Sharing a developing notion of a Soul and Free Will

Assumptions

1. Each soul, Ruh as opposed to Nafs, is potentially extremely powerful
2. To start out with a belief is not a realistic possibility without the accompanying blindness

The first stage seems to be not belief but submission (Quran 49:14) and this first stage is focused on the head/mind. It is at this stage when we must reflect and make conscious choices. Whenever evidence is presented at this stage it needs evaluation. And it is at this very stage that our ability to choose between the truth and falsehood lay bare. This is the stage when the heart is still not convinced even in the presence of God. (Story of Ibrahim asking God for material signs) but we begin to collect points. It is at this critical stage of evaluation where we must not shelf our God-given ability to think. Those who do so are exposing themselves to believing in mere mortals or worse. 

We have to give ourselves a fighting chance by refusing to accept anything that cannot be verified all through this state of submission to God. Failing which opens us to the possibility of being led astray by those hell-bent on leveraging the submission state to trick us to believe in other than God's revelations. We have to hang on to the pure state of submission long enough that the second stage kicks in. That is when faith enters the heart with the permission of God (several verses) and the truth seekers begin the journey to make their respective souls immune to the Nar (fire) through good deeds and eventually qualify to enter Paradise.

Up until the beginning of the second stage, in addition to the danger of being led astray, there is always a danger that one is blinded by the illusion of progress that comes with knowledge and arrogance enter the heart and leaves little room for belief. This arrogance of knowledge is the worse of them all because it is free from outside influences of wealth and youth and power that may dent it. And it was this very arrogance that results in trying to second guess God (Story of Iblis).

However, once a person, Ruh, and Nafs, make it to Paradise, the soul loses its destructive powers and the negative effects of Nafs on it are neutralized. It is also at this stage of transformation that the status of the soul is determined beyond the minimum immunization from the fire. At the same time, God has hinted that all souls are in some way connected and the entire humanity as a whole suffers when even one of its member is killed.

 
On the other hand, there are those who in spite of recognizing the evidence to be valid and sufficient try to hide the truth under falsehood and in the process render themselves as Kafir (disbeliever). There can be many reasons why someone, body, and Nafs, would do so; fear of the loss of status, loss of position, loss of wealth and of course fear of the current authority of the land, organized religion or the group, in other words, fear of life, all play a role. But it doesn’t change the fact that they made a choice which starts to move them towards the fire and if unchecked this movement pushes them where the soul becomes corrupt beyond the point of no return and must be contained to limit its destructive powers, hence the fire of Hell.

Here I would like to once again point out by reposting part of an earlier post that the Mercy of God is mostly in the laws of creation, to the extent that God has even decreed mercy upon Himself. The possibility of God's intervention by overriding the seemingly normal flow is always there, both at our request/pleading and otherwise. But we are further reminded that God does not change his ways for anyone, hence, the intervention must also be within His own imposed constraints (Quran 35:43 and others). It is critical to understand this point. Yes, it is evident that most of us have yet to understand all His laws/ways and because of this lack of understanding tend to explain some of these interventions as miracles or perceive the lack of intervention some sort of a flaw.

When playing the game of life so to speak and acting out the "good" and the "evil", ' this mercy of God is actually quantified in a 10 handicap in one's favor. (Quran 6:160) and when coupled with the added provision of God's promise of forgiveness this 1 is to 10 ratio goes through the roof. After all that, the only way to end up in Hell would be to “choose to lose” while exercising the God-given ability that sets us apart from all other creatures, "Free will". After understanding the value of free will, it's not reasonable to remove it from our conclusions, ever.

Furthermore, the importance of our understanding ''free will" also takes care of other questions that are frequently raised about what God should do and shouldn't do. To then turn around and say well God should forgive irrespective of what you do will amount to diluting the value of this very valuable human core in the manifestation of "Free Will" to zero. To still insist on blaming God for free-willed individuals, including the extreme of killing another human being as opposed to they die a natural death, a distinction pointed out in Quran (several verses of Surah Al-Imran and others) is absurd and amounts to hiding the truth.

Allow me to add that those who are not exposed to the evidence cannot possibly be termed as Kafirs (disbelievers or more accurately truth hiders). Their status will be determined by God alone based on other variables. Foremost among them the carrying out of good deeds, the one that benefits others as opposed to brainless chanting to up the count. Most importantly refrain from doing stuff that harms us and others. Yes, it is possible to keep to the straight and narrow even if one is not exposed to God's revelations. Although man's nature is fused with forgetfulness hence the reminder (another sign of God's limitless mercy). But that doesn't mean there is not enough juice in the original design that is not enough to find the way of God. 

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