No Power but that of GodBody, Soul, and Spirit

No Power but that of God
(La hawla wa la quwata illa biAllah)

Body, Soul, and Spirit
(Jesed, Nefs, and Rooh)

By the name and power of God (bism Allah ar-rahmaan ar-raheem) I start:

Imam Ali bin Abi Talib (peace be upon him) says:
”God created angel with reasoning power, and without desire or anger,
created animal with desire and anger, and without reasoning power, and
created man with all three.
So if man allows his/her desire or anger to control his/her reasoning power, s/he becomes worse than animal, but if s/he keeps his/her desire and anger under the control of his/her reasoning power then s/he becomes better than angel.”

Now, we are human and should use our reasoning power at least part-time J

This essay discusses the underlying meaning of the phrase "No Power but that of God" (or in Arabic: "La hawla wa la quwata illa biAllah").

The fundamental meaning of this phrase can be thought of that God Almighty is continuously sustaining all life forms with power or energy to exist. After all, God describes Himself as the Sustainer (Rebb) of all worlds and not just a passive Creator (Elaah) who only intervenes to change the course of history [Quran 1:2 “Al-hemdu liAllah Rebb al-3alemeen”].

In order to comprehend this, we need to consider the human being as made of three complementary parts that co-exist albeit in different realities or domains:

· body (jesed)

· soul (nefs)

· spirit (rooh)

The body is an executive tool to carry out the soul's will (Iraada). It exists in the physical domain only. Body to a life form is like hardware to a computer.

The soul is the self and has desire and anger and has been given the reasoning power (3aql) to differentiate between good and evil. It exists in both physical and spiritual domains but not at once and moves between them freely. Soul to a life form is like software to a computer.

The spirit, although only God knows what it really is [Quran 17:84 “Wa yesalooneke 3en ar-rooh, qul ar-rooh min emri Rebbi …”], is as what keeps us alive [Quran 39:42 “Allah yetewefa al-anfus heena motihaa, wa aleti lem temut fi menaamihaa. Feyemsuk al-leti qadha 3elayhaa almoat wa yersul al-ukhra ila ajelin musemma …”*] by channelling God's energy to our soul and body. Spirit to a life form is like electricity to a computer.

This power channelling only happens after each request the spirit receives from the soul and the soul acknowledge the consequences of the action about to be taken.

Whenever the soul desires the body to do something (e.g. move, breath, think, speak, sleep, etc.), it must first consult the spirit for what the consequences are, both rewards and punishments, then acknowledges that it understands the consequences for the action to be taken, AND finally sign a book declaring that acknowledgement. ONLY then the spirit is allowed by God Almighty to channel the exact required energy to the body to do what the soul desired.

The communication is instantaneous and is faster than anything we can think of, even faster than the speed of light. This process happens all the time but we don't realize it.

Our souls sign for good and bad, and when we die, we will see all of our signatures [Quran 18:49: “Ma li hatha al-kitaab la yughaderu sagheeraten we la kebeeraten illa ehsaaha, wa wejedu ma 3emiloo hadheren …”].

So whereas the spirit is like an angel with the job of making the soul alive and keeping track of its deeds, the soul in the afterlife would be solely responsible for bearing the fruit of its labour in this life, and thus be rewarded hell or paradise.

A final thought to help appreciate and feel this concept on a daily basis is that, one needs to always think of God as transcendent existing everywhere at once and it would even be more helpful is we stop to attach gender to God and instead of calling God, He or She, we simply call it IT. Both I and T are capital to distinguish this new word from the non-aware English "it" or "It".

GOD is ONE, AWARE, TIMELESS, BOUNDLESS, EVERYWHERE AT ONCE, and CREATOR & SUSTAINER of EVERYTHING, AND KNOWS ALL.

God is:
             The Omnipotent    (almighty, having infinite power and authority),
             The Omnipresent (present everywhere at all times), and
             The Omniscient     (having infinite insight and knowledge).

May God forgive me for any errors inadvertently introduced with this concept, as only God knows the Truth, and we, when we get resurrected [Quran 50:22 “Leqad kunte fi ghefletin min hatha fe keshefnaa 3enke ghitaauke fe beseruke al-yeom hadeed”].

* [Quran 39:42]: When one sleeps, his/her soul leaves the body (like rebooting a computer to reload the operating system) and enters dreamland domain (3alem al-ru’ya) where it receives news of yet-to-happen events while the spirit stays co-existing with the body to keep it alive (like electricity in a computer). On its way back, the soul meets doubters who try to dilute the news. Depending on the state of purity of the soul, it may remember all or none or the news, or worst still get replaced by the doubters with opposing news. If a person is to die while asleep, then his/her spirit leaves too and joins his/her soul in the waiting-for-resurrection domain (3alem al-berzekh).

All praise to Allah, the God of all worlds, seen and unseen.