Shaykh al-Islām Abū al-‘Abbās ibn Taymiyyah—may Allah sanctify his soul—was asked:

Is the soul pre-eternal or created? Is someone who affirms its pre-eternity to be deemed an innovator? What is the position of the adherents of the Sunnah concerning it? And what is meant by His saying, mighty and majestic is He:

“Say, ‘The soul is of the affair of my Lord’”?

Is it knowledge of its essence, its attributes, or both that is left to Allah Most High? Explain this using the Quran and Sunnah.

He replied—may Allah be pleased with him:

All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds. The human soul is created and brought into being, according to the agreement of the early generations of the Muslim community, its leading scholars, and all other adherents of the Sunnah. Several leading Muslim scholars have reported scholarly consensus that it is created. Among them is Muhammad ibn Nasr al-Marwazī, the renowned imam who was the most knowledgeable scholar of his time concerning consensus and disagreement, or one of the most knowledgeable.

Likewise, Abū Muhammad ibn Qutaybah, discussing the creation of the soul in his Book of Gleanings, said: “The word nasam means ‘souls.’”

He said: “People are unanimously agreed that Allah is the Creator of the body