Roohullaah - The Spirit of Allah

[ابوالوليد المسلم]

Roohullaah - The Spirit of Allah

Dr. Bilal Philips



Support for the mystic belief in the re-unification of the human soul with Allah has also been falsely deduced from some of the verses of the Qur’an itself. The following verses in which Allah said…
"Then He (Allah) fashioned him (Adam) and blew in him from His spirit."[1]
And, "When I fashioned him and blew into him of My Spirit..."[2]


…have been used as evidence for the belief that every human being contains within his body a part of God. The portion of Allah's "spirit" which Allah breathed into Adam has supposedly been inherited by all of his descendants. Reference has also been made to Prophet 'Eesaa about whose mother Allah said,
"She was chaste, so We blew into her from Our Spirit..."[3]


Thus, it is believed among mystics that this divine eternal spirit within man yearns to reunite with its origin from whence it came. However, this is not the case. Possessive pronouns (my, your, his, her, our) in Arabic, as in English, have two general meanings depending on the context in which they are used. They may describe an attribute or a possession which is or is not a part of its owner. For example, in Allah's command to Prophet Moosaa (Moses):
"Put your hand inside your shirt and it will come out shining unharmed..." [4]


Both the "hand" and "shirt" belonged to Prophet Moosaa but his hand was an attribute which was a part of him, while his shirt was a possession which was not a part of him. The same is the case relative to God with regards to His attributes and His creation.[5] For example, in the case of divine mercy wherein He says:
"Allah gives His mercy specifically to whomsoever He wishes..."[6]


Allah's mercy is one of his attributes and not a part of His creation. On the other hand, Allah sometimes refers to created things as "His" to emphasize the fact that He created them. Yet others are referred to as His to indicate the special position of honor with which He views them. For example, with respect to the She-Camel sent as a test to Prophet Saalih's people, the Thamood, Allah quoted Prophet Saalih as saying,
"This is Allah's camel sent to you as a sign. So allow it to graze in Allah's earth."[7]


The camel was miraculously sent as a sign to the Thamood who did not have any right to deny it from grazing, because the whole earth belongs to Allah. Similarly is the case of the Ka'bah about which Allah made a covenant with Prophets Ibraaheem (Abraham) and Ismaa'eel (Ishmael):
"That they may purify My house for those who circle it, cling to it, bow down prostrate (near it)."[8]

“And paradise in the case of the righteous who on the Day of Judgement will be told by Allah "Enter My paradise."[9]


As for the spirit (Rooh), it is one of Allah's creations. Allah states in the Qur’an:
"They ask you concerning the spirit, tell them the Spirit is from my Lord's command; and you have not been given except a very small amount of knowledge." [10]


Elsewhere in the Qur’an He said:
"If Allah has decided a thing, He only has to command: Be, and it is." [11]


And He also said:
"He (Allah) created him (Adam) from clay then said: Be, and he was."[12]
The command is "be" for all of creation. Therefore, the spirit is created by Allah's command. Islam does not consider God to be an incorporeal Spirit, as do some religions like Christianity. He has neither corporeal body nor is He a formless spirit. He has a form befitting His majesty, the like of which no man has ever seen or conceived, and which will only be seen (to the degree of man's finite limitations) by the people of paradise.[13] Consequently, when Allah refers to the blowing of a spirit from Himself into prophets, Adam and 'Eesaa, special honor is given to their created spirits due to the prominence of Prophet Adam's position in relation to the rest of mankind and to clarify the confusion concerning Maryam's virgin birth of Prophet 'Eesaa. Even Allah's attribution of the act of blowing to Himself is, in fact, a clarification of His will and supreme power, for it is the angels who actually insert and extract the souls into man. This fact is evident from the following Hadeeth of Ibn Mas'oud who reported that Allah's Messenger said, "Verily your creation is combined in your mother's womb for forty days in the form of an oily fluid, then as a leech-like clot for a similar period and as a clump of flesh for another similar period. Then an angel is sent to him to blow the spirit into him..."[14] Thus, Allah has the spirit blown into every human by one of His angels. By saying that 'He blew', Allah in fact reminds us that He is the primary cause of all that takes place in creation, as He said:
"Allah created you and whatever you do."[15]


Just prior to the battle of Badr the Prophet (saws) threw a handful of dust at the enemy ranks assembled hundreds of yards away, but Allah caused some of the dust particles to miraculously reach all of the eyes of the enemy. Allah referred to the Prophet's action as follows:
"It was not you that threw when you threw but it was Allah who threw."[16]


Thus, by attributing the Spirit to Himself, Allah simply gave it a special place of honor among the spirits which He has created. Not that He, Allah, has a spirit and blew off a piece of it into both Prophet Adam and Prophet 'Eesaa. To further emphasize that point Allah also refers to the Angel sent to inform Maryam as "His spirit":
"So we sent to her Our Spirit who took the appearance of a well formed man."[17]


The Qur’an is a totality. Its verses explain themselves and the sayings and practices of the Prophet (saws) further clarify its meanings. When verses are taken out of context, the meanings of the Qur’an can easily be distorted. For example, verse four of Soorah al-Maa'oon reads:
"Woe be on those who make prayer (Salah)."[18]


This verse by itself is in total contradiction to the rest of Qur’an and Islam. Salah has been made obligatory throughout the Qur’an, For example, Allah said:
"Verily I am Allah, there is no god besides me, so worship me and establish prayer (Salah) in order to remember Me."[19]


Yet this verse curses those who make Salah! However, the verses which follow it clarify the intended meaning as:
"Those who are negligent in their Salah, who do it to be seen. Yet they refuse even the simplest of kindness." [20]


Thus, Allah's curse is on the Salah of the hypocrites who pretend belief and not on all who make Salah.


A more meaningful translation of the verse "Then He fashioned him (Adam) and blew into him from His spirit," would be "Then He fashioned him and caused one of His (noble) spirits to enter him." Consequently, there is no basis in the divine scriptures for the mystic belief in the uncreated soul of man, yearning to re-unite with its origin, God. In Islam, there is no distinction between the Arabic terms Rooh (spirit - pl. Arwaah) and Nafs (soul - pl. Anfus) with respect to man except that when it is connected to the body it is usually referred to as a Nafs. In the Qur’an God states:
"It is Allah who takes the souls (Anfus) at death and those which do not die (He takes) during their sleep..."[21]


The Prophet (saws) was reported by Umm Salamah to have said, "Verily, when the spirit (Rooh) is taken the eyes follow it."[22]


The successful souls will be made to enter paradise as Allah said to the righteous souls
"O soul (Nafs) at peace, come back to your Lord pleased with yourself and pleasing to Him. Enter among My devotees. Enter My paradise."[23]


Thus, in the end, the righteous human soul will not become extinguished in God nor unite with His supreme being, but will remain a finite spirit reunited with a finite body enjoying the pleasures of paradise for as long as Allah wishes.

[1] Soorah as-Sajdah 32:9, and 38:72.

[2] Soorah al-Hijr 15:29 and Soorah Saad 38:72.

[3] Soorah al-Anbiyaa 21:91 and Soorah at-Tahreem 66:12.

[4] Soorah Taahaa 20:22.

[5] Tayseer al-'Azeez al-Hameed, pp.84-5.

[6] Soorah al-Baqarah 2:105.

[7] Soorah al-A'raaf 7:73.

[8] Soorah al-Baqarah 2:125.

[9] Soorah al-Fajr 89:30.

[10] Soorah al-Israa 17:85.

[11] Soorah Aal'Imraan 3:47.

[12] Soorah Aal'Imraan 3:59.

[13] See the Chapter on Seeing Allaah, p.136 of this work for further detail on this point.

[14] Collected by al-Bukhaaree (Sahih Al-Bukhari, (Arabic - English), vol.4, pp. 290-1 no.430) and Muslim. (Sahih Muslim, (English Trans.) vol.4, p.1391, no.6390).

[15] Soorah as-Saaffaat 37:96.

[16] Soorah al-Anfaal 8:17.

[17] Soorah Maryam 19:17.

[18] Soorah Taahaa 20:14.

[19] Soorah al-Maa'oon 107: 5-7.

[20] al-'Aqeedah at-Tahaaweeyah p. 394.

[21] Soorah az-Zumar 39:42.

[22] Collected by Muslim (Sahih Muslim (English Trans.), vol.2, p. 437 no.2005).

[23] Soorah al-Fajr 89:27-30.