Does the Quran support
The Theory of Reincarnation?
By : Khurram Shahzad
Reincarnation in
its essence is a religious belief. Millions of people worldwide believe in
reincarnation or cyclic rebirths based on "transmigration" of the
human soul from one physical body to another. The dictionary meaning of the
word reincarnation is "coming back in the flesh". The process of
reincarnation allegedly continues until the soul reaches its full maturity and
perfection when it joins its source - God or the "Universal Soul".
The Karma is
defined as a kind of debt that one incurs as a result of his/her actions during
a lifetime. If the actions are good, the person will have good karma and will
be born again in a desirable state. Conversely a bad karma would result in a
miserable rebirth. Thus one"s condition in life is a direct effect of
his/her actions during his/her past life dictated by the law of Karma. Therefore
it is a simple case of cause and effect.
The roots of
this religious belief can be traced back to ancient Greek and Egyptian
philosophy. The Hindu and Buddhist teachings are also centred around this
concept. The main idea is the same except for minor variations, that being the
constant evolution of the soul until it reaches through trial and error, a
state when it can merge back into the "Universal Soul".
The ancient
Egyptians on one hand believed that the dead person returns back to this earth
for another life as the same person he/she used to be. Consequently, the
pharaoh was buried with all his treasure and wealth intact so that he can claim
them back upon his re-birth. The Hindu version of reincarnation is slightly
different, whereas the dead pharaoh would return to life as the same person he
used to be (the pharaoh), the Hindu version believes that a dead person would
not return as the same person he/she used to be, but return as a completely
different person but with the same soul. The idea of this paper is not to go
into the depth and details of the various beliefs regarding the reincarnation
theory, but to present a Quranic perspective of the concept and its validity.
Reincarnation is
refuted by all the main Monotheistic religions of the world. The reason for
this is that it is against their basic teachings of a finite life for the human
upon which he/she is judged and rewarded accordingly. If the human is to go
through numerous lives, on which life is he/she to be judged? The first life?
The last life? The Holy Quran, the last and proven word of God, unequivocally
rejects this false religion of reincarnation.
Numerous Quranic
verses confirm this position regarding the reincarnation concept, they can be
classified as follows:
First : The
Barzakh (Barrier)
"When death
comes to one of them, he says, "My Lord, send me back. I will then work
righteousness in everything I left." Not true. This is a false claim that
he makes. A "Barzakh" (barrier) will separate his soul from this
world until resurrection"23:99-100
The above words
of God are clear and unambiguous. When a person dies, God takes his/her soul
while he is still in the process of imploring God for another chance. As soon
as the human dies a barrier is immediately in place. This barrier prevents
his/her soul from returning to earth. This barrier is maintained until the Day
of Resurrection.
Second : Number
of Death's (two Death's or one Death?)
The mentioning
of two deaths and two lives in 40:11 may cause some interpreters to somehow
connect the Quranic teachings to the concept of multiple births, however on
closer examination we realise that the opposite is true.
"They will
say, "Our Lord, you have put us to death twice, and You gave us two lives;
now we have confessed our sins. Is there any way out?" 40:11
The truth of the
matter is that this very verse serves as another solid proof against any such
theory. 40:11 traces the progress of our course from the feud in the Heavenly
Society (38:69) to the Day of Judgement. We made a covenant with God (5:7) and
then we were put to death. That was our First death.
The fact that we
were all living in a previous life before being brought to earth is well
confirmed in the Quran, for more information on this topic please visit: Why we are here
Consequently,
the first death ended our life in the previous life which was in God's Kingdom
and not here on Earth. The second death ends the life of the disbelievers here
on Earth, hence they say to God:
"You have put
us to death twice, and You gave us two lives"
The believers on
the other hand do not taste the second death, after the end of their life on
Earth the angels invite them to enter Heaven, they do not die but move straight
to Heaven.
Upon our first
death, we were brought to this life to be given a further chance to redeem our
souls and submit to God's absolute authority. This is our first and only life on Earth. The "one
death" for the believers and the "two deaths" for the
disbelievers set the rule that all humans have only one life on Earth and that
no one returns to Earth after their death. This is clearly different from
reincarnation which implies multiple lives and deaths for each individual.
Third : Apportioned
Share in Life
In this life
every human being is apportioned a share in accordance with God's will. The
Quran explains this concept in the following verse:
"Use the
provisions bestowed upon you by God to seek the abode of the Hereafter, without
neglecting your SHARE in this world" 28:77
This means that
God has decreed for each human a share in this earthly life, which is entirely
dependent on His will, and has nothing to do with one"s actions in
previous lives.
A concession for
multiple lives would violate the concept of a fixed and preset share in this
life, this is because each different life would encompass a different share,
and not a set share as we read in 28:77.
"God provides
for whomever He wills without limits" 24:38
Once again this
verse points to the fact that there is no such thing as a Karma or debt. God
out of His infinite mercy gives to whomever He wills without any limits.
There are always
some case studies which may influence one's thinking causing some to believe in
such multiple life theories. Many observations and beliefs are based on so
called "past life recall" or "dejas vu". Many interpret
such occurrences to having been living in a different place and time in a
previous life. However, there are many plausible explanations to such
phenomena. One such explanation is the unseen contact with the jinn who could
be transferring such visions to us and tricking us into believing that we were
alive in a previous life and place. The stories of jinn and their interactions
with humans is well documented in the Quran. It is worth noting here that the
majority of the jinn are disbelievers, and it is understandable that they would
try to trick us into thinking that we have numerous lives, and thus impale the
urgency to strive for righteousness in this only life we are given.
To conclude, and
since we are given clear Quranic evidence against the concept of reincarnation,
we must accept such truth and discard this concept without any hesitation. This
life on Earth is our only chance for redemption. We should set our goals and
priorities straight, and seek God's approval through righteousness and good
deeds. Contrary to what the devil may want us to believe, we will not get
another chance.
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