M6:3308 — روح چون من امر ربی مختفیست / هر مثالی که بگویم منتفیست

Translation: The soul, like Me, is of God's command (amr-i Rabbī) and hidden; any example I give for it is negated. Meaning: This verse asserts that the soul originates from the divine realm of "Command" (amr), rather than the material world of "Creation" (khalq). Consequently, its essence transcends sensory and physical understanding, rendering any earthly analogy inadequate.

Here, Mowlana delves into one of existence's most fundamental mysteries: the nature of the soul. I immediately turn to the noble verse of the Quran: "They ask you concerning the Spirit (Rūḥ). Say: The Spirit is from the command (Amr) of my Lord." This amr-i Rabbī (God's command) is the key to understanding this verse. The soul is of the genus of Amr, not Khalq (creation). This is a profound and foundational distinction, one which the late Allameh Tabataba'i strongly insisted upon, and which I too find compelling.

The "world of Khalq" is the material world we inhabit; a realm where beings emerge gradually, step-by-step, within the framework of time. But the "world of Amr" is different: a timeless, instantaneous, and unquestioning realm. There, whatever God wills, He merely commands "Be!" (Kun!), and it instantly comes into existence. Thus, the soul is from this world of "how-lessness" (bī-chūnī), from this supra-natural realm, in that its existence is realized instantly and without the passage of time. Mowlana emphatically states that the soul is mukhtafī—hidden—transcending our material senses and understanding. This hiddenness is not merely a characteristic; it is a testament to its divine and non-material origin.

It is for this very reason that Mowlana continues: "Any example I give for it is negated." This is an undeniable truth. The supra-natural world possesses no natural or material qualities. Any example we draw from this material world to describe the soul, no matter how sweet or appealing, will be inadequate and invalid; for the example cannot be of the same essence as what it seeks to exemplify. It is like trying to explain the colorless nature of light using the colors of the world. Mowlana himself, of course, sometimes offers examples, such as water or light, but he knows these are merely for conceptual approximation and fall short of the soul's true nature.

The closest analogy we can offer for the soul, and one to which Mowlana occasionally alludes, is "thought" (fekr). We have all experienced thinking. Thought has an existence, yet it has no material form, no color, shape, or scent. When Mowlana declares, "This world is a thought from the Universal Intellect," he shows us how existence itself can be seen as the Universal Intellect's thought. This analogy, though imperfect, brings us closer to the soul's formless and non-material essence. The further we distance ourselves from the material world, the closer we come to a true understanding of the soul. To be content with physiological and neurological explanations for the soul is, as Plato and Mowlana himself observed, nothing more than shadow-gazing. The soul is that radiant sun, of which the body is merely a shadow among shadows, and its true knowledge is attainable only by transcending these shadows and returning to the formless origin.

Key takeaways

• The soul belongs to the world of Amr (Command), not Khalq (Creation), signifying its instantaneous and non-temporal existence.
• The soul's essence is timeless, non-material, and "how-less" (bī-chūn), making any material analogy inadequate for its complete description.
• "Thought" (Fekr) is the closest non-material analogy for the soul, as it possesses existence without physical form or location.
• The soul's "hiddenness" (mukhtafī) is a testament to its divine origin and transcendence beyond our sensory perception.
• Relying solely on material explanations for understanding the soul is mere "shadow-gazing" (sāyeh-shenāsī) and fails to grasp its true nature.