Essential Features of Eight Published Muslim Near-Death Experiences: An Addendum to Joel Ibrahim Krep's "The Search for Muslim Near-Death Experiences"

Abstract

Abstract: Among other authors, Joel Ibrahim Kreps (2009) has recently published accounts of Muslim near-death experiences (NDEs). With the present paper, we aim to contribute to the growing number of non-Western NDE reports by providing summaries of eight additional Muslim NDEs, seven translated from the original Italian source (Giovetta, 2007) and one from an English source (Lerma, 2009), and to provide references for further reading. In addition, we highlighted noteworthy features of these eight summarized NDE accounts. Although the documentation standard of the available cases is generally low, these accounts indicate that the structure and contents of NDEs from many non-Western Muslim communities are largely similar to those reported in the Western NDE literature. In his report, Kreps concluded that Muslim NDEs are rare and that Muslims have fewer NDEs than do non-Muslim Westerners and non-Muslim non-Westerners such as the Chinese. However, we found that the number of Muslim NDE accounts available today seem to indicate that Muslim NDEs are not as rare as Kreps concluded.