Chapter Six: On the Ranks of Souls and Spirits

Gate Six: On the Ranks of Souls and Spirits

As for the view of the philosophers: the first is the vegetative soul (al-nafs al-nabātīyah), which is in trees and crops. It is bodily — that is, a power subsisting in a body — and its work is the growing of the plant until it reaches the limit of its beneficial perfection. Then the animal, bestial soul, which is likewise bodily; its work is the growing already mentioned, together with voluntary motion in the attaining of immediate aims, and likewise by the satisfying of appetite and the repelling of pain — not for a loftier perfection or the benefit of a hope. For the ass eats, but not that it may grow strong to carry a heavy load; and it walks along the road, not for its companion’s benefit, but in flight from the stick and in seeking to have the heavy load set down from its back. But man eats that he may grow strong to bear the burdens of the obligations and be able to worship God, and he walks for the benefit of his fellow.

Then, after these, the rational soul (al-nafs al-nāṭiqah) which we have mentioned, which is neither a body nor bodily; its work is the growing already mentioned and the voluntary motion described, with the addition of one thing, namely the attaining of perfection and the aiming at the good. They did not affirm in the heaven a growing, vegetative soul; they did affirm an animal soul whose work is the attaining of immediate aims, but by way of assimilation, not by way of appetite; and they affirmed a separate soul whose work is the attaining of perfection.

As for the spirits that are in the intellects, the well-known view among them is that they are ten: after every angel an intellect, with one more in addition that has no angel with it.

As for the doctrine of the scholars concerning the ordering of souls and spirits, we say: this ordering is of two kinds — an ordering in species, and an ordering in the states of a single individual.

As for the ordering in species, we say: a soul like the vegetative, but in the drop of seed, until it becomes bone and is clothed with flesh; for we say that the embryo has a soul breathed into it, and when God brings forth a ⟨...⟩ther creation, a bestial soul attaches to it — and these two are different species. Then the human soul attaches to it, which we said is a subtle luminous body, and what appears is that it differs from the first two in reality. Then the souls of men do not differ in species but differ only in description: the souls of the godfearing are in reality like the souls of the wretched, save that the godfearing man’s soul has been lit and has shone, while the soul of the wretched man has darkened and done ill. Some of the later scholars said that it may be that they differ in their realities, so that the soul of the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, differs in reality from the soul of Abū Jahl.

Then the souls of the angels — and I do not know whether they differ in their realities, or are a single species having individuals within it, like the soul of man. And another soul, which stands over against the souls of the angels in contrariety, namely the souls of the satans; and likewise I do not know whether they differ in species, or are one in species and differ in their individuals.

So the species of souls come to five: the vegetative soul; the bestial soul; the human soul; and nobler than these, the angelic soul; and the basest of souls in its act, the soul of the satans.

As for the ordering in the states of the soul of man, we say: the soul of man, if it neither knows nor works, is like the vegetative; it is the lowest in rank, but it is the safer. And if it works the good and does not know, it is like the bestial; it is stronger in safety and higher in rank. The worshipper who prays and fasts but does not know fasting and prayer and does not know God is like a hard-working ass. And if it both knows and works: then if it mixes good with evil, hating the evil and willing the good, it is reproaching; and if it mixes evil with good, hating the good and willing the evil, it is the commanding soul. And if he wills the good at one time and evil at another, it is a soul that turns about, in one state reproaching and in another commanding. And if it makes the good pure and unmixed, it is the soul at peace, the angelic; and if it makes evil pure and unmixed, it is the satanic; and it has ranks.

As for the soul at peace in the friends of God (awliyāʼ), disobedience is admissible of it, but remotely; for Satan has no authority (sulṭān) over them, and so does not dispose of them as he wishes — for Satan’s wish is that man should disbelieve and not cease from insolence. Yet it is admissible that Satan should come upon them by stealth, like the thief who steals the king’s property, of whom it is not said that he had power over the king or that he has authority over the sovereign. So too Satan commands the godfearing man to disobedience, and it is not said that he has authority over him; for authority is complete power. And that which is in the prophets does not admit of disobedience; but it may be that his heart inclines to a forbidden bodily pleasure, and yet it does not issue from him, as He, exalted be He, said: [You had almost inclined to them a little, had We not made you firm]. And He, exalted be He, said to His Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace: [Say: I am only a human being like you]. And this refraining came about only by the preservation of God, exalted be He. And above it is a rank with which no inclination of the heart remains, and it is the rank of the righteous in Paradise, to which God, exalted be He, alluded in His saying (And We removed what was in their breasts of rancour). And I do not know whether the prophets attain this rank in this world, or whether it is a rank not attained save in the hereafter.

As for the masters of retreats, they made the ranks of the soul ten ranks. In the first it does not apprehend the good nor incline to it, waṣl [1]; so it is either bestial, or a satan in meaning — for if he does not apprehend evil either and does not incline to it, he is like the cattle; and if he apprehends evil and inclines to it, he is more astray than the cattle and is like Satan, and his soul is that which commands to evil. In the second it apprehends the good and inclines to it, but animal occupations and appetitive works hinder it; and this is the reproaching soul. Then, when its owner disciplines it and cuts it off from what it is accustomed to and removes the hindrance, it is the soul of an ascetic; and thereafter appetitive works are exchanged for human acts of worship, and it becomes the soul of a worshipper. Then, in pressing on in worship, the knowledge of the Real becomes manifest to him, and it becomes the soul of a knower (ʻārif). Then the knowers are of five ranks: in the first he is a lover; then one who yearns and grieves; then one brought near and gladdened; then he is a beloved and thanked; then he is an intercessor whose intercession is accepted. The exposition of this is that whoever knows God — and God is beautiful and needed — and everyone, when he looks upon the beauty of one who is beautiful and knows his own need of him, loves him. But he may be occupied with something else, and so does not grieve at losing him; and when he knows that there is no doing without Him and no substitute for Him, he becomes one who yearns, and you see his eye overflowing with tears in grief at the loss of His traces. For flashes of lightning gleam for the knower from the side of the Real, and he takes delight in it; and in the first rank it may be cut off from him and he does not grieve, while in the second, whenever it is cut off from him he grieves. Then he comes to be such that whenever he wills it, it shines out, and whenever he turns toward the side of the Real, it rises upon him; and at that point he is one brought near and gladdened, like one who is not screened from the king at the times of his coming. Then he becomes a beloved, and the matter no longer waits upon his seeking, but rather his Lord seeks him — like the king who sends for the one he loves, even though the one sought is sitting in his house with no intention of going to the gate. Then he comes to be such that what he wills is realised, and he is the intercessor whose intercession is accepted. And God, exalted be He, knows best.

— Notes —

[23] (1) Thus; and perhaps it is aṣlan.