The Difference Between the Heart, the Soul, and the Spirit
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. The questioner asks: Is there a difference between the heart and the soul in the statement that all diseases of the heart are...?
Answer:
No, the soul is not the heart. The heart is the organ in your chest, whereas the soul is the spirit, the spirit by which you live. No one knows it except Allah[Al-Isra 17:85]. No one knows what the nature of this spirit is; no one knows it. No one knows the reality of the spirit except Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He). So there is a difference between the soul, the heart, and the spirit, and the heart. Yes.
The issue is whether the soul is the spirit or whether the soul is other than the spirit. No, the correct view is that the soul is the spirit. Yes.
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. The questioner asks: Is there a difference between the heart and the soul in the statement that all diseases of the heart are...?
Answer:
No, the soul is not the heart. The heart is the organ in your chest, whereas the soul is the spirit, the spirit by which you live. No one knows it except Allah
And they ask you, [O Muhammad], about the soul. Say, "The soul is of the affair of my Lord. And mankind have not been given of knowledge except a little."
وَيَسْأَلُونَكَ عَنِ الرُّوحِ قُلِ الرُّوحُ مِنْ أَمْرِ رَبِّي وَمَا أُوتِيتُم مِّنَ الْعِلْمِ إِلَّا قَلِيلًاThe issue is whether the soul is the spirit or whether the soul is other than the spirit. No, the correct view is that the soul is the spirit. Yes.
Source
شرح إغاثة اللهفان من مصائد الشيطان لابن القيم، بداية من قول المُصَنِّف : ومن علامات صحة القلب — islamhouse.com (54:09)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.