By
the Soul, and the proportion and order given to it; and its
enlightenment as to its wrong and its right; truly he succeeds
that purifies it, and he fails that corrupts it!’
(Al-Shams 91:7-10)
‘But those will prosper who purify themselves.’
(Al-A’la 87:14) 
We human beings do not have only our body and mind; we also
have a soul. Soul is sometimes described as spirit (al-ruh)
or heart (al-qalb). We know that our heart has physical functions,
but there is no scientific evidence to prove that it does
not have any spiritual functions. The soul probably resides
in the heart or is attached to it. Soul is the inner dimension
of our being. It is related to the body and mind as well,
but it has its own being and existence, most probably, in
or near the heart
Spiritual health is as important, if not more, as the physical
and mental health. On the physical and mental health depend
our meaningful life and success in this world, but on the
spiritual health depends our success and salvation both in
this world and in the hereafter.
Imam Ghazali in his book ‘Ihya’ says that every
organ of our body has a function; when it fails to do its
functions, it means it is not well. The function of the soul
or the spiritual heart is to know its Creator, to love Him
and to seek closeness to Him. If the heart fails in this function
then we must know that it is sick.
It is important to know the ailments that make the heart
weak and sick. In the language of the Qur’an it is not
only the eyes that get blind; the hearts also become blind.
|
