Allah ﷻ has created two spheres of creation: the created world and the commanded world. The created world consists of everything material that we see in this world, such as animals, trees and mountains. The commanded world consists of those things that are sent from above the heavens, such as the angels, the Qur’an, and dhikr. When Allah ﷻ created human beings, He created the body from the created world and the soul from the commanded world. The body grows from nourishment from the created world and the soul grows from the nourishment of the commanded world. It is a common misconception to think that happiness is a characteristic of the body when in reality it is a characteristic of the soul. So in order to understand how the soul grows, we must first understand two important principles. Firstly, the body and soul vie for one space — so if the soul becomes elevated, then the body will automatically become crushed, and vice versa. Secondly, the mechanism for gauging the health of one’s soul is the salah — if a person enjoys their salah and finds benefit in it, this is a sign that the soul is elevated and the body is in its place; but if within the salah a person feels agitation and their mind is completely absent, this is a sign that the soul is sick and the body has become dominant.
