DÖRDÜNCÜ FASIL · İkinci Madde
Second Article
It details the natural and vegetal souls within the human body, and the forces considered their servants.
Beloved! Know that anatomists have said: The child born from the womb and entering the world of witnessing (the world) is born with four spirits (souls).
One of those four spirits is known as the natural soul, one the vegetal soul, one the animal soul, and one the human soul.
The Natural Soul: It is comprised of a force that preserves the body’s parts and prevents them from separating. The entire body has been created as its dwelling place. It has two servants, to whom are attributed the terms "lightness" and "heaviness." The lightness force is inclined towards the periphery and surroundings. The heaviness force is its opposite, being inclined toward the center.
The Vegetal Soul: It is a force that increases the quantity of the body by extending it in length, width, and depth. The liver is the dwelling place of this soul. The aforementioned natural soul, along with its two servants, performs the service of this vegetal soul. Besides these, the vegetal soul has nine servants unique to itself: attraction (cāziba), retention (māsika), digestion (hāzima), separation (mumayyiza), expulsion (dāfi‘a), reproduction (muvellida), shaping (musavvira), nourishment (gādīya), and growth, increase (nāmiya).
Attraction (Cāziba): It is a force that draws beneficial foods from the outside into the body. The attraction force performs this task through the longitudinal fibers of the upper mouth of the stomach, its dwelling place.
Retention (Māsika): It is a force that retains food in the stomach. [138/a] The retention force performs this task with the transverse fibers located at the lower mouth of the stomach, its dwelling place.
Digestion (Hāzima): It is a force that transforms and alters the beneficial foods taken into the body by the attraction force and retained by the retention force, bringing them to a state ready for the work that will be explained later regarding the reproductive force. The remainder mixes and becomes nourishment for the limbs. This process has been named digestion. This force performs this formation and mixing within its dwelling places—the stomach, liver, and vessels—with their heat.
Separation (Mumayyiza): It is a force that separates the dense from the subtle when food is digested. The separation force performs this task with the inner surface of the stomach, its dwelling place.
Expulsion (Dāfi‘a): It is a force that expels excess or superfluous substances from foods that are not suitable for nourishment through two (known) paths or channels appropriate for this purpose. Just as a tree expels gum. However, if such a path is not available, the excessive substance is transmitted from a superior organ to an inferior one, from a harder organ to a softer one. The expulsion force performs these tasks by gathering them on a tight and wide fiber located beneath the stomach.
Reproduction (Muvellida): It is a force that gathers the most subtle essences. Until a likeness of that body is produced from those subtle essences. Just as this gathered essence becomes seed in plants, sperm (nutfa) in living beings. This force is of two kinds: one produces semen in males and females; the other separates the power within the nutfa that enters the uterus, mixing it until a specific temperament is obtained for each organ. The reproduction force performs this task within its dwelling place—the veins of the body.
Shaping (Musavvira): It is a force that, through the power of God, oversees and protects all matters related to the shaping, mixtures, measures, conditions, voids, and openings of all organs, economizing on food types and resembling them to the body. The shaping force performs this task within its dwelling places—the arteries.
Nourishment (Gādīya): It is a force that transforms the taken food into the likeness of the one who ate it and gives back what is dispersed from the body into its parts. The nourishment force performs this task in all its organs, its dwelling places.
Growth, Increase (Nāmiye): It is a force that increases every part of the body according to its natural proportion and suitability, aiding in its growth. It grows and develops with the food that enters the body. The growth force performs this task throughout the entire body, its dwelling place.
These two souls, along with their aforementioned servants, have become the servants of the animal soul (animal spirit). By the command of the Wise and Powerful God, they all submit to it and obey it. The animal soul has also become the rider of the human soul (nefs-i nātika).
“May God be exalted, free from every defect and shortcoming, who gives us His command and makes us His servants! Surely we will return to our Lord. Glory be to God.”