Al-Ruh – The Divine Essence
Ali Hajveri has informed us in Kasaf al Mahjub that knowledge concerning the existence of the spirit is intuitive (daruri), and intelligence cannot apprehend its nature. All the Sufi Shaykhs, however, and the most orthodox Muslims hold that the spirit is a substance and not an attribute; for so long as it is connected with the body, God continually creates life in the body, and the life of Man is an attribute and by it, he lives, but the spirit is deposited in the body and may be separated from him while he is living, as in sleep. But intelligence and knowledge can no longer remain with him when it leaves him. Hazrat Muhammad (SAW) has said: “the spirits of Martyrs are in the crops of birds”; consequently, it must be a substance; and Hazrat Muhammad (SAW) has said: “ the spirits are hosts (junud),” and hosts are subsistent (baqi), and no accident can subsist, for an accident does not stand by itself.
The spirit is a subtle body – Jism-i Latif
It comes and goes by the command of God. On the night of the Ascension, when Hazrat Muhammad (SAW) had seen in heaven Adam, Joseph, Moses, Aaron, Jesus, and Abraham, it was their spirits that he saw, and if the spirits were an accident, it would not standby itself to become visible, for it would need a locus in substances, and substances are gross (kathif). Hence, it has been ascertained that spirit is subtle and corporeal (jasim), and being corporeal, it is visible but visible only to the eye of intelligence (chashm-i dil).
The human spirit is not eternal.
Hazrat Muhammad (SAW) has said: “God had created spirits two thousand years before the bodies.” Accordingly, it is one of His creatures, and He joins it to another sort of God’s creatures, and He produces Life through His predestination. However, the spirit cannot pass from body to body because just as a body cannot have two lives, a spirit cannot have two bodies. The human spirit is not eternal because eternal is infinite, which is God’s Essence, and one eternal being would limit the other. Eternal attributes of God cannot possibly become an attribute of His creature.
Spirits have stations
Abu Bakr Wast has discoursed this topic and has related the following ten stations of spirits:
1. The spirits of the Sincere – mukhlisan, which are imprisoned in darkness and know not what would befall them
2. The spirits of pious men – parsa-mardan, which in the heaven of this world rejoice in the fruits of their actions and take pleasure in their devotions, and walk by the strength thereof
3. The spirits of disciples – muidan, which are in the fourth heaven and dwell with angels in the delight of veracity and in the shadow of their good works;
4. The spirits of the beneficent – ahl-i minan, which are hung in lamps of light from the Throne of God, and their food is mercy, and their drink is favor and proximity
5. The spirits of the faithful – ahl-i wafa, which thrill with joy in the veil of purity and the station of electness istifa
6. The spirits of martyrs – shahidan, which are in Paradise in crops of birds, and go where they will in its garden early and late;
7. The spirits of those who yearn – Mustaqan, which stand on the carpet of respect (adab) clad in the luminous veils of Divine attributes;
8. The spirits of Gnostics – ‘arifan, which in the precincts of holiness, listen at morn and eve to the word of God and see their places in Paradise and in this world
9. The spirits of lovers – dustan, which have become absorbed in contemplation of the Divine beauty and the station of revelation (kashf), and perceive nothing but God and rest content with no other thing;
10. The spirits of Dervishes, which have found favor with God in the abode of annihilation and have suffered a transformation of quality and a change of state.
Many Sufi Shaykhs have commented that they have seen the spirit in different shapes, and this may well be because the spirit is created and has a subtle body. Ali Hajveri has informed us in Kasaf al Mahjub that our life is wholly through God, our stability is through Him, and our being kept alive is the act of God in us, and we live through His creation, not through His Essence and Attributes.
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