This stereotype is incorrect, for the human being is a unit of different levels of reality, the spirit being one of them. The spirit is a higher reality of the very body, and the body serves as a lower manifestation of the spirit. Observe the following verse of the Qur`an which talks about how the human spirit is blown: وَلَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا الإِنْسَانَ مِنْ سُلاَلَةٍ مِنْ طيْنٍ. ثُمَّ جَعَلْنَاهُ نُطفَةً فِيْ قَرَارٍ مَكِيْنٍ.
ثُمَّ خَلَقْنَا النُّطفَةَ عَلَقَةً فَخَلَقْنَا الْعَلَقَةَ مُضْغَةً فَخَلَقْنَا الْمُضْغَةَ عِظَامًا فَكَسَوْنَا الْعِظَامَ لَحْمًا ثُمَّ أَنْشَأْنَاهُ خَلْقًا آخَرَ فَتَبَارَكَ اللهُ أَحْسَنَ الْخَالِقِيْنَ And certainly We created man of an extract of clay, Then We made him a small seed in a firm resting-place, Then We made the seed a clot, then We made the clot a lump of flesh, then We made (in) the lump of flesh bones, then We clothed the bones with flesh, then We made it another creation, so blessed be Allah, the best of the creators.
(23:12-14) Here Almighty Allah explicitly tells us that it is the very body that He creates in another form: thumma ansha’nahu khalqan akhara (then we made it another creation). In this verse the third person pronoun “ hu ” refers to the material body. In other words, Allah perfects the very body and brings it to a higher state.
The great philosopher and mystic, Mulla Hadi Sabzawari, in his poetical masterpiece al-Manzhumah says: اَلنَّفْسُ فِي الْحُدُوْثِ جِسْمَانِيّةٌ وَفِي الْبَقَا تَكُوْنُ رُوْحَانِيّـــــــــــة The soul in its origination is material, but in its survival is spiritual. [^4] Perhaps the first person to expound this body-spirit relation in a logical manner was Sadr al-Muta’allihin. Al-Kharrazi[^5] writes: Mulla Sadra believes that soul is created corporeally.
That is, there exists at first corporeal soulless matter. Then, under certain conditions, soul comes into being gradually through matter and its substantial motion. When the fetus settles in its place it starts its evolution on the strength of trans–substantial motion. The fetus first takes a natural mineral shape. Then, because of further evolution, it takes a vegetative form.
At this stage, the corporeal matter is mature enough to take on perception; but as long as it is devoid of sense under the influence of environment, there exists no room for soul therein.