The Soul and Its Origin

A question that naturally arises concerns the status of our souls, and their origin, in terms of being eternal or not. Is the rūḥ of the human being from Allah?

Everything other than Allah (swt) is created. That is the first thing. What, then, is the rūḥ? There are a number of explanations of the rūḥ. First, Allah says:

Wa yasʾalūnaka ʿani al-rūḥ, quli al-rūḥu min amri rabbī wa mā ūtītum min al-ʿilmi illā qalīlā. They ask you about the rūḥ, about the spirit. Say that the rūḥ is from the command of Allah, from the command of my Lord, and you have not been given much information; you have not been given knowledge except a small amount.

Some scholars choose to abstain completely from any description of the rūḥ, because, they say, in this regard they go with the ẓāhir of the Qur'an. Other scholars say that there is a description that we have. What is the rūḥ? Well, the one thing that can be said right away is that it is a subtle body intricately infused with the flesh, just as water permeates a fresh stick. Take a fresh twig: there is water in it, and one cannot tell exactly how it is infused. Likewise, the rūḥ is infused in the body. And Allah has established a system by which life continues as long as the spirit resides within the body, and death takes over when it separates from the body.

A group from among the Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jamāʿah has described it as a substance flowing through the body, just as rose water flows within the rose. It is a very intricate relationship. They say that this does not necessarily contradict what Allah says, that you have only been given a small amount of knowledge, because all command belongs to Allah; or that speaking of the genus of the spirit in general terms is part of the little knowledge that we have been given: part of the small amount of knowledge we have been given. The stronger and superior position, though, is that its knowledge is completely consigned to Allah. This is the opinion of the majority of the Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jamāʿah.

An interesting point here is related about the rūḥ from one of the scholars, al-ʿIzz ibn ʿAbd al-Salām. He says that there are actually two spirits, two rūḥs. The majority say there is only one rūḥ, but he says there are two rūḥs. One is that which, when it leaves the body, a person goes to sleep; when it comes back, they wake up. The other is that by which a person lives in this world, and when that is removed, they die. It is the first which sees dreams: it goes out, and it sees dreams. Both of these are inside the human being, and only Allah (swt) knows exactly where they reside: whether spread throughout, or infused, or how it is. Allah (swt) knows best.

Another interesting point concerns the covenant described earlier in this chapter. It has been related that there is a hadith of the Prophet (peace be upon him) which says: al-arwāḥu junūdun mujannadah, fa-mā taʿārafa minhā iʾtalaf, wa mā tanākara minhā ikhtalaf. Ibn ʿAbd al-Salām says that on that day, when that covenant was taken and the rūḥs were extracted, some were facing each other, some were side by side, and some had their backs to each other.

Based on this hadith, what he is saying is this: if a person hits it off with somebody in the world (sometimes one sees somebody for the first time and simply gets along, as though they had known each other forever), then it is possible that their arwāḥ were together, facing each other. And if there are some people one just finds very difficult to get along with, then maybe their backs were turned to each other. Allah knows best. And if some people just cannot get along with anybody, maybe they were off in a corner somewhere. But Allah knows best. The hadith says that whichever of them recognise each other find solace, or comfort, in one another; and with those which do not find the other familiar, there is some difference there. So much for the soul and its origin.