As for the souls of the believers among the saints of Allah and His righteous servants, they ascend after death to the kingdom of the heavens and the vast expanse of the celestial spheres, where they are liberated. There, they swim in a space of pure spirit, an expanse of light, comfort (rawh), and ultimate serenity.

Know that meanings within speech are just like souls, while their spoken utterances (alfaz) are their physical bodies; there is no way for souls to manifest and subsist except through bodies.

Verily, the souls of scholars are potential philosophers (falasifah bi-al-quwwah), and the souls of philosophers are actual sages (hukama' bi-al-fi'l). The virtuous sages are potential angels; once their souls separate from their physical frames, they become actual angels (mala'ikah bi-al-fi'l).

Knowledge is simply the form of the known object projected within the soul of the scholar, and its opposite is ignorance—which is the total absence of that form from the soul. Verily, the souls of scholars are actually knowing ('allamah bi-al-fi'l), whereas the souls of students are potentially knowing ('allamah bi-al-quwwah). Learning and teaching are nothing other than bringing forth what is in potentiality (meaning capability) into actuality (meaning existence).