Are parts of Jannah the same as the astral world as described by Robert Monroe?

Society Religion & Philosophy
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I don’t know if any of you are familiar with the books by Robert Monroe in which he describes his travels in the astral world (Journeys Out of the Body: Robert Monroe: 9780385008617: Amazon.com: Books and Far Journeys: Robert Monroe: 9780385231824: Amazon.com: Books). Apparently sometime in the 60s, Mr Monroe spontaneously exited his physical body and explored the astral world in a second non-physical body. Later he discovered techniques that allowed him to do the same thing at will whenever he wanted to. One of the regions he describes (he calls it Locale II) has strange similarities to parts of Jannah as described in the holy Koran. Here are the similarities as I see them:

  1. You can meet dead people here. Monroe met his father, one doctor and I think several other dead people that he knew while they were alive.
  2. It is possible to have unrestricted sex with different partners (he does not describe the sex in detail, but it actually does not sound that satisfying)
  3. The ability to eat and drink whatever one pleases, but not really needing the food for sustenance. I don’t think wine makes you drunk either (but it sounds like less fun).
  4. The ability to build houses and castles out of nothing and decorating them with jewels, landscaping as one wishes (somebody created a beach).
  5. The body does not get tired, sick or has any the undesirable aspects of the physical body (odours, excretion etc).
  6. Everyone seems younger - around 30 (the doctor mentioned above appeared to be in his 20s, although he died late in life).

There may be other similarities or dissimilarities that I have not noticed.

One possibility is that Monroe was hallucinating but he does so in great detail and over many years (he has since passed away, but there is an institute in his name). Another possibility is that he is lying - there is no obvious motive for lying, since he had a successful career besides these books.

If this similarity between parts of Jannah and the astral world is just a coincidence, the question is: Does the astral world exist at all? If it does exist, is it mentioned anywhere else in Islam?

Anyone has any comments or has read these books? I must warn that the books are rather tedious and confusing to read and you have to wade through a lot of pages to get the few points I listed above (although if you are used to analyzing hadiths, you should have no difficulty - but you should read the two books in order or it is even more difficult to understand).

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Re: Are parts of Jannah the same as the astral world as described by Robert Monroe?

The astral realm of Monroe is probably the same as the imaginal realm ... But by description it does not suit the description of Jannah.

When in Jannah there is no need to come back out ... And those entering will not want to come back out ... Except to be martyred ... Only to return.

by imaginal realm I don't mean something false or faux, but a type of access we have of things inwardly ... Almost like journeying in to our own selves to the depth that we start to see and experience our own thoughts and deep hidden feelings and desires.

Jannah is a perfect fit for us ... This is perhaps why Monoroe's astral realm seems to inflect on the commonly understood description of Jannah.

To get an idea of Jannah ... Thing of a 3D, HD, blue ray, LED, iMax experience ... And think of clarity and now imagine the experience surrounds you and grows upon you ... Neither do you forget, nor do you feel bored ... Thing about being in a state of ecstasy ... And now imagine that feeling lasts forever without fatigue ... No chance of boredom right?

When we see Jannah inshaAllah we will realise how blurry this world has been ... With every 80% of our last 10 minutes has been forgotten ... In Jannah memory simply enhances ...

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Re: Are parts of Jannah the same as the astral world as described by Robert Monroe?

Imaginal realm sounds really the same as a hallucination (the viewer's own mind creating the illusion). However Monroe did run tests like observing living people far away while in the astral world and then checking with them later by phone or by visiting if they were actually doing that. His imaginal mind could not have known what people at a distant were doing.

Also Monroe was not a religious person. I doubt if he had read the Bible and definitely not read the Koran so all the details were either real or from his own imagination. Details like people being back to the age of 30s, or having sex or drinking wine is rather unique to Islam - no other religion talks in these terms. Monroe definitely did not know about Jannah. So he seems to have imagined details from the Koran all by himself. Quite a coincidence! However, I would suggest reading the books and judging for yourself.

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Re: Are parts of Jannah the same as the astral world as described by Robert Monroe?

Naozubillah why does it sound to me bit like a Waqeya-e-Meraj? Astaghfirullah! I don’t even believe the author. What If he is trying to convince people about his travel to Astral World and once they are convinced… then to convince them that Prophet Mohammad P.B.U.H wasn’t the only person who travelled up (nauzubillah nauzubillah). I don’t trust anyone can be allowed to travel like this!! Even we have a bit of idea of what can we see in Heaven…so what if he made it up?? Answering you!! Anything can exist with Allah’s will. We are in this world, The Earth. We are asked not to think beyond that…because it creates a chain and a lot of questions popup into our minds… A LOT OF!! So we shouldn’t better think about it… I hope you know what questions I am talking about… like you know… Is dunya ke bahir ki dunya!!

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Re: Are parts of Jannah the same as the astral world as described by Robert Monroe?

Ibn Arabi has written about this in his books.

*Ibn al-'Arabi was a mystic who drew on the writings of Sufis, Islamic theologians and philosophers in order to elaborate a complex theosophical system akin to that of Plotinus. He was born in Murcia (in southeast Spain) in 1164, and died in Damascus in 1240. Of several hundred works attributed to him the most famous are al-Futuhat al-makkiyya (The Meccan Illuminations) and Fusus al-hikam (The Bezels of Wisdom).

*Imagination and mysticism
The al-Futuhat contains a good deal of autobiographical material in anecdotal form, some of which strains credulity. For instance Ibn al-‘Arabi, who was in no doubt that he himself was one of the most important saints in the history of Islam, tells us that he met and conversed with the prophets of old including Moses, Jesus and Muhammad. On one moonlit night, when on board a ship in the port of Tunis, he allegedly encountered Moses’ spiritual guide al-Khidr, who came to him walking on the water without getting his feet wet, before going off to a lighthouse over two miles away, which he reached in two or three steps (al-Futuhat al-makkiyya *(index)). It is tempting to dismiss these visions as hallucinations induced by extreme ascetic practices or illness - on the occasion when he saw al-Khidr he had gone to the side of the ship because of a stomach pain which prevented him from sleeping - but Ibn al-'Arabi offers a different explanation based on his perception of the nature of the cosmos.

In his view, the cosmos comprises a hierarchy of three distinct worlds or levels: the ‘world of spirits’, ‘the world of images’ and ‘the world of bodies’. The second of these - ‘the world of images’ ('alam al-amthal), also called ‘the world of imagination’ ('alam al-khayal) - plays a key role because of its intermediate position. It is the isthmus (barzakh) between the world of spirits and the world of bodies, the realm in which spirits are corporealized and bodies are spiritualized. The world of images is a really existent world, but in the waking state we are generally unaware of it; in our dreams, when our souls are no longer distracted by sensory input from the world of bodies, we function at this level, conversing with the departed and with those normally separated from us by geographical distances. What ordinary human beings experience only in their dreams, the mystic may experience at other times. Thus for example, when al-Khidr appeared to Ibn al-'Arabi, this took place in the world of images, al-Khidr - who belongs to the world of spirits - being corporealized for the occasion.

The supposition of this intermediate world of images also furnishes the key to understanding both the miracles performed by prophets and saints and some of the more bizarre descriptions of the hereafter in the hadith. As regards the miracles, Ibn al-'Arabi’s starting point is the observation that we all can create things in our imagination or imagine things happening as we would like them to happen. The ‘perfect man’ is in addition endowed with extraordinary spiritual energy or himma, which enables him to bring the creatures of imagination out of the world of images into the world of bodies thus giving them existence. However, far from acting like a superman, he exercises restraint only employing his miraculous powers when commanded by God to do so. As regards the traditional descriptions of the hereafter, Ibn al-'Arabi maintains that they should be understood as comparable to dream imagery. In a celebrated dream, the Prophet was given a cup of milk to drink, which in the waking state he subsequently interpreted as knowledge. What is impossible in the world of bodies - the corporealization of milk as knowledge - is perfectly possible in the world of images. Similarly in the hereafter, our works will be weighed in the scales and death will be brought in the form of a salt-coloured ram. We who are resurrected will really see these things, but we will see them in the world of images.*