section_path: Religious views/Islam
section_name: Islam
paragraph_text: Islam
  
  The Quran, the holy book of Islam, uses two words to refer to the soul: rūḥ (translated as spirit, consciousness, pneuma, or soul) and nafs (translated as self, ego, psyche, or soul), cognates of the Hebrew ruach and nefesh. The two terms are frequently used interchangeably, although rūḥ is more often used to denote the divine spirit or "the breath of life", while nafs designates one's disposition or characteristics. In Islamic philosophy, the immortal rūḥ "drives" the mortal nafs, which comprises temporal desires and perceptions necessary for living.
  
  Several verses of the Quran that mention the rûh occur in chapters 17 ("The Night Journey") and 39 ("The Troops").
  
  And they ask you,, about the Rûh. Say, "The Rûh is of the affair of my Lord. And mankind has not been given of knowledge except a little.
  
  And remember your Rabb inside your-self
  
  Allah takes the souls at the time of their death, and those that do not die during their sleep. Then He keeps those for which He has decreed death and releases the others for a specified term. Indeed in that are signs for a people who give thought..