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20 AN INTORDUCTION TO SUFi DOCTRINE

sents the central organ of the soul, corresponding to
the vital centre of the physical organism. A/l-galbisin
a sense the point of intersection of the “vertical” ray,
which is ar-Rith, with the “horizontal” plane, which is
an nafs. Now itis said that the heart takes on the nature
of that one of the two elements generating it which gains
the victory in this battle. Inasmuch as the nafs has the
upper hand the heart is “veiled” by her, for the soul,
which takes herself to be an autonomous whole, ina way
envelops it in her “veil” (hijab). At the same time the
nafs is an accomplice of the “world” in its multiple and
changing aspect because she passively espouses the cos-
mic condition of form. Now form divides and binds
whereas the Spirit, which is above form, unites and at
the same time distinguishes reality from appearance. If,
on the contrary, the Spirit gains the victory over the
soul, then the heart will be transformed into Spirit and
will at the same time transmute the soul suffusing her
with spiritual light. Then too the heart reveals itself as
what it really is, that is as the tabernacle (mishkat) of
the Divine Mystery (sirr) in man.

In this picture the Spirit appears with a masculine
functlon in re]atlon to the soul, Wthh is femmme But
tion to the Supreme Being, from which it is, however,
distinguished only by its cosmic character inasmuch as
it is polarised with respect to created beings. In essence
ar-Ruh is identified with the Divine Act or Order (al-Amr)
which is symbolised in the Quran by the creating Word
“Be”’ (kun) and is the immediate and eternal “‘enunci-

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