140 Y. Tzvi Langermann
children? In the second instance, the query once again raises the
issue of prayers said for the deceased, or other religious acts that are
performed on their behalf. In both cases, Ibn al-Qayyim answers in
the affirmative, taking pains to muster the necessary proof texts as
well to answer the objections that have been raised. The great bulk
of the chapter is concerned with the second instance, raising such
particular questions as this: can one dedicate half or quarter of a
religious acts for the benefit of the deceased? The fuṣūl here func-
tion as chapters in a well-constructed essay.- Is spirit pre-eternal, or is it generated and created? (pp. 151–163)
Ibn al-Qayyim asserts that the spirit is created, assigning the doc-
trine of pre-eternality to assorted deviants and heretics.^41 One faṣl
displays twelve proofs for its being created; the following one
answers the claim that the Koran is unclear or equivocal on this
issue; and the last answers the claim the human spirit is divine,
hence uncreated. - Are the spirits created before the bodies, or are they created only
after they [the bodies] are? (pp. 164–182)
Ibn al-Qayyim leans towards the second alternative, but he far less
insistent than he is in the preceding query. The scriptural and tra-
ditional evidence are weighed in several fuṣūl; the final faṣl displays
the clinching proof that the spirit is created after the body. - What is the true reality (ḥaqīqa) of the soul? Is it one of the parts
of the body, or one of its accidents, or a body living together with
it (musākin lahu) lodged within, or is it a non-material (mujarrad)
substance? Are the commanding (al-ammāra) soul, the rebuking
(lawwāma) soul, and the serene (muṭmaʾinna) soul [all three of
them] one single soul that bears these attributes? (pp. 183–221).
I have already argued that this masʾala comprises an independent
treatise that Ibn al-Qayyim refers to in other writings of his as
kitābunā al-kabīr fī maʿrifat al-rūḥ wal-nafs (our great book on
knowing the spirit and the soul). The chapter contains much tra-
dition and evidence for irrational (so we would say) phenomena.
However, it is mainly concerned with answering the philosophical
questions, especially the materiality or immateriality of spirit (or
41 The Jahmiyya are named here in a long citation from Ibn Taymiyya, who in
turn refers to Ibn Ḥanbal’s Radd. Here again we observe Ibn al-Qayyim and
Ibn Taymiyya maintaining a firm and consistent line on a point of doctrine first
established by Ibn Ḥanbal in his formative manifesto of Islamic belief. Note
also the emphatic assertions in this query that the spirit of Jesus is created.
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