One of my friends asked me about soul. He wanted to know how he can purify his soul while he can't see it.
After thinking a lot, I decided that today's blogging should be the answer for this question.
Rooh, or the spirit was one of the subjects that arose curiosity in human being. Because, he knew that his existence is due to this soul. But, he can't see it. At the time of prophet some Jewish people asked prophet about soul. Then after getting the revelation from Allah, prophet replied; "They ask you about rooh. Say; it is from the "amr" of my "rab". And you people have given only a little knowledge." (Quran - Al Isra: 85). Sahih Bukhari.
First of all we have to understand that Islam is such a religion which emphasized the importance of knowledge and urged everybody to get knowledge from wherever he could and also urged to be thinking always and cursed those who don’t use their wisdom. Quran asks; "Don’t they think in Quran? Or their wisdom is locked?" (Quran – Muhammad: 24). Islam never disappoints a man from thinking or asking and clearing doubts. Somebody say that through this verse, Allah said that it is from the matter of god, and you people need not think about it. We can't agree with them. Because, if a question is asked, Prophet Muhammad(s) can't run away from that question without answering properly. Islam urged everybody to unblock his mind and to think and find truth.
Then what is the meaning of this verse?
Through this verse, Allah has given a complete explanation about rooh. He said that rooh is from his 'amr'. In Quran many a time where rooh is mentioned we can see that 'amr' is also mentioned there. So, there is a strong and unavoidable relation between rooh and amr. So, to understand rooh we have to understand Allah's 'amr' first. What is Allah's amr? Allah himself has explained his amr as; "his amr is nothing except when he intends to any thing he says 'kun' and it will happen" (Quran – Yaseen: 82). That is allah's amr. Those people who have gained this 'maqam' is called 'ulul amr'.
Our knowledge is very little and limited. We can cross these limits by obeying allah, and being from those pious people who live with "thaqwa". Allah has assured us that he will teach us if we become from those pious people (Quran – Al Baqara – 282). So, to get the complete knowledge about rooh, we have to follow the 'ulul amr'. Because, the rooh is related to them. That is why allah said to those who believed: "obey allah, prophet and ulul amr" (Quran – Al Nisa: 59).
To Simplify, rooh is from allah's amr and to understand amr or rooh we have to contact ulul amr. And you yourself cant find out your rooh. You have given only a little knowledge. If you need find out your rooh, then you have to seek the assistance from ulul amr.
That is the meaning of the above mentioned quranic verse. We can see this kind of explanation in Thafseer ibn Kaseer. He quoted Imam Suhaili: "If you want know about rooh, then enter this path. Because, there is no way to understand the rooh through thoughts or philosophies. The only way is to enter this path which is based on thoughts". Allah knows more.
If there is any linguistic mistake, then forgive me.
Your Muhammed Shafi
