The scholars (ʿulamāʾ) have disagreed about this spirit (rūḥ) which we call khalīfa. Some of them have asserted that the rūḥ is an individual and spatially located substance (jawhar-i fard wa mutaḥayyiz), and, in contrast to the animal body, possesses spiritual attributes (ṣifāt maʿnawiyya). They claim that it is the possessor (ṣāḥib) of these attributes. Another group, however, maintains that each perception (idrāk) belongs to its own locus, but that Allah has connected these loci to the body (badan). Their persistence depends on the persistence of the rūḥ; when the rūḥ leaves the body, the perceptions also leave the body.
Another group claims that the rūḥ does not have a specific place in the body, but rather, just as water permeates wool, the rūḥ permeates the body. ʿAbd al-Malik Ḥabīb says: The rūḥ is a subtle form (ṣūra laṭīfa) that exists upon the shape of the body. In the body, it has two eyes, two ears, two hands, and two feet. Each of these corresponds to the same organs found in the human body.
All these groups consider it impossible (muḥāl) for these to be accidents (aʿrāḍ). When those who hold this view are asked what prevents it, they say: For us, the idea that the rūḥ is an accident (ʿaraḍ) is not a remote possibility (iḥtimāl). However, as we have heard from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), the rūḥs are also made happy or suffer torment, because they are enduring (bāqī). Yet these two attributes are not attributes of accidents. The comparison of meaning with meaning (qiyās al-maʿnā bi-l-maʿnā) is necessary. This situation is intellectually impossible for every rational person of knowledge; the sharia (sharīʿa) has not brought anything that is impossible. The second opinion about the rūḥ is that it is enduring (bāqī). This, too, contradicts rational proof. 316 khalq and khuluq
For if the rūḥ were an accident (ʿaraḍ), it would be permissible for an accident to endure. Accidents are always renewed. If the rūḥ were also an accident, it would have to be renewed as well. Accordingly, for every living being, there would have to be as many rūḥs as the times it has passed through. All of these are falsehood (bāṭil). As for the one who claims that the rūḥ is not a substance (jawhar), his proof is that substances...