Features of the Soul

[عبد الرحمن العجمي]

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the name of God Most Gracious, Most Merciful



You have to know that the soul is composed of ethereal particles that collect or gather to each other inside the body, and

there will be an attraction between them, so that they build a frame like the body frame; so that the material eye builds an ethereal eye inside it, the material ear builds, inside it, an ethereal ear, and the material hand builds inside it an ethereal hand; and as such each material organ builds inside it an ethereal organ; so that there will be an ethereal structure inside the material structure, i.e. inside the body, and will be a true copy of it; but only that the first is a material one, whereas the other one is an ethereal.

Then the ethereal structure continues to grow as long as the body is growing and enlarging, until the growth of the body will stop; that is when he becomes an adult; or by his death before attaining his adulthood so that he dies as a child or lad and the soul will stop growing; because of its separation from the body so that it becomes of the same size as the body from which it has separated. Hence, if the body is a child, then it will be a child, too; and if it is a youth then the soul will be a youth, too; and if the body is thin, then the soul will also be thin; and if the body is fat, the soul will similarly be fat.

In summary, the soul is a true copy that is identical with the body in which it has been formed.

It is narrated from some Imams [i.e. saints] that "the soul is a picture similar to the body".

And in another narration that "when God takes the soul of a righteous man, after death, He makes his soul in a mould [or shape] like his mould [or shape] in this World, so that they eat and drink, and if anyone comes to them, they recognize him by that picture which was his picture in the life of the World."

Another narration is that "the souls of the righteous in Paradise are identical with the shapes [and details] of their bodies; so that if you see anyone of them you recognize him."

Actually, the soul does not become old and does not decrease or disintegrate, and no defect can afflict him [or her], and he lives for millions of years.

God – be exalted – said in the Quran 44: 56 ; describing the people of Paradise:
لاَ يَذُوقُونَ فِيهَا الْمَوْتَ إِلاَّ الْمَوْتَةَ الأُولَى وَوَقَاهُمْ عَذَابَ الْجَحِيمِ
The explanation:
(They taste not death therein, save the first death. And [their Lord will] have saved them from the doom of Hell.)

God - be exalted – said in the Quran 35: 36; describing the people of Hell Fire:
وَالَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ لَهُمْ نَارُ جَهَنَّمَ لاَ يُقْضَى عَلَيْهِمْ فَيَمُوتُواْ وَلاَ يُخَفَّفُ عَنْهُمْ مِّنْ عَذَابِهَا كَذَلِكَ نَجْزِي كُلَّ كَفُورٍ
The explanation:
( But those who unbelieve, for them [in the afterlife] will be the fire of Hell; it shall not be decreed for them to die, nor shall its torment be lightened for them. Thus do We reward every unbeliever [and ungrateful one.])

The soul does not become emaciated, e.g. in case the body was fat during his youth, then became ill and lost weight and became emaciated and thin, then his soul will not become thin, but it will remain as it was in his youth. Similarly, if the body becomes old, at his elderly, then his soul will not become old but it will remain as it was during his youth. Similarly, if one of the body organs is lost, like one of his legs or one of his hands is cut or amputated, then his soul will not lose any of its organs; because it is an ethereal structure, and the ether does not perish and no defect can afflict it[1].

E.g. if a man becomes blind when he is young or afterwards, then his soul will not become blind, but will remain seeing, so that if it separates from the body at the time of death, then it will be seeing; so that it will see the objects as it was seeing when it was inside the body during his youth; moreover, its sight will be sharper than when it was inside the body.

God - be exalted – said in the Quran 22: 46
فَإِنَّهَا لاَ تَعْمَى الأَبْصَارُ وَلَـكِن تَعْمَى الْقُلُوبُ الَّتِي فِي الصُّدُور
The explanation:
( For, indeed, it is not the [eye-] sight that become blind, but it is the hearts which are within the chests that become blind.)

Therefore, the soul's sight does not become blind, but will be sharper when it separates from the body.

God - be exalted - said in the Quran 50: 22
لَقَدْ كُنْتَ في غَفْلَةٍ مِنْ هذا فَكَشَفْنا عَنْكَ غِطاءَكَ فَبَصَرُكَ اليَوْمَ حَدِيدٌ
The explanation:
([It will be said] "You were heedless of this[2]. Now have We removed your veil[3] from you, and sharp is your sight this day.")

It means: he will be sharp-sighted or keen-sighted, so that, in the life of the World, he could only see material things; while after his death, he will become able to see both material and ethereal objects; he will become able to see souls, genies, angels and other ethereal creatures; he will be able to hear them if they talk to him, and they hear him if he speaks to them.

God - be exalted - said in the Quran 25: 22
يَوْمَ يَرَوْنَ المَلائكَةَ لا بُشْرى يَوْمَئذٍ لِلْمُجْرِمِينَ ويَقُولُونَ حِجْراً مَحْجُوراً
The explanation:
( The day [of their death] when they shall see the angels [of death who shall take back their souls] – no glad tidings on that day for the guilty, and [the angels] shall say, "An arrest [and detainment for you by the devils] enclosed [upon you till Doomsday.]")

But if one is born, from his mother's womb, with congenital defect of some of his body organs, and he remains as such until he dies, then the soul will have the same defective organs like the body inside which it was formed.

Therefore, the body is not more than a mould for the construction and formation of the soul.

The example of that is the cement-made things: like pillars, skeletons or flower vases and other things: if we intend to make a statue of cement or a flower vase or anything else, then – at first – we should make a mould of wood with the required design, then we bring the cement and mix it with [pebbles and] water, then we pour it inside the mould, which is made of wood, and we leave it at least for twelve hours in order that the cement particles will compact with the pebbles, so that it will become a hard construction that will not break up afterwards. Then we remove the mould from the cement-construction and throw it away, and we keep the cement-construction; for it is our aim.

Now, suppose we remove the mould from the construction before elapsing of the required period, then we shall find the cement particles not compacted, and the construction will be crumbled with the least force.

As such is the rule about the soul inside the body: Now let us consider the body as the mould which is made of wood, and the ethereal particles as the cement: So just as that the cement particles do not hold together unless after the required period, similarly the spirit particles do not hold together inside the body until forty days after the birth of the fetus, when those ethereal particles – after the fortieth day – become a hearing, seeing, conscious and immortal soul.

But if the fetus dies in his mother's womb, then those ethereal particles of the spirit will vanish and go the ways of winds [i.e. will scatter away]; because they have not held together completely during this short period, just as that the cement particles will not hold together if the required period does not elapse, while it is inside the wood mould. For this reason, we should not call the spirit of the fetus – in his mother's womb – a 'soul'; because it will vanish if the fetus dies; and because it does not hear, see or understand; while the soul is opposite of that.

Therefore, the aim from this material body is the soul; because it is the true man, just as that the aim from making the wood mould is the cement construction; so that when the ethereal construction is completed and formed, then no need after that to the body, but its fait will be the putrefaction after death.

Hussein – peace be on him – said in this subject a poetry, that means: "Bodies are created for death; therefore, it is better for man to die by the sword in the way of God."

The indication of that the soul is the true man is His saying – be exalted – in the Quran 6: 104
قَد جاءَكم بصائرُ مِنْ ربِّكمْ فَمَنْ أبْصرَ فَلِنفسِهِ ومَنْ عَمِيَ فَعَلَيْها
The explanation:
( Now have [remarkable] insights come to you from your Lord; then whoso sees[, therewith, the way of the truth] it is for himself [: the advantage]; and whoso is blind [to the way of the truth], it is against his soul [: the punishment and evil consequences.] )

Therefore, if the body was the true man, then He – be exalted – would say: 'But he who is blind, it is against his body.' But the case is not so; because the soul is the true man.

The original Subject be found in this link
http://quran-ayat.com/man/index.htm#The_Spirit_