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Educational Articles About Islam, November , 2007 |
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6 Mind, Self, Soul, Spirit,
and Happiness from an Islamic Perspective By Hassan Ali El-Najjar * Al-Jazeerah, 13 Dhul Qa’ada, 1428, The concepts of mind, self, soul, Spirit, and happiness are closely related in the Holy Qur’an. This article attempts to increase people’s understanding of these concepts, their interconnectedness, and their relevance to Islamic teachings in general. Importance of the Topic Scientists of our time have been able to clone animals. This has made it easier on people to believe that the Creator (Praise to Him), the All-Knowledgeable, is capable of resurrecting the human body in the Day of Judgment. [i] The current information
revolution has demonstrated that information can be captured in deskettes and
desks and transferred through space (from Earth to satellites orbiting our
planet, then back to Earth). However, humans have neither been capable of
transferring information from the human brain nor to it. This is God’s sphere so far. He is the Creator of scientists and internet innovators. He is capable of transferring information from our brains at the moment of death to a “desk” somewhere in His universe until the Day of Judgment. He has not told us how He does that but assured us that we will know a little about it.[ii] These facts also mean that God
is capable of cloning the same individual and of transferring the
information back to his/her brain, thus resurrecting humans in the Day of
Judgment. Happiness, Good, and Evil Ultimately, believers in God's ability of resurrection would behave in a good way during their life time on Planet Earth. As a result, they will be rewarded in the this life by living in happiness, and in the hereafter by entering God's Paradise and enjoying life there forever. Conversely, those who don't want
to believe in the Day of Reckoning, don't also believe in accountability. So,
they may act in an evil or a bad way during their life time on Planet
Earth. As a result, they will be punished by not living in peace and
happiness in this life and by entering Hell in the hereafter. An
important point in the discussion about the Day of Judgment is that capturing
human voice and picture, recording them, and broadcasting them through radio
and TV waves have demonstrated that it is possible to record every movement,
action, or word a human being does or says while living on Earth. If humans could do that, then it follows that their Creator is more capable of doing it than they are. This constitutes further evidence about the accountability humans are held to by God, who will judge them according to what has been recorded about them. These two concepts are not left to people to define. Otherwise, they may never agree on what constitutes them. God's teachings revealed in His messages to guide humanity, as summarized in the Holy Qur'an, include specific definitions and examples of what constitutes good and evil. These messages were delivered by God’s messengers throughout human history. Some of these messengers were mentioned in the Holy Books, others were not mentioned. Among the mentioned prominent messengers of God, we were told about Adam, Nooh (Noah), Ibrahim (Abraham), Loot’ (Lot), Is-haq (Isaac), Ya'aqoub (Jacob), Yousuf (Joseph), Moussa (Moses), Hood, Saleh, Elias (Elijah), Elyasa'a, Younus (Jonah), Ayoub (Jobe), Dawood (David), Sulaiman (Solomon), Zakariyah, Yahya (John), Al-Messieh Issa, Bin Mariam (the Messiah Jesus, son of Mary), and Muhammed (Peace and blessings of God be upon all of them). The message of God to humanity, taught by his messengers, includes commands and recommendations. While good is what God has wanted humans to do, evil is what He warned them against, telling them to avoid or not to do. It follows that obedience to God,
through doing what He wants people to do, constitutes what's good, and leads
to happiness. However, disobedience to Him leads to committing evil acts,
which cause suffering to offenders and their victims. [iii] More direct association
between obedience to God and happiness as well as disobedience to Him and
unhappiness or wretchedness can be found in verses throughout the Holy
Qur’an. [iv] The Mind The mind
is the body of knowledge housed in the brain. It includes two main parts. The
first is a software which develops inherently with the brain in the womb. It
is responsible for the functionality of the body, readiness for learning, and
disposition for knowing good and evil, as explained in the self below. [v] The second part of the mind is accumulated
after birth and until death, as a result of interaction with the
world. So, the mind actually houses everything a person learns
throughout his/her life. However, not all the information accumulated in the
mind may be used by a person. The word mind (aql, عقل) does not
appear in the Holy Qur’an as a noun in the singular form. Rather, a
derivative of which is used as a verb (aqala عَقَََلَ ),
meaning to tie, tighten, control, or restrict. [vi] Thus, minding or reasoning means
subjecting one’s thinking to known restrictions, rules, laws, and controls in
order for one’s behavior to become as educated, safe, wise, and intelligent
as possible, as mentioned in many verses of the Holy Qur’an. [vii] The word al-albab ) ألألباب), however, is used in the
Holy Qur’an to refer to the “mind” but in the plural form. It has been used in 15 verses, all addressing believers who are
intelligent enough to use their “minds.” [viii] Self and Soul In Surat Al-Ana’am (Chapter
6), Verse 60 of the Holy Qur’an, we are told that Allah (God, praise to Him)
knows what we do in the daytime, then we go back to Him in the Day of
Judgment, so He tells us what we have done in this life.[ix]
In Chapter 6, also, Verse 61,
God tells us that when the moment of death comes, He sends angels who are
curators or record keepers to end a person’s life on Earth. Nothing will be
left out of his/her record. The record will be completed. Thus, death means
“wafah” or “completion” of a person’s record during his/her time life on
Earth. [x] Verse 67 of Chapter 6 assures
us that every bit of news has a destination where it can be saved or
recorded, and prophetically tells us that we will know that this can and will
happen. [xi] Part of this prophecy has been
fulfilled in our time, as we have been capable of capturing the sound and
pictures of humans and their environment and of broadcasting them through
radio and TV waves throughout terrestrial and extraterrestrial space. The main idea here is that if
humans have been capable of accomplishing that, then Allah Almighty is more
capable of doing it and more. But what exactly are we going
to be held accountable for? The Holy Qur’an tells us that
we will be held accountable for all what we say or do with our own free will
and choice. This is because God has given humans the freedom to choose [xii] The Holy Qur’an is very
specific about the contrast between the two choices. In Verses 7 and 8 of
Chapter 91, God Almighty says that when He has perfected the creation of
humans (by blowing His spirit in them), he has also equipped the human self
with the ability to choose to be pious or deviant, following the straight
path or going astray from it. [xiii] Translators
of the Holy Qur’an, including Yusuf Ali, generally use the word “soul”
as a translation for the Arabic word nafs (نَفۡسٌ۬).
Sociologists use another term, “self,” to refer to the body of
knowledge, which is selected from the mind in a developmental process to form
a unique identity for a living person. The word “soul” is more used by
religious scholars to refer to a person’s unique identity after death, than
during his/her life on earth. Thus, the “soul” is the “self ” after death,
which will be held accountable for its performance during life on Earth. It
will be resurrected through being transferred back to its cloned body in the
Day of Judgment, in order to be able to communicate with its Creator, then to
be rewarded or punished on the basis of its Earthen performance. For accuracy purposes, at least for
speakers of English, a differentiation between the two translations of “nafs”
is warranted. It is more accurate to use “self” in reference to a
person’s identity during his/her life on Earth, and to use “soul” in
reference to his/her identity after death, though both are translations for
the same word, “nafs.” There are hundreds of verses in the Holy
Qur’an, which mention the self (“nafs” in Arabic). Some of them refer to the
self during its life on Earth and others refer to it in the hereafter.[xiv] The Spirit While psychologists, sociologists, and other
scientists have been studying the mind and the self (which becomes soul after
death), we know very little about the spirit, as the Holy Qur'an tells us. The word “spirit” is a translation
of the Arabic word rooh (روح ), which is mentioned in
about 20 verses in the Holy Qur’an. Humans receive part of God’s spirit when
they are still in the womb. An angel comes and blows it in the fetus brain.
It is responsible for the functionality of the body organs, readiness for
learning, and disposition for knowing good and evil, as mentioned in footnote
# 5. Summary and Conclusion The concepts of mind, self, soul, Spirit, and happiness are
closely related in the Holy Qur’an. They are interconnected, in the sense that
understanding them individually cannot be complete without understanding how
they are related to each other. As human beings, we are elated over a lot
of God’s creations because of our ability to collect, process, and use data
in a good way, by choice. The human body is just an instrument that
incubates and sustains the brain, which houses the human self, which is the
more superior creation of God. God Almighty starts the process by
installing an essential software from His spirit in the human brain. This
allows and enables the human self to start a life-long process of data
collection, processing, and decision making while having the ability to
differentiate between right and wrong. When the body is no longer capable of
sustaining the self, whether by old age, sickness, or accidental death, then
records of the human self are completed by angels. In the hereafter, the self is going to be
judged on the basis of its performance on Earth. If it is obedient to God in
its behavior, it will be living in happiness in this life and in the
hereafter. But, if the human self is disobedient to God, it suffers in its
Earthen life and in the hereafter. To sum up, goodness is obedience to God
and evil is disobedience to Him. It follows that bad things never happen to
good people. Whatever happens to human beings in their
life is good, as long as they are obedient to God, even if they become poor,
get sick or killed unjustly. It’s good
because their ultimate destination is an eternal happy life in Paradise. They
have to work as hard as they can in their pursuit of happiness but they have
to observe God in everything they say or do. You may get the results you want to
achieve here in this life (wealth, power, prestige, reproductive activities,
etc.) but you may not get what you are pursuing for circumstances beyond your
control. Success or failure, in the Islamic sense,
is in how you conduct yourself in the process. ************************************************ Notes, further
explanation, and documentation of verses: * Dr. Hassan Ali El-Najjar has a Ph.D. in
Sociology and a Master’s degree in Cultural Anthropology from the University
of Georgia, USA. This article is based on three Friday
speeches the author gave at the Dalton Islamic Center Mosque on 3 Sha'aban,
1425 (September 17, 2004), 6 Safar, 1426 (March 18, 2005), and 29
Safar, 1426 (April 8, 2005). The author is using the Holy Qur’an
translation of Yusuf Ali (may Allah be pleased with him for his great work in
the service of Islam and Muslims). However, the author will point to a
different translation if that serves more accuracy and whenever Yusuf Ali’s
translation is far from the meaning of an Arabic word.
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