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Wisdom of the Brethren of Purity: Angelic Souls, Demonic Apparitions, and the Emergence of Partial Souls in Human Bodies
The Brethren of Purity and the Loyal Companions:
The Brethren of Purity and Loyal Companions emerged in the 4th century AH / 10th century CE, based in Basra, with a branch in Baghdad. Little is known about the members of this group, as they remain enigmatic. They were known to say, "The law is the medicine for the sick, and philosophy is the medicine for the healthy," which brings to mind the saying "prevention is better than cure." Treatment presupposes illness, while prevention is advisable even for the healthy. Thus, prophets are seen as healers of the sick, while philosophers preserve health to prevent illness. Philosophy concerns itself with examining sound principles of thought and behavior. It is not a set of rules or teachings but rather a correction of the foundations of thinking.
The Brethren of Purity are divided into four ranks:
- The Rank of Craftsmen: This includes young men of fifteen, known for their purity of mind, receptiveness, and quick understanding. They are called "the kind and compassionate brethren."
- The Rank of Leaders and Politicians: This includes those who have reached thirty, known for their wisdom and intellect, and are called "the good and virtuous brethren."
- The Rank of Kings with Authority: Those who have reached forty and are known for upholding divine law, referred to as "the honorable, virtuous brethren."
- The Highest Rank: This includes those over fifty who have become angel-like, receiving divine support, witnessing the truth, and understanding the afterlife.
They authored 52 research epistles divided under four main categories:
- Mathematics
- Natural Physical Sciences
- Metaphysical and Rational Sciences
- Divine and Religious Sciences
Angels and Demons:
In the section on "The Essence of Demons and the Armies of Satan" from the Epistles of the Brethren of Purity, it is written: "Know that embodied good souls are potentially angels; once they depart their bodies, they become actual angels. Likewise, evil embodied souls are potentially demons; once they leave their bodies, they become actual demons. These demonic souls whisper to potentially demonic souls to draw them into action."
The terms "potential" and "actual" are significant here. In philosophy, "potential" refers to the cause that precedes creation, while "actual" refers to what has been realized under this cause's influence. Embodied souls are influenced by their nature; if angelic, they are angels in essence, and upon departing their bodies, they move to the afterlife, no longer needing bodies as they become actual angels. Angelic actions are thus realized in the higher realm, becoming angelic in both form and substance. However, in this world, embodied souls with angelic nature express their angelic deeds through human actions and appearances, and angels in the higher realm guide and support the embodied angels here.
Some embodied souls are evil, demonic in nature. They are potentially demons, and upon leaving their bodies, they become actual demons in the lower realm, both in appearance and essence. These souls, now in hell, reach out to demonic souls still in this world, influencing them to join them in hell.
Anyone who is bound to the body is, in truth, under the influence of demonic forces, which aim to prevent them from ascending to the heavenly kingdom. The body represents a lower state of consciousness, a confined consciousness. Those who adhere to the body align with a limited awareness, while those who follow their spiritual nature align with the essence that unites all, ascending and advancing.
Reward through Pleasure and Suffering:
There is a duality in the nature of souls; some are heavenly in nature, while others are demonic. After departing from the body, which serves as a trial, each soul returns to its essence or "power." If it is angelic, it ascends, and the gates of heaven open for it. If demonic, it falls to the lower realm, which is hell. We observe these natures in creation: some act with angelic strength behind human actions, while others with demonic. The "power" is the cause that precedes the creation or action of something.
When heavenly souls leave the body, they rejoice, as separation from it frees them. For them, the body is like a prison, and they view embodiment as a means of saving and helping others. They do not find solace in bodies, but rather in angels, light, and the higher realms of existence. They endure embodiment for the sake of others' salvation. Evil souls, on the other hand, suffer upon separating from the body, as they became attached to it and do not wish to part, which is the essence of hell.
(The Thirteenth Epistle on Physical Beings: The Emergence of Partial Souls in Natural Human Bodies)
This epistle contains profound wisdom and explains how partial souls emerge in natural human bodies. Before delving into it, it is essential to clarify some terms, as confusion often arises between the terms "soul" and "spirit" in the Brethren of Purity's writings. When they speak of the spirit, referring to its weakness or strength and its dual experiences, they mean the partial spirit as a soul before it ascends to the ranks of the spirit as a heavenly essence. It is written in the fourteenth epistle on physical beings, "Know that all beings are either universal or partial. Universal beings are eternally existent and enduring, for they originated in a hierarchy from the noblest and most complete to the lowest and least complete, as we clarified in the Epistle on Intellectual Principles. Partial beings, however, are always in a state of becoming, progressing towards completion, as they start from the lowest existence moving towards the highest, and from the most inferior states advancing to the noblest and most complete. Know that man is one of the partial things, comprising two essences: one is the physical body, and the other is the spiritual soul."
In the relationship between the body and the soul, they write: "Know that this body is to the soul as a house is to its inhabitant, built and perfected, with its rooms arranged, its treasures filled, its roofs topped, its doors opened, its curtains hung, and all that the householder needs, from furnishings and utensils to equipment and possessions, fully prepared and perfected." The body, then, is like a home and vessel for the soul, and the soul is but an inhabitant of this house. This soul is constant, while the homes change. As the world is like a great man, and man is a small world, what exists in the greater world also exists in the smaller one, for the universe — or "the Perfect Man" in the terminology of Ibn Arabi and other sages — is the encompassing vessel that contains partial souls and bodies, as seen within us.
How Partial Souls Arise:
To explain this concept, the Ikhwan al-Safa (The Brethren of Purity) said: "A human in this world is like a fetus in its mother’s womb, considering this world as the body and the absolute vessel that contains all creations, similar to the womb that holds and confines the fetus until it is complete and born. Just as the fetus settles in the womb for the purpose of birth and not to remain there forever, its meaning lies in what follows birth. Similarly, the purpose of human existence in this worldly state is to reach full growth, to test the soul and essence with its limited senses until it is born complete in the Hereafter. As it is mentioned in the Epistle: 'Know that this body, for these souls, is in the example like the womb for the fetus. When the fetus has fully developed in the womb, its form complete, it emerges into this world, sound of form, with functional senses, and benefits from life within it, enjoying its pleasures for a designated time. So, too, is the state of souls in the Hereafter. The partial souls, once they are fully actualized, by moving from potentiality into the realm of actuality through acquiring sciences and knowledge via the senses, and completing their form through virtues attained via intellect, experience, and practice, mediated by this body made of blood and flesh, then, when they depart from it with insight into their own essence, having recognized their essence, envisioned their nature, discerned their world, origin, and return, and disdain attachment to the body, they detach from matter, subsist in themselves, and become self-sufficient in their essence without attachment to bodies. At that moment, they ascend to the Highest Assembly, joining the ranks of the angels, witnessing those spiritual matters and perceiving those luminous forms that cannot be grasped by the five senses or conceived by human imagination, as mentioned in prophetic symbols, 'In paradise is what no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and has not occurred to the heart of man, of delight, pleasure, joy, happiness, and peace.'"
This paragraph illustrates what we explained above: in this worldly life, we are like the fetus in its mother’s womb. Here we are in God’s mercy, connected to Him like the fetus is connected to the umbilical cord that sustains it to grow, complete, and be born. Death here is birth into the abode of peace, a birth into a truer, fuller, and broader reality. Thus, the Hereafter for us is like the world in which the mother lives for the fetus. There are also those who say that we exist within God’s imagination, and God’s imagination is reality. Imagination, as we clarified in previous articles, is the space and void between two entities, and the fetus is in this space, which we describe as the womb. This idea mirrors the concept of our existence within God's imagination, and the goal of this journey in the earthly experience is to return to the abode of peace, complete. Completeness only occurs through knowledge of your essence, envisioning your being, and detaching from worldly existence and the body, which is merely a medium; the concept here is that incomplete souls will need the body as they do not comprehend spiritual interactions. Thus, humans are bound to the body in this dimension, and without it, they cannot exist. However, one who, through knowledge and learning, elevates oneself to the spirit, can interact with a higher dimension, no longer needing the body, as the body for them is like the womb for the fetus, created only for a certain time to be born in the best form. Whoever realizes their essence in this life has realized their completeness here, and thus is born in the Hereafter in a more perfect state, enjoying its pleasures.
As for those who did not experience the essence in this world, their birth in the Hereafter is like the birth of a disabled child who did not fully develop in the womb. God says in His Book: {He will say, "My Lord, why have You raised me blind while I once was seeing?" (125) [God] will say, "Thus did Our signs come to you, and you forgot them; and thus will you this Day be forgotten." (126) And thus do We recompense he who transgressed and did not believe in the signs of his Lord. And the punishment of the Hereafter is more severe and more enduring.} [Surah Taha, 125-127]. This is because he turned away from the signs and evidences that came to him and behaved as if blind, so whoever behaves with blindness towards the soul and is mute towards the truth will be raised in the Hereafter in the state he was in, for he turned away from the truth that came to him in this world and did not strive for his completeness. Thus, his creation in the Hereafter is an incomplete creation, like a fetus that did not fully develop in its mother’s womb.
Those who experience the soul with their limited senses are born in the Hereafter no longer in need of the body, as they no longer require it, unlike undeveloped souls who are deeply attached to the body and perceive what is within it, governed by it. Complete souls are governed by the spirit because they have experienced it, and upon their birth in the higher dimension, they are born in a more perfect form and join the ranks of angels and the Higher Assembly, as they have become luminous, spiritual beings without the need for embodiment, having expanded their awareness in this worldly life.
Negligence as an Obstacle to Attaining Essence:
"Partial souls imagine their essence through knowledge, their beings grow through wisdom, their forms are illuminated by knowledge, their thoughts strengthen through contemplation, their insights are enlightened by etiquette, and their minds expand to embrace abstract spiritual forms, their ambitions rise towards desiring eternal matters, and their resolutions intensify in pursuit of the highest reaches by advancing in divine sciences, traversing spiritual and divine paths, and worshipping in noble matters..."
To reach your essence and achieve your completeness, you must acquire knowledge and wisdom. You are in this life like a fetus in its mother’s womb (i.e., the universe, which in our terminology we refer to as Mary). Either you are born as Christ — if we take it from an ideal perspective — or your birth is incomplete. Wisdom is what nurtures your being, and knowledge shapes your form in the Hereafter. You exist in this abode to return from the outer layers to the essence; if you return to it, you are liberated from the outer layers and no longer need the body. You soar with the Higher Assembly, who are the closest angels.
Negligence in this world is like a fetus believing it will eternally remain in its mother’s womb, never to exit. Some are negligent and think this worldly life will last forever, with no end. Death comes to dispel this illusion, as death is merely a birth into a greater entity, whose destiny is defined by what you do now, just as the fetus’s fate is determined by its mother’s actions. If the fetus is handicapped or deficient in some way, it is born deficient and experiences life with limitations. Before transitioning to the spiritual and angelic realms, a person must learn the divine realm in the lower dimension, purify their insight, and strengthen their spiritual side to be born whole in the angelic dimension.
(Epistle Fourteen from Physical Treatises: On the Energy of Human Knowledge, its Limits, Ultimate Reach, and Possible Honor)
On Reviving the Noble Spirit:
The highest goal a human can attain, and the honor they can achieve, is to reach the revival of the noble spirit within, such that they completely discipline the body. The dark, earthly, motionless body then yields to that spirit, no longer eating, drinking, or sleeping except by the command of the spirit. This frustrates Iblis, who compared his material superiority over human creation, as he was created from fire, a luminous, moving substance that seeks ascension, while earth is a static, dark matter seeking descent. His judgment was erroneous in refusing to bow, for the prostration was not to the earthly body but to the noble spirit breathed into humanity. However, a person dominated by the body is dark and lowly, fulfilling Iblis’ assumption about them. Therefore, a person must revive the spirit for which the divine assembly prostrated to the angelic or divine Adam.
This spirit is revived first through contemplation, as contemplation opens a window in the body, which is otherwise a prison, into the divine realm. One who forsakes contemplation is trapped in the darkness of the body. The wisdom in contemplation and reflection is that, if we may call it, a sixth sense or a spiritual faculty beyond the physical, a vision that perceives beyond this absolute body (the universe), which confines us like the mother’s womb confines the fetus. The fetus senses little of what happens outside, only hearing faint sounds and seeing nothing. Likewise, one must develop the inner hearing, which is the vision of revelation within humans, enabling communication with the angelic realm based on this auditory revelation. Developing this faculty forms a communication channel with the angelic hosts and ultimately with God. A person must stand in contemplation, reflect, ponder, and attempt to hear beyond the bounds of material hearing, developing spiritual faculties and senses. What exists above exists below, whether hearing or sight; all senses exist above in a divine, essential form, and we must develop these senses to connect with the divine realm, which is not confined to this absolute body, the universe. The divine realm is like the world for the fetus; we are embryos within this body.
To revive the noble spirit, one must develop the tools of that spirit. Just as the material body has senses and activities like eating, drinking, and sleeping, the spirit has its own activities
, which are knowledge, love, contemplation, and worship.