سورة الإسراء

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Abu Basir said: I asked Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) about the verse: یَسْأَلُونَکَ عَنِ الرُّوحِ قُلِ الرُّوحُ مِنْ أَمْرِ رَبِّی [And they ask you about the soul. Say: The soul is one of the commands of my Lord]. He said: "The Ruh is a creature greater than Jibra'il and Mika'il; it was with the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) and is with the Imams (peace be upon them), and it is from the realm of Malakut."

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Zurarah said: I asked Imam Baqir (peace be upon him) about the verse: وَ یَسْأَلُونَکَ عَنِ الرُّوحِ قُلِ الرُّوحُ مِنْ أَمْرِ رَبِّی [And they ask you about the soul. Say: The soul is one of the commands of my Lord]. He said: "It is one of the creatures of Allah, and Allah creates whatever He wills."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Halabi and Zurarah narrate: Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) said: Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, is One, Samad (Eternally Besought), having no inward cavity; the Ruh is nothing but a creature among His creatures — a help, a support and a strength which Allah places in the hearts of the messengers and the believers.

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him) and Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Abu Basir narrates: One of the two Imams (peace be upon them), in answer to a question about this very verse: وَ یَسْئَلُونَکَ عَنِ الرُّوحِ قُلِ الرُّوحُ مِنْ أَمْرِ رَبِّی [And they ask you about the soul. Say: The soul is one of the commands of my Lord], said: "It is the spirit that is in the beasts and in people." I said: "What is it?" He said: "It is from the Malakut (the dominion) and from the Qudrah (the power)."

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Muhammad ibn Muslim said: "I asked Imam Baqir (peace be upon him) about the words of Allah the Mighty and Majestic: وَ نَفَخْتُ فِیهِ مِنْ رُوحِی [And I breathed into him of My spirit] (Sad 38:72) — how was this breathing?" He said: "The spirit (ruh) is moving like the wind (rih), and it is called ruh for this reason, because its name is derived from rih, since it is of its kind. And Allah has attributed the spirit to Himself [My spirit] because He has favoured it over other spirits, just as He chose one house among the houses and said: 'My house', and He said to one of His Messengers: 'My friend (khalil)', and things like that. And all of them are created, made, brought into being, sustained and governed."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Abd al-Rahman said: I said to Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): "For what reason, when the soul leaves the body of a person, pain and suffering are felt, but when it is combined with it — that is, when the soul enters the body — a person does not feel any such sensation?" His Holiness (peace be upon him) said: "Because the body grew up with the soul."

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): When the soul of Adam was commanded to enter his body, it was reluctant. So Allah commanded it: "Enter reluctantly and leave reluctantly."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Hisham ibn al-Hakam asked Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him)... and he continued the long hadith until he said: "Tell me, when a lamp is extinguished, where does its light go?" He said: "It goes and does not return." He said: "Then why do you not say that a person is also like that — when he dies and the soul separates from the body, it never returns to it, just as the light of the lamp, once extinguished, never returns to it?" He said: "You have not judged rightly. Fire lies latent within bodies, and bodies stand by their own substance, like stone and iron; when one is struck against the other, a flame springs out from between them, from which a lamp is lit and gives light. So the fire itself remains in the body, and its light departs. But the soul is a subtle body clothed in a dense frame, and it is not like the lamp you spoke of. He who formed an embryo in the womb from pure water, and composed within it various sorts of veins, sinews, teeth, hair, bones and other things, is the very One who gives it life after its death and brings it back after its perishing." He said: "Then where is the soul?" He said: "Within the earth, where the body lies, until the time of the resurrection." He asked: "One who has been crucified [and hung upon the gibbet], where is his soul?" He said: "In the hand of the angel who seized it, until he commits it to the earth." He said: "Tell me, is the soul other than the blood?" He said: "Yes, the soul — according to what I have described to you — its source and substance is from the blood; and the moisture of the body, the freshness of colour, the pleasantness of voice and abundance of laughter are all from the blood; and when the blood congeals, the soul separates from the body."

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): It is narrated from Imam Jawad (peace be upon him): One day Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him) came, together with Hasan ibn Ali (peace be upon him) and Salman al-Farsi (may Allah have mercy on him), while Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him) was leaning on Salman's hand, and they entered al-Masjid al-Haram. A man of pleasing appearance and dress came forward and greeted Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him), and the Imam (peace be upon him) returned his greeting. The man sat down and said: "O Amir al-Mu'minin, I will ask you three questions. If you answer them correctly, I will realise that these people have committed a mistake regarding your affair which will disgrace them in this world and the next, and that they are not secure either in this world or in the hereafter. And if I do not receive a correct answer, I will understand that you and they are of the same kind and there is no difference between you." The Imam (peace be upon him) said: "Ask whatever you wish." He said: "Inform me: when a man goes to sleep, where does his soul go? And how does a man remember and how does he forget? And how does a child come to resemble his paternal and maternal uncles?" Then Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him) turned to Abu Muhammad Hasan ibn Ali (peace be upon him) and said: "O Abu Muhammad, answer his questions!" Imam Hasan (peace be upon him) said: "As for what you asked about where a man's soul goes when he sleeps — know that the soul is attached to the breath (rih), and the breath is attached to the air, until the sleeper stirs to wake. If Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, permits that soul to return to its owner, the air draws the breath and the breath draws the soul, and thus the soul returns to the body of its owner. And if Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, does not permit that soul to return to its owner, the air draws the breath and the breath draws the soul, and it does not return to its owner until he is raised up on the Day of Resurrection."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Muhammad ibn Qasim al-Nawfali said: … Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) said: "When the believer sleeps, a movement extended from his soul goes out, rising up to the sky. Whatever the believer's soul sees in the malakut (the heavenly kingdom) of the sky — which is the place of decree and governance — is true, and whatever it sees on the earth is vain imagining." I said to him: "Does the soul of the believer ascend to the sky?" He said: "Yes." I said: "To the point that nothing of it remains in his body?" He said: "No; if all of it were to go out so that nothing remained in his body, he would die." I said: "Then how does it go out?" He said: "Do you not see that the sun is in its place in the sky, while its light and its rays are upon the earth? The soul is likewise: its root is in the body, while its motion and movement are extended."

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): It is narrated from Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said: "Allah, the Glorified, was One in His oneness. He spoke a word, and that word became a light, and from that light He created Muhammad, Ali and his family (peace be upon them). Then He spoke another word, which became a spirit, and He placed that spirit in that light, and made it dwell in our bodies. This is why we are the Spirit of Allah and the Word of Allah, veiled from His creation in our form. At the time when there was no sun, no moon, and no blinking eye, we were continually in the shade of the green Throne, glorifying and sanctifying Him. Then Allah created our Shia. And the Shia are named so because they were created from the ray (shu'a) of our light."

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): Sa'd al-Iskaf said: A man came to Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him) and asked him about the Spirit: "Is it not Jibrail?" Ali (peace be upon him) said: "Jibrail is one of the angels, and the Spirit is other than Jibrail." He repeated this statement to him several times. The man said: "You have made a great claim; no one says that the Spirit is other than Jibrail." Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him) said to him: "You are astray and you narrate from those who are astray. Allah says in the Quran to His Prophet: أَتی أَمْرُ اللهِ فَلا تَسْتَعْجِلُوهُ سُبْحانَهُ وَ تَعالی عَمَّا یُشْرِکُونَ یُنَزِّلُ الْمَلائِکَةَ بِالرُّوحِ [The command of Allah has come, so do not seek to hasten it. Glorified is He and exalted above what they associate with Him. He sends down the angels with the Spirit] (Nahl/1). As this verse says: 'The Spirit is other than the angels.'"

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Jabir narrates: Imam Baqir (peace be upon him) regarding this word of Allah: وَ ما أُوتِیتُمْ مِنَ الْعِلْمِ إِلَّا قَلِیلًا [And you are not given aught of knowledge but a little], said: "Its interpretation in the inner and root sense is that Allah has given knowledge only to a small number of people, and He said: وَ ما أُوتِیتُمْ مِنَ الْعِلْمِ إِلَّا قَلِیلًا, [meaning] to a few of you."

Ali ibn Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him): وَ لَوْ أَنَّ ما فِی الْأَرْضِ مِنْ شَجَرَةٍ [And were every tree that is in the earth (made into pens)] (Luqman/27). The explanation of the verse is thus: the Jews asked the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) about the Spirit. He said: الرُّوحُ مِنْ أَمْرِ رَبِّی وَ ما أُوتِیتُمْ مِنَ الْعِلْمِ إِلَّا قَلِیلًا [The Spirit is one of the commands of my Lord, and you are not given aught of knowledge but a little]. They said: "To us Jews or to all people?" He said: "No! To all people." They said: "O Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family)! How can this be right? You claim that you have been given only a little of knowledge, when you have been given the Quran and we have been given the Torah, and in the Quran you recite: 'To whomever knowledge is given' (Baqarah/269), meaning the Torah, has been given much good (Baqarah/269)." Then Allah revealed this verse: "And were every tree on earth to be made into pens, and the sea to be its ink, with seven more seas added to it, all these would be exhausted but the words of Allah would not come to an end. Indeed, Allah is Mighty, Wise" (Luqman/27). The knowledge of Allah is greater than these; what has been given to you is much in your eyes, but little with Allah."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): The description of the ignorant people who brought base examples for Him was such that they described Him with the lowest of likenesses, and made His resemblance to something that was similar to themselves; and for this reason He said: وَ ما أُوتِیتُمْ مِنَ الْعِلْمِ إِلَّا قَلِیلًا [and you are not given aught of knowledge but a little]; there is no like, no resemblance and no equal for Him; and the best names, which are not fitting for any other, belong to Him. And He has explained them in His Book.