Cosnciousness may have something to do with spirit but not with the soul.

Has conciousness anything to do with the Soul?

Thank you folks for your thoughts...


Decent, apologies for being away from this...was a little caught up....

lets start with the easy ones, Brain is the organ inside your skull, it is that big bone wwheich we refere to as head, with out it well it is not a good thing, cos it is like the motherboard of your body. now Heart is that thing ticking in your chest it is very important too, with out it it is not good either, it is the power source, the Brain and the Heart need each other and can not exist with out one another, now you can argue that there are those who are in a coma and their heart is still working, that is because people who are in a coma did not lose all the functions of their brain, but if someone is declared brain dead, then his body will die shortly after.
Now Mind, it is greatest creation, and Allah SWT praises his creation of the human mind in the holy Quran, Allah SWT also ask us (humans) in many verses in Quran to use our mind, to think. where is our mind, it is in our Brain where exactly, we have not figured that out yet, but trust me I am a brain surgeon it is there!!
i will give very little account on Spirit, it is our ghost after we die, i think spirit has little attention in islam unlike the other religions, having said that please do not connfuse spirit with Soul, cos the Soul has been mentioned alot in islam when they asked our prophet what is the soul He said " Al Rooh min elm rabi" which translate the soul is known to allah. where is it in our body, it is everywhere, why is it important cos when Allah SWT after creating Adam, adam was just a body lying there all organs intact but nothing is working, not until Allah gave Adam a soul. so if we as humans can get so advanced that we can make a human that is perfect in every sense we will always lack the creation of soul, and that is one of the big difference between islam and other religions, to them the soul is just a genre of music.
now the Nafs: it is the being it is the "I" me with my mind, heart, brain, and soul al together i refere to it as "Nafsi"
I hope i did not bore you by taking too long. my question to you, having read the above, what do we Love with: our Hearts or our Minds

Salaam
A

Summu_u ! good refrence to QU Sahab, that was an imazing experiance to read about.

Summu, Mashallah quite a thoughtful explanation. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

I am not sure weather there is any difference in soul and spirit or just the Urdu and English. Quran says, ?soul is the order of Allah?. It means Allah does not want to explain the topic. So no one can give real explanation. Sir Iqbal (the great poet and scholar) says, that soul is "tair-e-la?Hooti" that is captured in the cage of physical body. As much as the cage is loaded (with the desires, money, eating, relations etc.) so much it is more difficult for the soul to fly high. QU Shahaab sahib experienced how his body was lying on the bed and he himself was lying on the floor beneath the bed.
Allah first created the souls and took oath that we humans will surrender to Allah. Quran says this is the reason why every soul recognizes the call of Allah (the Quran)... NAFS: There are three types of Nafas, two of them are in every body. "Ammara" is the one that persuades humans to commit sins and disobedience to Allah. "Lawwama" is the one that prompts when we move towards disobedience. None of them can control us, they just persuade and prompt. Humans are independent to choose their actions. Those who constantly surrender to Allah; their Nafas changes to the third type, the "Mutmainna". These are promised to Jannat (jannah).

Awesome topic, I must say (: Anyhow, let me try..... In my opinion the important question is, ?who is ?I? (mein)?" When we say, ?My heart?, ?my brain?, and ?my soul? - who is this "I"? In this question, I would in-group ?soul & spirit? and ?brain & mind.?

Brain is a ?physical? thing lying in the head. Mind is the ?ability? to use the powers of brain. Every one has different powers, so he has a different mind set and different mental abilities. These can be improved by utilizing, learning and experiences.
As there is mind in the brain there should be something in addition to the physical heart that responds to the sentimental situations. Why doctors do not allow sudden shock of joy or sorrow to heart patients? The love and softness in our feelings is the other "heart".

Soul is what will left behind after you will die and it will exsist in skies till the final day in Aaalam e Arwah

Nafs can be said as the desires comples you to things and Nafs in tafseers have been defined as the caprise that will compel you to do things not premitted.

Soul and Spirit are same !

Mind may refer to as the portion of brain responsible for thinking and analysis comprises of right and left part of brain.

Brain is the biological name of organs combined to make central nervous system excluding spinal cord.. everything in skull !

ah this article rocks, too www.muslimphilosophy.com nafs excerpt:

NAFS (a.), soul. Nafs, in early Arabic poetry meant the self or person, while ruh means
breath and wind. Beginning with the Qur'an, nafs also means soul, and ruh means a special
angel messenger and a special divine quality. Only in post-Qur'anic literature are nafs and ruh
equated and both applied to the human spirit, angels and Jinn. Since the two concepts of
nafs and ruh are so closely connected, both will be considered here.

mystic- most Muslim philosophers also stated that plants and even celestial bodies has souls of their own as well!

www.muslimphilosophy.com dictionary of muslim philosophy. nafs=soul, of which there are various kinds

Where is Firoz? Man you started a discussion and now are keeping quiet, this is not fair. :)

More ideas (just "brainstorming"):

aql (intellect) drives the brain, being part of the world, hence imperfect. A bit like a professional driver driving a Pinto or something.

Some idears:

Soul- the part of us that isn't the body.

Nafs= self, I believe in terms of our concept of "I" within confines of the body

Heart=organ, man. You mean emotion?

Mind=like intellect? aql. the ability to reason observe and synthesize

Spirit-- not the same as soul?

Brain-organ

i don't know why so many on that advice-naseeb think that the question about animals having souls is a waste of time! i think it is an excellent question myself!

wow decentguy u really gave serious thought to the question despite all the distractions.

ha ha ha. you crack me up, plato. i think you, roadnottaken and i are the only muslims who quote the Bible (or Jewish Scriptures) on a muslim site. :)

i know i was kidding, and the Sould is not a type of food and music. and the brain is not a cooling mechanism. I joke my friends, i joke. A merry heart doeth good like a medicine! (PROVERBS 17:22 )

and plato... the spirit was not downsized in Catholic THEOLOGY, just seemingly so in everyday catholic life. read some of the debates about relations with other religions (inter religious dialog, pluralism, etc) and the spirit-aspect-guy is everywhere. :)