From the Holy Qur'anAnd they ask thee concerning the soul. Say, '<strong>The</strong> soul isby the command of my Lord; and of the knowledgethereof you have been given but little.'And thou, O soul at peace! Return to thy Lord well pleased withhim and He will be pleased with thee. So enter thou among Mychosen servants. And enter thou My Garden. (89:28-31)And by the soul and its perfection – And He revealed to it what iswrong for it and what is right for it – He indeed truly prospers whopurifies it. And he who corrupts it is ruined. (91:8-11)4 <strong>Muslim</strong><strong>Sunrise</strong>
If we were to havefull understandingof the soul, wewould also haveconquered thestruggle to attainknowledge of thehereafter. Nomystery would beleft regarding thenext life, itsexistence, itsmajesty and theunion of somechosen souls withGod.Editorial<strong>The</strong> subject of the soul haslong been of great interestand curiosity, resulting indiscussion and debateamong people of all faiths.<strong>The</strong> concept of the soul is vital to faith ina Living God. If God does not create thesoul, then the divinity of God comes underquestion. If the soul can start and live on itsown, then what is the function of God? If,in fact, the soul is self-existent, then itsindependence refutes the existence ofDivine attributes.Our logic, rationality and knowledge arevery limited when it comes to the matter ofthe soul. Relying merely on our power ofreasoning, we could hardly explain even thevery rudimentary questions concerning thesoul. Even in simpler forms of life, how doesthe soul enter inside an egg? <strong>The</strong>re is noobvious opening in the shell of an egg.Furthermore, if the yet to be born babyinside the egg dies before coming out of theshell, how does the soul get out of the eggand where does it go? Our reasoning failsus on an even greater scale when we discussthe soul of a human being, the superior soul.In religious scriptures, including theHoly Qur’an, we have been provided withvery little information on the subject ofthe soul. <strong>The</strong> Holy Qur’an specificallymakes reference to this by stating that theknowledge of the soul is with God and wehave been given very little of it. Basicallyour knowledge is confined to the birth ofthe soul, the way we observe insectscoming into being from some matter. Wehave similarly been given knowledge thathuman souls are created from spermdrops,and so on. Knowledge of the soulrelates directly to life in the hereafter.If we were to have full understandingof the soul, we would also have conqueredthe struggle to attain knowledge of thehereafter. No mystery would be leftregarding the next life, its existence, itsmajesty and the union of some chosensouls with God. That information has beenkept from us because having itsknowledge would make the choicebetween good and evil in this world auseless concept. <strong>The</strong> rewards for thestruggle in our faith in God’s word areonly meaningful when we don’t havecomplete knowledge of the hereafter.<strong>The</strong> soul is a subject that requires God’shelp and assistance. Prophets of God weregiven certain information about the soulso that we would believe in its existence.We have been told in the Holy Qur’an,for instance, that our experience ofsleeping and dreaming should reflect someanswers to the mysteries of how the soulrealizes a temporary death during sleep,when it becomes cut off from itssurroundings. This gives us some ideaabout what the death of the soul couldeventually be like. Just as we have nocontrol over our faculties during sleep, thesoul, after death, would be completely andtotally in the control of God and the onlysouls that would survive would be the onesthat worked to have union with God.One aspect of the soul that is verymeaningful for us is that God Himself hasinspired in it a yearning for His existence.Every soul wants to search for the higherbeing, the Divine, its Creator, and that isthe basis of our religious beliefs. It is thisdesire that inspires us not only to look forGod but to recognize Him and thenstruggle for an eventual union with Him.In this issue, you will find variousaspects of the soul including its existenceand its concept according to Islam andsome other faiths. Hopefully, it willenhance the understanding of our readerson this subject. Our discussion and debateshould not be a mere academic exercisebut another avenue and means to gain abetter understanding of the existence ofGod and His works. We hope that thearticles in this issue will serve thatpurpose. WINTER <strong>2006</strong> 5
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