Shaykh Ja’far, may Allah elevate his soul, said that our belief about Nafs (being) was that Nafoos (plural of Nafs) were those spirits upon whom human life and its establishment depended1.

These were the first creatures of God, as indicated by the Prophet. He said that God had created the pious nafoos (beings) and took an oath of allegiance from them about His unity, and then He fashioned rest of the Creation. We also believe that all Nafoos had been created for permanence, and not for destruction. Prophet (S) had confirmed this - “You have not been created for annihilation but your creation is permanent.

However, you will be transferred from one place of abode to another. These Nafoos and Spirits were temporary travellers on the earth and prisoners within their bodies. This was also our belief that when these Spirits abandoned their cadaver, they either remain blessed or under a sentence, and finally they will be returned to their original bodies. Jesus had said to his companions, ‘I am telling you the truth that only that thing escapes to the heavens that has descended from the heavens.’”

God said in the Qur’an that He might have elevated (Balam Baoor) due to His signs, but he followed his Nafs and bowed to the corporal desires.

وَلَوْ شِئْنَا لَرَفَعْنَاهُ بِهَا وَلَٰكِنَّهُ أَخْلَدَ إِلَى الْأَرْضِ وَاتَّبَعَ هَوَاهُ

“And had We willed We would have raised him by their means (that is, by signs), but he clung to the earth and followed his own lust” (7:176).

Therefore, everything that does not go to the spiritual kingdom was directed towards the fire of Hell, which was divided into various sub sectors like the Paradise.

God said that:

تَعْرُجُ الْمَلَائِكَةُ وَالرُّوحُ

“The angels and the Spirit ascend unto Him” (70:4).

i.e. they find their proper abode. He also said that the Godfearing and abstinent will be in the best places of the Paradise with their Lord.

إِنَّ الْمُتَّقِينَ فِي جَنَّاتٍ وَنَهَرٍ

“Lo! the righteous will dwell among gardens and rivers” (54:54).

فِي مَقْعَدِ صِدْقٍ عِنْدَ مَلِيكٍ مُقْتَدِرٍ

“Firmly established in the favour of a Mighty King” (54:55).

He also said, at another place (in His book) that those who laid down their lives in His Path were not dead but they were alive and received sustenance from their Lord, and they were happy with whatever, their Lord had granted them.

وَلَا تَحْسَبَنَّ الَّذِينَ قُتِلُوا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ أَمْوَاتًا بَلْ أَحْيَاءٌ

“Think not of those who are slain in the way of Allah, as dead. Nay, they are living” (3:169).

فَرِحِينَ بِمَا آتَاهُمُ اللَّهُ

“With their Lord they provision. Jubilant (are they)” (3: 170).

At another place (in the Qur’an), the Lord said:

وَلَا تَقُولُوا لِمَن يُقْتَلُ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ أَمْوَاتٌ بَلْ أَحْيَاءٌ وَلَٰكِن لَّا تَشْعُرُونَ

“And say not of those who are slain in the way of Allah: "They are dead." Nay, they are living, though ye perceive (it) not” (2:154).

The Prophet of God said that, “Spirits were divided into groups; therefore, those who befriended each other (in the spiritual domain) were together here on the earth, and those who had shunned each other, remained separated here in their earthly abode.”

Imam Ja’far As-Sadiq (‘a) had said that God set up a harmonious relationship between certain spirits in the spiritual domain, almost two thousand (cosmic) years before the creation of their cadaver (bodies). When the time of Qa’im Aali Muhammad (‘a) would come, then those who had met each other in the spiritual realm, will be made Legatees of each other, and the blood brothers would be deprived of this distinction.

It is also reported from the same Imam that spirits met in the space and discussed things after recognising each other. When a new spirit met them after leaving the earth, these spirits would say that the new arrival should be left alone as it had come out of a terrible experience. They then would enquire about its well-being and ask about their friends. If the new arrival replied that he was fine and well, they would then say that one day he would meet us, but if he was dead and had vanished, they would feel sad about him.

God has said:

وَمَنْ يَحْلِلْ عَلَيْهِ غَضَبِي فَقَدْ هَوَىٰ

“And he on whom my wrath cometh is lost indeed” (20:81).

فَأَمَّا مَن ثَقُلَتْ مَوَازِينُهُ

“Then as for him whose measure of good deeds is heavy” (101:6).

فَهُوَ فِي عِيشَةٍ رَّاضِيَةٍ

“He shall live a pleasant life” (101:7).

وَأَمَّا مَنْ خَفَّتْ مَوَازِينُهُ

“And as for him whose measure of good deeds is light” (101:8).

فَأُمُّهُ هَاوِيَةٌ ‎

“His abode shall be the Hawiah (abyss)” (101:9).

وَمَا أَدْرَاكَ مَا هِيَهْ

“And what will make you know what it is?” (101:10).

نَارٌ حَامِيَةٌ

“A superheated fire” (101:11).

Luqman said to his son, “O, son this world is like an ocean, where many generations have perished. You should make faith as your boat, piety and abstinence as your luggage, and absolute faith on God as your sails, even then if you reached the shoreline, it will be but with the grace of God, and if you died and perished in it then this destruction will be the result of your sins and not the act of God.”

Three occasions were the most difficult and cumbersome junctures for the Sons of Adam. These were - the day he was born, the day he would die, and the day he would rise from his grave. These were the three occasions for which, Prophet Yahya (John the Baptist) had been granted amnesty, as declared in the Qur’an:

وَسَلَامٌ عَلَيْهِ يَوْمَ وُلِدَ وَيَوْمَ يَمُوتُ وَيَوْمَ يُبْعَثُ حَيًّا

“Peace is for him (Yahya) on the day he was born, the day he will die and the day he will be raised from his grave” (19:15).

Prophet ‘Isa (Jesus) has also been declared in peace for these occasions. He himself claimed that there was amnesty for him on the day of his birth, the day he would die and the day he would be raised from the dead.

وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَيَّ يَوْمَ وُلِدْتُ وَيَوْمَ أَمُوتُ وَيَوْمَ أُبْعَثُ حَيًّا

“Peace on me the day I was born, and the day I die, and the day I shall be raised alive!” (19:33).

About the Spirit, we believed that it was not a material being. It was a totally different kind of creation, as proclaimed by God:

ثُمَّ أَنْشَأْنَاهُ خَلْقًا آخَرَ

“And [towards the end] We fashioned him (man) with something new” (23:14).

It is also believed that Prophets and Imams had five types of spirits. These were – Ruh Al-Qudus (an elevated Spirit), Ruh al-Eiman (the Spirit of Faith), Ruh al-Quwaat (the Spirit of strength), Ruh al-Shahwat (the Spirit of Desire) and Ruh al-Mudraj (the Spirit of sense and movement)

Further to this, the people of faith (Mu’minin) had four types of spirits, as stated above, with the exception of Ruh Al-Qudus, but the infidels and the quadruples had only three types of spirits, as they lack the first two.

وَيَسْأَلُونَكَ عَنِ الرُّوحِ قُلِ الرُّوحُ مِنْ أَمْرِ رَبِّي

“They will ask thee concerning the Spirit (ruh). Say: the Spirit is an affair of my Lord” (17:85).

The Prophet (S) was commanded by God to tell the people who were concerned and wanted to know about the nature of the spirit, that the Spirit was a commandment of God. The word Ruh, as mentioned in the Qur’an, stands for a special creation, which was more elevated in status than Gabriel and Michael. It stayed with the Prophets and the Imams. This Spirit belonged to the class of Angels.

In the end, the author would wish to write a book, which would explain these concepts in more detail.

• 1. In this Chapter, the learned scholar invited our attention to some important subjects, such as - what was the reality of Nafs and Rooh (Being and Spirit), the creation of Rooh (Spirit) before the design of material structures, the survival of Spirits after the demise of bodies, the pronouncement of Tawhid in the spiritual realm, the repudiation of transmigration.