At a glance
- Era
- The Contemporary Era
- Region
- Egypt & Nile
Contested: This record includes matters on which scholars differ. The speaker's views are labelled as his, and other views are marked where no cited source yet exists.
In time
Islam and atheism or secular thoughtAfterlife and eschatologySpirituality and Sufism
Summary
Al-Ruh wa-l-Jasad ("The Spirit and the Body") is a collection of essays by the Egyptian writer Mostafa Mahmoud. Its first edition came from Dar al-Nahda al-Arabiyya in Cairo, its rights page giving the year 1394 AH 1; the copy used here is the seventh edition from Dar al-Ma'arif 4 5. What follows are the author's views, attributed to him.
Words as a veil
The author opens by saying that "letters veil and do not reveal", that the word "I love you" has become "a worn-out coin", and that a silence full of feeling may say more 6 7. Divine realities, he holds, are "even more impossible for words", and he quotes from the addresses of "the righteous Sufi Muhammad ibn Abd al-Jabbar", al-Niffari, that letters do not point to God 2.
The age of shouting, and love
In "The Age of Shouting" he describes today's civilisation as "a civilisation of shouting": in love, marriage, society and politics 8. He quotes al-Niffari that whoever has not witnessed "what cannot be said" is scattered by what can be said, and that one should attach oneself only to God 9; he notes that al-Ghazali held the same view of ordinary love, and that the Qur'an describes the bond between spouses as affection and mercy 10.
Happiness, Paradise and Hell
In "On the Spirit and the Body" he holds that one secret of happiness is "harmony of the outer and the inner" 11. In "Hell" he answers those who say a merciful God will punish no one: this, he argues, imagines a God who "treats criminals and their victims alike in requital", and is "the height of thinking ill of God" 12 13. A chapter on Paradise follows 14.
Water, the self and the idols of the age
In "The Magic Liquid" he reflects on the properties of water 15, and in "The World of Secrets" on the self and its ranks 16. In another chapter he says we claim to have left the jahiliyya behind, "but I say rather that we are idol-worshippers" whose idols have only changed their names 17. Further chapters deal with companionship, discontent, "A Crack in the Wall", and truth and lies 18 19 20 21.
Did we exist before we were born?
In the last chapter the author describes a feeling that has stayed with him that he "has always existed" and is not something that began at birth 3. He holds that this feeling is supported by the religious truths of reckoning, the barzakh and eternity 22. He reads al-Tin, verses 4-6 as pointing to "a first creation in the finest form" that came before our worldly creation 22, and cites al-A'raf, verse 27 and al-Balad, verse 4 23, and the words of Jesus in Maryam 24.
For young visitors
Mostafa Mahmoud says a drop of water in a thirsty person's mouth is worth more than all the gold on earth, and invites us to look closely at this simple thing we drink every day 15.
Notes for researchers
- Citations use PDF page numbers of the seventh edition; printed page = PDF page − 2.
- The contents page (p. 111) is unreadable in the OCR; chapter titles are taken from the chapter openings.
- The edition ends with a list of sixty-one of the author's books, noting that Rajul taht al-sifr won the State Prize for 1970 25 26.
Connections
- Authored by
- Mostafa Mahmoud
People and things also explored
Lughz al-Mawt· Ra'aytu Allah· al-Insan wa-l-Zill· al-Islam fi Khandaq· al-Qur'an Ka'in Hayy· Allah wa-l-Insan· Hiwar ma'a Sadiqi al-Mulhid· Lughz al-Hayat
Sources
- Mostafa Mahmoud, al-Ruh wa-l-Jasad, 1st ed. (Dar al-Nahda al-Arabiyya, Cairo, 1394 AH) , p. 6
- Mostafa Mahmoud, al-Ruh wa-l-Jasad, 7th ed. (Dar al-Ma'arif, Cairo) , p. 10
- Mostafa Mahmoud, al-Ruh wa-l-Jasad, 7th ed. (Dar al-Ma'arif, Cairo) , p. 97
- Mostafa Mahmoud, al-Ruh wa-l-Jasad, 7th ed. (Dar al-Ma'arif, Cairo) , p. 5
- Mostafa Mahmoud, al-Ruh wa-l-Jasad, 7th ed. (Dar al-Ma'arif, Cairo) , p. 114
- Mostafa Mahmoud, al-Ruh wa-l-Jasad, 7th ed. (Dar al-Ma'arif, Cairo) , p. 7
- Mostafa Mahmoud, al-Ruh wa-l-Jasad, 7th ed. (Dar al-Ma'arif, Cairo) , p. 8
- Mostafa Mahmoud, al-Ruh wa-l-Jasad, 7th ed. (Dar al-Ma'arif, Cairo) , p. 13
- Mostafa Mahmoud, al-Ruh wa-l-Jasad, 7th ed. (Dar al-Ma'arif, Cairo) , p. 16
- Mostafa Mahmoud, al-Ruh wa-l-Jasad, 7th ed. (Dar al-Ma'arif, Cairo) , p. 17
- Mostafa Mahmoud, al-Ruh wa-l-Jasad, 7th ed. (Dar al-Ma'arif, Cairo) , p. 21
- Mostafa Mahmoud, al-Ruh wa-l-Jasad, 7th ed. (Dar al-Ma'arif, Cairo) , p. 29
- Mostafa Mahmoud, al-Ruh wa-l-Jasad, 7th ed. (Dar al-Ma'arif, Cairo) , p. 30
- Mostafa Mahmoud, al-Ruh wa-l-Jasad, 7th ed. (Dar al-Ma'arif, Cairo) , p. 35
- Mostafa Mahmoud, al-Ruh wa-l-Jasad, 7th ed. (Dar al-Ma'arif, Cairo) , p. 41
- Mostafa Mahmoud, al-Ruh wa-l-Jasad, 7th ed. (Dar al-Ma'arif, Cairo) , p. 49
- Mostafa Mahmoud, al-Ruh wa-l-Jasad, 7th ed. (Dar al-Ma'arif, Cairo) , p. 57
- Mostafa Mahmoud, al-Ruh wa-l-Jasad, 7th ed. (Dar al-Ma'arif, Cairo) , p. 63
- Mostafa Mahmoud, al-Ruh wa-l-Jasad, 7th ed. (Dar al-Ma'arif, Cairo) , p. 71
- Mostafa Mahmoud, al-Ruh wa-l-Jasad, 7th ed. (Dar al-Ma'arif, Cairo) , p. 81
- Mostafa Mahmoud, al-Ruh wa-l-Jasad, 7th ed. (Dar al-Ma'arif, Cairo) , p. 87
- Mostafa Mahmoud, al-Ruh wa-l-Jasad, 7th ed. (Dar al-Ma'arif, Cairo) , p. 98
- Mostafa Mahmoud, al-Ruh wa-l-Jasad, 7th ed. (Dar al-Ma'arif, Cairo) , p. 99
- Mostafa Mahmoud, al-Ruh wa-l-Jasad, 7th ed. (Dar al-Ma'arif, Cairo) , p. 108
- Mostafa Mahmoud, al-Ruh wa-l-Jasad, 7th ed. (Dar al-Ma'arif, Cairo) , p. 112
- Mostafa Mahmoud, al-Ruh wa-l-Jasad, 7th ed. (Dar al-Ma'arif, Cairo) , p. 113
Cite this page
islam.museum contributors. “al-Ruh wa-l-Jasad”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/work/al-ruh-wal-jasad/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-11-04.
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