of confusion at death! the angels stretch forth their hands, (saying), “Yield up your souls!”¹⁴⁵

And behold! ye come to Us bare and alone as We created you for the first time: ye have left behind you all (the favours) which We bestowed on you: We see not with you your intercessors whom ye thought to be partners in your affairs: so now all relations between you have been cut off, and your (pet) fancies have left you in the lurch!”¹⁴⁶

6. The Greatest event

The Greatest event in the life of the Gnostic being invited to meet the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) in the realm of the souls. To this end, the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) had said to the effect:

Whosoever sees me in his dream has truly seen me because Satan could not impersonate me.¹⁴⁷

Whosoever creates fiction about me, his place is in Hell.¹⁴⁸

Hence it is a futile and most unprofitable exercise for a Gnostic to claim such a feat if it never happens.

The Bibliography