Ruh ( Surah Hijr )
God when talks to us, He adopts the words and styles of human language. Transcendental facts cannot be fully translated into human language. The concepts are borrowed to bring a transcendental reality close to our understanding but their realities cannot be fully comprehended. God has told us that we cannot understand the reality of Ruh, 17: 85 وَيَسْأَلُونَكَ عَنِ الرُّوحِ ۖ قُلِ الرُّوحُ مِنْ أَمْرِ رَبِّي وَمَا أُوتِيتُم مِّنَ الْعِلْمِ إِلَّا قَلِيلًا ‎ We have the principle statement from God that nothing is like Unto Him. Nothing emanated from him. He rather created everything with His command. Ruh in Arabic does not mean ‘soul’ or ‘spirit’, as we take these words. Ruh is God’s special message or command. This gave humans their consciousness, which is an extra feature in the creation of human beings. This is not done for other creatures. Here is the principle verse that tells us how to take these facts: ہُوَ الَّذِیۡۤ اَنۡزَلَ عَلَیۡکَ الۡکِتٰبَ مِنۡہُ اٰیٰتٌ مُّحۡکَمٰتٌ ہُنَّ اُمُّ الۡکِتٰبِ وَ اُخَرُ مُتَشٰبِہٰتٌ ؕ فَاَمَّا الَّذِیۡنَ فِیۡ قُلُوۡبِہِمۡ زَیۡغٌ فَیَتَّبِعُوۡنَ مَا تَشَابَہَ مِنۡہُ ابۡتِغَآءَ الۡفِتۡنَۃِ وَ ابۡتِغَآءَ تَاۡوِیۡلِہٖ ۚ؃ وَ مَا یَعۡلَمُ تَاۡوِیۡلَہٗۤ اِلَّا اللّٰہُ ۘؔ وَ الرّٰسِخُوۡنَ فِی الۡعِلۡمِ یَقُوۡلُوۡنَ اٰمَنَّا بِہٖ ۙ کُلٌّ مِّنۡ عِنۡدِ رَبِّنَا ۚ وَ مَا یَذَّکَّرُ اِلَّاۤ اُولُوا الۡاَلۡبَابِ It is He [754] who has revealed to you this Book which has verses that are muḥkam [755] also – they are the foundation of the Book – and some others [besides them] that are mutashābihāt [756] as well. Then those whose hearts are perverted [757] always go after the mutashābihāt from among it in order to create dissension and in order to know their reality [758] even though no one except God knows their reality. [759] On the other hand, those who are well-grounded in this knowledge [760] say: “We believe in them: all this is from our Lord.” And, in reality, only those whom God has blessed with intellect understand such things. [761] (3: 7)