Explaining the Near-Death Experiences Based on Suhrawardi’s Imaginal World Theory

So far, there have been different and sometimes paradoxical theories about near-death experiences. Nonetheless, each of these theories has been unsuccessful in justifying some components of these experiences. This article suggests that Suhrawardi’s Imaginal World theory can provide a more reasonable explanation of these experiences. In the Imaginal World theory, a world is depicted whose qualities have many similarities to the qualities of near-death experiences. Thus, based on this theory and sometimes through getting help from other theories of Sheikh al-Ishraq – such as Illuminative Knowledge, Dominant Lights, and World of Memorial– we can give in an acceptable explanation of the near-death experiences.