Soul

The soul, in many religious, philosophical, and mythological traditions, is the incorporeal essence of a living being. Soul or psyche are the mental abilities of a living being: reason, character, feeling, consciousness, memory, perception, thinking, etc.

72945

Body . Soul . Human . Death

Is it correct to say that the body, soul and spirit are 3 components of a human being and that on death the spirit, and not the soul, leaves the body?

Rebecca Masterton, Dr Rebecca Masterton graduated with a BA in Japanese Language and Literature; an MA in Comparative East Asian and African Literature and a PhD in Islamic literature of West Africa. She has been... Answered 1 day ago

Scholars have not agreed upon how the body, soul and spirit are interconnected. Due to the Neoplatonic influences upon the Islamic tradition, some have come to believe that the body is like a shell consisting purely of matter, and that the soul yearns to be free of it to return back to its Creator (a whole stream of thought and practice in the mystical tradition has arisen based upon this idea, e.g. see the work of Shihabuddin Suhrawardi). Others, such as Mulla Sadra, say the body is a manifestation of the soul. However, still influenced by Neoplatonism, Mulla Sadra holds that, as the 'person' progresses through stages of purification, they move away from this material manifestation towards immateriality. Generally, among Muslim thinkers, the soul could be likened to the psyche. It is the part of ourselves that consists of desires, fears, and the characteristics that make up our personality. The Qur'an says that 'every soul (nafs) will taste death' (3:185). The Quran also talks about the experiences that we will have in the next world. The spirit is that which animates the body and gives it life. The spirit is also that which gives the soul life. Therefore, both will leave the body upon death, but it is the soul that experiences the trials and rewards of the next stage of existence.

93971

Son . Soul . Suicide

My son who was 18 years old took his life earlier this year. I cannot stop thinking why he did that. Can you please help me to help the soul of my Marhoom son?

Zaid Alsalami, Shaykh Dr Zaid Alsalami is an Iraqi born scholar, raised in Australia. He obtained a BA from Al-Mustafa University, Qom, and an MA from the Islamic College in London. He also obtained a PhD from... Answered 1 month ago

Bismihi ta'ala

It is indeed very sad to hear that your late son took his life. May Allah ta'ala grant him ease in the Next life. Most important for you is not to ponder on why and how, but more on what you are able to do to contribute to helping others around you to avoid repetition of such an incident.

You experienced this, so you are able to help those around you and the community to bring about awareness. Take this unfortunate incident and use it for positive use. This will not only keep you occupied from having negative thoughts, or, God forbid, falling into depression, or losing hope in your life as well.

You should try to do righteous deeds and grant its reward to your late son. Do charity work on his behalf, and try to let others remember the good things about him, so they can be insired and learn from all of this.

Another thing that would be important to do is reach out to a qualified counselor who can give you professional tips to deal with such loss and overcome this difficulty.

With prayers for your success.

95226

Soul . Paradise . Qiyama

Is it possible for a person's level in Jannah to increase more once Judgement Day is complete and every soul returns back to Allah (swt) or is that the peak of paradise for them forever?

Zoheir Ali Esmail, Shaykh Zoheir Ali Esmail has a Bsc in Accounting and Finance from the LSE in London, and an MA in Islamic Studies from Middlesex University. He studied Arabic at Damascus University and holds a PhD... Answered 1 month ago

Bismillah

Thank you for your question. Paradise has levels and the human enjoys an infinite journey in the Infinite.

May you always be successful

93813

Soul . Death

What is the evidence from our sources that supports the idea of Esaal-e-Sawab of actions done for benefit of the souls of the deceased?

Amina Inloes, Amina Inloes is originally from the US and has a PhD in Islamic Studies from the University of Exeter on Shi'a hadith. She is the program leader for the MA Islamic Studies program at the... Answer updated 2 months ago

Here are a few narrations on this topic:

Imam al-Sadiq (A) said, “The things which enter a person’s grave are ritual prayer, fasting, hajj, charity, good deeds, supplication, and its reward is written for those who do them and for the deceased.” (Man la yahduruhu al-faqih)

Imam al-Sadiq (A) said, “Whoever of the Muslims does a good deed for a deceased person, God will double his reward and benefit through it the deceased” (Bihar al-Anwar citing Uddat al-Da’i)

It is related that a man came to the Prophet (S) and asked, “My mother has died. Will it benefit her if I give charity on her behalf?” He said, “Yes.” (Musnad Ahmad)

Apart from Wahhabis who object to this because they see everything as bid'ah, it is hard to see the objection to this since if one is doing something good in the hopes that it would benefit the deceased, at least one is doing something good and beneficial.

Maybe some people might object because some things are done for esaal-e-sawab which are not overly beneficial in the present time, for instance, printing Qur'ans and distributing them in an area where Qur'ans are easily accessible. This would have been very beneficial in earlier centuries but today because printing is cheap, it often is not the most beneficial thing to do even if it is meaningful, or sometimes things could even be wasteful. So it is good to think about what is most beneficial, and I am sure the deceased appreciate being remembered in a good way!

92238

Suicide . Destiny . Soul . God (Allah)

What is the situation of the souls of people who committed suicide? Will they be cursed as Allah chose their destiny as the All-Knowing and made them go through the situation that led them to commit suicide?

Sayyed Mohammad Al-Musawi, Sayyed Mohammad al-Musawi is originally from Iraq and heads up the World Ahlul Bayt Islamic League in London. Other than being involved in various humanitarian projects, he frequently responds to... Answered 2 months ago

Committing suicide is a major sin in Islam because it comes as a result of losing hope in the mercy of Allah which is itself a major sin, and it is a crime of killing which is another major sin. Nevertheless, those who die during committing major sins, remain Muslims and we must perform on their dead bodies all rituals which must perform on any Muslim who dies e.g. Ghusl of the dead body, Kafan and burial in Muslim grave yard.

Allah (SWT) knows what is their hearts and He deals with them. We pray for all the believers to get the Mercy of Allah (SWT).

Wassalam.

86046

Intention . Soul

If someone writes motivational and inspirational blog posts and has good intention and claims to heal broken souls and provide comfort to others, is it permissible in Islam to write and make such claims?

Bismillah

Thank you for your question. There is no problem in writing the inspirational posts and these claims as long as they are true and the person is qualified to do

so. Good intention should also be coupled with knowledge and wisdom.

May you always be successful

76451

Drawing . Animals . Soul . Sunni . Art

I used to love drawing and drew pictures of animals and people. I have since heard that it is forbidden to draw pictures of things that have a soul. As A Sunni Muslim, do I now have to destroy all the drawings of living things I have made in the past?

Muslim is not allowed to draw picture of beings with soul like human beings and animals.

If you draw part of the body, not the whole, many Ulama say that it will be permitted.

You need to either to change the drawings of the soul beings, or if it is not changeable, then get rid of it.

Wassalam.

68986

Meaning . Soul . God (Allah)

What is the meaning of the concept that Allah does not burden a soul more than its capacity?

Allah (SWT)'s mercy on His creatures has no limits as He always showers His bounties on all the creatures whether they obey Him or not. His mercy is on every one and every thing. Out of His mercy, Allah (SWT) does not put burden on any one more than the capacity and the ability of that person. All the obligation in Islam are withing the limits of the ability and when a person is unable because of any reason, the obligation will be lifted from him as far and as long as he is unable to do it. For example: Fasting during the month of Ramadhan is one of most important obligatory deeds upon every Muslim, but if a person is ill and can not fast, fasting becomes not obligatory on him.

This rule applies on every situation according to the abbility of the person.

Wassalam.

68756

Nafs . Soul

What are some works I can read on the Nafs and Ruh, their relationship to each other, their functions, and the different types of Nafs?

Jaami' al-Sa'adaat by Shaikh al-Naraaqi.

66137

Soul . Heart

What is the difference between Ruh (soul) and Qalb (heart)?

Syed Nabi Raza Abidi, Syed Nabi Raza Abidi is based in the US and has a PhD in Theology and Philosophy having attended Howzah in Iran for several years. His research was conducted under the guidance of Ayatollah Ja... Answered 10 months ago

Salamoanlaykum

May Allah bless you and your family.

Scholars of different disciplines use these terms in different ways. In a loose sense, they refer to the same reality – the source of life which is inanimate and eternal. The exact sense will depend on in which context it the term is used.

Muhaqqiq Narāqī in his famous book of ethics, Jamiʿ al-Saʿādāt states, “The soul (nafs) is that heavenly essence which employs the body and uses its various organs to attain its goals and purposes. The soul has also other names as spirit (ruh), intelligence (`aql), and heart (qalb) although these terms have other usages as well.”

Shahīd Muṭahharī indicates that these terms are used distinctly in ʿIrfān based on the qualities of the soul: “The 'urafa' have different words for the human soul; sometimes they call it nafs (self), sometimes qalb (heart), sometimes ruh (spirit) and sometimes sirr (mystery). When the human soul is dominated and ruled by desires and passions they call it nafs. When it reaches the stage of bearing Divine knowledge, it is called qalb. When the light of Divine love dawns within it, they call it ruh.”

In the Qurʾān the terms Qalb and Nafs are used much more often than the term Rūḥ; Rūḥ is also sometimes used to refer to the Holy Spirit or to ʿIsā (ʿa)

65516

Soul

What is Ruh?

Abbas Di Palma, Shaykh Abbas Di Palma holds a BA and an MA degree in Islamic Studies, and certifications from the Language Institute of Damascus University. He has also studied traditional Islamic sciences in... Answer updated 11 months ago

as salam alaikum

"They ask you about the Ruh. Say:- The Ruh is from the command of my Lord-. Little is the knowledge that you have been given" (17:85).

The term is often used in Arabic language to indicate what makes bodies alive and therefore we may talk about specific mineral's ruh, vegetal's ruh, animal ruh, human's ruh, etc..

From the Qur'an we understand it is a creation that Allah attributes directly to Himself. For example it is said: "I am to create a man from clay. And when I have fashioned him and I have blown in him My spirit, then fall in prostration" (38:71-72). Here, the creation of the physical man (bashar) has been linked to clay but it was only after the blowing of the Ruh from the Almighty that the angels fell into prostration: "So the angels prostrated one and all" (38:73).

Some exegetes have also linked the Ruh to angelic forces or angels themselves.

With prayers for your success.

66454

Parents . Children . Soul

What is the relationship between the name parents give their children and their soul? Can the child later choose to change their name to one that they prefer even though there was nothing inherently wrong with their birth name?

A person is allowed to change their name even if there is nothing inherently wrong with their birth name.

Whether there is a relationship between one's birth name and one's soul is a more difficult question. I am not aware of anything in our religious sources that discusses this apart from that on the Day of Judgment it is said that people will be addressed by their names and their mothers' names (apart from Shi'i texts which say that the Prophet's descendants will be addressed by their names and fathers' names), but it is hard to say without being there whether that will be a recognizably verbal utterance of a name or just some means of identifying us that we will understand. Also, there are situations where the Imams (A) informed people of their birth names (as part of demonstrating their comprehensive knowledge) and perhaps there is a hint of some significance there. But in those cases it seems that the birth names were changed due to circumstances and not because the person actually wanted to be identified by a different name.

So, I think the best answer to the first question is that maybe there is a relationship, but if there is, it isn't something that is focused on in the Twelver Shi'i tradition.

Certainly the Prophet (S) did not see a problem in encouraging people to change their names where necessary.

As a side note, although I've never seen this discussed, I would imagine that some of the mothers of the Imams (A) were not born with the names they were born with because their names are usually given as Arabic/Persianate whereas some of them were said to come from far-off regions, so perhaps some of them acquired these names during their life journey.