رُّوحِ

32:10; 38:73.

2:35; 7:12; 17:62; 18:51; 20:117.

Commentary:

In the present verse the example of the man who, in the beginning of human civilized life, achieved moral and spiritual perfection has been cited, and we are told that he was vouchsafed Divine revelation and angels were pressed into his service and were made to carry out his programme and plans. The mention of man or Adam here implies that the descending of the Word of God upon man and its preservation and protection have gone on from the beginning of creation.

The pronoun "him" in the expression سویته (I have fashioned him) refers not only to Adam but to every human being; for it is into every man that God breathes His spirit and angels are also appointed to serve him. When a peasant, for instance, ploughs his land and casts his seed in it, the angels are bidden to help him and produce the results of his labour. Thus the injunction, fall ye down in submission to him, given to the angels holds good for every human being. It appears from the Quran that whereas all things are subject to the control of angels, all things have been created for the service of man (45:14). This shows that angels are employed in the service of mankind.

Important Words:

الروح (revelation) is derived from راح which means, it became cool and pleasant; he was brisk, lively, active, prompt or quick. روح means, soul or spirit; Divine revelation or inspiration; the Quran; angel; joy and happiness; mercy (Lane). See also 4:172.

Commentary:

By الروح (revelation) is here meant the life-giving Word of God. It is also used to denote a Prophet’s Message for its life-giving qualities. The words, warn people, suggest that 'revelation' here means the special revelation which is given to a Divine Messenger. It should be remembered that Divine revelation is generally of two kinds: (a) The revelation which concerns the recipient’s own person. It does not require to be made known and published, though generally there is no special ban on giving it publicity. (b) The revelation which is meant for mankind at large. This latter kind of revelation must be given wide publicity and it amounts to a veritable sin to suppress it. This revelation is technically known as a Prophet’s revelation. The words, by His command, signify:

(1) That angels can bring no revelation of their own accord but do so only at the command of God and carry only God’s own word.

(2) That the revelation referred to here is the one which embodies Divine commands and prohibitions and constitutes the essence of the Divine Message.

(3) That the decree of God implied in the words اتی امر اللّٰه (the decree of Allah is coming) occurring in the preceding verse is general and is fulfilled in the case of every Prophet. In other words, the advent of every Prophet is attended by the punishment of disbelievers and the progress and advance of the cause of truth.

(4) That it is obligatory to believe in a Prophet inasmuch as the message he brings contains the 'commands of God'. Rejection of the Prophet thus amounts to a denial of God Himself.

The expression من عبادہ (of His servants) means the chosen servants of God and not all men, and contains a beautiful hint that prophethood is God’s special gift and it is bestowed only upon His chosen servants. The recipients of this special Divine gift must be true servants of God. The expression also signifies that prophethood is bestowed upon only the devotees of the true God and not upon the devotees of false gods. History fails to record a single instance of a Prophet having risen from among the devotees of false gods.

It may be understood from the words, on whomsoever of His servants He pleases, that it is God’s own prerogative to select a man for the exalted office of a Prophet.

The Arabic expression ینزل (yunazzilu —He sends down) is used to express a gradual sending down and is meant to signify that the word of God is revealed gradually and in pieces and is not sent down all at once and as one complete whole. This is essential because a new revelation is intended to replace the existing order by a new order which is based upon new Divine commands and prohibitions.

This replacement of the old order by a new one can only be possible if these commandments and prohib-itions are given gradually and in stages so that people may be able to assimilate them and adopt them in their daily lives. All Divine Laws were revealed gradually and piecemeal and their revelation was spread over a long period of time. Christian critics of Islam conveniently forget this patent characteristic of the Quranic revelation when finding fault with it on the basis of its having been sent down to the Holy Prophet in stages. The objection that this gradual revelation of the Quran shows it to be the Prophet’s own composition exposes only their own ignorance of the Divine Law in this respect.

The words, So take Me alone for your protector, contain the essence of all religious teaching. The teachings of different Prophets have differed in detail but they are one in proclaiming the Oneness of God because it forms the basis and kernel of all religious teaching.

Commentary:

Various meanings have been assigned to the word روح (soul) by scholars of different schools of Muslim religious thought. According to some of the commentators it applies to all angels; according to others it means only the angel to whom is entrusted the task of the creation of the world; yet others think that it particularly applies to the Archangel Gabriel.

Some scholars, however, are of the view that الروح means the word of God, while some others take it as applying to the Quran. But the most appropriate meaning of this word is "the human soul."

The question regarding the nature of the human soul was first put to the Holy Prophet at Mecca by some of the Meccan idolaters, probably at the instance of the Jews of Medina, when the news reached the latter that he had claimed to be a Divine Prophet. In reply the Prophet recited to them the present verse. When, however, he came to Medina the question appears again to have been put to him by the Jews and he must naturally have recited to them the same verse, thus giving rise to the wrong notion held by some traditionalists that this verse was revealed in Medina or that, after having been first revealed at Mecca, it was again revealed at Medina. The fact is that it was only revealed once and that was at Mecca.

As stated above, the most appropriate meaning of the word الروح is the human soul. The soul has been described here as something created by the direct command of God. As a matter of fact according to the Quran all creation falls under two categories: (1) Original creation which is brought about without the aid or help of any substance or matter previously created. (2) Subsequent creation which is brought about with the aid and help of means and matter previously created. The former kind of creation falls under the category of امر (lit. command) for which see 2:118, and the latter is known as خلق (lit. creating). In this verse we are told that the human soul belongs to the first category.

In the period of their spiritual decadence the Jews seem to have come to dabble in spiritualism and occult practices like many modern Spiritualists, Theosophists and Hindu Yogis. They had come to believe in magic and so-called spiritual practices. These occult practices appeared to have exercised great influence on them. It appears that the Jews started taking interest in magic and occult practices in the time of the Prophet David. These practices became very popular with them in the time of Jesus. According to Philo and the well-known Jewish writer, Josephus, the Essenes in the time of Jesus greatly indulged in these practices and by a life of renunciation they had greatly developed this art. The Quran also refers to the Jewish counterparts of the modern spiritualists in 72:8-10. References to black and white magic may also be found in the books of the Old and New Testaments. Some of the Jews of Medina also seem to have resorted to these practices in the time of the Holy Prophet. This is why when the Meccan idolaters sought their help in confuting the Prophet they suggested that they (the Meccan idolaters) should enquire of him regarding the powers and attributes of the human soul. The Quran answers this inquiry in the verse under comment by saying that the perfect soul derives its powers from the command of God and anything else that is claimed to be acquired by so-called spiritual exercises and magical arts is all meaningless. It may be added that by الروح is particularly meant the perfect soul. That the knowledge acquired by so-called spiritual exercises and by their professed communication with the dead carries little weight has often been demonstrated by the fact that the information claimed to be furnished by departed souls to different mediums regarding the next world always varies.

The question of the powers and attributes of the human soul is of more than local importance, inasmuch as it had not only agitated the minds of the Medinite Jews of the Prophet’s time but has also agitated those of Hindu Yogis, Theosophists and Spiritualists in our own time. Taking الروح in its general sense the verse would mean that the human soul is as much the creation of God as the human body.

66:13.

Commentary:

The verse refutes the calumnious charges that the Jews had levelled against Mary. It also has a general application and may apply to any person who leads a righteous and upright life. In 66:13 a certain class of righteous believers are likened to Mary. Everyone of such righteous believers is Mary; and when God breathes into him of His spirit he becomes a 'son of Mary'. It is in this sense that the Promised Messiah has been called 'son of Mary' by the Holy Prophet.

Mary and her son were a sign in the sense that the fatherless birth of Jesus implied a warning to the Israelites that on account of their corruption and depravity and their persistent rejection of God’s Messengers they were to be deprived of the gift of prophethood forever. Jesus’ unusual birth marked a transitional stage. He had an Israelite mother but not an Israelite father. The next prophet was not to be from the House of Israel. With him the gift of prophethood, in accordance with the Biblical prophecy (Deut. 18:18), was to be transferred from the House of Israel to that of Ishmael. That Prophet was the Holy Prophet Muhammad. See also Introduction to the chapter 19.

15:30; 38:73.

Important Words:

روحه (His spirit). روح is derived from راح, which means, he was brisk, lively, active; it became cool and pleasant. روحmeans, soul or spirit; the subtle substance in man which is the principle of vitality and of sensation, and of voluntary motion; the breath of life; Divine revelation or inspiration; the Quran; angel; joy and happiness; mercy (Lane). See also 4:172 & 16:3.

Commentary:

روح or spirit in the verse may signify the divine soul, or spirit, or that subtle and incomprehensible thing in man which distinguishes him from, and establishes his superiority over, the animal kingdom and invests him, so to say, with Divine attributes. The word, as given under "Important Words," may here also signify Divine revelation, particularly the Quran. The verse signifies that after the physical development of the embryo becomes complete in the womb, it receives a soul; or the meaning may be that, after the spiritual development of a man becomes complete, he receives Divine revelation.

15:30; 32:10.

Commentary:

This and the next verse mean to say that when a Messenger is entrusted with his great mission, and Divine revelation descends on him, angels begin to help him in his great mission. Or they may mean that men of angelic nature accept his lead and help to spread his Message.

21:92.

Commentary:

In this and the preceding two verses, examples of the wives of the Prophets Noah and Lot, of the wife of Pharaoh, and the example of Mary, the mother of Jesus, are set forth. The disbelievers are compared to the wives of Noah and Lot in order to show that the companionship of a righteous man, even of a Prophet of God, does not benefit an evilly minded person who is bent upon rejecting truth. Prophet Noah’s wife was of a more wicked disposition than the wife of Lot since the latter only preferred the company of her relatives to that of Lot, while Noah’s son, probably under the corrupting influence of his mother, had rejected his father’s Message. The wife of Pharaoh stands for those believers who, though passionately desiring and praying to get rid of sin, yet cannot fully dissociate themselves from evil influences, represented by Pharaoh, and having arrived at the stage of the self-accusing soul (النفس اللوامة ) sometimes fail and falter. Mary, the mother of Jesus, represents those righteous servants of God, who having closed all avenues of sin and having made peace with God, are blessed with Divine inspiration; the pronoun (masculine gender) in فیه standing for such fortunate believers. Or, the pronoun may stand for فرج which, literally meaning a cleft or fissure, signifies an opening through which sin can find access.