Sufism and healing

Howard Hall

pp. 263-278

in: Harald Walach, Stefan Schmidt, Wayne B. Jonas (eds), Neuroscience, consciousness and spirituality, Berlin, Springer, 2011

Abstract

This chapter examines a neglected phenomenon: rapid wound healing after deliberate bodily damage. Some spiritual traditions, such as a particular school of Sufism, maintain that through immediate contact with the Divine bodily damage may not do harm and any wounds can heal rapidly. During such rituals the body is pierced and wounded by various objects, such as daggers, skewers, glass or razor blades. To investigate this claim extensive field documentations were conducted and a series of well controlled demonstrations under laboratory conditions. These findings are described. The observations and measurements seem to suggest the following: the rapid wound healing phenomenon after deliberate bodily damage is repeatable, even under laboratory conditions and outside the context of the religious ritual; there is clear evidence of penetration of tissue, but no evidence of pain, infection or other lasting damage; concomitant EEG data and the phenomenology do not seem to suggest that this phenomenon is a consequence of hypnosis. Spiritual explanations are discussed.