Chapter One: On the Statements of the Physicians Concerning the Spirit and the Soul

and I have not spread out in it a tenth of what I folded away. For I had seen a book on the soul (nafs) by Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī — may God have mercy on him — whose bulk exceeded twenty quires, and it had been my resolve to write a commentary and exposition upon it, so that what I wrote would be somewhat larger than it; but I found that a little, well chosen, is better than much, thrown down at random. So I have set out what is sought in eight gates, as though they were the gates of the Gardens flung open before the possessors of understanding, into which the minds of eminent men may enter; and I have named it The Noachic Ship concerning the Repose of the Spirit [al-Safīnah al-Nūḥīyah fī al-sakīnah al-rūḥīyah].

Gate One: on the doctrines of the physicians concerning the spirit (rūḥ) and the soul. Gate Two: on the doctrines of the philosophers concerning the two. Gate Three: on the doctrines of the scholars of truth and the sages of veracity. Gate Four: on the allusions of the masters of hearts, according to the manner that is theirs. Gate Five: on the proofs of each of those who hold a position concerning the two. Gate Six: on the ranks of souls and spirits. Gate Seven: on the clarifying of the soul and the purifying of the spirit. Gate Eight: on the conclusion and the counsel.

Gate One: On the Doctrines of the Physicians concerning the Two

The physicians agree that in the human body there are three spirits: the natural spirit (al-rūḥ al-ṭabīʿī), the animal spirit (al-rūḥ al-ḥayawanī), and the psychic spirit (al-rūḥ al-nafsānī). As for the natural spirit, it is a body like vapour, subtle in consistency and hot in temperament (mizāj); its mine is the liver, out of which it arises and then diffuses through the rest of the body, and it carries the natural faculties, whose acts are seven: attraction, retention, digestion, expulsion, nutrition, growth, and generation. Attraction is the drawing in of what is beneficial from the food. Retention is the holding of what has been drawn in for a time, so that the digestive faculty may digest it. Digestion is the altering of what is retained in colour and consistency, so that its temperament may change into a likeness of the thing nourished. Expulsion is the driving of the surplus out to the outlets, for voiding, and of the essential part into the channels, for storing up. Nutrition is the assimilating of the food to the thing nourished in colour, consistency and temperament, and its attaching to the organs and the spirits in place of what dissolves away. Growth is increase in the body's dimensions according to a natural proportion. Generation is the engendering of semen, so that from it another of its own species may come to be, lest the species be cut off by the death of the individual.

These two faculties come to a halt before nutrition comes to a halt, and the nutritive faculty remains at work for a time after them both. The faculty of growth halts before the faculty of generation, and this for a wisdom: that the faculty of growth was at work in childhood while the faculty of generation was not at work at that time, so the Wise One ordained that the generative faculty should work for a time while the faculty of growth lies idle. For the need for generation comes when the father is enfeebled and his term draws near, so that his child may stand in his stead; whereas in childhood there is no need of a child, nor any power to provide for one.

They also hold two further faculties: one of them before satiety, namely the sensitive faculty that gives warning of hunger and of the organs' need for food — and this is more like the psychic faculties; the other after satiety, namely the formative faculty by which the shaping in the seed takes place — and this is nearer to the voluntary faculties.

As for the animal spirit, it too is a subtle body, like vapour in consistency, and it is hotter than the natural spirit. Its mine is the heart, out of which it arises and diffuses through the rest of the body, and it carries the faculty of life; its passage is the arteries, whereas the passage of the natural spirit is the veins.

As for the psychic spirit, it too is a subtle, vaporous body, and it is below the natural spirit in heat although it is more subtle than it. It became more subtle even while being colder, because the working