Chapter Two (The Spirit and The Soul )

The Soul According to Ibn-Hazm

In his book Al-Fasl fi Al-Melal wa Al-Ahwaa wa Al-Nehal (The Decisive Opinion in Creeds, Passions, and Beliefs) Ibn-Hazm discusses the opinions of his predecessors regarding the soul. He replies to the allegations of Ali ibn Abi Bakr Abdul Rahman bin Kesan who denies the existence of the soul altogether, and to Galinos who claims that it is one of the bodily symptoms. Ibn-Hazm also refutes the statement that the soul is air breathed in and out, as well as other early Mutazalah who said the soul is an essence not an entity.
Ibn-Hazm proved the existence of the soul which is other than the body where he defines it as that which realizes matters and manages the body. It is the activating, sane, distinguished, living, speaking, and assigned entity. The soul is also a light, elevated astrological body with length, width, and depth. It is lighter than air and voluntarily moves while being liable to pain and joy, love and hate, knowledge and ignorance. This soul can educate itself and others, as well as educating bodies and symptoms. Ibn-Hazm puts forth a number of proofs that the soul is a body and is linked to the human body which he considers to be a neighboring connection.
According to Ibn-Hazm, the soul exists before the body which becomes harmful upon joining it. The body distracts the soul from its previous events and once it gets rid of the body’s afflictions it becomes more pure and healthy. Ibn-Hazm states that the soul remains after death where its sense and knowledge become better and more complete than before and so does its life which is formed of sense and voluntary movements.