As muslims, we don't need to mind what the anthropologist are saying about the nature of man. They are trying to figure out the truth and reality of the nature of man by going to the past, and going further and further into the past, trying to find out the answer. And they sees human as physical being only. Being of flesh and blood. And with the theory of evolution in their mind, they sees human as homo sapien.
We as human being are not categorized into genus and species. We are a new and special creation. We are divided into tribes,races,and nation.
Our main difference from other creation is we have aql.
We are not animals. We are living being that speaks.
We have insan aspects and bashar aspects. And as human, we are the merging of these two aspects. We are not a mixture of these two.
When the word merging is being used, it demands an analogy for us, so that we might be able to understand it properly. Prof al-Attas use the analogy of the sponge and water to ease us in grasping the understanding.
The sponge can absorb water.The water does not mix as in becoming a mixture with the sponge. In other words, it merges.
And by pressing the sponge filled with water,the water comes out. So, it means that the soul is detachable from the body. When we sleep, our soul is detached and taken by Allah.When the soul returns to the body, we wake up.
Our body remains breathing when our soul/nafs natiqah is taken, first, its because we are still living and the soul is still coming back and also its also breathing because of the nafs ar ruh or its also called the vital spirit. It is the spirit of the physical body, the nafs al hawaniyah. Remember that we are a being that have dual nature.
The physical aspect/bashariyyah and the spiritual aspect.
And as a new and special creation, we must know that after the merging occur, we lost some of the quality of the nafs an natiqah. And thats why we need to purify our self. We need to purify our heart.
Ruh,Nafs,Aql,Qalb. They are the 4 different aspect of the one same reality of a soul of every man.
And to really know the reality and nature of man, the answer will never be found out if we are finding the answer based on the physical aspect of human only.
Because our real self is our soul. And for any one that wants to know and understand the nature of man, must go to the revelation. The answer is there.
But,it requires great understanding to able to figure it out and understanding it properly.Therefore, we must refer to the great scholar that manage to grasp the truth and reality about this, and explains to us in his works and his words(Saturday Night Lecture, so that we might benefits ourself in understanding ourself better and deeper.
When we know ours self,we will know our place.When we put our self in the proper place, we are doing justice to our self. And when our kingdom of self is in the condition of justice, then we are able put other things in the proper places.
In short, read Tan Sri Prof Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas works.
May Allah increase knowledge and understanding in all of us.
