Abstract
Mankind has tried to answer the questions about the nature of the soul since history. One of the Islamic scholars who dealt with the nature of the soul, which is an important issue in Islamic philosophy, is Ibn Sînâ. His full name is Abû Ali al-Husayin b. Abdullah b. Ali b. Ibn Sînâ and was also known in the Islamic world by the title of as-shayḫu'r-re'îs and in the western world by the name of Avicenna. He has been one of the most prominent scholars in the history of Islamic science in the field of philosophy and medicine. He followed and enriched al-Farabî's school, which was based on the philosophical system of Aristotle and Plato. In addition to his works on various fields, he wrote many works on the soul. Among these works, the most famous work in the world of science is his eulogy al-Qaṣîda al-‘Ayniyya al-rûhiyya fî al-nafs, which is also an essential work in Arabic literature. It is possible that Ibn Sînâ was inspired, in regard to symbols and descriptions of the soul in his eulogy, by the views of ancient philosophers on the soul. Ibn Sînâ begins his eulogy with a simile of the soul to a gray dove descending from the spiritual realm to the human body. In the continuation of the eulogy, Ibn Sînâ mentions what the soul experiences when it comes to the human body. It came to the world against its will from the spiritual realm, where it was happy. However, when it merged with its body, it got used to it. When it got used to the world, it forgot the places where it did not want to leave and the promises which it made to God in its original homeland. As the soul remembers that it could not keep its promises that it would keep its purity when it united with the body, it constantly sheds tears of sadness. The soul also cries for the body, which is aging and will perish. Then Ibn Sînâ mentions the separation of the soul from the body. When death occurs, the soul has left the body, which no one values and will become soil. Then sleepy eyes were opened and it began to see many truths. When the soul becomes aware of these truths, it experiences the joy of reaching the spiritual realm. Finally, Ibn Sînâ questions what the wisdom behind the descending of the soul into the human body is.