We know that the soul is something known to Allah Almighty alone, and people know nothing about it except what Allah has informed them. In the Qur’an, He says: {They ask you [O Prophet] about the soul. Say: "The soul is only known to my Lord, and you have not been given knowledge except a little." [Surat al-Isrā’: 85] ‘Abdullāh (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: While I was in the company of the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) on a farm and he was reclining on a palm leaf stalk, some Jews passed by. Some of them said to the others. "Ask him about the soul." Some of them said: "What urges you to ask him about it?" Others said: "(Don't) lest he should give you a reply which you dislike." But they said: "Ask him." So, they asked him about the soul. The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) kept quiet and did not give them any answer. I knew that he was being divinely inspired; so I stayed at my place. When the divine revelation came down, the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said: {"They ask you [O Prophet] about the soul. Say: 'The soul is only known to my Lord, and you have not been given knowledge except a little."} [Surat al-Isrā’: 85] [Narrated by Al-Bukhāri (4721), Muslim (2794), and At-Tirmidhi (3141)]
We believe that the souls are created. Allah Almighty says: {Allah is the Creator of all things, and He is the Maintainer of everything.} [Surat az-Zumar: 62] When Allah Almighty completed the creation of Adam (peace be upon him), He breathed into him from His soul. In the Qur'an, He says: {When I have shaped him and breathed into him of My spirit, then fall down before him in prostration.} [Surat al-Hijr: 29] When the fetus reaches four months in the womb of his mother, Allah, Exalted be He, sends an angel that breathes the soul into him. ‘Abdullāh (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him), the truthful and truly inspired one, related to us: "The creation of everyone of you starts with the process of collecting the material for his body within forty days in the womb of his mother. Then, he becomes a clot of thick blood for a similar period and then he becomes like a piece of flesh for a similar period. Then, Allah sends an angel, who is ordered to write four things: his deeds, his sustenance, his life span, and whether he will be wretched or blissful. Then, the soul is breathed into him." [Narrated by Al-Bukhāri (3208), Muslim (2643), Abu Dāwūd (4708), At-Tirmidhi (2137), and Ibn Mājah (76)] An exception is the Messiah (peace be upon him), whose mother's pregnancy with him began with breathing from the angel. Allah Almighty says: {And [remember Mary] who guarded her chastity; We breathed in her through Our spirit [Gabriel], and made her and her son a sign for all people.} [Surat al-Anbiyā’: 91] Allah Almighty also says: {The Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, was only a messenger of Allah, and His Word that He bestowed upon Mary, and a spirit from Him.} [Surat an-Nisā’: 171]
We believe that souls are taken away during sleep and then returned to the bodies. Allah, the Exalted, says: {Allah takes away the souls at the time of their death and of those who do not die during their sleep. He withholds the souls of those on whom He has decreed death, and releases others until an appointed term.} [Surat az-Zumar: 42]
‘Abdullāh ibn Abi Qatādah related from his father: One night we were traveling with the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him), and some people said: 'We wish that the Messenger of Allah would take a rest along with us during the last hours of the night." He said: "I am afraid that you will sleep and miss the prayer.' Bilāl said: "I will wake you up." So, all slept and Bilāl rested his back against his riding camel and he too was overwhelmed (by sleep) and slept. The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) got up when the edge of the sun had risen and said: "O Bilāl, what about your statement?" He replied: "I have never had such a sleep." The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Indeed, Allah seized your souls when He wished, and turned them back when He wished." [Narrated by Al-Bukhāri (595), Abu Dāwūd (439, 440), and An-Nasā’i (846)]
Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said: "When anyone of you goes to bed, he should dust his bedding with the inner extremity of his lower garment, for he does not know what has come on to it since he left it. He should then say: 'In Your name, my Lord, I lay down my side and through You I raise it up. If You keep my soul, have mercy on it, and if You let it go, guard it with that with which You guard Your upright servants." [Narrated by Al-Bukhāri (6320), Muslim (2714), Abu Dāwūd (5050), At-Tirmidhi (3401), and Ibn Mājah (3874)]
We believe that the soul departs the body upon death. Allah Almighty says: {Every soul will taste death, then to Us you will all be returned.} [Surat al-‘Ankabūt: 57] It completely departs the body by death, and the sight follows it. Umm Salamah (may Allah be pleased with her) reported: The Messenger of Allah (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) visited Abu Salamah as his eyes were wide open (after death). He closed them and said: "When the soul is taken away, the sight follows it." [Narrated by Muslim (920), Abu Dāwūd (3118), and Ibn Mājah (1454)] It does not die like the body. Rather, its death is to leave the body.
We believe that the angels take the souls out of the bodies at the time of death, and they experience bliss or punishment. Allah Almighty says: {If only you could see the wrongdoers in the throes of death while the angels are stretching out their hands [saying]: "Give up your souls! Today you will be recompensed with a disgracing punishment, because you used to tell lies against Allah and you arrogantly rejected His verses."} [Surat al-An‘ām: 93]
The angel takes out the soul, and then it suffers punishment or enjoys bliss, as the body does. Al-Barā’ ibn ‘Āzib (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: We went out with the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) to the funeral of a man of the Ansār and came to the grave. It had not yet been dug; so the Messenger (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) sat down and we sat down around him quietly. He had in his hand a stick with which he was making marks on the ground. Then, he raised his head and said: "Seek refuge in Allah from the punishment of the grave," saying it twice or thrice. He then said: “When a believer is about to leave the world and go forward to the next world, angels with faces white as the sun come down to him from heaven with one of the shrouds of Paradise and some of the perfume of Paradise. They sit away from him as far as the eye can see. Then, the angel of death comes and sits at his head and says: 'O good soul, come out to forgiveness and acceptance from Allah.' It then comes out as a drop flows from a water-skin, and he seizes it; and when he does so, they do not leave it in his hand for an instant, but take it and place it in that shroud and that perfume, and from it there comes forth a fragrance like that of the sweetest musk found on the face of the earth. They then take it up and do not bring it past a company of angels without them asking: 'Who is this good soul?' To which they reply: ‘So and so, the son of so and so,’ using the best of his names by which people used to call him on earth. They then bring him to the lowest heaven and ask that the gate be opened for him. This is done, and from every heaven its archangels escort him to the next heaven till he is brought to the seventh heaven, and Allah Almighty says: 'Record the book of my servant in the most exalted place and take him back to earth, for I created mankind from it, I will return them into it, and from it I will bring them forth another time.' His soul is then restored to his body." [Narrated by Abu Dāwūd (3212), An-Nasā’i (2001), Ibn Mājah (1548), Abu Dāwūd at-Tayālsi (789), ‘Abdur-Razzāq (6324, 6737), and Ahmad (18534); this is the wording by Ahmad]. So, in this Hadīth, the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) informs us that the soul comes out, is seized, shrouded, taken up to the heaven, and then returned. This is all what happens to created beings.
We believe that after the souls depart the bodies, they settle in bliss or punishment till the Day of Judgment. Ka‘b ibn Mālik (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Messenger of Allah (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) said: "The believer’s soul is a bird that flies among the trees of Paradise until it is returned to his body on the Day of Resurrection." [Narrated by An-Nasā’i (2073), At-Tirmidhi (1641), Ibn Mājah (4271), ‘Abdur-Razzāq in At-Tafsīr (484, 2681), Al-Humaydi (897), and Ahmad (15776, 15777)]
Masrūq related: We asked ‘Abdullāh ibn Mas‘ūd about this verse: {Never think of those who are killed in Allah’s way as dead. Rather, they are alive with their Lord, receiving provision.} [Surat Āl ‘Imrān: 169] And he said: "Indeed, we asked about this, and he said: 'Their spirits are in the crops of green birds which have lamps suspended from the Throne, and they go wherever they wish in Paradise and then return to those lamps.'" [Narrated by Muslim (1887), At-Tirmidhi (3011), and Ibn Mājah (2801)]