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166chapter threeHe sends down the angels with the spirit by His command [min amrihi]upon whom He pleases of His servants… ( Al-NaÈl 16:2, MF)So We have revealed a spirit to you [Prophet] by Our command [minamrin§]: you knew neither the Scripture nor the faith… ( Al-Shår§42:52, AH)[Prophet], they ask you about the spirit [ al-råÈ]. Say: ‘The spirit is partof my Lord’s domain [amr rabbÊ]. You have only been given a littleknowledge.’ ( Al-Isr§" 17:85, AH)Therein come down the angels and the spirit by God’s permission[bi-idhn rabbihim], on every errand [min kull amr in ]. ( Al-Qadr 97:4)We note that the ‘spirit’, unlike the ‘soul’, does not possess any corporality.Allah gave us the spirit from Himself, not from objectivereality or the material world of the universe. The umm al-kit§b comesdirectly from God. The rules, injunctions, and commandments ofthe umm al-kit§b are Allah’s spirit. They have no corporal identitybut are expressed as human behaviour. They do not exist on theirown but are exemplified in our daily social and moral conduct. Ifthe human race disappeared, so would Allah’s spirit in the form ofthe umm al-kit§b because it can only be manifest in relation to humans’conscious activities and their efforts to comprehend it.The spirit is therefore the common denominator between humanbeings and God. It embodies human capacity to think and legislateon an ever broader epistemological and humanist level. We may thusdefine al-råÈ as the ‘secret of human progress’. When Allah ‘breathedHis spirit’ into Adam it caused the angels to prostrate themselves infront of human beings, it liberated humans to enjoy their role asGod’s vicegerents on earth freely, and allowed them to determinetheir affairs independently. God knows best—because His knowledgecoincides completely with objective reality—but human beings constantlylearn to know more and they will come closer to Hisknowledge.The Realms of God’s Divinity and SovereigntyWhy does the text of the Book designate different terms for ‘Allah’?In some instances He is called rabb (sovereign or lord), in others il§h(god). 47 What is the difference between the two terms?47‘Praise belongs to God, Lord of the Worlds’ ( Al-F§tiÈa 1:2, AH).