The concept of human soul in Asrar al-Insan fi Ma`rifat al-Ruh wa al-Rahman by Nur al-Din al-Raniri : a critical examination

Abstract

The study aims to explore the concept of human soul found in a manuscript entitled Asrar al-Insan fi Ma’rifat al-Ruhwa al-Rahman by al-Raniri. Al-Raniri was an Indian-born Malay scholar in the seventeenth century. This manuscript focuses on the concept of human soul and was completed in April, 1641 in Acheh, which is located at the northern part of Sumatra, Indonesia. The method used in this study is library research, within which content analysis of the printed manuscript rewritten by Tudjimah is applied. The findings indicate that al- Raniri’s concept of the human soul is based on an Islamic revealed knowledge that is interpreted through al-dufi al-ilhami (sufistic inspiration) or sur’at al-idrak (intuition) methods which are known in Sufism. The Sufis referred to by al- Raniri are Shaykh ‘Abd Allah Samarqandi, Abu Yazid al- Bistami, ‘Abd Allah Husayn ibn ‘Ali al-Makki, al-Ghazzali, Ibn ‘Arabi, ‘Abd al- Razzaq Kamal al-Din al-Kasi, Mawfiq al-Din Abu Yazid Asfahani, Abu Shukr al- Salimi, Abu Isma’il ‘Abd Allah al-Ansari, Najm al-Din al-Razi and Nur al-Din ‘Abd al-Rahman Jami. The concept of the human soul proposed by al- Raniri is indeed distinct, in the sense that without knowing God, the knowledge of the human soul would not be acquired. This is due to the fact that the human soul is created by God, and it is eventually breathed into the human body. This concept definitely contradicts the understanding proposed by modern scientific Materialism that believes that the human soul or ‘mind’ is nothing but a product of bio-chemical processing of the human brain.