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Ruh al-qudus

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Rūḥ al-qudus (Arabc: رُوح‌ُ القُدُس) or the Holy Spirit, is a being whose nature has been a matter of disagreement among Muslim scholars. Some maintain that it is another name for Gabriel, others take consider is a being from the World of Command, a hidden force, the Active Intellect, the Spirit of the Spirits, or the greatest angel. In Islamic sources, such tasks as conveying revelation to prophets, helping believers, being the source of the knowledge of prophets, being the source from which the Imams (a) receive their knowledge, and intercession on the Day of Judgment have been attributed to the Holy Spirit.

In Christianity, the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity and is considered divine by mainstream Christians.

The Nature of the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is the spirit that is free from defects and imperfections.[1] This word is mentioned in the Quran and the Bible. The Quran mentions that the Quran was sent down by the Holy Spirit[2]3 and that Jesus was supported by it.[3]

Muslim scholars disagree as to the nature and identity of the Holy Spirit.

  • Gabriel: Some Quranic commentators consider the Holy Spirit to be Gabriel.[4] Calling Gabriel the Holy Spirit indicates his holiness as well as his role in preserving religion.[5]
  • A Hidden Force: According to a view, the Holy Spirit is a hidden force[10] with which Jesus (a) revived the dead. A weaker degree of this force exists in other believers as well and helps them in the path of God.[11]
  • The Spirit of the Spirits: In some mystical works, the Holy Spirit is said to be the Spirit of the Spirits, which is not a created being but rather a face among the faces of God, upon which the essence of created beings depends.[13]

Tasks

The Quran and hadiths mention a number of tasks for the Holy Spirit.

  • Conveying the revelation to prophets: According to the view that the Holy Spirit is Gabriel, bringing revelation and conveying divine messages were among its tasks.
  • Supporting prophets and the Friends of God: According to a number of Quranic verses the Holy Spirit supported Jesus (a).[14]
  • The source of prophets’ knowledge: According to some hadiths, prophets and Imams have five spirits, and the Holy Spirit is one of them. This spirit is that by which prophets and Imams gain their knowledge.[15]
  • Conveying divine verdict: According to hadiths, the Holy Spirit conveys divine verdicts to the Ahl al-Bayt (a). [16]
  • Intercession: Based on a hadith from the Prophet (s), the first interceder on the Day of Judgment is the Holy Spirit.[17]
  • Supporting believers: It is stated in some hadiths that the Holy Spirit supports believers as long as they support the Prophet (s) and the Ahl al-Bayt (a).[18] Ibn Athir reports that the Prophet (s) asked God to support Hassan b. Thabit, a poet who composed poems in defense of the Prophet (s), with the Holy Spirit as long as he supported the Prophet (s). [19]

Notes

  1. ↑ Zamakhsharī, al-Kashshāf ʿan ḥaqāʾiq ghawāmiḍ al-tanzīl, vol. 1, p. 162.
  2. ↑ Quran 16:102.
  3. ↑ Quran 2:87, 253; Quran 5:110.
  4. ↑ Ṭūsī, al-Tibyān, vol. 1, p. 340; Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 1, p. 339.
  5. ↑ Abū Ḥayyān Andulusī, al-Baḥr al-muḥīṭ fī al-tafsīr, vol. 1, p. 481; Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 1, p. 339.
  6. ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān, vol. 13, p. 196-198.
  7. ↑ Qummī, Tafsīr al-Qummī, vol. 2, p. 279.
  8. ↑ Quran 97:4.
  9. ↑ Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, vol. 94, p. 14.
  10. ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 1, p. 339.
  11. ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 1, p. 339.
  12. ↑ Āmulī, Jāmiʿ al-asrar wa manbaʿ al-nūr, vol. 1, p. 688.
  13. ↑ Jīlī, al-Insān al-kāmil fī maʿrifat al-awākhir wa l-awāʾil, p. 150.
  14. ↑ Quran 2:87.
  15. ↑ Kulaynī, al-Kāfī, vol. 1, p. 272.
  16. ↑ Kulaynī, al-Kāfī, vol. 1, p. 398.
  17. ↑ Ḥākim al-Nayshābūrī, al-Mustadrak ʿala l-ṣaḥīḥayn, vol. 4, p. 496-498.
  18. ↑ Kulaynī, al-Kāfī, vol. 8, p. 102.
  19. ↑ Ibn al-Athīr al-Jazarī, Usd al-ghāba, vol. 1, p. 482.

References

  • Āmulī, Sayyid Ḥaydar. Jāmiʿ al-asrar wa manbaʿ al-nūr. Edited by Henry Corbin and ʿUthmān Ismāʿīl Yaḥyā. Tehran: 1347 Sh.
  • Abū Ḥayyān Andulusī, Muḥammad b. Yusuf. Al-Baḥr al-muḥīṭ fī al-tafsīr. Edited by Ṣidqī Muḥammad Jamīl. Beirut: Dār al-Fikr, 1420 AH.
  • Fakhr al-Rāzī, Muḥammad b. al-ʿUmar al-. Mafātīḥ al-ghayb. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, 1420 AH.
  • Ḥākim al-Nayshābūrī. Muḥammad b. ʿAbd Allāh al-. Al-Mustadrak ʿala l-ṣaḥīḥayn. Beirut: Dār al-Maʿrifa, [n.d].
  • Ibn al-Athīr al-Jazarī, ʿAlī b. Muḥammad. Usd al-ghāba fī maʿrifat al-ṣaḥāba. Beirut: Dār al-Fikr, 1409 AH.
  • Jīlī, ʿAbd al-Karīm b. Ibrāhīm. Al-Insān al-kāmil fī maʿrifat al-awākhir wa l-awāʾil. Edited by Ṣalāḥ Muḥammad ʿUwayḍa. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya; Manshūrāt-i Muḥammad ʿAlī Bayḍūn, 1418 AH.
  • Kulaynī, Muḥammad b. Yaʿqūb al-. Al-Kāfī. Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmīyya, 1407 AH.
  • Makārim Shīrāzī, Nāṣir. Tafsīr-i nimūna. Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyya, 1374 Sh.
  • Majlisī, Muḥammad Bāqir al-. Biḥār al-anwār. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, 1403 AH.
  • Qummī, ʿAlī b. Ibrāhīm al-. Tafsīr al-Qummī. Edited by Ṭayyib Mūsawī Jazāʾrī. Qom: Dār al-Kitāb, 1404 AH.
  • Sulaymānī Ardistānī, ʿAbd al-Raḥīm. Darāmadī bar ilāhiyyāt-i ṭaṭbīqī-yi Islam wa masiḥiyyat. Qom: Kitāb-i Ṭāhā, 1382 Sh.
  • Ṭūsī, Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al-. Al-Tibyān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, [n.d].
  • Ṭabrisī, Faḍl b. al-Ḥasan al-. Majmaʿ al-bayān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Tehran: Intishārāt-i Nāṣir Khusraw, 1372 Sh.
  • Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥusayn al-. Al-Mīzān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Beirut: Muʾassisat al-Aʿlamī li-l-Maṭbūʿāt, 1390 AH.
  • Zamakhsharī, Maḥmūd b. ʿUmar al-. Al-Kashshāf ʿan ḥaqāʾiq ghawāmiḍ al-tanzīl. Beirut: Dār al-Kitāb al-ʿArabī, 1407 AH.
  • Alister McGrath. Darāmadī bar ilāhīyyāt-i masīḥī. Translated to Farsi by Īsā Dibāj. Tehran: Kitāb Rawshan, 1385 Sh.
  • James Hawkes. Qāmūs-i kitāb-i muqaddas. Tehran: Intishārāt-i Asāṭīr, 1394 Sh.
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