In the previous two parts, we have noted that a person has two dimensions that distinguish him from an animal – a rational soul, nafs natiqa qudsiya, according to a hadith from Imam Ali (A), and spirit, ruh.
The word “ruhˮ is used in the Quran about 20 times and only in the singular form. The word “nafsˮ is used ten times more in the singular and plural forms.
The word “nafsˮ in Arabic means, on the one hand, “soulˮ, on the other – “Iˮ, “selfˮ. That is, this word is used to refer not only to the soul, but simply to the self, something “of itselfˮ. For example, they say, “ana nafsi” – “I myself,” nafs huwa – “he himself” or “the same one.” So, nafs is, on the one hand, “soul,” and on the other hand, is “self.”
And here, we must pay attention to a significant thing. Spirit in the Quran is always attributed to Allah and not to man. Spirit belongs primarily to Allah and after that to man. It sort of works for man because Allah endowed him with it as a kind of divine gift. But the spirit does not belong to man. As a matter of fact, man doesn’t have power over it. He can’t spoil it, for example. It is just there, that’s all. It is like a laser beam that illuminates the sky.
But this is not the case with the nafs. The nafs belongs to us; it is “ourselves.” The nafs will die, the nafs will be resurrected, the nafs will be asked. The nafs may be improved or damaged. “And the angels stretch their arms: ‘Exhaust your souls (anfus: nafs in plural) – Today you will be awarded the punishment of humiliation for what you used to say against Allah other than the truth and [that] you were, toward His verses, being arrogant’” (6: 93). “But whoever feared the glory of his Lord and kept his nafs from wrongful joy, then paradise is their haven” (79: 40-41). “And the nafs induced him to kill his brother” (5:30) – it is said of Cain. “They only deceive themselves (their souls)” (2: 9).
The spirit will not be asked; the spirit is not responsible. The spirit is simply a light beam illuminating our soul. It is sacred and pure in itself; the spirit cannot be asked because no evil can emit from it. Yes, the soul cannot function without it, but the soul will be asked, not the spirit.
Spirit is a kind of mystery. The Quran says, “They ask you about the spirit. Say: ‘The Spirit is from the commandment of my Lord. Only a little knowledge has been given to you’” (17: 85).
Every living creature has nafs, has a soul. Plants have a plant soul; animal has an animal soul. In addition to this, man has a rational, speaking soul. But the spirit is mentioned in the Quran only for man. Only human has the spirit. The animal has a soul but not a spirit. “And breathed into him (that is, Adam) of My spirit” (38: 72). Allah said, “My spiritˮ in the form of honor. This is called “izafatu tashrifˮ, “union of honor. ˮ Just as about the Kaaba, Allah says, “My Houseˮ. Allah forbids us to think that the spirit is a part of God or somehow emanates from His essence. Some astray people believe so, and this is nothing but clear shirk: “But they have attributed to Him from His servants a portion. Indeed, man is clearly ungratefulˮ (43: 15).
No, Allah said “of My spirit” to exalt and honor this spirit, just as He exalted the Kaaba by saying “My House.” After all, we do not believe that Allah has a house in which He lives…
And Allah says to the angels, “So when I have made him complete and breathed into him of My spirit, then fall down making obeisance to him” (38: 72).
That is, only after breathing of the spirit did man become worthy of the prostration of the angels before him. Adam is the khalif of Allah through the spirit, not through anything else, not through the body or soul. The animal also has a body and soul. Yes, it does not have a third, higher soul, which Imam Ali (A) calls “natiqa qudsiya,” but it has a lower soul…
So, Adam becomes khalif worthy of the prostration of angels only after Allah has breathed the spirit into him. Why? Because this spirit is a light from a much higher and more sacred light… We shall now scrutinize it…
Nafs (the soul) pulsates, contracts, and unclenches, filled with different content. It is like a sail, blown by the wind. It can rush down to hellish regions and be filled with hellish and unholy content. The Quran calls this soul “nafs ammara”: “The soul certainly commands evil” (12: 53). Imagine a sail curved in the opposite direction. This is the nafs ammara, the soul that calls toward evil, the soul that has become evil, filled with hellish content. In this case, the person is internally reborn into the devil, in which only the nafs ammara lives. Such a person can kill, rob, rape simply because he desires so… This resembles a helpless rider carried by an angry steed. The nafs ammara begins to justify its name as “commanding. ˮ It becomes the undivided master of the personality and leads him to absolute poisoning and decay.
But if the soul is filled with heavenly content, if it is like a sail swelling in the right direction, then the Quran calls it “nafs lawwama”: “I swear by the accusing (lawwama) soul” (75: 2). That is, accusing evil deeds. And so it is more and more filled with light and Godly content until it turns into “nafs mutmainna” – an assured/secured soul: “O, you assured soul! Come back to your Lord well-pleased and well-pleasing!” (89: 27-28).
Nafs ammara, nafs lawwama, and nafs mutmainna are not different souls; they are manifestations of the same soul. Just as I can take the canvas and immerse it in black paint. I can bleach it, make it white. But the canvas will be the same.
There is still such an interesting point regarding the delicacies of the Quran. The word “ruhˮ in Arabic can be either masculine or feminine. But in the Quran, this word is used in the masculine gender. Whereas nafs, the soul, in the Quran is only feminine. That is, the spirit is supreme, it is the male principle in man, and the soul is female, located below it, controlled by it.
And one more thing: as we said, throughout the Quran, the word “ruhˮ is used only in singular. Whereas “nafsˮ is used both in the singular and in the plural: anfus, nufus – souls. But the word “arwahˮ – “spiritsˮ in the plural – does not exist in the Quran.
The soul in the Quran can be condemned, can be evil if it is inclined to evil, and can be good if it is inclined to good. However, the spirit in the entire Quran is a sacred divine principle. Ruh cannot be bad, cannot be filthy with sin, darkness, or something unclean. Ruh is a sacred principle attributed to Allah Himself: “My spirit” (ruhi), Allah says.
Thus, the spirit is not some entity within a person. There are actually not many spirits. At its core, there is only one Spirit. The Spirit is the horizon, a vault stretched over a man. From the Spirit spews into the soul, into the heart as the center of the soul (because the heart is the center of the soul), as it were, the radiance of a laser. This is not some entity within us. It does not embrace us like a soul. Even in the language this is felt. We say, “it hurts my soul,ˮ but we never say, “it hurts my spirit. ˮ Because the spirit is as if outside of us, it is higher than ourselves. It is both in us and outside of us.
And here, we must pay attention to an important moment, which will give us an understanding of the spirit. This moment relates to the “lataif ul-Quran,” “the intricacies of the Quran,” the hints of the Quran for understanding and meditating … Look, in several verses, the spirit is associated with “Amr,” with the command of Allah. “They ask you about the spirit. Say: ‘The spirit is from the command (Amr) of my Lord. Only a little knowledge has been given to you’” (17: 85). And in surah “The Bee”: “He sends angels with the spirit of His command (Amr)” (16: 2). And in surah “The Believer,” ayat 15: “Exalted by degrees, Holder of the Throne; He descends the spirit of His command (Amr) to the one to whom he desires, from the worshippers. ˮ And in surah “The Council”: “And so We inspired the spirit of our command (Amr)” (42: 52).
That is, the Quran, by mentioning the spirit, ruh, constantly repeats that the spirit is “of (or from) Our command,” “from Our order,” from Amr Allah (min amrina). What does it mean? What is Amr of Allah? In surah “The Most Highˮ, ayat 54, we read: “He owns creation (khalq) and command (amr). Blessed be Allah, Lord of the worlds. ˮ So, to Him belongs creation (khalq), and to Him belongs command (amr).
There is a world of creation and a world of command. And Allah says about the spirit: min amri rabbi, “it is of the commandment of my Lord” – that is, the spirit refers to this world of Amr, to the world of the command of creation, the world of “mashyya” (volition), the will of Allah, the world of light of Ahl ul-Beit. The spirit stems from there. This is similar to how electricity is obtained from a common station, which is one in the whole city. Cables and wires diverge from this station, through which electricity from a single generator is supplied to all the houses in the city. Our spirits are the same. It is like rays that diverge from the same center. “Min amri rabbi” – “of the command of my Lord”: that is, the spirit departs from this center, from this arch, stretched over all creation.
And Allah says about His amr, His command, in the Surah “Ya. Sin”: “His command (Amr) is that when He desires something, He says to him: ‘Be’ – and it will be” (36: 82).
And here we see the depth of this issue. Isa, Jesus (A), is called the “word of Allahˮ and the “spirit of Allah,ˮ ruhu llah. He is “the word of Allah” because he, like Adam, was not born from natural causes but directly from the command of Allah, from Amr Allah: kun fa yakun – “Be – and it will be.” And he is simultaneously called the “spirit of Allah,ˮ because the spirit is the reality of the same horizon, the world of Amr Allah. He is from the command of Allah. Allah said to him: “Be!” – and he arose. That is, the spirit is not a substance, but an action. And because of this, Jabrail and the Quran are called “spirit. ˮ Because they are also from that reality.
As we said, our consciousness is a hologram of our soul, which is a part of the World Soul at a higher level. And the soul, the rational nafs, in turn, is a hologram of Spirit, Ruh, which is at an even higher level. Here we must distinguish between two worlds, as we said: the world of creation (the world of the khalq), which includes everything in general that is created – and the world of the process of creation (the world of amr). So, the spirit is from the world of amr, from the world of the process of creation, and therefore the spirit is not an essence, like a soul, but an act, an action. And from here is the very name “ruh,” which originates from “rih,” wind. What is “windˮ? It is something that constantly moves, is always in motion. And so is the spirit. Spirit is not a thing, not a substance, but a process, an act.
These things are strictly connected; they are impossible to exist without each other. The spirit can exist only in the body; it does not exist by itself. It’s like if a beam of light shines, it must illuminate something. Allah created the spirit and connected it with the body through the soul. After death, it continues to be connected with the body, but not with this physical body, which is going to rot somewhere in earth, but with the celestial body of the Barzakh, which resembles our earthly body but is more subtle. It (the celestial body) has the same appearance and features, but its matter is different. And in the next part, we will talk about it in more detail.
Allah says that He breathed into Adam from this very spirit. Spirit is nafha, inhalation from Allah. What does “inhalation” mean? This word is one of the symbols of the Quran. It is clear that Allah has no mouth and no breath so that He breathes something into a person in the literal sense. No, “inhalation” here means that a line is stretched from something, some foundation, as if a ray. Therefore, Allah says, “And breathed into him – into Adam – of My spiritˮ. Not the whole spirit, but some part, some spark of (or from) it. That is, Allah directed a ray into a person from this foundation, from this common Spirit, which He tied to Himself by saying: min ruhi – “of My spirit .”Of (or from) this great Spirit. There are, as it were, many rays going in opposite directions from one light source.
But what is this source? The Quran calls it “ruh ul-qudus,” “Holy Spirit.”
Narrated by Abu Basir: I asked Imam Sadiq (A) about the words of Almighty Allah: “And so We inspired you the spirit of Our command.” He said: “The spirit is a creation from the creations of the Great and Almighty Allah, above Gabriel and Michael. It was with the Messenger of Allah (S), informing him of the news and helping him. And it is with the Imams after him.”
And in another hadith: “A man came to the commander of the believers Ali (A) and asked him about the spirit: “Isn’t the spirit Gabriel?” He told him: “Gabriel is an angel, and the spirit is not Gabriel.” And he repeated it for him once more. That man said: “You have spoken great words. No one claims that the spirit is not Gabriel.” Then the commander of the believers (A) said to him: “Verily, you have gone astray by conveying the words of the followers of delusion. Almighty Allah said to His Prophet: ‘The command of Allah is coming, so be not impatient for it. Exalted is He and high above what they associate with Him. He sends down the angels, with the spirit of His command’. So, the spirit is different from the angels.”
The Holy Spirit is the Universal or First Intellect, the first creation of Allah after the Light of Muhammad and the Household of Muhammad (S), the white light and the upper right pillar of the Throne, the first branch of the tree of eternity, the name of Allah, “by which the heavens and earth lit up,” the Pen (Writing Cane) in surah “Qalam” and the position of qaba qawseyn: “And he was at a distance of two bows (qaba qawseyn) and even closer” (53: 9).
In “Basairu Darajat” from Ishaq Hariri it is given: “I was near Imam Sadiq (A) and heard him say, “Allah has a pillar of light; He hid it from the whole creation. One of its sides is with Allah, and the other is with the Imam, and this is the Light and Spirit that is inspired in him.” And this Spirit is now with Imam Mahdi, may Allah hasten his return! This Spirit is the very Intellect (Aql), to which Allah said: “Move away” – and it did so; “Come closer” – and it did so, as given in the “Kafi,” and Allah said: “I have not created anything that is more beloved to Me, than you. Through you, I reward and punish”. This Intellect (Aql) is one of the sides or aspects of the Reality of Muhammad (S). It is the Intellect of Ahl ul-Bait (peace be upon them), and its attitude towards them is like the attitude of the governor to the king.
Allah said: “And thus We have revealed to you the Spirit of Our command. You did not know what is the Book or faith, but We have made it a light…” (42: 52). The word “it” means the Quran, which was not mentioned before the creation of the Spirit, that is, the First Intellect – the Intellect of Muhammad and the Family of Muhammad (S). Why does Allah say: “You did not know what is the Book or faith”? Because the Quran is a scroll or a cast from this Spirit, the Quran was not before it.
The Messenger of Allah (S) said: “The first creation of Allah is my Intellect (Aql),” and in another hadith: “The first creation of Allah is my Spirit”; “The first creation of Allah is my Light”; “The first creation of Allah is a Pen (Qalam) .” And this is the same reality, which is the Holy Spirit, or the Intellect of Muhammad and the Family of Muhammad (S). According to the above verse, Allah inspired it to the Prophet (S) in his earthly shape in the form of the Quran: “And thus We have revealed to you the Spirit of Our command. ˮ
This Intellect (Aql) or Holy Spirit is the mirror of Muhammad’s Reality, from which the Quran originates. Muhammad’s Reality in surah “The Light” is likened to an “olive tree,” whose “oil would almost glow even if untouched by fire” (24: 35). And when the fire of the Will of Allah (Mashiyya) touches this “olive tree,” a “lamp” is born, also mentioned in surah “The Light,” and this is the First Intellect or Holy Spirit. As for Gabriel, he is a mediator between this “lamp” – and the earthly reality of Muhammad (S). Thus, Gabriel took knowledge from the Reality of Muhammad (S) and passed it on to the exterior of Muhammad (S), that is, his earthly shell. This is similar to how a person takes his knowledge from the soul and transfers it to the brain via thought.
Here we are dealing with the most recent issues of reality and being. Maybe what we are saying is somewhat difficult to fathom, although I try to explain it as simple as possible… Therefore, please reflect on this, pay attention to it several times…
So, we have said that the true, great, unique Ruh (Spirit), which the Quran always mentions in the singular form, is nothing but the white light, the upper right pillar of the Throne, the Intellect of Muhammad and the Family of Muhammad (S) and the first creation after them. That is, above this Ruh, is only Mashyya of Allah, the Will of Allah, which is nothing but His action, and the Light of Muhammad and the Household of Muhammad (S) through which this Mashyya is performed. And this Mashyya in unity with the Light of Muhammad, the Reality of Muhammad is the world of Amr, the world of the command of Allah, the world of “kun fa yakun.” Ruh is the first offspring of this command, the first creation in the world of the “khalq.” It is the first mirror reflecting the First Reality, that is, Muhammad’s Light, or Mashyya, or Amr. That is, this mirror reflects the very process of creating, to which there is no limit and no end, from where the streams of being flow. Allah says, “Have they not seen that We drive the water to barren land?” (32: 27). Streams of the water of being erupt from the Mashyya of Allah through the medium of Ahl ul-Bait. Where do they erupt? To this Ruh.
That is, Ruh is the first limitation, the first projection of the creation process, its first result. It is the first entity in the world of the “khalq,” in limited creation.
And, as we have said, Ruh is what is called the Pen (Writing Cane) in the surah “Qalam.” This is indicated by the hadith from Imam Sadiq (A) in the interpretation of the first verses of surah “The Penˮ: “Nun. I swear by the Pen and by what they write. ˮ He says: “Nun is a river in paradise. ˮ That is, the first light, a river of light, the Reality of Muhammad (S). Therefore, in another hadith from Imam Kazim (A) it is said: “Nun is the name of Muhammad. ˮ As the Quran says: “And His Throne was on the water” (11: 7) – that is, on this water, which is the flowing light and Nun. If we look at the spelling of the letter “nun” (ن), we will see that it resembles a vessel: a semicircle with a dot on top. That is, the Messenger of Allah (S) in his reality is a vessel of light, with which – with this light – the Writing Cane writes the letters of being.
And then Imam Sadiq (A) says, “Allah said: ‘Freeze’ – and it froze and became ink. And then Allah said to the Writing Cane: “Write” – and it wrote on the Preserved Tablet what was and will be before the Day of Judgment. And the ink is of light, the Writing Cane is of light, and the Tablet is of light. ˮ
That is, Qalam (the Writing Cane) is the First Intellect, the Spirit of Muhammad and the Household of Muhammad, Ruh with a capital letter, white light and the upper right pillar of the Throne, and it writes on the upper left pillar of the Throne, which is the World Soul, the green light and the Preserved Tablet.
We said that there is a “World Soul” from which our individual soul, our nafs, reads information. The green light of the Throne, which is the World Soul, is also called Lauh – the Tablet.
Hafs ibn Giyas said, “I asked Imam Sadiq (A) about the words of Allah: ‘He certainly saw of the greatest signs of his Lord’ (53: 18). The Imam (A) replied: ‘He saw Gabriel standing on his pearl shins, like a drop on green herbs: he had six hundred wings, and they filled what was between heaven and earth’”.
There is a similarity between the great level of creation and man. Just as the “World Intellect,” or the “World Spirit,” or the Writing Cane, writes on the “World Soul” or on the Preserved Tablet – in the same way, the spirit writes letters on the tablet of the human soul. And from this movement of the Ruh on the tablet of Nafs, what we call consciousness, reason, life is born…
The first volume of Amin Ramin’s “Man in Islam” can be purchased on Amazon at this link.
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