It has weakened. (Heyākil, 65)
Junayd says: Allah has reserved knowledge related to the rūḥ (the spirit) for Himself, and has not given any information about this matter to any of the creation. There is no possibility (imkān) of saying anything about the rūḥ beyond the existing knowledge. However, we refer the words and actions of the truthful ones in this matter back to themselves (these are special kinds of knowledge that can only be understood and evaluated within their own conditions). (ʿAwārif, 259)
According to one view, just as the sense of sight is a subtle (transparent, imperceptible to the senses) thing found in a dense body, the rūḥ is also a subtle substance found in a dense body. This view is the product of speculation (rational inference). Some have defined the rūḥ as an expression and as the Real (al-Ḥaqq) subsisting with things. This view is also a product of speculation (both views may be correct, but they also carry the possibility (iḥtimāl) of being incorrect).
Others have said that just as creation (takhliq) is an attribute of the Creator (al-Khāliq), so is giving life (iḥyāʾ) an attribute of the Giver of Life (al-Muḥyī).
The rūḥ is a subtlety that comes from Allah and permeates certain places. In this matter, no taʾwīl (interpretation) can be made beyond the existing knowledge given by Allah. Some say: The rūḥ did not come into existence by the command "Kun" (Be). If it had, it would have been subject to abasement. When asked, "Then how did the rūḥ come into existence?" it was answered: The rūḥ came into existence, free from abasement, from between the manifestations of Allah's beauty (jamāl) and majesty (jalāl), with a special ishāra (indication) given to it. Allah greeted it with His own word and freed it from falling under the abasement of "Kun".
Abū Saʿīd Harrāz was asked whether the rūḥ is created (makhlūq). He replied: Yes, it is created; if it were not, by answering the question with "yes," it would not have accepted rubūbiyya (lordship). The rūḥ is the entity by which the body stands upright; the body acquires the quality of being alive through it, and the intellect exists only by means of the rūḥ; existence is proven by the rūḥ. Without the rūḥ, the intellect would be inactive, and no evidence could be brought for or against anything.
It is also said about the rūḥ: It is a created substance, the subtlest of created things, the purest and most luminous of substances. The unseen world is intuited through it, and the people of ḥaqīqa (inner reality) attain unveiling through it. If the rūḥ cannot complete its journey and becomes veiled, the organs behave improperly towards it. For this reason, the rūḥ is always in a state between manifestation, istitār (concealment), contraction (qabḍ), and expansion (nashr).
According to the rūḥs, dunyā (this world) and the hereafter are equal. Rūḥs are of different kinds. Some wander in the Barzakh, observing the states of the world and the angels, listening to what is said about people in the heavens. There are rūḥs under the Throne. There are also rūḥs who fly to Paradise and wherever they wish, going as far as they desire, and who strive (gayra) in the path of Allah throughout their lives.
Abū Saʿīd Quraishī says: There are two rūḥs: the rūḥ of life and the rūḥ of death. When these unite, they consider the body. When the rūḥ of death leaves the body, the living body becomes dead. The rūḥ of life is the one by which breathing, eating, and drinking powers are obtained.
It is said: The rūḥ is a subtlety deposited in the qalb (the heart), the source of praiseworthy attributes and akhlāq (character), while the nafs (the lower self) is a subtlety deposited in the body, the source of bad character and attributes. (ʿAwārif, 264)
The intellect is the tongue of the rūḥ and the interpreter of baṣīra (inner sight). For the rūḥ, baṣīra is like the heart, and the intellect is like the tongue.
The nafs, as mentioned in the Qur'an, possesses both kamāl (perfection) and deficiency. Its perfection is through intellect and knowledge; its deficiency is through ignorance and desires. Just as a lunar eclipse causes the deficiency of the moon due to the darkness of the lowest layer of the world, so too the deficiency of the nafs arises from indulging in shahawāt (desires), and thus its abode becomes the lowest of the low (makān asfal al-sāfilīn). Just as the earth is illuminated by the light of the sun, so too bodies are illuminated by the light of the rūḥ. (Tadbīrāt, 110)
The scholars have disagreed about this khalīfa (vicegerent) that we call the rūḥ. Some of them asserted that the rūḥ is a unique and spatially located substance, and that, unlike the animal body, it possesses spiritual attributes (ṣāḥib).
Others claimed that each perception belongs to its own place, but Allah has attached these places to the body. Their subsistence is through the subsistence of the rūḥ; when the rūḥ leaves the body, perceptions also leave the body. Another group claims that the rūḥ has no specific place in the body, but rather, just as water permeates wool (yūn), so does the rūḥ permeate the body.
ʿAbd al-Malik Ḥabīb says: The rūḥ is a subtle form 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 asked what prevents this, they replied: For us, the possibility that the rūḥ is an accident is not remote. However, as we have heard from the Prophet (peace be upon him), rūḥs are also made happy or suffer torment, because they are enduring. Yet these two attributes are not attributes of accidents. The comparison of meaning with meaning (qiyās) is necessary. This situation is intellectually impossible for every sane scholar; the sharia has not brought anything impossible.
The second view about the rūḥ is its enduring nature. This also contradicts rational evidence. For if the rūḥ were an accident, it would be permissible for an accident to endure. Accidents are always renewed. If the rūḥ were an accident, it would also have to be renewed. Thus, for every living being, there would have to be as many rūḥs as the times it passed through. All this is bāṭil (invalid). As for those who claim that the rūḥ is not a substance, their evidence is that substances (jawāhir) and the rūḥ are similar (mumāthila). If a substance were to become a rūḥ, then every substance would have to be a rūḥ. This is contrary to rational evidence. (Tadbīrāt, 129)
Know that when Allah Most High created this vicegerent (the rūḥ) mentioned above, He built a city for it. He placed its subjects and the officials of its state in this city, which is called the noble body or the body. He assigned a place for that vicegerent. Either its ...