Al-Fajr: (27) O tranquil soul...

Know that when the Almighty described the state of one who is content with the world, He then described the state of one who is content with knowing and worshipping Him, saying: {And do not kill the soul}. There are several issues concerning this:

The First Issue: The Implied Meaning of this Statement

God addresses the believer, {And do not kill the soul}. This address is either an honor, as He spoke to Moses (peace be upon him), or it is conveyed through an angel.

Al-Qaffal said: Although this appears as a command on the surface, it is essentially a report (khabar) in meaning. The implication is that when the soul is tranquil, it returns to God, and God says to it: {Return to your Lord, content and pleasing} (Al-Fajr: 29) and {Enter among My servants * And enter My Paradise} (Al-Fajr: 30). He said that the use of a command to mean a report is common in their speech, like saying, "If you have no shame, then do as you wish."

The Second Issue: The Meaning of Tranquility (Itmi'nān)

Tranquility means stability and firmness. There are several interpretations regarding the nature of this stability:

1. Certainty in Truth: That the soul is certain of the Truth, with no doubt intermingling with it. This is what is meant by His saying: {but [let] my heart be reassured} (Al-Baqarah: 260).
2. Security from Fear and Grief: The secure soul that is not agitated by fear or sorrow. This interpretation is supported by the recitation of Ubayy ibn Ka'b: "O secure, tranquil soul!" This state of security may occur at death upon hearing the words: {Do not fear, nor grieve, and receive good tidings of Paradise} (Fussilat: 30), and it certainly occurs at the Resurrection and upon entering Paradise.
3. Intellectual Reality: This interpretation aligns with rational truths. We say that the Qur'an and rational proof both confirm that this tranquility is only achieved through the remembrance of God.
   • As for the Qur'an: It is in His saying: {Verily, in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find rest} (Ar-Ra'd: 28).
   • As for rational proof (Burhan), it is in two ways:
     • The Ascent of the Rational Faculty: When the rational faculty ascends through the chain of causes and effects, every cause it reaches, being contingent in itself, necessitates the intellect seeking another cause. The intellect never stops but continues to move from everything to what is higher, until it reaches the Necessary Existent in Itself (Wajib al-Wujud), the terminus of needs and the ultimate necessity. When need stops before Him, the intellect stops there and is reassured, not moving to anything else. Thus, whenever the rational faculty looks toward any contingent being and clings to it, it is impossible for it to settle there. But when it looks upon the majesty of the Necessary Existent and knows that everything originates from Him, it is impossible for it to move away. Hence, it is established that tranquility is only achieved through the remembrance of the Necessary Existent.
     • The Limitlessness of Needs: The needs of the servant are infinite, and everything other than God is finite in permanence and power, except through God's support. The infinite cannot be satisfied by the finite. Therefore, to counter the servant's endless needs, there must be the infinite perfection of God to achieve stability.

It is thus established that whoever prefers the knowledge of God for no reason other than God Himself is not tranquil, and his soul is not a tranquil soul. However, whoever prefers the knowledge of God for something other than Him—his soul is the tranquil soul. Whoever is like this, his intimacy, longing, permanence, and speech are all with God. Consequently, when he departs this world, he is addressed: {Return to your Lord, content and pleasing}. This address benefits a person only if he is perfect in his divine intellectual faculty or in detachment and singularity.

The Third Issue: The Nature of the Soul

Know that God mentioned the soul in general terms in the Qur'an, saying: {And [by] the soul and He Who proportioned it} (Ash-Shams: 7), and {You know what is within my soul, but I do not know what is within Yours} (Al-Ma'idah: 116), and {No soul knows what has been hidden for them of} comfort for their eyes (As-Sajdah: 17).

At times, He described it as commanding evil: {Indeed, the soul is a persistent enjoiner of evil} (Yusuf: 53). At other times, as self-reproaching: {And by the self-reproaching soul} (Al-Qiyamah: 2). And at other times, as tranquil, as in this verse.

Know that the soul of your self and your essence—that which you refer to by saying, "I"—when you report about yourself saying, "I did, I saw, I heard, I became angry, I desired, I imagined, I remembered"—the entity indicated by this reference is not this physical structure, for two reasons:

1. The entity indicated by "I" may be known even when this specific structure is unknown, and the known is not the unknown.
2. This structure is constantly changing its parts, whereas the entity indicated by "I" is unchanging. I know necessarily that I am the same one who existed twenty years before this day, and the changing is not the unchanging. Therefore, the soul is not merely this structure.

Some say the soul is not a body because we can conceive of the entity referred to by "I" while being heedless of the body whose essence is confined to length, width, and depth. What is known is different from what is not known. The refutation of this objection regarding the soul is mentioned in our book titled Lubab al-Isharat.

Others say it is a subtle, pure, bodily substance, far removed from the nature of elemental masses—a luminous, heavenly essence, different in essence from these lower bodies. When it becomes entangled with this dense body, the body becomes alive; when it separates from it, the body becomes dead. Under the first view (that it is not a body), its description of coming and returning means governance and relinquishing it. Under the second view (that it is a subtle substance), that description is literal.

The Fourth Issue: The Eternity of Souls

Some ancient philosophers claimed that souls are eternal. They used this verse as evidence: {Return to your Lord}, arguing that this command is only given to something that existed before this body.

Know that this discussion depends on when this address occurs. There are two views:

1. It occurs at death. Here, the argument of those who claim the pre-existence of spirits over bodies is strengthened. However, their pre-existence does not necessitate their eternity.
2. It occurs at the Resurrection and the Day of Judgment. The meaning is: Return to the reward of your Lord, so enter among My servants, meaning, enter the body from which you departed.

The Fifth Issue: The Direction of Return

The Anthropomorphists (Mujassimah) rely on the phrase {to your Lord}, as the preposition ila (to) indicates the ultimate limit. The response is that it means "to the judgment of your Lord," or "to the reward of your Lord," or "to the favor of your Lord."

The true answer, derived from the rational principle we established, is that the rational faculty, through its intellectual journey, ascends from one existent to another, and from one cause to another, until it reaches the Presence of the Necessary Existent. There is the termination of limits and the cessation of movements.

As for His saying {content and pleasing}: It means content with the reward, and pleasing concerning the deeds you performed in the world. Evidence for the correctness of this interpretation is the narration that a man recited these verses in the presence of the Prophet (peace be upon him). Abu Bakr said, "How excellent this is!" The Prophet (peace be upon him) replied, "Indeed, the Angel will say this to you."

Then, His saying:

{Return to your Lord, content and pleasing, * Enter among My servants * And enter My Paradise}