The Nature of Man and the Psychology of Human Soul The discussion in this chapter is based on the revelations

which had been given by scholars and Muslim thinkers like Ibn Sina and Imam al-Ghazali, that the discussion about the human soul does not stray from the path of Islamic tradition. The terms such as al-Qalb, al-Nafs, al-aql al-Ruh and discussed by Imam alGhazali expressed again in this chapter. Man has a dual nature both body (physical) and soul (spirit). God taught him the names (al-asma) of everything and does not encompass the knowledge of the specific nature of the essence (al-dhat), inmost ground (al-sirr) of a thing such as spirit. Man, also has been given limited knowledge of the spirit of his true self or soul. By this mean he is able to know about God and His absolute Oneness that God is his true Lord (al-rabb) and object to worship. In the Holy Quran mentioned that seat of a man knowledge is at his heart (al-qalb), his soul (al-nafs), his spirit (al-ruh) and intellect (al-aql). Human being is born in the state of fitrah, the original inherent nature of the human being. But God has endeared to you faith and has beautified it in your hearts and has made disbelief and lewdness and rebellion hateful to you. (49:7) Man has been given the freedom of choice to do good or evil. This freewill gives him independence of intention, choice and action in various situations of moral conflict. Man is the only creature in this universe who has been given choice and discretion which accompany him through his life span. (The Quran, 15:36) Man has also been granted potentialities to acquire knowledge of how everything else in the universe functions as well as the knowledge required for his felicity. (al-Quran, 2:33). This knowledge along with the faculty of reason and intellect, are mans primary guide that distinguishes him from other animals and help him recognize the path of his ultimate felicity. Man also composed of forgetfulness (nisyaan) and he is called insaan basically because of he always forgot to fullfill his duty and his purpose which entails obedience of His command and prohibitions. Forgetfullness is the cause of mans disobedience and this nature inclines him towards injustice (zulm) and ignorance (jahl). But has equipped him with intelligence to know and distinguish between right and wrong. The choice for the better (ikhtiyar) is left to him. Although man has been created with a natural tendency towards the righteousness, he (excluding the prophets) cannot be free from all sins and mistakes since his declared enemy, Satan, tries to divert his attention by all possible ways and means. He always encourages man to satisfy his urges and

desires in an uncontrolled way, like animals, and to become submissive and a slave to these urges. Therefore, the human instinctive tendencies, unless refined and trained, could easily overwhelm any humanely cultivated qualities conducive to spiritual enhancement. This is because the uncontrolled and unrefined urges within him would weaken and subjugate the forces of reason and conscience. Describing some aspects of the unrefined human nature, the Holy Quran says: Surely man was created anxious, fretful when evil visits him, and grudging when (some thing) good visits him, except the worshippers. (70:19-21) The term Nafs has different uses in the Holy Quran as well, and in most cases, it means the human being in reality, his self and his person. (see 3: 61; 12:54) It also means the human soul (see 6:93; 50:16 etc.) The Quran has described 3 main types of nafs which are: First, is Nafs ammarah bi al-su, (the self urging evil). This nafs surrenders itself to lusts and allows itself to be seduced by the devil. This is the raw self of an untrained person. Surely the human self urges evil. (12:53) The second level of nafs is nafs al-lawwama, the blameworthy self which blames its owner for his own shortcomings. At this level, nafs is in a state of constant awareness, self-observation and selfcriticism. It is referred to it in Sura Al -Qiyamah when Allah says: "And I do call to witness the Nafs that blames" (75:2). Nafs al-mutmainna is the third and the highest stage of nafs. A person when advanced to this stage, he achieves full rest and satisfaction while his personality gets equipped with the qualities of quietness, mildness, tolerance, forgiveness, and understanding of all beings. This stage of nafs ultimately leads to resolution of ones inner conflicts and attainment of harmony with God. The qalb (heart) is an immaterial and formless spiritual entity or basic subtle element which has got connection with the material heart. The qalb has the capacities to acquire comprehensive intuition, to retain real knowledge, the gnosis (marifa) of God and the Divine mysteries, (ilm al-batin) and to gain far greater insight than that of human intellect. The Quran considers al-Qalb as the seat of wisdom and intellect. It says: Do they not travel trough the land, so that their hearts may learn wisdom and their ears may learn to hear? Truly it is not their eyes, rather it is their hearts which are in their chests are blind. (22:46)

With reference to the meanings of the four terms used in relation to the soul, in this sense it point to a unifying principle referred as Kamaal or perfection of a being, to the mode of existence of that which transform something potential to something actual. This is a thing created but immortal. It is not measured in terms of extent in space and time or quantity. Thus, when it involved in intellection it is called intellect, the when it governs body, it is called soul, when it receive intuitive it is called heart and when it reverts to its own world of abstract entities it is called spirit. The soul possess faculties or powers (Quwa). In plants they are powers of nutrition (al-ghadaniyah), growth (al-namiyah) and reproduction (al-muwallidah). All these powers belong to the soul. The powers peculiar to the animal soul are motive and perceptive.The motive power operates as the arouser of action (al-ba`athah ` ala`l-fi`l)on the one hand ,and as it active (fa`ilah)or actuator on the other.When acttracted by what it imagines to be something beneficial to it,its desire for it arouses its active power to attain it.When attracted what it considers to be harmful to it,its aversion for it arouses its active power to avoid or overcome it.It is appetitive (nuzu`iyyah),and its activity is directed by two sub-faculties:the faculty of desire (al-shahwaniyyah),and the faculty of anger (alghadabiyyah) As for the perceptive power,comprises five enternal senses(al-hawass) of touch,smell,taste,sight,and hearing respectively perform the function of perception of particulars in the external world. The existence of the internal senses is established by way of intuition (al-wijdan).The first of these internal senses receives the information brought in by the external senses and combines and separates internal images or representations of the external sensible objects.It is the common sense(al-hiss al-nushtarak),also called the phantasy (fantasia).The common sense directly receives the five external senses belongs to the second internal senses called the representative faculty.This faculty retains the images representing the external objects when the objects when the objects are no longer present to the external senses, and thus records the information received by common sense to the third internal sense , which is the estimative faculty (al-wahmiyyah). This faculty perceives of the individual , sensible particulars, their particular, nonsensible meanings, like enmity and love, and performs the function of judgment concerning right and wrong and good and bad pertaining to its objects of the external world.

The fourth internal sense, called the retentive and recollective faculty (al-hafizah and al-dhakirah), retains meanings and conservers them for the estimative faculty which perceives these meanings.The fifth internal sense is the imaginative faculty (al-mutkhayyilah).It perceives forms, then combines

and separates them in an act of classification; adds to them and takes away from them so that the soul may perceive their meanings and connect them with the form of images . These then are the five internal senses explained in a brief and general way.With reference to their classification into three kinds we may now identify them: the perceiver of forms is the common sense, and its conserver is the imagination or representative faculty.The perceiver of meanings is the estimation,and its consever is the retentive and recollective faculty.That which perceives and acts upon its objects is the imaginative faculty,while that which only perceives and does not act upon its objects is the estimation and the common sense.These internal senses do not have specific sense organs as intermediary instruments performing specific function like those of the external senses, but they are of an imaginal and intellectual nature and have connection with physical intermediaries, andtheirvarious functions are localized in the anterior,posterior and middle regions of the brains. The human, rational soul also possesses two powers active (`amilah), and the other cognitive (`alimah). It produces human emotions. In so far as it governs and manages the human body it induces ethical behaviour in man involving the recognition of vices and virtues The soul may be considered as having two aspect in relation to receiving and giving-effects: an aspect towards what is lower in degree than itself, such as the body; and an aspect towards what is higher in degree than itself ,such as the world spirit whence it originated. Man, being the vicegerent of God on earth and the theater wherein the Divine qualities are reflected, can reach felicity only by remaining faithful to his nature or by being truly himself. And this in turn implies that he must become integrated. Man is composed of body, mind, nafs and spirit, and each needs to be integrated on its own level. The integration of man, according to Syyed Hossain Nasr, (Sufi Essays, 51) means the realization of the One and the transmutation of the many in the light of the One. Integration and unity of man himself as well as of the whole humanity has always been the highest goal of Islam. It is also an essential part of basic Islamic belief of Tawhid.