‘Do not pray for anything but good for yourselves, for the angels say “Amen” to what you say.’ Then he said:

‘O Allah, forgive Abū Salamah, raise his rank among the rightly guided, and take care of the descendants he leaves behind. Forgive us and him, O Lord of the worlds; make his grave spacious for him and fill it with light.’”

Muslim also narrated from Abū Hurayrah that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“Have you not seen how a person’s eyes become fixed when he dies?” They replied, “Yes.” He said, “That is what happens when his gaze follows his soul.”

Thus, he called it a spirit (rūh) on one occasion and a soul (nafs) on another. Ahmad ibn Hanbal and Ibn Mājah narrated from Shaddād ibn Aws that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“When you are present with your dead, close their eyes, for the gaze follows the spirit. Say only good things, for ‘Amen’ is said to whatever the deceased’s family says.”

The evidence for this principle, the explanation of what the terms “spirit” and “soul” denote, and the different senses in which they are used are too extensive for this response. We have discussed them at length elsewhere.

What we have mentioned therefore makes it clear that anyone who says that the spirits of the children of Adam are eternal and uncreated is among the gravest innovators who advocate divine indwelling. Their position leads to negation of the Creator by identifying the servant with the Lord, and to other false and misleading innovations.

As for the words of Allah Most High:

“Say, ‘The Spirit is of the command of my Lord,’”

it has been said that the spirit here is not the human spirit, but rather an angel mentioned in His words:

“On the Day when the Spirit and the angels stand in a row”