so they extracted the hidden contents of the minds due to the uncovering of the veils for them from the faces of the secrets, and they mined knowledge, investigating it with an eloquent investigation. Thus the spirit and the wind encompassing its form... etc.

Abu al-Baqā' said in al-Kulliyyat: The spirit is the wind circulating within the passages and outlets of the body, and it is a name for the soul. And the animal spirit is a subtle body whose source is the cavity of the body's parts. As for the human spirit, none knows its essence except Allah, the Exalted, and the soul stands between them both, drawing support from passion.

He said in al-Ta'rifat: The soul is the vaporous substance bearing the faculty of lives upon the temperaments, such as the commanding soul, the self-accusing soul, and the peaceful soul. And the rational soul is the substance abstract from matter in its essence, though connected to it in its actions. And the pronoun between them both refers to the spirit and the wind; and the soul here is the animal soul, and it extends and grants support. And the air is the fluid that animals inhale, and the breath is the breeze of air—a wind that enters and exits—and the animal is every sensing entity that moves by will.