ভূমিকা
“And they ask you about the spirit, say: ‘The spirit is of the command of my Lord, and you are not given of the knowledge but a little’.” The Arabic term /rūh/ (spirit) has been mentioned 21 times in the Qur’an and used in certain cases. Anyway, man’s spirit is a complicated matter, unknown and a Divine blow which has got celestial dimensions, and only Allah knows it. Imam Baqir (as) has commented upon the Arabic term /qalil/ in the sense of ‘few individuals’.
That is, full knowledge has been only provided for only a select group of people and these are they who are exclusively aware of the soul.
Anyway, in this noble verse, pursuing previous verses, the Qur’an deals with some of the important questions of the pagans, or of the people of the Book, saying: “And they ask you about the spirit, say: ‘The spirit is of the command of my Lord, and you are not given of the knowledge but a little’.” Great commentators have been incessantly speaking about the commentaries of this verse, and we shall first deal with the meaning of ‘soul’, then its various forms of usage in the Qur’an and, afterwards, we shall deal with the comments of the verse and quotations in this regard.
The Arabic term /rūh/ (spirit), philologically signifies ‘breath’ and ‘running’. Some declare that this word and the Arabic term /rih/, meaning ‘wind’, are both derived from the same root. If we find /rūh/ the spirit, which is an abstract and independent ‘gem’ called this way, it is because, from the viewpoint of mobility and creative form as well as its invisibility, it is like breath and wind. So much is for the meaning the word.
There are various usages for it in the Qur’an: At times, it refers to ‘the Holy Spirit’ who has assisted the prophets in their missions like, verse 253 of Surah Al-Baqarah, which says: “And We made Jesus, son of Mary, clear Signs, and strengthened him with the Holy Spirit…” At other times, it refers to the Divine spiritual power which reinforces and invigorates the believers, like verse 22 of Surah Al-Mujadalah, No.