Notes on the Rūḥ from Shaykh Amin’s Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī Lessons
Sayeed Siddiqui
Human Knowledge of the Rūḥ
From East to West and throughout history, one topic that has continuously stymied thinkers is the inner nature of the human being. Whether termed as the soul, spirit, or consciousness, these discussions are unified in seeking to investigate the essence of what distinguishes human beings and grants them intellectual and spiritual capabilities far above animals. In Islam, we know this element as the Rūḥ. The Quran acknowledges the power of the Rūḥ itself to serve as a sign of Allah: We will show them Our signs in the universe and within themselves until it becomes clear to them that this is the truth1.
From the beginning, there were questions about the Rūḥ. First, they came from non-Muslims. The Jews of Medina asked the Prophet ﷺ about the Rūḥ, and the following verse was revealed: They ask you about the Rūḥ. Say: The Rūḥ is of the affair of my Lord, and you have only been given little knowledge2. At face value, it seems that humanity as a whole has been given little knowledge about the Rūḥ, but some point out that the pronoun “you” refers to the Jews, not to all of humanity. In fact, the reading of al-Aʾmash for this verse was “and they have only been given little knowledge”3. Although it is a non-canonical (shādhdh) reading, it holds the same level of evidence as a singular (āḥād) hadith. Shāh Walī Allāh argues it is incorrect to say we do not have knowledge of anything regarding which the Shariah is silent. Rather, the Quran and Sunnah may remain silent on a particular issue due to requiring subtle understanding, of which most people are not capable. However, some people will have that capability. To say we have no knowledge is thus a type of defeatism. Whoever gathers and reflects on the Quranic verses and hadiths relating to the Rūḥ will find them to be deep wellsprings of knowledge.
The Rūḥ in Relation to Other Concepts
The Quran mentions various concepts relating to the non-physical aspects of the human: the intellect (ʾaql), heart (qalb), self (nafs), and Rūḥ. Some have attempted to define these terms rigorously, draw diagrams of their interrelationships, and even locate them within the physical body. In the view of Shāh Walī Allāh, these are all futile exercises. These concepts should remain as they are found within the statements of the Quran and Sunnah, according to the understanding of the original Arabs, and specifically that of the Ṣaḥāba. Trying to apply rigor necessarily leads to corrupting this understanding, since natural language is not meant to be mechanical. Rather, it is organic and should be left as such. This theory naturally leads to two types of analysis: examining the linguistic origins and connections of the word, and inductively studying its usage in the Quran and Sunnah. Here, we will focus on the Quran.
Linguistic and Quranic Usage
In the Arabic language, the word Rūḥ shares a common origin with the Quranic words rawḥ (relief), rīḥ (wind), and rayḥān (scent), all relating to breath and wind. Breath is an essential part of life and movement, so Rūḥ is originally that which gives life. al-Rāghib al-Iṣfahānī explains that there are various usages of the word Rūḥ in the Quran4. The first is the entity breathed by Allah Most High into Prophet Adam, which caused fashioned clay to become a human being. It is attributed to Allah, which most exegetes interpreted to be in the sense of ownership or honor, such as in the verse He [Allah] breathed from His Rūḥ into him [Adam]5. Sometimes, the pronoun used for Allah is “My” or “Our”6. The second usage is for the elite angels, usually Jibrīl himself, with the phrases the holy Rūḥ7, the trustworthy Rūḥ8, our Rūḥ9, or just the Rūḥ10. Third, it describes the prophet ʿĪsā as a spirit from Him11 because of his miraculous ability to give life, as in the verse and I give life to the dead, by Allah’s permission12. Fourth, it describes revelation itself13: He sends down the revelation by His command. This is because of its ability to give prosperous eternal life, as in the verse But the Hereafter is indeed the real life, if only they knew14. Lastly, in one instance, it denotes aid, with various interpretations: And He strengthened them [the believers] with a Rūḥ [aid, revelation, or light] from Him15.
Our focus is the first usage: the entity which was breathed into the prophet Adam by Allah Most High himself. Its linguistic basis and most basic function is that it is the élan vital or life-force. The origin of life occurs through breathing of the Rūḥ into a physical body, and death occurs when it is taken away by the Angel of Death. However, in this essay we will not dwell on the aspects of the Rūḥ which are shared between humans and other animals. That would be the animalistic (ḥaywānī) Rūḥ, its lowest aspect, which provides life along with other capabilities such as sensation, perception, motion, and bestial desires. Rather, our concern is that which distinguishes the human being: free will, moral responsibility, rational capacity, and spiritual potential.
Attempts at Defining the Rūḥ
Muslim scholars exerted their full effort in analyzing concepts from revelation, and each field of study had its own methodology in doing so. In the field of discursive theology (kalām), each school of thought strove to classify the Rūḥ according to its ontological theory. The Ashʿarites define the Rūḥ as a subtle body (jism laṭīf), meaning a physical substance which pervades the human body, in the way that smoke infuses cloth. The Matūrīdites contend that it is rather an immaterial, abstract, indivisible, created entity (jawhar mujarrad), meaning it does not require accidents and thus does not have location, movement, mass, et cetera.
The Sufis, on the other hand, did not concern themselves with abstract classifications but rather strove to illustrate the reality. They expressed it as nuqṭa fardāniyya nūrāniyya, which may perhaps be translated as “an incomparable speck of Divine Light”. A nuqṭa is a geometric point, which is dimensionless in the sense that it occupies no space and is indivisible. This is its origin, though it may become a substance (jawhar) in its final form. They pointed out the verses the Rūḥ is of the affair of my Lord and I breathed from My Rūḥ into him as proof that its origin is divine in a unique way. Divine Light may be either uncreated or created, and the Rūḥ is of the created type.
Shāh Walī Allāh describes it further as an aperture of the spiritual plane (ʿālam al-quds) from which each individual receives Divine Light in the quality and quantity that it is able to bear16. In this theory, this speck of light is the most powerful force in the universe. It contains all the information about a person and is what makes him him. It is the spiritual blueprint for every individual, in the same way that DNA is the physical blueprint. Therefore, it does not change as a person changes with age throughout his life, or through other mental, emotional, and physical changes. The changes are only due to earthly changes which affects a person’s capacity to bear the Divine Light.
The Spiritual and Material
The more the Rūḥ detaches from the material world (dunyā), the more angel-like it becomes, and the less animalistic. It becomes more subtle (laṭīf) and is thus able to rise into higher planes of existence, just as a hot-air balloon jettisoning ballast rises into the atmosphere as gravity holds less sway over it. It may access the immaterial plane17(ʿālam al-mithāl) and thus receive true dreams. It may tap into what Shaykh Amin terms the Universal Consciousness, where it communes with other Arwāḥ. This occurs through the purification process of dhikr, duʿā, and spiritual exercises (riyāḍāt). To some extent, even non-Muslims may detach from the material world, although in their case it will be deception which only increases their misguidance (istidrāj).
However, there is no dichotomy between the Rūḥ and body: we are not Cartesian dualists. The Rūḥ acts through the body and only develops within it. It is like a rider on a horse. The horse must be directed by the rider, and the rider must have the horse to move. The Accounting (ḥisāb) is taken on both together, and the Afterlife will have both together, although they may temporarily separate, such as in sleep or in death: It is Allah Who calls back the souls upon their death as well as those of the living during their sleep. Then He keeps those for whom He has ordained death, and releases the others until their appointed time18. The meeting of the Rūḥ and body is termed the nafs by most scholars.
In Shāh Walī Allāh’s terminology, the nasama or life-force is similar to what was previously introduced as the rūḥ ḥaywānī. It is the boundary (barzakh) between the Divine Rūḥ and the earthly body, and thus has aspects of both realms, and both angelic and bestial qualities.
For him, death is the separation of the nasama from the body, not the separation of the Rūḥ from the nasama. After death, the Rūḥ continues to provide the nasama with certain capabilities such as unified sensation (al-ḥiss al-mushtarak) through the immaterial plane, even if the body ceases to see and hear. At the time of Resurrection, the Rūḥ will again take on a bodily form, or a form with aspects of both bodies and images (mithāl).
(EDITOR’S NOTE: have to properly add footnotes)
1 Quran, Fuṣṣilat 53
2 Quran, al-Isrāʾ 85
3 al-Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ, Kitāb al-ʿilm, Bāb qawl Allāh taʿālā: wa mā ūtītum min al-ʿilm illā qalīlā, #125.
4 al-Rāghib al-Iṣfahānī, Mufradāt alfāẓ al-Qurʾān
5 Quran, al-Naḥl 9
6 Quran, al-Sajda 72, al-Ḥijr 29, al-Anbiyāʾ 91, al-Taḥrīm 12
7 Quran, al-Baqara 87, al-Baqara 253, al-Māʾida 110, al-Naḥl 102
8 Quran, al-Shuʿarāʾ 193
9 Quran, Maryam 17
10 Quran, al-Nabaʾ 38, al-Maʿārij 4, al-Qadr 4
11 Quran, al-Nisāʾ 171
12 Quran, Āl ʿImrān, 49
13 Quran, al-Naḥl 2, al-Ghāfir 15
14 Quran, al-ʿAnkabūt 64
15 Quran, al-Mujādila 22
16 Shāh Walī Allāh, Ḥujjat Allāh al-bāligha
17It may also be translated as “the imaginal realm”.18 Quran, al-Zumar 42
