Rūḥ
Definition
The ruh — spirit — is the divine breath that Allah blew into Adam at creation, the aspect of the human being most directly connected to the divine. Al-Ghazali is characteristically humble about the ruh: the Quran itself, when asked about it, replied 'the spirit is of the command of my Lord, and you have been given of knowledge only a little.' He refuses to over-define what the scholars have agreed must remain partially mysterious, but presents what can be known: the ruh is the animating principle of the spiritual life, the aspect of the human being that is capable of ascending toward Allah and that returns to Him at death.
As understood in the classical tradition of Imam al-Ghazali and the scholars of his school.
Appears in
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