Islam - Its Meaning for Modern Man — Page 329
329 functions of the body have been reduced to a minimum, and the person undergoing the experience is utterly unconscious of anything outside the dimensions of the experience itself. In many cases, people undergo similar experiences in a state of complete wakefulness, though for the moment there is, as it were, a withdrawal from other activity, mental or physical. These are generally described as visions. Dreams and visions, however, must not be confused with the effect produced upon a person’s consciousness when he is under hypnotic or mesmeric control or influence. That is an altogether different kind of experience, and it is now well established that such influences and control can be acquired, developed, and exercised through concentration and practice, like any other power or skill. The Quran invites attention to physical birth into this life for the purpose of illustrating the process of rebirth through which the soul passes after death: “Does not man see that We have created him from a mere drop of seed? Yet behold, he is given to constant arguing. He coins similitudes for Us and forgets the process of his own creation. He says: ‘Who can quicken the bones when they are decayed?’ Say: ‘He Who created them the first time will quicken them; and He knows every kind of creation full well, He who produces for you fire out of the green tree, and behold, you kindle from it. Has not He Who