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546glossary of terms and conceptsTERMINARABICTRANS-LITERATIONENGLISH TRANSLATIONالغيبوالشهادةالسمع والبصروالفؤادالبشروالإنسانوالأنسنةal-ghaybwa’l-shah§daal-sam#wa’l-baßarwa’l-fu"§dal-basharwa’l-ins§nwa’l-ansana (oral-unsana)The unknown world and the visible worldUnknown means not yet identified, it refers to thosematerial things and human and natural events thatare partially or wholly invisible or not yet present inhuman understanding and knowledge; visible refersto those things and events that are known orpresent in human understanding, either throughphysical awareness of the human senses or throughabstract, theoretical thinking.Hearing, seeing, and perceptual understandingWhereas hearing and seeing are bound to an organ ofthe human body (eye or ear) and form the materialbasis of human thinking, perceptual understanding islinked to the brain and is the result of the perceptualprocess of hearing and seeing; it implies that thereis no human thinking and understanding withoutprior perceptions through the senses.Human race, human being, and becoming humanHuman race refers to the material, physiologicalexistence of the human body as a living creature(the Homo erectus); human being refers to mankind associal and rational beings that form relationshipsand are able to think; becoming human is the processof transforming the human race into rational beingsby breathing the spirit of God ( al-råÈ) into them.آدم المصطفى§dam al-mußãaf§ Adam, the chosen man He is the father of mankind; he was not alone inthis world but always with other people; Allahchose him and taught him how to think in abstractterms; Adam’s task was then to teach this to otherpeople; human beings are ‘his descendants’ (notgenealogically his children) in the figurative sense offollowing him in the process of becoming human.النفس والروحوالوفاة والموتal-nafs wa’l-råÈwa’l-waf§twa’l-mawtThe soul, the spirit, the death of the spirit, and the death ofthe soulThe term soul has two meanings: first, the ‘body’and second the ‘soul’. In the first sense, it is like anormal human organ that can die; in the secondsense it embodies the human feelings and emotions,such as love and hatred, happiness and pain. In thissense, the soul is the result of the spirit ( al-råÈ) andthrough the spirit human perceptions of things takeplace. The spirit itself is not a bodily organ; it is thehuman secret that transforms the human race intohuman beings; as a result of possessing ‘spirit’,human beings possess knowledge and legislate whatis right and wrong, which is part of their responsibilitygiven to them by God ( al-taklÊf ).