Your Body Is Not You!
Then Who Is It Inside You That You Call “I”?
The question before us is: What is a human being?
At first, this may appear to be a very simple question. We may think, “We are all human beings, and we already know what a human being is. So what new thing is there to understand?” There may not be anything completely new in the question itself, but there is certainly an aspect of it that may not always remain fresh in our minds. Perhaps we have heard something about it before, but we may never have looked at it in this particular way. Understanding this aspect is important because it is closely connected with the philosophical idea of "khudi", including the concept associated with Allama Iqbal.
It is not enough to simply say, “I know myself.” I certainly have some understanding of myself, but the real question is: Do I understand myself correctly? I have an opinion about who I am, but is that opinion correct? And does it contain all the necessary details, or am I merely accepting a few things about myself at a superficial level? This is the more important question.
Therefore, when we talk about the human being, we first need to understand what exactly we mean by the word “human.” There are many different conceptions of the human being, but two are particularly relevant here.
This is why, whenever someone makes a statement such as, “What is human success?” the first question should be: Which human being are we talking about? What conception of the human being is being used here? Because if this question is not clarified first, it is entirely possible that one person is talking about one kind of human being while another person is answering with reference to a completely different conception.
There are, broadly speaking, two conceptions that we need to understand here: the Islamic conception of the human being and the Western conception of the human being.
In simple terms, we can say that Islamic civilization and Western civilization have significantly different understandings of what constitutes a human being.
According to the Islamic conception, the human being is fundamentally a combination of body and soul. There is also another element that is important to understand, and that is "jaan"—life.
In contrast, within the conception being discussed here as the Western conception, there are two elements: the body and "jaan", or biological life. The concept of "ruh", the soul, does not occupy the same place in this conception.
So what is "jaan"? "Jaan" essentially means life.
We use many words in our everyday language, but sometimes the meaning behind those words is different from what we casually assume. For example, when a person dies, whether that person is dead or alive is something that can be verified. We can examine the person and determine whether life remains.
Our usual understanding is that a human being dies when the soul leaves the body. But can we actually verify, through physical examination, that the soul has left the body? We cannot.
We may look at a dead body and conclude that the soul has left it, but we cannot directly verify the soul itself. Verifying the soul is beyond our ability.
This leads to an important distinction: a human being does not die because the soul leaves; rather, when the human being dies, the soul leaves.
The thing that actually causes death, in terms of what can be physically verified, is the ending of "jaan", or biological life.
This is why a doctor does not need to be a believer or a Muslim to determine whether someone is alive or dead. When a patient is brought to a doctor in a critical condition, the doctor examines the condition of the body and can tell whether the person is dead. The doctor is not examining the soul. The doctor is examining life.
"Jaan" is essentially biological life. The human body contains various organs, and some organs are so important that if one or more of them stop functioning, the body as a whole can no longer continue to function.
This biological life exists at the level of the entire body, but it also exists at the level of individual body parts.
For example, after a person has died, the heart may continue functioning for a certain period of time. That does not mean that the soul is still inside the heart. The soul has already departed. Yet the heart may continue functioning for some time.
Similarly, different organs and tissues may remain biologically alive for different periods after the person has been declared dead. The entire human body may be declared dead while individual parts of that body cease functioning gradually.
Why does this happen? Because the functioning of the complete physical body depends upon different organs working together. When a major organ fails, the body as a whole may no longer be able to function. But that does not mean that every individual cell and organ becomes dead at exactly the same moment.
Even when a finger or another small part of the body is cut, there may be a certain period during which the cells within that part remain alive. If the part is treated within the appropriate period, it may still be possible for it to be reattached. After sufficient time has passed, however, the cells will begin to die.
This shows that "jaan" is not a spiritual matter in itself. It is a physical and biologically verifiable matter. A believer, a non-believer, or anyone else can examine whether a person is alive or dead.
The soul is different. There is no physical method by which we can verify the soul.
So the distinction is very precise: a person does not die because the soul leaves; rather, when the person dies, the soul leaves.
Why does the soul leave?
Because the soul came into the human body for a purpose. The human being had to pass through a test in this world, and that test was to be experienced through the combination of body and soul.
When the body is no longer capable of performing what it came into this world to perform, the soul has no reason to remain attached to that body.
It is like a person living in a house for a particular purpose. When that purpose comes to an end, the person leaves the house.
In the same way, the soul came into the human body because the human being had to undergo the test of this world. That test was to be experienced through body plus soul.
Consider the example of a vehicle. You sit inside a car and drive it because the car is functioning. If the car's engine stops functioning, you leave the car. The point is not that the car stopped because you left it. Rather, the car stopped functioning first, and then you left it because it was no longer useful to you.
The same distinction helps us understand the relationship between the body, biological life, and the soul.
The collective death of the human body is one thing; the death of individual organs is another; and the death of individual cells is yet another. Even after a person has been declared dead, some organs may remain biologically viable for a period of time.
This is why the difference between "ruh" and "jaan" is important.
There is another indication that helps clarify this distinction. According to the religious understanding presented here, the soul enters the developing human being at a particular stage—when the child has reached four months in the mother's womb.
Before that stage, the body is developing and is biologically alive, yet the soul has not entered it.
This immediately raises an important question: if the soul had not yet entered the body, how could the body already be alive?
The answer is that "jaan" and "ruh" are not the same thing.
The developing child is alive before the soul enters. Its body is developing, its organs are developing, and its heart begins to develop. The child is therefore biologically alive.
If a woman goes for a medical examination after a few months and the doctor observes the development of the child, the fact that the child is growing itself demonstrates that it is alive. A dead thing does not grow in this manner.
Therefore, the physical body being alive and the soul being present within that living body are two different matters.
The human body can possess biological life before the soul enters it. When the human being dies, however, the soul departs.
According to the narration referred to here, when the child reaches four months in the mother's womb, an angel comes and the soul is breathed into the child. The angel also records matters relating to the child's provision, lifespan, and whether the person will be among the fortunate or the unfortunate.
This distinction helps us understand the two conceptions of the human being.
According to the Islamic conception, the human being is a combination of body and soul, while "jaan" can be understood as a characteristic of the living body.
In the conception of the human being under discussion in the Western framework, there is the body and biological life, but no corresponding central conception of the soul.
This difference is not a minor difference. It becomes extremely important when we begin discussing human success, human failure, human happiness, human desire, and the purpose of human life.
So whenever we say “human being,” we first have to clarify which conception of the human being we are using.
One of the most common statements in the present age is: “I believe in humanity.”
This expression has become widespread, and many educated and religious people also use it. They say that humanity is the greatest thing, that they believe in humanity, and that they work for humanity.
But the question is: Which conception of humanity is being used?
There can be a vast difference between the Islamic conception of the human being and the conception of the human being that has developed in the modern Western civilization.
The Islamic conception includes the soul as a fundamental element. Therefore, when we discuss the human being according to Islam, we are not merely discussing a physical body and biological life.
Now we need to understand what the body and the soul actually are.
The body is something about which we already know a great deal. It is not a complete mystery. We can see it, touch it, observe it, examine it, and conduct research upon it. A great deal is already known about the physical body, and more continues to be discovered.
Therefore, the main question here is not the physical body. The more difficult question is the soul.
The Qur'an tells us that human beings have been given only a small amount of knowledge regarding the soul. We have not been given enough information to completely understand its actual reality or structure.
Why is this difficult?
Consider a simple example.
Imagine going deep into a rainforest in Africa or the Amazon and finding a village whose people have never left that forest. Imagine that they have never seen a human being from outside their own environment. Suppose you are somehow able to communicate with them, but there is no smartphone there and they have never seen one.
Now imagine that your task is to explain to them that a device called a smartphone exists in the world.
How would you explain it?
Perhaps you would make a drawing.
You might draw something and tell them, “It is a thing like this.”
But what would they imagine?
If they had seen a stone of a similar shape, perhaps they would think you were describing some kind of stone. You would say, “No, it is not a stone.”
Then you might explain, “It is something through which we communicate with other people.”
But what image would they form in their minds?
They would still not have the actual concept of a smartphone.
You could explain it again and again. You could draw as many pictures as you wanted. You could use as many explanations as you wanted. Yet the image they form in their minds would not be the actual smartphone.
Why?
Because the problem would not be your language or your ability to explain. The problem would be their comprehension.
A person can explain something by relating it to things the other person has already observed.
You could say, “It is somewhat like this stone,” or “It is somewhat like this object,” or “It is something you hold near your ear, speak into, and hear another person's voice through.”
You could give them an idea, a rough concept, a general impression.
But you could not make them understand the exact reality of the smartphone without allowing them to experience or observe it.
That is the limitation.
We are in a similar position when it comes to realities that we have never observed and for which there is no equivalent object within our worldly experience.
We have observed only a very small portion of the universe. We are, in a sense, like those people living in that forest. We have seen a small world and observed only a limited portion of the realities of the larger universe.
How, then, can realities beyond our observation be explained to us?
There is only one source: Allah sends His revelation and informs us about those realities.
If Allah were to make us directly observe all those unseen realities, the test of this world would come to an end.
Therefore, when realities beyond our direct observation are described to us, we can comprehend only as much as our limited human understanding allows.
The Qur'an gives us necessary information about these realities, but much of that information concerns their ultimate purpose and outcome rather than providing us with a complete physical description of their structure.
The soul is among those realities.
To truly understand the exact nature of the soul would require us to reach the realm to which the soul belongs and understand its dynamics. But we are not given access to that realm merely according to our own desire.
Take another example.
Imagine that a person who died a hundred years ago suddenly appeared before us. Suppose we had to explain to that person what a virus is.
How would we explain it?
It would be difficult.
Even though a virus belongs to this physical world, a person from a hundred years ago might not be able to comprehend it without diagrams, explanations, instruments, and eventually observation through a microscope.
If even something belonging to this physical world can be difficult to understand without direct observation, then how can we expect to fully understand something belonging to a realm beyond our physical reach?
Therefore, if someone insists, “No, I will understand exactly what the soul is,” that may be a determination, but it does not make complete understanding possible.
This is why the Qur'an tells us that human beings have been given very little knowledge.
The problem is not simply that information has been withheld. Even if more information were given, much of it would remain beyond our capacity to comprehend.
The same principle can be seen in the description of Paradise.
The Qur'an describes Paradise, and the Hadith also describe its rivers, gardens, fruits, and other blessings.
But think carefully about this description.
We may wonder: “There are rivers in this world, and there are rivers in Paradise. There are trees in this world and trees in Paradise. There are fruits in this world and fruits in Paradise. What, then, is so different?”
The question itself arises because we are trying to understand Paradise through worldly examples.
Suppose there is something in Paradise that does not exist anywhere in this world. If someone simply says, “There is such-and-such a thing in Paradise,” how would you understand it?
You would immediately ask, “What is that?”
The only possible way to explain it would be to relate it to something you already know.
But if there is nothing in this world resembling it, how can it be explained?
There is no complete method available to us.
Therefore, the blessings of Paradise described in the Qur'an and Sunnah are not necessarily a complete list of all the blessings of Paradise.
Why, then, are those things mentioned?
Because that is the extent to which they can be explained to us through things that we already understand.
This is also why the Hadith describes the ultimate blessings of Paradise as things that no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and which have never even occurred to a human heart.
If something has never been seen, heard, or imagined, how can its exact reality be explained?
It cannot be fully explained through worldly language.
And the Qur'an makes it clear that the blessings described to us should not simply be imagined as identical to their worldly counterparts.
Consider an example.
Suppose a person in a village has a tiny garden of perhaps one "marla". Now imagine that someone has built a luxury farmhouse spread across a thousand acres.
If that person visits the village and wants to explain his farmhouse to the villager, he may say:
“You have this small garden, don't you? My place also has trees and plants.”
The villager may then imagine that the larger place is simply a garden somewhat bigger than his own—perhaps one acre or something similar.
But he cannot imagine the complete reality of that thousand-acre property if he has never seen anything like it.
He cannot imagine the designs, the fountains, the waterfalls, and all the other features inside it.
And if he has never even seen a waterfall, explaining a waterfall to him through words alone becomes extremely difficult.
The words may give him some idea, but they cannot reproduce the actual experience.
In the same way, the blessings of Paradise may share certain words with things we know in this world, but their actual reality has no necessary equivalent in our worldly experience.
This is also why the exact physical nature of the soul cannot simply be understood through the measurements and categories we use for the physical body.
What, then, can we understand about the soul from the Qur'an and Sunnah?
First, it is a spiritual existence. It does not have the physical weight and requirements of the human body. Its nature is completely different from the physical body.
Therefore, we cannot take the properties of the body and simply apply them to the soul.
There is another important distinction.
The physical body of the first human being was created through a process. The body of Adam, peace be upon him, was formed through a process; it was not created overnight in the sense of the physical form being immediately complete.
Likewise, the human body develops through a process in the mother's womb. It does not appear instantaneously.
The physical body of a human being comes into existence when that particular human being is destined to enter this world. Someone who will be born a hundred years from now does not already possess a physical body today.
But the souls of human beings were created before their physical bodies came into existence.
The Qur'an describes the covenant in which Allah asked the souls, “Am I not your Lord?” and they responded, “Yes.”
There is no corresponding idea that every time a human physical body begins developing in this world, a new soul is being created alongside it.
The souls of human beings were created collectively before their physical bodies.
To understand this distinction, a useful conceptual framework is the distinction between 'Alam al-Khalq and 'Alam al-Amr—the realm of creation and the realm of command.
These terms are useful for understanding the concept, although the point is not that only these exact words can be used. The underlying concept is present in the Qur'an and Sunnah.
"'Alam al-Khalq" is associated with the physical realm.
In this realm, things operate through processes.
The creation of the heavens and the earth is described as taking place over six days. These are not necessarily the same as our ordinary twenty-four-hour days. The Qur'an also mentions different measures of a “day” in relation to Allah's order.
This demonstrates that our human measurement of time is not an absolute standard by which every reality must be measured.
Human beings use twenty-four hours as a day because of the limitations and requirements of human life.
Our own perception of time also changes according to our circumstances.
When we are children, fifty rupees may make us extremely happy. When we become adults, even five lakh rupees may not necessarily produce the same level of happiness.
Our units and measures change according to our circumstances.
Similarly, Allah's relationship with time cannot simply be reduced to the human measurement of twenty-four hours.
This is also relevant when we wonder why injustice appears to continue for such a long time. We say, “So much time has passed. Why has this oppression not ended?”
That is our human measurement.
According to the measurements mentioned in revelation, what appears enormous to us is not necessarily the same from the perspective of Allah's order.
The physical world operates through processes.
Crops grow through processes. Trees grow through processes. Human beings develop through processes. Physical existence follows processes.
This does not mean that Allah lacks the power to create things instantaneously.
Allah could create through “Be, and it is.” But He has chosen to establish this physical world according to a particular system, and that system itself is part of the test.
For example, suppose I can afford to travel from Islamabad to Lahore by air. If I choose to travel by road instead, that does not mean I was incapable of travelling by air. It simply means that although I had the ability to do something, I chose another method.
Similarly, Allah's choosing a process does not mean that He was incapable of creating without a process. It means that He chose this particular system according to His wisdom.
Just as a person may choose to walk two kilometres even though he could drive there, Allah has chosen that physical creation should operate through processes.
"'Alam al-Amr", however, is different.
The same physical element does not operate there in the way it does in this physical world.
There is no process in the same sense. Rather, it is associated with the divine command: “Be,” and it is.
Time and space, as we understand them in this physical world, cannot simply be applied to that realm.
The body belongs to the realm of creation, while the soul belongs to the realm of command.
This is why we cannot measure a spiritual reality using the same instruments and measurements that we use for physical things.
The instruments designed to measure physical objects cannot simply be used to measure the soul.
This also helps us understand another common misconception.
Sometimes videos circulate claiming that angels are descending around the Ka'bah or that some unusual light or object appearing in the sky is an angel.
The mere fact that something is visible does not establish that it is an angel.
If something appears before our eyes, how do we verify that it is actually an angel?
What method do we have?
If we have never observed an angel in its actual form, how can we identify something as an angel merely because it looks unusual?
Suppose you have to determine whether an animal is a cat or a lion cub. You need some basis for verification.
If you have never seen either one, how will you establish its identity?
Likewise, if a person has never seen an angel, he cannot simply declare that an unusual object he has seen must be an angel.
Perhaps there was something there. Perhaps there was not. Perhaps the person misunderstood what he saw. Even if something genuinely appeared, it could be something else.
Therefore, one cannot simply say, “I saw something, therefore it was an angel.”
Even the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, saw Jibril, peace be upon him, in his original form only on two occasions. On those occasions, Jibril appeared in his actual form and filled the horizon.
The Qur'an tells us that angels possess wings, with two, three, or more wings. But this does not mean that their wings must necessarily be identical to the wings of birds.
When human beings imagine wings, they naturally imagine the wings they have seen in this world.
Again, this is because revelation communicates something beyond our direct observation by using language and concepts that we can begin to understand.
The soul belongs to the realm of command. We cannot directly verify it or see it. Whatever we know about it comes from the limited description given through the Qur'an and Sunnah.
The extraordinary reality of the human being is that Allah has combined these two dimensions—the realm of physical creation and the realm of command—and from their combination comes the human being.
This also raises the question of whether other creatures possess a soul in the same sense.
The understanding presented here is that other creatures possess body and biological life. But there is no equally clear basis for saying that they possess the same kind of soul that is a distinctive element of the human being.
The human soul does not die. The human being is to be raised again, and the soul will again be joined to the body.
Other creatures, on the other hand, have their worldly existence and then return to dust. If they possessed the same kind of immortal soul in the same sense, then the question would arise regarding the destination of those souls.
Therefore, the soul in this specific sense is regarded as a special characteristic of the human being.
As for angels, they are themselves spiritual creatures. They are not a combination of a material body and a spiritual soul in the same way that human beings are.
Regarding access to the realm of command, it should also not be assumed that every prophet was given unrestricted access to that realm. Allah grants whatever access He wills, to whichever prophet He wills, for whatever period and purpose He wills. It is not that every prophet was given the ability to explore the entire realm of command.
This brings us to another important point: the thing that makes the human being "ashraf al-makhluqat"—the noblest of creation—is the soul.
The Qur'an describes Allah's command concerning Adam, peace be upon him: when Allah breathed into him from His spirit, the angels were commanded to prostrate.
The physical body had already been created through its process. It is possible, as presented in the discussion, that biological life had already entered it, but the command concerning prostration was connected with the addition of the soul.
The significance is that the prostration was not merely because of the physical body made from earth.
Iblis, when he refused to prostrate, argued that he had been created from fire while Adam had been created from clay.
His argument focused upon the physical body. He did not recognize the significance of the soul.
Yet the command to prostrate came after the soul was breathed into Adam.
This indicates the special status of the soul in the human being.
The phrase “My spirit” is also a matter of attribution. When something is attributed to Allah, it does not mean that it is a part of Allah. Rather, the attribution can indicate honour and special relation.
We say “the Book of Allah,” meaning the Book attributed to Allah. Likewise, when something is described through a special attribution, the purpose can be to give it honour and distinction.
Returning to the central point, the element connected with the prostration of the angels was not merely the physical body; it was the soul that distinguished the human being.
Iblis focused upon the material origin of the body—clay for Adam and fire for himself—and made that the basis of his arrogance.
The real distinction, however, was the soul.
This is why the distinction between "jaan" and "ruh" must remain clear.
The other living creatures possess "jaan", or life. If the word “soul” is used loosely for a living creature, people may use it in ordinary speech, but the specific spiritual concept being discussed here is different.
The soul is an independent existence; it is not merely a property of the physical body.
There is also a question concerning sleep and the soul. The Qur'an speaks about Allah taking souls during sleep and returning them or withholding them according to His will.
But we cannot simply construct a complete theory about the soul based on our assumptions about what happens during sleep.
The reality is that our knowledge of the soul is limited. Whatever picture we form must remain within what has been conveyed through the Qur'an and Sunnah. We should not treat our own speculation as certain knowledge.
There is also a distinction in relation to thinking.
Not every form of thinking should automatically be attributed to the soul. There are forms of thinking connected with the physical aspect of the human being, and there is also a spiritual dimension within the human being.
Similarly, when the Qur'an uses the word "qalb", it should not automatically be reduced to the physical pumping organ called the heart.
This subject is not a matter in which we can claim the same certainty as “two plus two equals four.” At the same time, it is not based on imagination or stories. What is being discussed is based upon pieces of information derived from the Qur'an and Sunnah.
Now consider the relationship between the body and the soul.
The body has its own life and its own requirements. The soul has its own requirements. Because their realms are different, their requirements are also different.
The human body is made from earth, and therefore its requirements are ultimately fulfilled through the earth.
Whatever a human being eats comes from the earth. Even meat ultimately goes back to the earth.
Someone may say, “But human beings eat meat.”
Where does that meat come from?
Animals eat plants. Those plants come from the earth.
Even if an animal eats another animal, go further back and the source of that food ultimately returns to the earth.
Everything required for the physical body ultimately returns to the earth.
The food through which the human body develops comes from the earth. The reproductive process is connected with nourishment that comes from what grows on the earth.
Clothing also ultimately comes from the earth—through plants, through animal products, or through other physical resources.
If the earth were removed from this physical system, the physical needs of human beings could not be fulfilled.
And when the human body dies, where does it return?
To the earth.
It came from the earth, its physical needs were fulfilled through the earth, and after death it returns to the earth.
The soul, however, is not made from earth.
It comes from Allah, and therefore its requirements cannot be understood in terms of the physical requirements of the body.
The soul does not die in the same way that the body dies.
When the soul is separated from the body, its condition changes. The soul exists in another state.
To understand this, one may use the example of storage.
The souls of human beings were created before their physical bodies. A person who will enter the world many years later already has a soul, even though the physical body does not yet exist.
For the sake of understanding, we may imagine those souls as being kept in a kind of “storage.”
When a person is born, the soul is brought and connected with the physical body. When the person dies, the soul departs again.
It remains in another condition until the body is recreated.
On the Day of Resurrection, the human being will again be brought forth from the earth, and the soul will again be connected with the resurrected body.
The exact physical detail of how this recreation occurs is not something that needs to be reduced to a particular remaining physical particle.
Even if a person's body were completely destroyed and nothing apparently remained, that would not mean that Allah requires one physical element to remain in order to recreate the human being.
Just as an entire plant can emerge from a seed, Allah can recreate the human being completely.
The soul does not experience death in the same way as the body. When it is separated from the body, it enters another condition.
It returns to Allah.
And if the soul came from a realm beyond this physical earth, then the nourishment of the soul must also be understood differently from the nourishment of the body.
What came from the higher realm for the nourishment of the soul?
The Qur'an.
And what else?
Dhikr.
The Qur'an is not primarily nourishment for the physical body. Its true recipient is the soul.
If someone thinks, “If I read the Qur'an, perhaps my physical headache will disappear,” that is a separate matter. The fundamental recipient of the Qur'an is not the physical body. The fundamental recipient is the soul.
Therefore, the nourishment of the soul is the Qur'an, the recitation of the Qur'an, the remembrance of Allah, and the remembrance of Him.
Now another question becomes extremely important.
Whenever two things are joined together, we need to understand their relationship. We need to know how they are combined and, more importantly, which one has authority over the other.
When body and soul come together, which one is the chairman?
Both cannot be kings at the same time.
One must dominate, while the other follows. Otherwise, one will pull in one direction and the other will pull in another.
The body has come from the earth, and its natural inclination is therefore toward the earth. The physical body is built around physical needs.
When it becomes hungry, it wants food.
The physical body itself does not ask whether that food is halal or haram.
That distinction does not arise merely from the physical mechanism of hunger.
Similarly, an animal eats according to its physical needs.
The human being, however, possesses another dimension that can distinguish between halal and haram.
There is also a difference between what is physically suitable and what is religiously lawful.
A person will normally avoid something that is poisonous or filthy because the physical body itself responds to such things.
But among things that the body can physically consume, the body does not by itself determine whether something is halal or haram.
For example, if an animal is slaughtered but the required invocation of Allah's name is not made, the physical body does not automatically distinguish the two pieces of meat.
From a purely physical perspective, both may appear identical and may provide the same nutritional function.
If halal and haram were merely physical categories, the body itself would react differently to them.
But it does not.
This distinction belongs to the spiritual dimension.
The physical body operates according to its needs.
If it is thirsty and water is directly available, the physical body naturally wants to drink.
The body does not possess an independent mechanism that says, “I am thirsty, the water is available, but I will refuse to drink.”
This ability to restrain a physical desire belongs to another dimension.
Consider a dog.
When a dog is hungry and meat or a bone is placed before it, there is no internal moral mechanism that tells it, “This is what I need physically, but I will voluntarily refuse it.”
If it refuses, there must be some external reason—perhaps fear, pain, or some other external force.
If someone stands there holding a stick, the dog may calculate that eating the food could result in physical harm.
But if the external threat disappears, the dog will move toward the food.
It does not possess the same moral mechanism of self-restraint.
The human being, however, can experience hunger and still say, “I will not eat this.”
This is one of the central distinctions between the physical body and the spiritual dimension.
The body has desires.
The soul can govern those desires.
Therefore, the fundamental question becomes:
Who is in control—the body or the soul?
If the body becomes dominant, human life begins to revolve around physical desire.
If the soul becomes dominant, the physical body is brought under discipline and directed according to a higher purpose.
This distinction also helps explain the difference between civilizations.
The Islamic civilization, in its ideal form, focuses not merely upon strengthening the body and increasing its desires, but upon the purification and development of the soul.
This is why concepts such as "tazkiyah", "dhikr", spiritual discipline, and the purification of the inner self occupy an important place.
The purpose is not to deny the body. The body has legitimate needs. Food, clothing, shelter, and other physical requirements are real.
The issue is who governs whom.
The Western civilization discussed here is presented as increasingly focused upon the physical body and its desires.
When civilization is centred upon the body, what will it naturally produce?
It will increase physical appetite.
And as the dominance of such a civilization increases, the challenge to the soul also increases.
This relationship can be understood as directly proportional in one direction and inversely proportional in another.
As the dominance of a civilization centred on the physical body increases, the challenge faced by the soul becomes greater.
Consider the situation forty or fifty years ago.
Take the example of physical attraction and sexual desire.
A man's exposure to attractive women in his ordinary environment was naturally limited.
In a particular locality, there might have been a few women known for their beauty. There was a natural limitation on how much visual exposure a person could have.
Then the modern beauty and entertainment industries developed.
The visual exposure increased dramatically.
People who previously had limited opportunities to see images of attractive women could now encounter such images everywhere.
The first major difference is therefore the increase in stimulation of physical desire.
The second difference is access.
Suppose a man knew that a very beautiful woman lived somewhere in his area and wanted to see her. In the past, even if he was inclined toward such behaviour, he would have to make an effort. He might have to leave his house, go to a particular street, stand somewhere, and perhaps manage to get only a glimpse.
Today, a mobile phone can place enormous amounts of visual material directly into a person's hand.
Through social media, live videos, images, and the internet, a person can continuously expose himself to such material.
If someone decides that from morning until night he wants to look at pictures of beautiful women from around the world, the amount of material available online is practically without end.
Now compare the challenge faced by a person forty or fifty years ago with the challenge faced by a person today.
This is only one segment of the discussion.
Technology has also made interpersonal access much easier.
There was a time when approaching a woman or even obtaining a person's telephone number could be extremely difficult.
There was privacy. There were barriers. Communication was not immediate.
Today, someone may obtain another person's contact details through social media, send a message, and establish communication almost instantly.
The technology of the modern world has therefore increased the stimulation and accessibility of many physical desires.
The same can be seen with food.
Suppose forty or fifty years ago a person suddenly became hungry at an unusual time.
What options did he have?
If we go back even further, there were no restaurants everywhere, no hotels everywhere, no grocery shops open at every moment, and no modern food-delivery system.
If a person became hungry at an unusual time, he simply had to wait.
Today, food is available almost everywhere and at almost every hour.
The body is constantly presented with opportunities to satisfy its desires.
This is not merely about food.
The broader issue is that modern civilization has developed systems that make it increasingly easy to satisfy physical desires immediately.
The body says, “I want this,” and modern technology increasingly responds, “Here it is.”
This creates a greater challenge for the soul.
The more powerful and easily satisfied the physical appetite becomes, the greater the need for spiritual discipline.
This is why the central issue is not whether the body itself is bad.
The body has legitimate needs.
The issue is whether the body remains under control or whether it becomes the ruler.
The question therefore remains:
Who is in control—body or soul?
If the body becomes the master, then the human being becomes increasingly occupied with satisfying physical desires.
If the soul becomes the master, then the body is brought under discipline.
This is where the importance of "tazkiyah" and "dhikr" becomes clear.
The nourishment of the body comes from physical things: food, water, clothing, shelter, and everything else required by physical existence.
But the nourishment of the soul is different.
The soul requires the Qur'an, the remembrance of Allah, and spiritual purification.
This is why the Islamic conception of civilization has historically given importance to the development of the inner human being.
The goal was not simply to make the body more comfortable.
The deeper goal was to make the human being spiritually stronger, morally disciplined, and capable of controlling physical desires rather than becoming controlled by them.
The body naturally moves toward its desires.
The soul must therefore exercise discipline.
And this brings us back to the original question with which we began:
What is a human being?
If we understand the human being merely as a physical body with biological life, then our understanding of human success, happiness, freedom, and development will naturally revolve around physical existence.
But if we understand the human being as a combination of body and soul, then the meaning of human existence becomes much deeper.
The body has its needs.
The soul has its needs.
The body comes from the earth and returns to the earth.
The soul has a different origin, a different nature, a different set of requirements, and a different destiny.
And once body and soul are joined together, the fundamental question is no longer simply what the body wants.
The fundamental question is:
Who is governing the human being?
Is the human being being governed by hunger, desire, attraction, comfort, pleasure, and every demand of the physical body?
Or is the physical body being governed by the higher spiritual purpose for which the human being exists?
That is the distinction that must remain clear.
The more the body becomes the centre of human existence, the greater the challenge to the soul becomes.
And the more the soul is nourished through the Qur'an, remembrance of Allah, and spiritual purification, the more capable the human being becomes of controlling the physical demands of the body.
Therefore, the real issue is not merely to understand what the human body is.
The real issue is to understand what the human being is, what constitutes his true identity, and which part of his existence should ultimately be in control.
