1.

Human Soul

In discussing the subject of human soul, Al-Ghazali used the terms of al-
qalb, al-ruh, an-nafs and al-`aql, which refer to the soul. He further stated
that all those expressions have two different meanings; spiritually and
physically. The first term, al-qalb physically means al-lahm al- sanubari or
piece of flesh situated in the left of our body. While spiritually, Al-Ghazali
called it as al-Latifah al-Ruhaniyah (spiritual subtlety) or the center of
human spiritual which make men are different with other living things. Al-
Latifah al-Ruhaniyah or spiritual subtlety is a thing which is created, that
means it is a kind of creature but it is immortal, not measured in terms of
extent in space and time, or of quantity (Fazril: 2011). In this second
sense, all the others three; al-ruh, an-nafs and al-`aql, are seated on the
qalb that make men fit for being responsible on their acts in this life
(Musthafa: 2010).

Al-Ghazali also divided al-qalb into three types; qolbun salim (the healthy
heart), qolbun maridh (the sick heart), and qolbun mayyit (the dead
heart). Qalbun salim is defined as a heart cleansed from any passion that
challenges what God commands, or disputes what He forbids. As a result,
it is free from any impulses which contradict His good and it is
safeguarded against the worship of anything other than Him (Farid: 1993).
The next is qolbun maridh refers to a heart that with life in it, as well as
illness. The former sustains it at one moment, the letter at another and it
follows whichever one of the two dominates and manages it. The worst
type of heart is qolbun mayyit or the dead heart which it does not want to
know its Lord and does not want to observe his God. It worships things
other than Him and it follows his lower self to fulfill his worldly desire in
this life.

The second term used by Al-Ghazali is ar-ruh which means the

physical material thing in the heart that vibrates the whole body like the
current of electricity. It also can be described just as light from a lantern
fills a room. In this physical sense, ar-ruh in modern medical through
infrared technology is seen as the red heat of the body which is started
from the heart and widen to the whole of the body. When a person
breathes his last, this red heat is then nowhere to be found (Rijalludin:
2010). The second connotation is immaterial thing which emanates from
the creative command as stated in the Quran that He breathed into
(Marys body) of His spirit and as something in which mens knowledge to
that spirit (cometh) is a little only (Qs.Al-Israa: 85, At-Tahreem: 11). This
second meaning of ar-ruh makes man be possible to be alive and lead to
function all of his organs as well as his soul. Al-ghazali also affirmed
that ar-ruh inherently has all the knowledge and perceives everything for
it is directly from God as it is stated clearly in the Quran that all human
being have testified that there is no God but Him. In other words, men are
having knowledge that He is the Lord of this universe.

The third term is an-nafs in which Al-Ghazali gives two different

meanings to it. The first meaning refers to the immaterial entity,
commonly referred to as the ego, or lower self, in which are the animal
faculties which oppose the rational faculties. This nafs is the source of the
negative power of anger and sexual appetite in a man which blinds his
intellect and encourages him to disobey his Lord. This nafs is taken by
sufis as the evil attributes of a man by which they emphasize to keep
fighting it and to bring it under ones control as it is referred in the Hadith
of the Holy Prophet that mens worst enemy is their nafs which lies
between their sides (Rijalludin: 2010).

The second sense connote to the immaterial entity, that of mans

real nature and essence. This is the nafs capable of being pulled up
towards the heavenly world from which it has initially arisen and been
created. Al-ghazali divided this second nafs into three stages, to be
precise: Nafs al-mutmainnah (the Self at Peace), Nafs al-lawwamah (the
blaming self), Nafs ammarah bi al-su (the self urging evil).
 Nafs al-mutmainnah or the self at peace is the superior phase
of nafs. A person when achieved this stage, he is in full rest and
satisfaction. This stage of nafs finally guides to resolution of ones inner
conflicts and attainment of harmony with God and his personality is now
decorated with His universal color while his behavior reflects the Absolute
being and the Ultimate Reality (Manzurul: 1984). Nafs al-lawwamah or the
blaming self is the sate of nafs that rise from the ignoble qualities of Nafs
ammarah bi al-su. In this stage of nafs, a person struggles against his
lower self, criticizes him for falling, victim to them and blocks further
proceeding (Daud Hamzah and Kadir arifin: 1980). The lowest state of nafs
is Nafs ammarah bi al-su or the self urging evil. Daud Hamzah and Kadir
arifin explain this nafs as the drive underlying brutality and perverted sex.
This nafs also does not submit to God because it is a member of
the syaithan. It activates the ignoble traits such as meanness, greed,
worldliness, illusions, indecency, arrogance, pride, conceit, envy,
jealously, maliciousness, vengeance, treason, betrayal, negligence, and
indifference to Lord Almighty.

The fourth term discussed by Al-Ghazali is al-aql which also possess

two different meanings. The first meaning is the knowledge concerning
everything in this universe. It can be alleged as the knowledge which seat
on the soul or al-qalb. In this sense, Al-ghazali give emphasized on
knowledge and its attributes (Rijalludin: 2010). Al-aql in this sense
means al-aql ar-ruhaniyah which refer to the aql that gain the knowledge
itself (al-mudrak Ii al-`ulum).

In order to make clear on the point of human soul, Al-Ghazali figured

out the body as a kingdom, the soul as its king, and the different senses
and faculties as constituting an army. Reason may be called the vizier, or
prime minister, passion the revenue collector, and anger the police officer.
Under the guise of collecting revenue, passion is continually prone to
plunder on its own account, while resentment is always inclined to
harshness and extreme severity. Both of these the revenue collector and
the police officer, have to be kept in due subordination to the king, but not
killed or excelled, as they have their own proper functions to fulfill. But if
passion and resentment master reason, the ruin of the soul infallibly
ensues. Al-Ghazali further on enlightened that a soul which allows its
lower faculties to dominate the higher is as one who should hand over an
angel to the power of a dog to the tyranny of an unbeliever. Those who
cultivate the demonic, animal or angelic qualities will see the
manifestation of these characteristics in visible shapes, the sensual
appearing as swine, the ferocious as dogs and wolves, and the pure as
angels in the Day of Judgment. The aim purification of soul is to discipline
the heart from the rust of passion and resentment, till, like a clear mirror
that reflects the light of God.

2. The Faculties or Power of Soul

Al-Ghazali, just like other Muslim philosophers, classified the souls

faculties or powers (quwah) into three different souls respectively: (1) the
vegetative (al-nabatiyyah), (2) the animal (al-hayawaniyah), and (3) the
human/ rational (al-natiqah). The vegetative soul has the ability of
nutrition, growth and reproduction. These abilities also possess by animal
and man. While the animal soul are also possesses by man. The power
that make human being becomes a unique creature of God and makes
him different from other creature is his rational soul. Therefore, man is a
rational animal (al hayawan al-natiq), whereby natiq signifies the
rationality which refers to an inner faculty which man possesses that
formulates meaning (dhu nutq) (Al-Attas: 1990). Aql as a spiritual
substance therefore is mans power that makes him be able to recognize
and distinguishes truth from falsehood and makes him be able to receive
the truth message given by the Lord Almighty through His messengers.

3. The Soldiers of Soul

According to Al-Ghazali, the soul has two types of soldiers. The first is the
visible soldiers; consist of the bodily members which follow the
instructions of the soul. The second type of soldier is invisible and
comprises ideas and perceptions. He then added that the soldiers can also
be divided according to three other categories:
(i) irada (the will), which instigates, such as appetitive (shahawa) and
anger(ghadab),
(ii) (ii) qudra (power), which includes sinews and muscles, which are
the actual means by which the members are made to move:
(iii) (iii) al-ilm wa'l-idrak (knowledge and perception, which provide
information acquired through the five external senses of hearing,
sight, smell, taste and touch, and also the five internal senses
located in the brain, which are imagination (takhayyul), the census
communes (hiss mushtarak) (which coordinates information
received through the various faculties),
thought (tafakkur), remembrance (tadhakkur), and memory (hifz).

4. The Qualities of Soul

In describing the qualities of the soul, Al-Ghazali mentioned four

qualities which exist in every soul; predatory (sabu'iya), animal
(bahimiya), satanic (shaytaniya) and divine (rabbaniya). The first quality is
the faculty of anger, the second is appetite for food, sex and so on, the
third quality refers to the ability to commit evil, while the fourth, Divine
the upmost quality that requires the greatest investigation and insight to
attain to uncover the wiles of the satanic quality, and to submit the
appetite to the irascible faculty. Al-Ghazali then gave details that the
predatory quality engenders such vices as wastefulness, boasting, pride,
and lust for oppression; the animal quality produces hypocrisy, slander,
greed, and shamelessness; the satanic quality, having successfully
encouraged the soul to obey the first two, produces guile, deceit, fraud
and so on. But should the divine element triumph, and subdue all of these,
then the virtues will appear. When man controls his predatory quality and
sets it within its proper limits, he acquires such virtues as courage,
generosity, self-control, patience, forgiveness and dignity. When the
animal faculty is controlled, virtues such as chastity, contentment,
modesty and helpfulness ensue.

5. Purification of Soul
One of the most important task for which the Prophet Muhammad was
sent was the purification of soul. It is stated in the Quran that He who has
sent amongst the Unlettered a messenger from among themselves, to
rehearse to them His Signs and purify them and to instruct them in
Scripture and Wisdom, although they had been, before, in manifest error
(Qs. Al-Jumuah: 2). Men who are able to keep purifying their heart will be
blessed by God Almighty and classify as lucky man as stated in the Quran
that man who purify their soul is indeed successful and man who neglects
it is indeed a failure (Qs. As-Shams:7).

The word tazkiyah means to purify or to cleanse. Tazkiyatun nafs is

described as a disciplined process that gives birth to the seed of
awareness in the heart. It is related closely to the function of heart itself,
which is to know the Creator, to love Him, and to seek closeness to Him
(Farid: 1993).Tazkiyatun nafs also means the process to ascend the nafs
from the level of Nafs ammarah bi al-su to the level of Nafs al-
mutmainnah and to maintain it in this level through spiritual exercise. The
process of tazkiyatun nafs or purification of soul involves the process
of takhalli (eradication of the self from ignoble characteristics
and tahalli (implantation of noble characteristics in the self to form
autonomous personality traits) (Daud Hamzah and Kadir arifin: 1980). In
this process, According to Al-Ghazali, the route of ascendancy is marked
by ten stations or maqomat which are started from tawbah
(repentance), sabr (patience), shukr (thankfulness), raja (hope), khawf (fe
ar), faqr (poverty), zuhd (renunciation), tawhid (unity), tawakkal (trust),
and finally mahabbah (love).

Tazkiyatun nafs is a continual process that should be done

throughout the day. It will bring to an end only after one has departed his
life. During that final day, there are only two pronouncements; happiness
or misery. Those who goes to meet his Lord in pleasure will be welcomed
by God as it is affirmed in the Quran: The term purification in Arabic is
tazkiyyah and is described as a disciplined process that gives birth to the
seed of awareness in the heart.The term purification in Arabic is tazkiyyah
and is described as a disciplined process that gives birth to the seed of
awareness in the heart.The term purification in Arabic is tazkiyyah and is
described as a disciplined process that gives birth to the seed of
awareness in the heart.O (thou) soul, in (complete) rest and satisfaction!
Come back thou to thy Lord, well pleased (thyself), and well-pleasing unto
Him! Enter thou, then, among My devotees! Yea, enter thou My
Heaven! (QS.Al-Fajr: 30), while those who are completed his life in a
miserable way will be departed to the everlastingly place of torment.

Education with Soul

In this analysis, I am not going to criticize or to point out the weaknesses

of Al-Ghazalis concept of soul since my knowledge about it is very limited.
We should thank him on his effort to investigate the knowledge of soul.
Undoubtedly, Al-Ghazali was a great Muslim scholar who had spent most
of his times to enlighten our knowledge on the topic of soul. Some Muslim
scholars even adored him as e Hujjatul Islam or the proof of Islam. And it
has been said that if all the books of Islam were destroyed it would be but
a slight loss if only the Ihya of Ghazali were preserved. Thus, in this part I
am trying to discuss on an idea of education with soul, on how soul can be
related to Muslims education.

Educators should consider that ones success is not only on matters of

worldly achievements, but also on the success of controlling his lower self
to follow the commands of God and be able to observe the role
of abd and khalifah who enjoin what is wrong and forbid what is wrong by
the guidance of revelation and intellect. An intelligent man according to
Prophet is those who are able to control the lower self and prepare for the
Day of Judgment, while a weak person is he who follows his lower self
(narrated by Imam Ahmad).

Islamic education is defined as the recognition and

acknowledgement, progressively instilled into man, of the proper places of
things in the order of creation, such that it leads to the recognition and
acknowledgement of the proper place of God in the order of being and
existence (Al-Attas: 1990). Al-Attas further deliberated that the recognition
and acknowledgement which are instilled into man is adab. According to
him, adab involves action to discipline the mind and soul as
well. Adab also combines the ilm and amal together. Hence, the goal of
Islamic education is to produce a good man from whom the good society
will be established. From this definition of education and its goal, it is
clearly seen that the element of soul is already in our education. Human
soul has been considered as an important factor in producing good men
as well as the mind. However, the question that may come to mind is that
do we have the knowledge of our self or do we realize its importance and
practice its purification in our life? Do our teachers understand the
concept of soul and do they practice it?

The knowledge of self is not such kind of theoretical knowledge, but

it needs to be practice continually during our life. It is not to be stopped
somewhere, but it will come to end after the death come to take our live.
In other words, all parties included in the business of education; teacher,
student, staff, curriculum designer, and so on, should know the knowledge
of self and should live with its purification. Man who is able to sustain his
soul purification is actually going to reach the level of Nafs al-
mutmainnah or the self at peace. In this stage, the noble characteristics
are being developed or they are there already. Therefore, education with
soul means education that gives attention on the cultivating of good
characteristics and Islamic values, as well as other humans potentials,
and model from up to down, from principle to teacher and from teacher to
student. Of course, the best example of education with soul is the
education that had been practiced by Prophet Peace upon Him. One day
Ali ibn Abi Thalib was asked by one of his sahabah, ya Amirul Muminin,
why now we live in disunity between Muslims? Why we cannot be in a
peace like in the time of Prophet? then Ali answered because during
Prophet, Muslims are like me, but now, Muslims are like you (Dr.
Muhammad Abduh). In other words, Ali would like to say that our spiritual
quality is different. In the time of Prophet, Muslims were guided by Prophet
directly and follow the teaching of him, including soul purification, but
after that time, little by little Muslims are not really follow his path. The
education which had been carried out by Prophet and his companions,
emphasized on the importance of soul as well as cognitive. These two
things, mind and soul are the core of Islamic education.

The idea of murabbi rather than muallim in Islamic education is also

a part of education with soul whereby teacher is not just a transmitter of
knowledge and information (muallim). But he or she is a
murabbi or murabbiyah who are responsible to the development of
learners cognitive as well as spiritual aspect. Murabbi is a living model
whom learners can learn the virtues and values of Islam. His way of life is
a correct and an ideal model that can be followed by learners.
In actual facts, the problems of poverty, illiteracy, war, social ills,
and hedonistic as well as materialistic culture are still becoming a
recurrent challenge in Muslim countries. Our education is supposed to
overcome those problems. However, in fact, it is not really helping us to
solve the problems yet. Moreover, the impact of liberalization of
knowledge necessitates the capability to possess skills that is needed by
the industrial sectors (Rosnani: 2007). This new trend has changed
Muslims paradigm towards seeking of knowledge. According to Rosnani,
liberalization of education brings much harmful effect to Muslim Education
which creates dehumanization of education. Education will be seen much
in term of profit making. Besides, students achievement also will be seen
only in the term of paper test, whereby knowledge of self or soul and its
purification will not be taken into consideration. Most of Muslims, if they
are parent, will think on sending their children to a good school which may
equip them with necessary skills in life to be able to get better job. For
teachers or schools, they will think on how all the students can pass the
exam. While for students, they will think on how to get better job with
better salary. That shit. I am not saying all Muslims think like this, but the
majority is there. Success is seen only as worldly achievements.

In addition, Ghazwu al-fikr (battle of ideology) is the danger

consequence of liberalization of education which threat Muslims (Rosnani:
2007). Muslims are bombarded with many doctrines; materialism,
hedonism, liberalism, secularism, etc, which may exposure our ideology
and values. All these things should make us become sensitive to protect
our ideology as well as our youth through education with soul.
However, the matter of soul as well as its purification is not a simple
matter. The substance is that whomsoever Allah guides no one can
misguide and whomsoever Allah leads to go astray no one can guide.
Hence, as it is stated before that knowledge of self and its purification is
not merely a theory, but it is a practice. Those who are guided by Him will
be able to put soul into practices and keep purifying their soul. Once he
has started practicing it, undoubtedly, his personality development will be
in advanced and gets equipped with the qualities of quietness, mildness,
tolerance, forgiveness, helpful, kind, generous, and understanding of all
beings. These good characteristics will give him an understanding on how
to conduct his life in an elegant ways and manner, including in the
teaching and learning process.

In order education with soul can be performed in Muslims education, there

are at least three things that should be consider; the need to teach the
Quran, the need to select the best teacher, and the need to occupy
thinking skills. By saying teaching Quran, I mean that Quran not only be
learnt superficially (tajwid, makhraj or remember it), but also it should be
learn as a text which guides our life. Since Quran is the huda for mankind,
Muslims need to explore it, understand it, and observe it in all aspects of
their daily life.

Besides, Muslims education also needs to revise the way how they
recruit the teacher. As it has been discussed before, teacher is
a murabbi (living model) for his family, his students, as well as his
community. Therefore, Muslims education should employ the best teacher,
possess excellent cognitive ability and spiritual quality, who can steer
Muslim youths. Being a teacher should be considered as a noble
profession as well as other prestigious profession such as doctor as it is
stated by Ibn Abbas that every creature, even the fish in the sea, asks
forgiveness for the one who educates people about the good. Hence,
Muslims education should provide the best teacher for our education.

In addition, Muslims education also needs to cultivate the thinking

skills to our students so that they will be able to use their intellect well as
encouraged by Quran. Teaching students to think may improve their
ability to think well in order to be prepared for handing future challenges
effectively. In addition, according Rosnani and Suhailah (2002), the goals
of teaching thinking are not only to make students more proficient in
thinking, making decisions and solving problems in the classroom, but
also to make them acquire the ability to know and understand and the
ability to make wise judgment.
Conclusion

In conclusion, Al-Ghazali in his master piece of work Ihya ulumuddin,

described the spirit in the body is like a king in a city. The members and
capacities are like craftsmen and laborers. The intellect is like a sincere,
wise minister, while anger is like a chief of police, who controls the
appetite, which in turn is a base slave who brings food and supplies to the
city. Although the slave presents himself as a sincere adviser, he
constantly opposes the minister: he is in reality a saboteur. The city
prospers when, thanks to the efforts of the chief of police, the slave is
rehabilitated, and is forced to submit to the minister. Man who is able to
take control upon his soul and keep purifying it, he is indeed the true
successor.