The Immortal Soul

Self-Conscious Stage of Man

Under the creative process, the Self-conscious Stage of Man could start only on accomplishment of universal perceptual values in the physical organism of animal species. Since it is the human physical organism, which is bestowed with Self or Soul, it implies that the human organism was the only species, which first of all accomplished universality of the perceptions. Accordingly the next higher creative stage took its start in the Self or Soul of Man (a non-material entity) simultaneously on completion of sense organs during the development of human foetus. The creation of the new stage of life simultaneously the sense organs of the human foetus are fashioned is thus revealed in the Holy Quran:

"And (remember) when thy Lord said unto the angels; Lo! I am creating a mortal [ It may be noted that the word 'bashar' revealed in the verse 15(28) is significant . It has also occurred in a few other places in the Holy Quran, Marmaduke Pickthall has translated it as 'man'. The meaning of 'bashar' as given in Arabic dictionary are: (a) Skin that grows no hair; (b) Inner bright skin without hair A cursory glance at the pictures of the foetus on completion of four months will show that it wears bright skin with no hair on it. The foetus whether human or animal develops into complete physical organism under the physical laws and remains restricted up to sensuous level of life or consciousness. The human foetus (bashar) had edge over other animal species because it was the first species, which accomplished universality of senses. Nevertheless both animal and human organism being disciplined by the physical laws remain under constant changes and continues to wear out. The word 'bashar' used by Marmaduke Pickthall in the meaning of mortal, therefore, seems to be correct. It applies on the human physical organism devoid of soul or self. It is soul or self, which is immortal. The revelation that the Creator's soul when breathed emerges as a 'new creation' and establishes it with the organism as an entity is indication that human soul is not mortal and that because of having the spiritual attribute of the Creator it becomes immortal.] out of potter's clay of black mud altered; So when I have made him and have breathed unto him of My spirit, do ye fall down, prostrating yourselves unto him." (15: 28-29)

"Verily We created man from a product of wet earth. Then placed him as a drop (of seed) in a safe lodging. Then fashioned We the drop a clot, then fashioned We the clot a little lump, then clothed the bones with flesh and then produced it as another creation. So blessed be Allah, the best of the Creators." (23: 12-14) 

The revelation that after a drop is safely lodged in the womb and then after going through the creative process of lump and bones, the bones are clothed with flesh establishes that at this phase of development, the foetus is almost complete, that is, its sense organs are fully fashioned. It is only on completion of sense organs that the Creator bestows on it His Soul and thus a new Creative Order emerges. It may be noted from the aforementioned Quranic verses that the angels were made to prostrate only when the Soul or Spirit was breathed into the organism and it emerged another creation. In other words the angels prostrated or submitted to the Soul and not to the body. This new creation, that is, Human Soul because of having the attributes of the Soul of the Creator becomes aware of the spiritual attraction of the Creator and establishes itself as a Self-conscious Entity distinct from its mortal organism raised up of the earthen substance.

The fact that the Human Soul or Self by virtue of having the attributes of the Soul of its Creator emerged as a new creation over the preceding sensuous stage is also reflected in verse 32(7-9) of the Holy Quran as under:

"Who made all things good which He created, and He began the creation of man from clay; Then He made his seed from a draught of despised fluid; Then He fashioned him and breathed into him of His spirit; and appointed for you hearing and sight and hearts. Small thanks give ye." (32: 7-9) 

The revelation that after fashioning the human organism (a creative phase of foetus when sense organs are completed) and then breathing into it of His spirit He appointed for man "hearing", "sight" and "hearts" makes sharp distinction between the physical senses bestowed on organism and the spiritual light conferred on Human Soul. Accordingly the words "sight", "hearing" and "hearts" revealed in the verse stand for "fikr" (thought), "tadabbar" (deliberation) and "taaqqul" (Patience with perseverance) which are the attributes of Human Soul only. The revelation thus confirms that "another creation" was in fact the creation of Self-conscious Stage of Man. Animals have sure guide in instincts and Human Self can rely on its intellect. Thus human physical organism and Human Self are two distinct stages of life. The term " another creation" revealed in the verse 23(12-14) is significant. It implies that at this stage man is born a new and emerges as a responsible and fully self-determining individual. It also establishes that while the physical body is mortal, the Human Soul being the reflection of the Soul of its Creator becomes immortal.

Modern Research on Human Foetus

As to when the human embryo after passing through different phases of its creation receives the Soul of its Creator and thereby becomes a new creation must be the phase when embryo's sense organs have been fashioned. It is because, as we have stressed already, new creation or creative stage starts only on completion of the values determined for the preceding stage. As a result of intensive study made by the psychologists, they have discovered that sense organs of the embryo are completely fashioned in four months. Here we produce an extract from the article titled "Pre-school" published in the scientific journal OMNI of August 1989 written by Psychiatrist Thomas R. Verny:

"Much of the research gathered by Verny concerned the sensory capabilities of the foetus in the womb. By the fourth month after conception, Verny learned; the foetus had a well-developed sense of touch and taste. He would suck if his lips were stroked. And if a bitter substance like iodine were introduced in the amniotic fluid, the unborn child would grimace and refuse to swallow any liquid at all. At the same age, the baby could perceive a bright light shinning on the mother's abdomen; if the light was particularly bright, the foetus would even lift his hands to shield his eyes." 

Intellectual Response on Completion of Four Months

" At five months the same child would react to loud sounds by raising his hands and covering his ears. In a series of remarkable studies conducted during the early Eighties, moreover University of North Carolina psychologist Anthony DeCasper showed that the human new born recognises his own mother voice. 

In one of the study, DeCasper asked 16 pregnant women to tape-record their reading of three different children's stories: "The King, The Mice, and the Cheese" and two different versions of "The Cat in the Hat". During the last six and a half weeks of pregnancy, a third of the women read the first story aloud three times a day; a third read the second story aloud three times a day; and a third read the last story aloud three times a day. When the babies were born DeCasper and colleagues offered each infant a choice between the story its mother had repeatedly read and one of the two other stories. 

To enable the babies to cast their votes, DeCasper invented the "suck-O-meter" - a nipple hooked up to a sound system in such a way that a baby can switch between two taped voices simply by changing the rhythm of its sucking. The finding? Shortly after birth, when the babies were tested, 13 of the 16 adjusted their sucking rhythm to hear the familiar story as opposed to the novel one. These data provided the first direct evidence that new-borns remembered something about speech sounds during the last six and a half weeks of gestation. In yet another study, DeCasper showed that the newborn recognised its own mother's voice. In addition to these sensory abilities, Verny discovered, the baby in the womb had the neurological potential for a rudimentary form of consciousness." 

The scientific research made by the psychiatrists establishes that:

1. The sense organs of human foetus are completely fashioned in four months; and
   
2. On completion of sense organs in four months, the foetus begins to give intellectual response, which is strong indication that the foetus is bestowed with Self or Soul at this stage.

Keeping in view the fundamental law of the creative process according to which simultaneously on completion of values of the preceding creative order, new creation starts, we must take it that after four months, the Creator bestows His spirit which continues to develop along with the organism as a separate entity. (Incidentally it may be pointed out that calling of the words of "Azan" to the new-born is not merely a "sermon" in Islam.) Conscious tape of life, which according to the scientific research is bestowed on the baby after four months of his conception fully records the message delivered to him on his birth.

Revelation Made In Hadith (Sahih Muslim)

The fact that the human foetus attains its full sense organs on completion of four months - a stage when according to the Holy Quran it receives the soul and become a new creation is not only confirmed by the modern research but, to the astonishment of many, this fact has also been revealed in a hadith for more than fourteen hundred years ago. The hadith, which has been narrated by Abu Abdur Rehman bin Masood, is produced here:

"Every one of you is created in the womb of your mother where you remain forty days in the creative phase of seed; then the same number of days in the creative phase of a clot; and then the same number of days remain in the creative phase of lump. Then an angel is sent who breathes the soul." 

Thus according to the hadith, the period of different developmental phases of the foetus, on completion of which the Soul is breathed, comes to four months.

1. The cardinal principle of creative process that simultaneously on completion of values of the preceding stage , new and higher creative order starts as a universal independent stage;
   
2. The modern scientific discovery that on completion of four months, the human foetus not only accomplishes perfect sensuous values determined for the animal stage of life but that it also responds to intellectual gestures;
   
3. The revelation made in the Holy Quran that after the foetus is developed and fashioned ( a stage which according to the modern research takes four months) the Creator breathes His soul and it emerges as a new creation, and
   
4. The revelation made in hadith that the human foetus remains in the process of development for four months in the womb and then an angel is sent who breathes the spirit - all these facts which have their import in physical and natural sciences as well as revelations made in Holy Quran and Hadith establish that the Human Self or Soul exist at the top of the creative orders of the universe and that because of having the attributes of the Soul of its Creator it has become immortal.

Human Soul being the reflection of the Soul of its Creator further establishes that it has inherent love and attraction for its Creator, which continues to inspire it to seek the Creator.

Life means inherent attraction in creation for its Creator. The whole universe being the art of its Creator is thus a living universe. Right from electron to the Self-conscious man every thing is alive relevant to the stage of its creation. Accordingly the germ which is planted in the womb has also the attribute of life. Nevertheless, on attainment of senses by the embryonic life, the Human Soul or Self appears as a new stage of life where life become aware of itself as an individuality and so transverses all the material tiers of life, that is, the Cosmos, the Earth, the Vegetables, and the Animals which are subject to natural laws. Thus human physical body and Human Self are two distinct stages of life. Human Soul being the reflection of the Creator's soul, it becomes immortal and is preserved by its Creator's on its worldly death. This fact has thus been revealed in the Holy Quran:

"Allah receiveth (men's) souls at the time of their death, and that (soul) which dieth not yet in sleep. He keepeth that (soul) for which He hath ordained death and dismisseth the rest till an appointed term. Lo! Herein verily are portents for people who take thought."  (39: 42) 

The above verse establishes that in the event of death and during sleep, the souls remain with Allah. It also reveals that Souls are distinct from human body. In other words, death comes to the physical body which is raised under physical laws and not to the Soul which lives in its mental state - the state of an illumination - and already exists as a non-material entity or personality outside the physical body. Soul is thus an illumination - the highest form of life - which appears as a distinct entity apart from all the rest of the universe. By virtue of its enlightenment as being, every Soul comes with intellectual enlightenment and moral exaltation. This fact has been revealed in verse 32(9) as already mentioned.

Although the baby comes along with the Soul or Self, it takes two or three years when he begins to learn the language and identifies his individuality by using the word "I". Language is a system of symbols, which are substituted for facts. Before the baby expresses himself in words, the mental processes of the Self continue to pass through the laborious mental faculty of knowing, feeling and wishing. It is possible only if the Soul or Self, which has inherent urge of knowing himself, is already present in the baby. Until the baby, because of his inherent urge of knowing and feeling the things around him, becomes aware of the objects, he cannot express himself in words. We may call this period the period of incubation during which the baby remains under constant labour to identify as an individuality or a being outside the things around him.

The fact that the human baby comes along with Self or Rooh is scientifically established by Cognitive Theory [ Behavioural Science - The National Medical series for Independent Study.] currently accepted as one of the latest theory of mind developed by the Swiss epistemologist Jean Piaget. It is theoretical framework for understanding intellectual (cognitive) development from birth through adolescence and maturity. According to the analytic work of this theory, an infant is born with two inherent reflexes. The first one-year and a half of life are divided into six periods of sub-stages. These sub-stages occur in an invariable and logical progression. During the period from five to nine months, intentional activity and interest takes place and the infant gradually learns the difference between an action and the object so that objects begin to have a separate existence. At the age of nine months to one year, the infant demonstrates the capacity to keep in mind a sense (or representation) of an object even is it is not directly providing a sensory stimulus. Objects now acquire an independent existence and independent properties. During the period of one year to eighteen months, the infant, along with progressive differentiation of objects as independent, begins to evolve concepts - thinking "about" an action and then acting. The image or idea of an object or behaviour can be held in mind. This is the period when language begins. Words represent things. During eighteen months to two years the infant develops capacity for true representation of objects. A clear separation of external events and objects from the Self is achieved. There is now a sense or an image of the Self. The stage is set for intelligent, conceptual Thought. At this stage, thinking now serves the purpose instead of direct action on objects as did in an earlier stage. Learning now occurs by considering an action and its consequences rather than by action itself. In other words action is replaced by thoughts and here the Self stands outside the things apart and even from his physical body. No animal can ever so project itself, as it is never aware of itself as a separate entity. It remains immersed in its simple consciousness as a fish in the sea. It cannot, even in imagination, get outside of it for one moment so as to realise it a separate independent being as does the human being from his very birth.

That the Soul or Self comes along with the infant as a distinct entity is further witnessed by the fact that while the offspring's of animals are strictly disciplined by the instincts from their very birth, the human infant is free in its behaviour. A duckling because of its inborn instinct soon after hatching is attracted to the water pond but the human baby is free to put his hands into fire or crawl into water the water pond. His freedom of action shows his curiosity to know himself and the things around him. These facts reveal that the Soul or Self which exists as an entity in the form of illumination remains distinct from the physical body which is subject to physical laws. It further establishes that death comes to the physical body and not to the Soul:

"And they say: When we are bones and fragments, shall we, forsooth, be raised up as a new creation? Say: Be ye stones or iron. Or some created thing that is yet greater in your thoughts! Then they will say: Who shall bring us back (to life)? Say: He Who created you at the first. Then will they shake their heads at thee, and say: When will it be? Say it will perhaps be soon." (17: 49-51) 

As laid by the fundamental law of the creative process, with the completion of the physical form and simultaneously appearance of Human Self as a higher stage of life, all the instincts as well as the sensuous values along with the physical form became fixed and continued to live as a base for serving the Human Self. It was now the human Self or "Rooh" which continued to develop by living in close proximity with the physical brain of his organism which became his seat. The Human Self has, however, to take care of the physical needs [ The Human Self has inherent urge for seeking and loving his Creator. However, due to mistake man makes the fulfilment of physical needs as the object or ideal of the Self. The root cause of most of the human miseries is because of misplacement of Human urge of Self. Holy Quran ahs clearly made distinction in the physical needs and their fulfilment and the real urge of the Self or Rooh. Most of the injunctions laid in Quran provide discipline for meeting these requirements.] of the organism with which the Self remains attached so that it may enable him to receive and process the sensuous data readily available to him by remaining attached with the physical brain and through that the Self may, under its inherent urge to know more and more of himself, investigate the properties and the behaviour of the universe as well as the world around him.

The fact that the Human Self lives as an independent entity in close proximity of physical or perceptual brain is laid in an article titled " Mapping the Brain" in Newsweek dated 20th April 1992 by Haier. According to the article, investigation has yielded that there are areas such as parietal lobes, which receive and process data from the senses. The article says:

" This year, Haier found that people used lots of mental energy while learning Tetris, but after practising for several weeks, their brain burned much less energy - even though their scores had improved 700 percent. Watching someone play Tetris at an advanced level, you might think "that person's brain must really be active", says Haier. However, their brains were actually not really working as hard as when they played for the first time. Even more intriguing, the greater a volunteer's drop in the energy his brain needs, the higher his IQ." 

"Intelligence, then, may be a matter of efficiency - neural efficiency. Smart brains may get away with less work because they use fewer neurones or circuits, or both. Conversely, when a less smart brain thinks, lots of extraneous or inefficient neural circuits crackle. Intelligence, in this model, is a function not of effort but of efficiency. Intelligence may involve learning what brain areas not to use, says Haier." 

"One key to intelligence may be "pruning". At birth, a baby's brain is a rat's nest of jumbled neurones. It uses up more and more glucose until the child is about 5, when it is roughly twice as active as an adult's is. Then glucose use and the number of circuits plummet until the early teen years. This is called neural pruning, and Haier speculates it's likely to neural efficiency. More intelligent people may get that way more pruning, which leaves remaining circuits much more efficient. Might pruning explain the link between genius and madness? Over-pruning may result in the high intelligence often associated with creativity, but hyper-pruning may result in psychopathology, suggests Haier. No one has a clue as to why some brains prune their circuits like prize bonsai and others let them proliferate like out-of-control wisteria." 

The question is who is it that receives and processes data from the senses? There must be an overall Self-conscious Entity, which outlives the physical sensuous area and utilises them for seeking vast and higher knowledge under its higher conscious enlightenment compared to what the senses normally determine the material world as seen by animal kingdom through its sense perceptions.

The investigation that strenuous effort or mental energy is involved during the first phase of learning and knowing and then without little depending on the brain activity, the person is able to improve his score as much as 700 percent reveals capability of Human self living independent of the perceptual brain. This fact is supported by the research made on the activity of the brain of child. Up to the age of 5 years the period when the child exerts much pressure on the brain to learn about himself and the new world around him, the child's brain is roughly twice as active as an adult's/ In other words, as the Self gains knowledge through processing data from the sense perceptions, it continues to drop its dependence on the brain by absorbing the knowledge in himself and to that extent skipping neural dependency called neural pruning. That more intelligent people get more pruning establishes gradual independence of the Self from the perceptual brain. The investigation establishes that:

1. The physical brain is an instrument and not a being in itself: and
   
2. That the Self appears as an independent entity simultaneously with the completion of sensuous brain (perceptual brain) during the development of foetus and takes possession of the brain as an instrument before his birth. (Human Self as a dynamic independent entity is discussed in the chapter titled "The Theory of Unconscious".)

The Concept of Reincarnation of Soul Has No Scientific Import

Scientific study of the various developmental stages of the universe has revealed that the developing processes of the universe are irreversible; they proceed only in one direction. It has further revealed that each developing stage continues to stick to its own values, as a separate and independent unit within the overall creation. This is evident from the fact that life at each stage can neither step down to the preceding stage nor can it jump to the higher stage until completion of the whole stage. If man likes to revert to the Animal Stage and become an animal, it is simply impossible. If he does, he must lose his Self-consciousness or Soul. The same is true of other stages of life. Once having completed the Vegetable Stage, no plant can jump into the Animal Stage to become an animal or step down to the stage of physical Cosmos. This establishes that each stage of the universe is a complete independent unit within the overall creative purpose of the Creator and exists as a basis through the procreative process for serving the higher stages. This scientific study categorically rejects the theory of reincarnation of Soul. The following verses reveal that after separation of Souls from their mortal bodies, these remain suspended under a barrier until the whole present creative order of Humanity is wound up on its completion and simultaneously the new Order begins. Only those Souls would enter the new Order, which would be found fir for continuing the journey onward. The Day of Reckoning is the day for judging the fitness of every Soul according to his faith and deeds were not in accordance with the Divine guidance during their worldly life they would be debarred from entering the new higher Creative Order:

"Until, when death cometh unto one of them, he saith: Mt Lord! Send me back. That I may do right in that which I have left behind! But nay! It is but a word that he speaketh; and behind them is a barrier until the day when they are raised. And when the Trumpet is blown there will be no kinship among them that day, nor will they ask of one another. Then those, whose scales are heavy, they are the successful. And those whose scales are light are those who lose their souls, in hell abiding." (23: 99-103)

Physical Brain and Memory

Some people believe that since with the death, the physical body and the brain are destroyed, the memory, which links our experience and serves as the basis of our Self-identity also, disappears. Accordingly if memory does not exist, the question of life after death does not arise as the Human Self with the destruction of physical brain loses its Self-identification also. This is farfetched conclusion, which has no scientific import.

Memory is strictly related with the process of thinking and reason we call them the mental processes of the Human Self. Freud named this mental process of the Self as "Conscious mind" or "ego". This process or faculty is not physical in nature while the perceptual brain of human body in which the Animal Stage perfected sense perceptions is material and lives subject to the spatial time-motion laws. One of the fundamental laws of the creative process has shown that simultaneously on start of the higher stage, the form and values earned in the preceding stage become fixed. The fact that ever since the appearance of man, no new animal species has ever registered and the sensations as perfected by the physical perceptual brain of human body remains fixed establishes that Human Self lives at a higher and different kind of conscious plan outside the physical brain and body. Human Self and its mental processes cannot be regarded as the function of physical body and its perceptual brain. Human Self and the physical brain live as distinct wholes.

Our perceptual mind (physical brain) is capable of simple consciousness only, that is, it is conscious of the object which it sees, but it does not know it is conscious of it; neither is the animal conscious of itself as a distinct entity or personality. It then is a simple consciousness: to be conscious of the things about one, but not to be conscious of one's Self. Accordingly it cannot hold the impression and properties of the objects without sense stimulus. As against it, the Human Self, as established by the Cognitive Theory, keeps in it a sense of an object, even if it is not directly providing a sensory stimulus. In other words objects acquire an independent existence and independent properties outside the Self. That the Human Self has the capability for true mental representation of images of objects and their properties without sense stimulus establishes that memory, thoughts, reason and concepts which are non-material stand outside the domain of perceptual brain which simply serves the Analytic Faculty (Conscious mind or what Freud called it is Ego) of the Human Self as an instrument or yardstick for analysing the values and properties of the material universe as well as the physical body under its higher conscious enlightenment. It shows that the physical body and its sense perceptions are duly represented in the Self, as the Human Self is capable of keeping in it a sense of objects and their properties even if they do not provide a sensory stimulus. If a germ cell when delivered out of the physical body and planted in the womb could act in the form of a "physical brain" to construct it to the system of DNA chemicals, we can be sure that the Human Self which remains attached through its mental processes (Conscious mind) with the physical body and its perceptual brain would also construct its whole physical life which already lives fully preserved in it.

The fact that under the laws of the creative process perceptual mind cannot rise above its physical state and cannot hold the sense impressions without stimulus establishes that the thoughts, language, reason and concepts which are non-material cannot be developed by the perceptual brain. It is possible only if a sense of object even if it is not directly providing a sensory stimulus is held by the perceptual mind. The thoughts, language, concepts etc can be developed only by an entity or a personality, which could live outside the objects, differentiate and hold their properties in itself without stimulus. In other words, it must have their true mental representation (we call it memory) without regard to direct sensory stimulus under spatial time and motion. Such an entity is apt to be non-material, Self-conscious and living beyond the spatial laws of matter and motion. These facts establish that memory is not a physical phenomenon; it is directly related with the understanding. It can operate only if it exists out of the spatial time matter and motion. As against it, the perceptual mind being material in nature cannot hold nonmaterial characters in it.

Hence it can neither retrace the events nor can it jump into the future. Even DNA system - a sort of " physical memory" laid in chemicals strictly follows the process through physical motion in spatial time. These scientific facts establish that it is not the perceptual mind which perceives psychic life lived by the Human Self as an independent entity outside it; these are the mental processes of the Self or Soul which keep in it the whole psychic life and are capable of reproducing the same sense stimulus of the physical body or brain.

Journey Beyond

According to the Holy Quran, life has manifested itself in the form of Human Self or Soul after passing through various stages of creation. This is the final link in the development of life in this world. But life is not limited to this world; it continues beyond death. The higher life that the individual with a developed personality is capable of leading after life in this material world is called a heavenly life, or the life of paradise (Jannah). On the other hand, the onward march of the personalities who could not fully develop in the present world is bound to be thwarted: this kind of life is called an infernal life or the life of hell (Jahannam). Hell and paradise do not stand for places or localities; they denote different conditions of Human Self, which have been described metaphorically in the Holy Quran.

The Holy Quran envisages the Human Self as a developing entity. When the Self has successfully completed the present journey of life, death opens the door to the fresh and more glorious possibilities. Joy at the accomplishments made is blended with prospectus of fresh opportunities. Having realised a certain quantum of potentialities during its earthly career, the Self becomes aware of what is still left to be actualised. This state of mind, blend of joy and zest at higher plane of existence cannot be described, but it can be symbolised. That is why the Holy Quran has resource to metaphorical language in regard to paradise:

"A similitude of the Garden which is promised unto those who keep their duty (to Allah): Underneath it rivers flow; its food is everlasting, and its shade; this is the reward of those who keep their duty, while the reward of disbeliever's is the Fire." (13: 35) 

"A similitude of the Garden which those who keep their duty (to Allah) are promised: Therein are rivers of water unpolluted, and rivers of milk whereof the flavour changeth not, and rivers of wine delicious to the drinkers, and rivers of clear-run honey; therein for them is every kind of fruit, with pardon from their Lord." (47: 15) 

"Similitude" is the key word in the above verses. It is significant and highly suggestive. We are clearly warned against insisting on the literal meaning of the words in which the pleasures and comforts of the paradise are described. We must heed the admonition that they are merely metaphors, which hint at but do not convey an exact idea of the state of consciousness, which is termed "Jannah" (paradise). In fact the paradise cannot be described; it can only be symbolised. The higher plane of existence can neither be visualised nor imagined. This fact has thus been revealed in the Holy Quran:

"No one knows what joy of the eye is reserved for them as a reward for what they do." (32: 17) 

Another verse of the Holy Quran guides us to the true conception of the paradise. We are told that the paradise is not to be regarded as a strictly circumscribed region. The Holy Quran thus described the paradise (Jannah):

"The paradise is as wide as the heavens and the earth."  (3: 133), (57: 21) 

Here the Holy Quran depicts the paradise as the universe endowed with beauty and charm beyond the charm of the material universe. The similitude clearly shows the spiritual and mental state of the Human Self (Soul) which outlives the present material universe.

That the Holy Quran has depicted the paradise in sensuous terms reveals great wisdom of the Creator. In the first place, a state of existence so dissimilar to our present one can only be suggested with the help of objects and experiences familiar to us. Of these, only those are selected which bear some, even though very slight, resemblance to the accompaniments of the higher plane. Terms borrowed from our present experience are employed to suggest, but only to suggest the other plane. The second consideration, to be borne in mind, is that the Arabs had little liking for abstract thinking and metaphorical speculation. Perceptible objects alone were real to them. Hence they paid heed only to that which appealed to their senses. They lived in a barren country. All around them was wide expanse of the arid desert-life was hard, comforts were ver few. Above all things, they valued cool springs, green shady trees laden with fruit, running streams of milk and honey. By means of these familiar and concrete objects, the Holy Quran evokes a sense of the richness of existence of the higher plane. While making use of sensuous terms, the Holy Quran never misses an opportunity of putting people on their guard by hinting that the words are not to be taken in the literal sense. It tells them that they will not only get the garden they want but also something much more desirable. Moreover the Arabs were a poor people and were surrounded by rich nations. They naturally cast envious glances at the wealth and luxury of their more fortunate neighbours. The Holy Quran assured them that if they were good, they would get all these things and even beyond their expectation. It is obvious that the Holy Quran is humouring crude and simple man wherever they may be so that they may be induced to turn to the right path as they are impervious to any other kind of appeal.