Roohullaah: The "Spirit" of Allaah
Support for the mystic belief in the re-unification of the human soul with Allaah has also been falsely deduced from some of the verses of the Qur'aan itself. The following verses in which Allaah said:
"Then He (Allaah) fashioned him (Aadam) and blew in him from His spirit."142
and
"When I fashioned him and blew into him of My Spirit..."143
have been used as evidence for the belief that every human being contains within his body a part of God. The portion of Allaah's "spirit" which Allaah breathed into Aadam has supposedly been inherited by all of his descendents. Reference has also been made to Prophet 'Eesaa about whose mother Allaah said,
"She was chaste, so We blew into her from Our Spirit..."144
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 Allaah's command to Prophet Moosaa (Moses)
"Put your hand inside your shirt and it will come out shining unharmed..."145
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.146 For example, in the case of divine mercy wherein He says:
"Allaah gives His mercy specifically to whomsoever He wishes..."147
Allaah's mercy is one of his attributes and not a part of His creation. On the other hand, Allaah 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, Allaah quoted Prophet Saalih as saying,
"This is Allaah's camel sent to you as a sign. So allow it to graze in Allaah's earth."148
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 Allaah. Similarly is the case of the Ka'bah about which Allaah 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)"149
and paradise in the case of the righteous who on the Day of Judgement will be told by Allaah "Enter My paradise."150
As for the spirit (Rooh), it is one of Allaah's creations. Allaah states in the Qur'aan
"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."151
Elsewhere in the Qur'aan He said:
"If Allaah has decided a thing, He only has to command: Be, and it is."152
And He also said:
"He (Allaah) created him (Aadam) from clay then said: Be, and he was."153
The command is "be" for all of creation. Therefore, the spirit is created by Allaah's command. Islaam 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.154 Consequently, when Allaah refers to the blowing of a spirit from Himself into prophets Aadam and 'Eesaa, special honor is given to their created spirits due to the prominence of Prophet Aadam's position in relation to the rest of mankind and to clarify the confusion concerning Maryam's virgin birth of Prophet 'Eesaa. Even Allaah'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 Allaah'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..."155 Thus, Allaah has the spirit blown into every human by one of His angels. By saying that 'He blew', Allaah in fact reminds us that He is the primary cause of all that takes place in creation, as He said:
"Allaah created you and whatever you do."156
Just prior to the battle of Badr the Prophet 
threw a handful of dust at the enemy ranks assembled hundreds of yards away, but Allaah caused some of the dust particles to miraculously reach all of the eyes of the enemy. Allaah referred to the Prophet's action as follows:
"It was not you that threw when you threw but it was Allaah who threw."157
Thus, by attributing the Spirit to Himself, Allaah simply gave it a special place of honor among the spirits which He has created. Not that He, Allaah, has a spirit and blew off a piece of it into both Prophet Aadam and Prophet 'Eesaa. To further emphasize that point Allaah 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."158
The Qur'aan is a totality. Its verses explain themselves and the sayings and practices of the Prophet further clarify its meanings. When verses are taken out of context, the meanings of the Qur'aan can easily be distorted. For example, verse four of Soorah al-Maa'oon reads:
"Woe be on those who make prayer (Salaah)."159
This verse by itself is in total contradiction to the rest of Qur'aan and Islaam. Salaah has been made obligatory throughout the Qur'aan, For example, Allaah said:
"Verily I am Allaah, there is no god besides me, so worship me and establish prayer (Salaah) in order to remember Me."160
Yet this verse curses those who make Salaah! However, the verses which follow it clarify the intended meaning as:
"Those who are negligent in their Salaah, who do it to be seen. Yet they refuse even the simplest of kindness."161
Thus, Allaah's curse is on the Salaah of the hypocrites who pretend belief and not on all who make Salaah.
A more meaningful translation of the verse "Then He fashioned him (Aadam) 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 Islaam, 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'aan God states:
"It is Allaah who takes the souls (
Anfus) at death and those which do not die (He takes) during their sleep..."162
The Prophet was reported by Umm Salamah to have said, "Verily, when the spirit (Rooh) is taken the eyes follow it"163
The successful souls will be made to enter paradise as Allaah 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."164
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 Allaah wishes.
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