Assalaamu'Alaykum,
Ibn Taymiyyah (rahimahullaah) said:
"The soul which is controlling the body and which leaves it at the time of death is the rooh which was breathed into it. It is the nafs which departs at the time of death."
(Risaalat al-'Aql war-Rooh, Majmoo' ar-Rasaa'il al-Muneeriyyah, 2/36; see Sharh al-'Aqeedah at-Tahaawiyyah, 445)
Those who differentiate between the rooh and the nafs, and regard them as two separate things, are mistaken. Whoever ponders the texts that we have quoted will realise that the nafs is that which is seized by the angels and taken up to the heavens, then brought back to the body, questioned, then blessed or tormented. It is also the rooh which, when it is brought forth from the body, is followed by the eyes, as is stated in the ahaadeeth.
This created entity, the existence of which means life and the loss of which means death, is called both the rooh and the nafs. This does not mean that the words rooh and nafs may not be applied to other things. Ibn Taymiyyah said:
"The words rooh and nafs both carry a number of meanings. Rooh may refer to the air that leaves and enters the body, or the air that leaves the chambers of the heart through the valve that leads to the veins. This is what the doctors call rooh.
(Ibn Taymiyyah lived in the 13-14th Century CE. His comments here reflect the medical knowledge and practice of his time.) (Translator)
These meanings refer to something other than the rooh which departs from the body at the point of death, which is the nafs. The word nafs may also refer to a thing itself (nafs ash-shay' = the same thing), or its essence, or it may refer to the blood that exists in living beings, as in the saying of the fuqaha'; 'That which has flowing blood (nafs) and that which does not.' These two meanings of the word nafs do not refer to the rooh.
(op. cit., 2/39)
The word rooh is also used to refer to Jibreel (aalayhis-salaam):
Which the trustworthy Rooh (Jibreel (Gabriel) has brought down.
(Qur'aan 26: 193)
And it is used to refer to the Qur'aan:
And thus We have sent to you (O' Muhammad) Rooh (a revelation, and a mercy) of Our Command...
(Qur'aan 42: 52)
The commentator on At-Tahaawiyyah noted how the words rooh and nafs are used to refer to these subtle entities which Allaah has created:
"Usually the word nafs is used when the rooh is still connected to the body, but when it is referred to in isolation from the body, it is usually called rooh."
(Sharh al-'Aqeedah at-Tahaawiyyah, p. 444)
Ibn Taymiyyah said concerning this matter:
"But it is called nafs with regard to its control over the body, and it is called rooh with regard to its subtle nature. Hence the wind is also called rooh, and the Prophet said:
'The wind is from the rooh of Allaah,'
(Narrated by Bukhaaree in al-Adab al-Mufrad, and by Abu Dawood and al-Haakim)
i.e. the rooh created by Allaah.
(Risaalat al-'Aql war-Rooh, Majmoo'at ar-Rasaa'il al-Muneeriyyah, 2/37)
The one who investigates what will happen to man after he dies has to give some thought to the soul which will be blessed or punished after death: what is it? Does it have a shape that may be known? Is it a part of the body, or something other than the body? If it is something separate, then where in body does it reside? Is it created? Is there one soul in the body, or many? Do souls die, and how? Where do they dwell in Al-Barzakh? Do souls know anything of what is happening in this world when they end up in al-Barzakh?The Arabic words rooh and nafs may both be translated as "soul" and to some extent interchangeable.
Ibn Taymiyyah (rahimahullaah) said:
"The soul which is controlling the body and which leaves it at the time of death is the rooh which was breathed into it. It is the nafs which departs at the time of death."
(Risaalat al-'Aql war-Rooh, Majmoo' ar-Rasaa'il al-Muneeriyyah, 2/36; see Sharh al-'Aqeedah at-Tahaawiyyah, 445)
Those who differentiate between the rooh and the nafs, and regard them as two separate things, are mistaken. Whoever ponders the texts that we have quoted will realise that the nafs is that which is seized by the angels and taken up to the heavens, then brought back to the body, questioned, then blessed or tormented. It is also the rooh which, when it is brought forth from the body, is followed by the eyes, as is stated in the ahaadeeth.
This created entity, the existence of which means life and the loss of which means death, is called both the rooh and the nafs. This does not mean that the words rooh and nafs may not be applied to other things. Ibn Taymiyyah said:
"The words rooh and nafs both carry a number of meanings. Rooh may refer to the air that leaves and enters the body, or the air that leaves the chambers of the heart through the valve that leads to the veins. This is what the doctors call rooh.
(Ibn Taymiyyah lived in the 13-14th Century CE. His comments here reflect the medical knowledge and practice of his time.) (Translator)
These meanings refer to something other than the rooh which departs from the body at the point of death, which is the nafs. The word nafs may also refer to a thing itself (nafs ash-shay' = the same thing), or its essence, or it may refer to the blood that exists in living beings, as in the saying of the fuqaha'; 'That which has flowing blood (nafs) and that which does not.' These two meanings of the word nafs do not refer to the rooh.
(op. cit., 2/39)
The word rooh is also used to refer to Jibreel (aalayhis-salaam):
Which the trustworthy Rooh (Jibreel (Gabriel) has brought down.
(Qur'aan 26: 193)
And it is used to refer to the Qur'aan:
And thus We have sent to you (O' Muhammad) Rooh (a revelation, and a mercy) of Our Command...
(Qur'aan 42: 52)
The commentator on At-Tahaawiyyah noted how the words rooh and nafs are used to refer to these subtle entities which Allaah has created:
"Usually the word nafs is used when the rooh is still connected to the body, but when it is referred to in isolation from the body, it is usually called rooh."
(Sharh al-'Aqeedah at-Tahaawiyyah, p. 444)
Ibn Taymiyyah said concerning this matter:
"But it is called nafs with regard to its control over the body, and it is called rooh with regard to its subtle nature. Hence the wind is also called rooh, and the Prophet said:
'The wind is from the rooh of Allaah,'
(Narrated by Bukhaaree in al-Adab al-Mufrad, and by Abu Dawood and al-Haakim)
i.e. the rooh created by Allaah.
(Risaalat al-'Aql war-Rooh, Majmoo'at ar-Rasaa'il al-Muneeriyyah, 2/37)