(1) Ar-Rūḥu ʾl-Insānī (الروح الانسانى), “the human spirit,” by which is understood the mind of man, which distinguishes him from the animal, and which is given to him, by the decree of God, from heaven, of the true essence of which we know nothing. It is this spirit which is sometimes united to the body and sometimes separated from it, as in sleep or death.
(2) Ar-Rūḥu ʾl-Ḥaiwānī (الروح الحيوانى), “the animal spirit,” by which is understood the life, the seat of which is in the heart, and which moves in the veins with the pulsations of the body.
(3) Ar-Rūḥu ʾl-Aʿz̤am, (الروح الاعظم), “the exalted spirit,” that human spirit which is connected with the existence of God, but the essence of which is unknown to all but the Almighty. The spiritual faculty in man. It is called also al-ʿAqlu ʾl-Awwal, “the first intelligence”; al-Ḥaqīqatu ʾl-Muḥammadīyah, “the essence of Muḥammad”; an-Nafsu ʾl-Wāḥidah, “the single essence”; al-Ḥaqīqatu ʾl-Samāwīyāh, “The original spirit of man first created by God.”
The following terms are also found in Muslim works:—
Ar-Rūḥu ʾn-Nabātī (الروح النباتى), “the vegetable spirit.”
Ar-Rūḥu ʾt̤-T̤abiʿī (الروح الطبعى), “the animal spirit.”
Ar-Rūḥu ʾl-Ilāhī (الروح اللهى), “the divine spirit.”
Ar-Rūḥu ʾs-Suflī (الروح السفلى), “the lower spirit,” which is said to belong merely to animal life.
Ar-Rūḥu ʾl-ʿUlwī (الروح العلوى), “the lofty or heavenly spirit.”
Ar-Rūḥu ʾl-Jārī (الروح الجارى), “the travelling spirit,” or that which leaves the body in sleep and gives rise to dreams.