Sublime Realities - Soul and Matter

Soul and Matter

Tags: Soul, Matter, Hazrat Nuh, Universe, Two

Is it correct to believe that soul and matter are two separate things, or are they, in reality, one? If they are separate and have no area of unity, where is the line of demarcation between them? What is it? If they are in fact one, and soul and matter are only two names of the same reality, what is that reality? Was there soul and matter in pre-eternity? When everything except the face of God perishes, what will be the state of soul and matter? Are there souls of minerals in the world of particles? Can soul be hidden in things like iron and stone? If yes, would you please explain how? God willing, we shall discuss these questions and substantiate their answers with proofs in the following article.

Although soul and matter are generally thought of as two separate things, in reality they are one. Just as ice and water appear to be two different things in their external forms and states, yet water turns into ice by freezing and ice turns into water by melting, so what difference can there be between them? Apart from this, their real unity and integrity is in the form of clouds or vapour. Thus, matter is frozen soul and soul is dissolved matter and their centre of unity is that subtle body in which the entire universe is immersed. The ancient sages called it “hayūlā” and modern science calls it “ether”.
According to verse (24:35) the light of God is such a huge ocean that every particle of the heavens and the earth is immersed in it, both externally and internally. Thus, can it be said that this Divine light is devoid of life and cannot give the glow of a silent and hidden life all the time to every infinitesimal particle? Can it be said that the light of the “Everliving and Everlasting” cannot illumine every particle and atom in the heavens and the earth? There is indeed soul in the form of light in every particle in the universe.
Q. What is this world and what is the purpose of its creation?
A. This world is like a living workshop of God, in which living things are created in different degrees. People have been unable to create a factory which does not require raw materials and works automatically, but the Divine workshop is such that, as a whole, it is the factory of life, as well as raw material and by God's command it works automatically. Had it not been full of life and soul, the ancient sages would not have compared its parts with living creatures. They compared the nine spheres, four elements, minerals, vegetation and animals with nine fathers, four mothers and three children respectively. From this, it is clear that this world is internally living and is therefore like a living workshop.
In verse (57:25) it is mentioned that God sent down iron. But the wise people know that chunks of iron were not sent down from heaven, rather it was the soul of iron that was sent down everywhere, from which it came into being. Thus, all minerals and gems are created according to this law of soul. You may know that pearls and coral are as hard as iron, yet the former is the product of the animal soul and the latter that of the vegetative soul. From this example, one can see that everything has a soul, including minerals.
According to the wise Qur'ān, God only has to say “Be!” to something and it becomes. For example, He said “Be cool!” (21:69) to Nimrod's pyre and it became cool. Similarly, when He said “Be apes!” (2:65) to some of the disobedient children of Israel, they became apes. All this is true, more in a spiritual sense and so, if God wants to make someone's soul into stone or iron then this is not impossible. There is a clear allusion to this in verse (17:50): “Say (O Prophet): Be stones or iron.” Thus it is not the body but the soul that becomes deformed. That is, the soul turns into iron, stone, etc.
The greatest and all-embracing flood of Hazrat Nūh had taken place spiritually. At the appropriate time God commanded him to take a pair of all things (i.e. a male and a female from the particles of souls of minerals, vegetation and animals) into the ark (11:40). Thus Hazrat Nūh took a pair of the souls of all things in the ark of his personal world (world of particles), so that after the flood of destruction, a new world could be created and in which everything is from the treasure of God (15:21), which at that time was kept in Hazrat Nūh. It is an amazing fact that in this way, the representative souls of all things are gathered together in the Perfect Man, who is the Divine treasure (15:21), from which everything spreads in the world.
In verse (17:44) attention is drawn to the fact that there is nothing in the heavens and the earth that does not praise Him. No doubt, all things glorify Him separately in their own way, but the way their particles of soul glorify Him together in the personal world (world of particles) of the Perfect Man is a great spiritual miracle. It is this glorification which is called the miracle of Dā'ūdian Melody (21:79; 34:10; 38:18) and in which is also undoubtedly included the miracle of the sūr (trumpet) of Israfil.
The implication of verse (22:18) is that all that is in the heavens and in the earth, and the sun, moon, stars, mountains, trees, animals as well as many people, prostrate to God separately in their own places, as well as together in the form of the particles of soul in the personal world of the Perfect Man. The latter meaning is implied in the way this verse is addressed to the Holy Prophet: “Have you not seen?”. From this we can deduce with complete certainty that the spiritual particles of all these creatures were prostrating to God in the Holy Prophet's personal world. This prostration is specifically in the sense of obedience.
You may already understand the wisdom of “two” that, without exception, all things are in pairs (13:3; 36:36; 51:49). Therefore, just as there are two places of prostration, similarly there are two places of the subjugation of the universe, namely the external world and the world of particles or the personal world. In the personal world, the universe is subjugated in the form of the particles of soul. This event is both actually as well as potentially. For verses relating to the subject of subjugation (taskhīr) look at the Qur'ānic words derived from the root letters: sīn-khā̓-rā. For example, see verse (45:13): “And He subjugated to them whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is in the earth, everything is from Him. Verily there are signs (of God) in this for those who reflect.” Thus it is extremely necessary to understand this reality in connection with the recognition of the Imam.
Since there is soul potentially in minerals and the roots of plants are embedded in soil (or minerals), we should not think that there is a line of demarcation between soul and matter. When an animal is slaughtered, its soul leaves it and after some time the body becomes completely cold. Observing this condition, we may think that this is a clear line of demarcation between soul and matter. But this is not true, because even in this state there is soul in it in a potential state, in order to actualise which we eat the flesh. If for some reason this meat is left lying around for a long time, worms appear in it, for it has the capacity to produce life. This shows that there is no line of demarcation between soul and matter.
There are two points regarding the creation of the world: if observed partially, it has a beginning and an end. However, if it is observed universally or as a whole, it has neither a beginning nor an end. And this is the decree of the Wise Qur'ān. Now, according to the point in which there is an end to creation, it is true to say that at the place of pre-eternity, God first created the light of the Universal Intellect, from which He brought into existence the Universal Soul and from it, the Universal Body. This implies that just as God spreads this universe, so also He enfolds it. That is, the body is annihilated in the soul and the soul in the intellect. Thus it is evident that although soul and matter appear to be two separate things, in reality they are one.
The Perfect Men actually, and all other human beings potentially, are the living and speaking Book of God, in which are encompassed all the examples of the realities and recognitions of both the worlds (78:29). This same book is the compendium of the records of deeds (17:13; 18:49) and no example is excluded from it. Thus, by observing this book (personal world) it becomes evident that, just as the macrocosm is created from one single pearl, the microcosm too, is created from a single pearl. In the former, soul is both frozen in the form of mountains as well as active in the creation of minerals. In the latter, it is immobile in the cells of bones as well as mobile. Further, just as the life of trees comes from the vegetative soul, so also does the life of human hair.
Although (apparently) soul is alive and matter is dead, the Wise Qur'ān repeatedly says that people of wisdom see that God creates opposites from one another and in view of this it says: “And Who brings forth the living from the dead, and the dead from the living?” (10:31). Thus, the earth is matter and dead (30:19; 36:33) and has been created from soul (in a frozen form), but when it will be annihilated completely it will turn into soul and revive, just as every year in autumn it dies partially and then revives again in spring (22:5).

Nasīr al-Dīn Nasīr Hunzā'ī,
London,
6th December, 1986.

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