Answered by Shaykh Gibril F Haddad
Is it permissible to, take your soul out of your body (The way the Buddhists or wizards do it)? Because the way the wizards do it, is that they just sit down and imagine themselves floating and then their soul comes out of their body (in simple words).
I will leave it for others to address permissibility, but it seems to me that permissibility in the Law is for matters that involve both the spirit and the body.
However, I will address the issue of the soul’s travel. The soul roams away from the body at sleep and may do so also when awake, if there is a purpose.
A soul that becomes deliberately disembodied may take another form. The form may be identical to the body left behind, or another form, including animal forms East or West, in the higher world (for Muslims) or lower world (for all others).
One purpose for this is to help others. There is permission for this for many Awliya’ who, depending on their strength, may take one a multiplicity of self-forms (dhawaat) at one at the same time. The original body stays awake or goes unconscious depending on strength also.
There is a very important difference between Muslims and non-Muslims in such phenomena. Muslim spirits are clothed with light while non-Muslim spirits are clothed with darkness and vulnerable to dark forces. Another danger is that the disembodied soul may “lose” its way back or be prevented from its body, which results in death.
And Allah knows best.
Source: al-Ibriz min Kalam Sayyidi `Abd al`Aziz.
Hajj Gibril
—
GF Haddad