Near death experience and can we square it with Islam or maybe its 1 ofsatan's tricks

[Ms DD]

Light at the end of the tunnel?

By Margaret McCartney, Financial Times

 

 

 

The opinions on near-death experiences - such as seeing bright lights which make one feel at peace - are sharply divided.

 

On the question of life and death, there is something rather poignant about the whole area of near-death.

 

Many years ago, a patient I knew well had a sudden cardiac arrest.

 

This was not surprising: he was an elderly gentleman with severe cardiac failure. To make matters worse, his wife had just passed away, so he was very depressed - an additional risk factor for heart disease.

 

When the first electric shock to his heart did not work, we hesitated. But, despite our pessimism, the second one did; the monitor showed his heartbeat move back into a normal rhythm. The patient recovered rapidly. In fact, he more than recovered.

 

Divine light

 

Later that night, with twinkling eyes, a smile and a cup of tea in his hand, he told me that he had seen a long corridor and bright lights and he now knew that his wife was waiting for him. He was going to die a happy man - but he was quite happy to leave his death to another day.

 

Since then, a couple of other people have told me the same thing. They have experienced a near-terminal event, which they were not fully aware of, in which they felt some kind of distance between themselves and the real world. There were bright lights and a feeling of overwhelming calm and relaxation.

 

Near-death experience has been examined extensively. One study, published in General Hospital Psychiatry in 2003, found that about 10 per cent of people surviving cardiac arrest - when the heart stops beating - report something of this kind. People who did so were more likely to be younger than those who did not.

 

The study

 

A study in medical journal Lancet in 1990 examined people who thought they had had a near-fatal illness as well as a near-death experience.

 

The authors of the study divided the patients into two groups: those who were judged to have been at high risk of death without medical intervention and those who were not. They found that the people who had been at high risk of dying were more likely to have reported enhanced perception of light and enhanced cognitive powers.

 

How to explain this? While some see near-death experiences as a kind of spiritual encounter between life and death, others prefer the apparently rational explanation - that a lack of oxygen to the brain causes weird and wonderful perceptions.

 

The gap between the two sides is quite wide - as the headline of an article in the Lancet in 2000 asked rather pointedly: "Dissociation in people who have near-death experiences: out of their bodies or out of their minds?"

 

The writer of that paper, from the University of Virginia, argues that "the pattern of dissociative symptoms reported by people who have had near-death experiences is consistent with a non-pathological dissociative response to stress and not with a psychiatric disorder". In other words, the description of near-death is to be viewed as a "normal" response to extreme stress.

 

Other views

 

However, there are other views. A 2005 paper published in Progress in Brain Research suggested not just that psychological factors could be responsible for near-death experiences, but that they could also be due to abnormalities of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the brain - that lights and feelings of peace illustrate a dying brain.

 

We sometimes fail to examine the outcomes we seem so keen to understand that we do not involve trying to understand why near-death experiences happen. My patient, for example, felt reassured by "something out there" and was afraid of the fading light no more. Another man felt that a near-death experience described to him made his imminent death easier to bear.

 

These outcomes are worth something, however we interpret their causes, not only for patients but also for doctors. The troubling question is: "Do you think they suffered?" Given the overwhelmingly positive descriptions I have had of near-death experiences, I don't think I have had to lie even once.

http://www.gulfnews.com/unwind/People/10132636.html

[Ariadne]

I had a nar death experience a couple of years back.......

was in Saskatchewan for a week

[ElPunto]

^And did you see this conspicous white light KK?

 

Only 10% of cases report this phenemonon. Not sure what to make of it. Muslims have a definite view of what happens at death. Near death is something that is not mentioned.

[Ariadne]

no, the death was being in Saskatchewan

[ElPunto]

^LOL - I concur with that. Was speaking to a girl who was out in Regina - and she kept bigging up the place with comments like - Sareenta ugu badan Kanada ayey soo saraan etc.

[sheherazade]

^LoL at you both.

[Haneefah]

Originally posted by Kreepy Kid:

no, the death was being in Saskatchewan

Do you mind elaborating on your experience walalo, it sounds a little scary. Especially when I'm supposed to be relocating there the end of this summer, it will be my new home for the next two years InshaAllah .

 

I am of the impression, however, that no Somalis are to be found in that little prairie province.

[Ariadne]

The Ponit : lol!

 

 

Haneefa: Okay so a couple of years back I was in Saskatoon.

I grew up in Toronto so Saskatoon to me was like a place where you go to die.

 

Downtown Saskatoon is one street that if you are a fast walker have pretty much seen in ten minutes.

The houses each have a fair distance of land between them, so forget walking anywhere unless you want to get there 2-3 hours or unless you like running.

Not to mention the road ends in a lot of neighborhoods so you are walking on a dirt road a lot of the time or grass.

Almost everyone I met there was religiously into BBQ and country music. And half the people I met either had really ugly accents that grated my nerves or had such a twang in their accent they sounded like they were singing a heartfelt country song when they spoke.

There is not such thing as private insurance in Saskatchewan for cars it's through the province come to think of it all insurance is through the province.

There are a few people of colour in Saskattoon but not much, mosty Aborignals ... I think there is a small community of Somalis in Regina though.

 

And the winters .... oh my ! even the spring they get severe weather

Because there are not mountains or lakes to regulate moderate temperatures. The winter weather are like - 29 degrees celsius with a windshield of -20 ....it can get to -60 celsius in the coldest.

 

The summers are visted with occasional droughts.

 

But there is one good thing. A lot of Canada's organic farming is done in Saskatchewan.

[Ariadne]

oh and not to mention the racisism is pretty friggin blatant in Saskatoon becuase a lot of the time you are the token black person....

[Omer]

Everywhere is racist so get a grip

[Ariadne]

^^ Oh thank you wise Yoda I have journeyed for months to seek your wise blatherings... I am forever in your debt for that bit of wisdom.