Chapter Three: Showing That the Soul Is Neither a Body nor an Accident

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Chapter Three

On showing that the soul is neither a body nor an accident

We say: the soul (nafs) is rational (nāṭiqah) and intellects the universal intelligibles (al-maʻqūlāt al-kullīyah). Were it a body, a determinate magnitude would necessarily belong to it, and from that it would follow that its intelligibles, which are not bodily (1), have magnitude — and that is absurd; for as to things stripped of matter (māddah), such as universal man and universal animal, how can they be given a determinate magnitude and a specified shape? And if that is impossible in the case of its intelligibles, it is barred in the case of its own essence (2) as well — I mean, determinate magnitude and corporeality

Were it to inhere in one of the organs, and were that organ’s subsistence by it, it would follow that it always intellects by that organ just as it intellects by its own essence; and [5] the matter is not so, for we see that man in most of his states acts by his whole body. Therefore it is not (3) in an element, but subsists in itself

Were it a body, or subsisting by a body, weakness would attend it with the body’s weakness and revival with the body’s revival; and the matter is not of this description, for we see that after the fortieth year the bodily powers (quwā) weaken while the powers of the soul revive, together with the greatness of apprehension (idrāk) and the perfection of the intellect (ʻaql). Witness to this is what Būlus the Apostle uttered when he said: “And though the outward man grow weak ( 9 )

yet (1) the inward is revived.” (2)

Likewise we see that the outward senses are overtaken by weariness, or by the collapse of their power altogether, while the soul is the contrary of this — I mean that sense is weakened by apprehending what is powerful, as the eye is unable (3) to apprehend the sun and the ear to apprehend overwhelming sounds, whereas the soul grows stronger by apprehending great things. Therefore it is not a body. Likewise it befalls the senses that they cannot apprehend the weak after the strong, as with one who looks a long while at the disc of the sun and is thereafter unable to apprehend a lamp set before him

[6] We know of necessity that black is the contrary of white; and had the two not come together (4) in our thought, it would not have been possible for us (5) to pass this judgement upon them. And it is known that two contraries do not come together (6) in one place at one time. Therefore that in which the two did come together is not a body — and it is the rational soul

When some form (ṣūrah) exists in some body, that body cannot receive another form unless the first has passed away; whereas the soul can receive many intelligible forms in an instant (7) ( 10 )

one and the same. Therefore it is not a body

Man points to each one of his organs when he says: my hand, my liver, my heart, my body; and it is known that the one who speaks is other than the thing pointed to. So the soul is not a body

As for the testimonies of the divine books that the soul is not a body: among them is what was said, “Let us create man after our image” (1) — and He, the Exalted, is not a body, so the soul likewise. And Dāwud said, “When then shall I come and look upon Your face” (2) [7] — and the Creator, the Exalted, is not a body, so likewise the one who looks upon Him (3), and that is the soul. And the word of our Lord, “The soul is ready and the body is weak” (4) — for were the soul not other than body, no divergence would have fallen out between them. And the word of Būlus, “We know that so long as we remain in this body we are far from our Lord, and likewise we long to part from it that we may draw near to Him, the Exalted” (5). And the word of Ghrīghūriyūs al-Ilāhī: “It is incumbent upon us to give the utmost care and attention to this soul, which was bestowed by God the Exalted from the higher world and bound to this body.” And the great Ūghrīs said: “The wealth of the soul is spiritual knowledge, and its poverty (6) is the lack of that.” Were it a body, the matter would not be so

— Notes —

[8] 1 ) In the original: al-ghayr jismānīyah.

[8] 2 ) In the original: dhātihi.

[8] 3 ) In the original: laysa.

[9] 1 ) You have no need to join lākin here; say rather wa-in kāna al-insān al-ẓāhir yaḍʻuf fa-al-bāṭin yantaʻish, for that is the more eloquent — even though Abū al-Baqāʼ, the author of al-Kullīyāt, allows you to place illā annahu here, so that on his reckoning it is permissible for you to say wa-in kāna al-insān al-ẓāhir yaḍʻuf illā anna al-bāṭin yantaʻish.

[9] 2 ) The Second Epistle of Saint Būlus to the people of Kūrintus, 4 : 16

[9] 3 ) Omitted in the original: ʻajz.

[9] 4 ) In the original: yajtamiʻū.

[9] 5 ) In the original: amkannā, with the nūn doubled.

[9] 6 ) In the original: yajtamiʻā.

[9] 7 ) In the original: ināʼ.

[10] 1 ) The Book of Genesis 1 : 26

[10] 2 ) The Book of Psalms 41 : 3

[10] 3 ) In the original: al-naẓar ilayhi.

[10] 4 ) The Gospel of Mattá 26 : 41

[10] 5 ) The Second Epistle of Saint Būlus to the people of Kūrintus 6 : 8

[10] 6 ) In the original: wa-fātihā.