1. Journey of the spirit, Lesson 5, Soul departing the body Sleep vs. Death Dreams

2. Soul departs the body in asleep اللَّهُ يَتَوَفَّى الْأَنفُسَ حِينَ مَوْتِهَا وَالَّتِي لَمْ تَمُتْ فِي مَنَامِهَا فَيُمْسِكُ الَّتِي قَضَى عَلَيْهَا الْمَوْتَ وَيُرْسِلُ الْأُخْرَى إِلَى أَجَلٍ مُسَمًّى إِنَّ فِي ذَلِكَ لَآيَاتٍ لِّقَوْمٍ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ 39.42] Allah takes the souls at the time of their death, and those that die not during their sleep; then He withholds those on whom He has passed the decree of death and sends the others back till an appointed term; most surely there are signs in this for a people who reflect. In this verse it is mentioned clearly that the souls depart the body while sleep and death, but in sleep they come back and the person wakes up.

3. Explanation : As per the theory of the human body has two spirits, one is the animal and one is the human intellect, so when a person sleeps the intellectual spirit departs the body and the animal spirit stay. Based on some narrations of Ahlul Bayt (AS), which is another theory, that the spirit is one but it is higher then the animal with the fascinating intellectual abilities, based on this theory the following happens: 1. The soul departs the body on the time of death, it is completely detached from the body, that is why it starts to decay. May be because it cannot come back due to the Barrier or BARZAKH, or because it gets attached to another body the ghostly body. 2.The soul departs the body while the asleep, but does not disconnect from the body completely, because it is floating energy and does not enter any other body, or there is no barrier or BARZAKH. 3.When the soul is floating it goes either in the system of command or the higher realm and sees the future, or enters the demonic system and sees deception.

4. The summary of narrations: These narrations are debatable: 1.Imam Ali (AS): The soul departs the body and the control remains, if the souls passes the angelic system, then those are the true dreams and if it passes the demons then those are the false dreams. 2.Imam Sadiq (AS) if the soul ascends the heavens then it sees the true dreams and if it remains on the earth then they are the false dreams. And he says the essence of the ROOH is in the body but it stretches like the rays of the sun towards the heaven or the earth. 3.This explains the de-javo or the feeling that you have experience this before. 4.To know more about the dreams, refer to the interpretation of the chapter of YUSUF.

5. Death is nothing but every nights sleep, except it is longer…Baqir (AS) وَهُوَ الَّذِي يَتَوَفَّاكُم بِاللَّيْلِ وَيَعْلَمُ مَا جَرَحْتُم بِالنَّهَارِ ثُمَّ يَبْعَثُكُمْ فِيهِ لِيُقْضَى أَجَلٌ مُّسَمًّى ثُمَّ إِلَيْهِ مَرْجِعُكُمْ ثُمَّ يُنَبِّئُكُم بِمَا كُنتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ [6.60] And He it is Who takes your souls at night (in sleep), and He knows what you acquire in the day, then He raises you up therein that an appointed term may be fulfilled; then to Him is your return, then He will inform you of what you were doing. A person should account him self every night, in the hadeeth if a person does not accounts himself every day and night, then he is not from us. Refer to the daily duas of Imam Sajad (AS) on Wednesday.

6. Imam ASADIQ (AS) describes the soul: It is not a matter, but it controls the matter and it is not measured by our time. It is faster than the flash or the blink of eye: أَمْرُنَا إِلَّا وَاحِدَةٌ كَلَمْحٍ بِالْبَصَرِ وَمَا [54.50] And Our (AMR) command is but one, as the twinkling of an eye. That is why the soul can move in and out of the body while asleep very fast, it is same like the travel of the Prophet (S) and the movement of the Infallibles (AS) or transfer of the palace of Bilqees from Yemen to Palestine in a blink. It is very light creature does not have any weight. It is contained in our physical body, and after it departs it enters another light body which resembles the material body and looks like it in the shape and form….and are entertained or punished based on their status… Imam Asadiq (AS).

7. Science and the soul: The soul is one of the secrets of God, Imam Ali (AS) said : Who ever knows his soul will know his Lord. Until now no one has been able to identify what is the soul, yes the attributes or how is it can be know, but what exactly is the essence know one knows except Allah (Swt). This is one of the creations of God we do not know, how can we know the ZAAT or the essence of the creator. Another interpretation of the words of Imam (AS) is that who ever knows the greatness of his soul he will know the greatness of his Lord, because it is an amazing power of God with him, no one has seen it or touched it but every human believes in it. Some scientist mentioned the it is the electricity which circulates in the nervous system.

8. Is soul the electricity in the nervous system? They compared the properties of the circulating electricity in the nervous system and the properties of the ROOH, by comparing the properties of the living body and the dead body. They saw when there is no electricity in the brain the person is dead. They saw that the heart can be resuscitated by give high voltage of electricity. They saw that electricity is an energy which cannot be seen, all what is seen is the affect of electricity in different gasses. They saw that the cells of the nervous system do not regenerate, they come in a bundle with the human and he dies with them, some might become inactive. They saw that the heart beat is generated by electric impulses generated from the two nodes in the heart. And other observations.

9. Hadeeth and the nervous system! In a lengthy hadeeth of Imam Ali (AS) it can be understood that: when a person sleeps his external five senses are absence, but yet in his dream he experiences his 5 senses without using them, he sees without his eyes, he tastes, he entertains without his touching senses, he walks and talks, so the soul is responsible for his senses, and the 5 senses are tools for him to experience the feelings while he is awake and are bound to his body, so when his soul is out it entertains more without any requirement for those tools. So the nervous system is responsible for the senses. The scientist saw that there is a relation between the dreams and the electrical activity of the brain. When a person dies his brain’s ECG is flat, no electrical activity, the haddeth mentions that the souls departs every nerve in the body and finally the brain. In the Fiqh law what ever part of body has feelings is considered the live parts, and what ever does not have like the hair and the nails is considered dead part.

10. The Problem: ROOH vs. ELECTRIC IMPULSES ROOH is from a metaphysical system, and electricity is from our system. ROOH can not be created by human, but electricity can be created in the LAB. If human cloning becomes successful and the body is formed, thus if the soul was written for that body, then it will be injected to it, and it not, then that clone will die, or nor survive. Because in our next lecture we will learn that the soul is completely in the command of Allah and the ones whom He has given them such command. May be in future they can resuscitate the brain too, may be in future they may be able to see the electricity,…. Science is still so behind, there are many phenomena which are not yet understood properly.

11. Not enough knowledge The knowledge required to understand the soul comes from the creator of the soul only. وَيَسْأَلُونَكَ عَنِ الرُّوحِ قُلِ الرُّوحُ مِنْ أَمْرِ رَبِّي وَمَا أُوتِيتُم مِّن الْعِلْمِ إِلاَّ قَلِيلاً [17.85] And they ask you about the soul. Say: The soul from the command of my Lord, and what ever knowledge you have is nothing but little. There is no doubt that the soul controls the whole nervous system and it is linked to it. But it is not the electric impulses in it. In coming lecture we will understand that the last station of the soul while departing the body is the brain.