RÛHÂNÎYÂT - رُّوحَانِيَّات

 

Literally: The luminous, subtle and conscious entities whose essential fitrah is derived from rûh and who are free from the dense restrictions of physical matter.

As an Islamic Term: In Islamic terminology and the terminology of the Sharî‘ah, the rûhânîyât represents a magnificent and distinct category of conscious beings alongside the malâikah, jinn, and mankind. While they share the attributes of luminous subtlety (nûrâniyyah) and continuous ‘ibâdah with the malâikah, they constitute different classes of conscious existence inhabiting the samâwât and the ma’nawî ‘âlams.

The existence and distinct creation of the rûhânîyât are firmly rooted in the Qur’an and the hadiths and are expounded in the tafsîr of muhaqqiqîn:

In the Qur’an:

• Surah al-Qadr (97:4):

تَنَزَّلُ الْمَلَائِكَةُ وَالرُّوحُ فِيهَا بِإِذْنِ رَبِّهِمْ مِنْ كُلِّ أَمْرٍ

"The malâikah and the rûh descend therein by permission of their Rabb for every matter."

• Surah al-Ma‘ârij (70:4):

تَعْرُجُ الْمَلَائِكَةُ وَالرُّوحُ إِلَيْهِ فِي يَوْمٍ كَانَ مِقْدَارُهُ خَمْسِينَ أَلْفَ سَنَةٍ

"The malâikah and the rûh ascend to Him in a Day the extent of which is fifty thousand years."

• Surah an-Naba’ (78:38):

يَوْمَ يَقُومُ الرُّوحُ وَالْمَلَائِكَةُ صَفّاً لَا يَتَكَلَّمُونَ إِلَّا مَنْ أَذِنَ لَهُ الرَّحْمَنُ وَقَالَ صَوَاباً

"The Day that the rûh and the malâikah will stand in rows..."

Mufassirûn, such as Fakhr al-Dîn al-Râzî in Mefâtîhu’l-Gayb and Qâdî al-Baydâwî, highlight that the Arabic coordinating conjunction of distinction (wâw al-‘atf - وَ ) in these âyahs, separating "the malâikah" and "the rûh" necessitates a distinction in category (mughâyarah). In contexts where "the rûh" does not uniquely signify Jibrîl (as), it is expounded as the majestic, distinct army of ma’nawî entities who inhabit the samâwât alongside the malâikah but belong to a separate class of existence.

In the Hadîth: In the accounts of the Mi‘râj and the description of al-‘âlam al-ghayb, these entities are explicitly referenced under the terms al-Arvâh (the plural of rûh) and al-Rûhâniyyûn. This is explicitly mentioned in the sahîh riwâyât narrated by ‘Â’ishah (ra):

الْأَرْوَاحُ جُنُودٌ مُجَنَّدَةٌ فَمَا تَعَارَفَ مِنْهَا ائْتَلَفَ وَمَا تَنَاكَرَ مِنْهَا اخْتَلَفَ

"Al-arvâh are recruited soldiers; those who share an affinity with one another harmonise and draw together, and those who do not, remain apart."1, demonstrating that the rûhânîyât possess structured classes, communities and hierarchies.

In the tafsirs of muhaqqiqîn: This term was utilised as a shield of tawhîd against secular philosophy:

• Imâm al-Ghazâlî (Ihyâ’ ‘Ulûm al-Dîn & Mishkât al-Anwâr): Designated this specific class of existence as Jawâhir al-Rûhâniyyah, describing them as entities entirely composed of pure nûr that act as a bridge between the physical ‘âlam and the ‘arsh of Allah.
• Fakhr al-Dîn al-Râzî: Differentiated between the malâikah assigned to the governance of physical ‘âlam and the sublime class known as al-Malâikatu’r-Rûhâniyyûn (Ruhaniyat), whose sole duty is pure tafakkur.

A part from the Risale-i Nur, The Fifteenth Word, that elucidates the haqiqah of rûhânîyât:

Haqiqah and hikmah require that the samâwât, like the earth, should have inhabitants appropriate to them. In the language of the Sharî'ah, these different classes of entities are named the malâikah and the rûhânîyât. Yes, haqiqah requires it to be thus. For, despite its small size and insignificance, the earth being filled with living and conscious creatures, emptied from time to time and again re-enlivened with conscious beings indicates — indeed, explicitly demonstrates — that the samâwât, too, which are adorned palaces possessing magnificent towers, are filled with conscious creatures endowed with perception. They, too, like man and jinn, are the spectators of this palace of the ‘âlam, the studious readers of this book of the universe and the proclaimers of the sovereignty of Rubûbiyyah. For the adorning of the universe with innumerable ornaments, beauties and embroideries evidently demands the gazes of the appreciators engaged in tafakkur and the enraptured admirers. Indeed, beauty requires a lover, and food is given to the hungry. However, man and jinn are able to perform only a millionth of this endless duty, this majestic oversight and this vast ‘ubûdiyyah. That is to say, infinite kinds of malâikah and infinite classes of rûhânîyât are necessary to perform these infinite and diverse duties and ‘ibâdah.

Through the indication of some riwâyât and the hikmah in the order of the ‘âlam, it can be said that some kinds of travelling bodies, from planets to drops of rain, are the mounts of a kind of malâikah; they mount them with Allah's permission, wander through the ‘âlam ash-shahâdah and spectate it. It also can be said that some species of animal’s bodies, from the birds of Jannah — which are called طَيْرٍ خُضْرٍ 2 in a hadith — to flies, are the aircraft for a kind of rûh. They enter them at the command of Haqq, travel through the physical ‘âlam, and gaze upon the physical miracles of fitrah through the windows of the senses of those bodies.

Al-Khâliq, Who continuously creates subtle life and luminous creatures endowed with perception from dense soil and turbid water, indeed has conscious creatures suitable for rûh and life from this sea of nûr and even from the sea of darkness. And they exist in great abundance. In a risale of mine entitled Nokta on the existence of malâikah and rûhânîyât and in the Twenty-Ninth Word, this has been proved with the certainty of two times two equals four. If you wish, refer to them.

The Fifteenth Word-First Step