Human Nature from the Islamic Perspective. There are 4 dimensions of man in Islam - Al-Ruh, Al-Qalb, Al-Nafs, and Al-Aql.

1. Presented by: Nor Hanisha Mohamed Sherif
Matric No: 1517230,
UNGS 2040, Section: 1
Presented to: Dr. Mohd Abbas Abdul Razak
What Islam Says About Human Nature?
This Journal Article ‘Human Nature: An Islamic Perspective’ was published in March 2011, by
International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), 24 Pages, Journal of Islam in Asia, Special Issue, No.1.
Human nature is an on-going, intrinsic topic that is being discussed in both east and west. This topic has drawn the interest of many individual
to make their own research and get to know the origin of a man, who he is, what is his role in the earth, and what is his relationship with his
creator. The crux of this topic that the researcher is discussing is the human nature from the Islamic perspective. Before exploring more onto
the Islamic perspective, he did some study and gave the contrastive look of human nature from the western perspective too. In discussing the
topic from Islamic perspective, the researcher go on writing about physical and metaphysical based on two main sources of Muslims - the
Qur’an and Sunnah. In detailed, he discussed about the spiritual dimensions of man in Islam, which are Al-Ruh, Al-Qalb, Al-Nafs and Al-’Aql.
To sum things up, the researcher ventured onto why the study of human nature is essential for us, human being.
SPIRITUAL DIMENSION OF MAN
CONCLUSION :
INTRODUCTION
STATUS OF MAN IN ISLAM HUMAN NATURE IN ISLAM
Man in Islam is the Khaliifah on earth. Khaliifah is rendered from
Arabic, which means vicegerent. He has his roles on earth which is to
perform his responsibilities to his creator, Allah the Almighty.
Compared to other creations of Allah – Malaykaat (angel), Jinn
(genie), Syaitaan (devil), etc – man has been endowed with more
noble qualities that is known and unknown by us, human beings. He
have been created in the best of forms, given creative intelligence
and freedom of choice to perform his task. Even, when Adam was
created, Allah asked the other creations to bow down in front of
Adam. Therefore, from this event, it concludes that human are
placed higher in the hierarchy of creations of Allah, yet it does not
assure that he will remain in the position since it is based on his
deeds.
Allah created Adam in the best of forms. He used clay to create the
physical body of man and breathed Al-Ruh (spirit) into the created body.
He also endowed with Amaanah (trust) from Allah. Amaanah is also
known as power, intellect and authority that Allah gives for his vicegerent.
Besides that, man has been given Miithaaq (covenant), which means the
every man made agreement to Allah even before he came to the world. He
had actually taken the oath that Allah is the one and only worshipper in
the universe. This knowledge stays and remains as subconscious idea in
the human mind, and to whether it will become conscious or not, depends
on his environment and society. Man is also gifted unlimited knowledge
and the capacity to create his own knowledge, thus made him the most
knowledgeable of all creations in the heaven and earth. Yet, it is his nature
that is inherited from Adam to be forgetful.
In conclusion, the study of human nature is essential for each individual living on earth to get to know about their self, and purpose of their
life. Besides that, the researcher called upon all the authorities to equip themselves with this knowledge, so that they could provide the best
of ideas to those who are in need. Besides that, it can be seen clearly, that Muslims perspective about human nature is contrastive to many
western schools of psychology. The westerners eliminates the metaphysical and spiritual world and only considers the secular type of
thinking. The Islamic perspective of human nature touches on various interesting facts about man, such as, the human as the best of
creations, his role as vicegerent or representative of Allah on earth, his dual nature –body and spirit, and the one provided with trust and
covenant. The Muslims’ main source of knowledge, Qur’an gives and individual the knowledge of human before, while and after his life and it
encompasses knowledge that occupies a man spiritually, physically, intellectually, emotionally, and socially into becoming the perfect
vicegerent of Allah S.W.T.
AL- RUH AL-QALB AL-NAFS AL- ‘AQL
Al-Ruh (spirit) in this research
paper concerns on its meaning
as the life giving entity and its’
relationship with the human
body. According to Langgulung,
Al-Ruh belongs to the ‘World of
Creations’ and the human body
belongs to the ‘World of
Command’. A man comes into
life when his body and Al-Ruh is
united. Therefore, when he dies,
his physical body will be
separated from Al-Ruh, and on
the resurrection day, they will
be reunited.
Al-Qalb (heart) is the centre of
personality. It is the spiritual
light within the cone shaped
structure of the human heart.
The Qalb has a strong bond with
the sensory organs such as eyes,
ears and mouth. It has a high
tendency to either follow the
Ruh or the Nafs. Therefore, a
man should be good spiritually
to live a happy, peaceful life.
Otherwise, his Qalb will be weak
and follow the Nafs, which will
put him at the lowest position
just like the animal.
Al-Nafs (soul) is the borderline
area that connects the physical
part of man to the spiritual
nature. Al-Nafs has three stages,
lowest is Nafs Ammarah, then
Nafs Lawwamah and the highest
of it is Nafs Mutma’innah.
Human Nafs came together with
Ruh, yet its’ presence can only
be felt when a man reaches his
puberty or adulthood. The Nafs
similar to Al-Ruh is immortal,
when a man dies, it left the
body and reunite on the
resurrection day.
Al-’Aql (intellect) is derived from
the root verb ‘aqala which
means to understand,
comprehend and possess
intelligence. As compared to the
Qalb, Aql is only capable of
perceiving and attaining the
knowledge received through
observation and experiences at
a higher level, while Qalb can
receive divine revelation from
Allah. When a man is good
spiritually, he will be able to use
his Aql to identify and
differentiate the truth.
Poster
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