The transmigration of souls
تنقل الأرواح
The doctrine al-Mas'udi reports from the early Greek and Indian philosophers — Plato among them — that the soul is a self-knowing, body-managing substance whose 'death' is its managed passage from body to body 1.
At a glance
- Era
- Pre-Islamic Arabia
- Review
- Draft Completeness 1/5 · Help complete it
Overview
The transmigration of souls (tanasukh al-arwah) is a doctrine that al-Masudi relates from a group of the ancient philosophers of the Greeks and the Indians, who did not affirm a revealed word or a sent prophet. Among them he mentions Plato and those who followed their way. 2
What he transmits
They claim that the soul is a substance that is not a body, living, knowing, distinguished by its own essence, governing composite bodies. It feels pleasure and pain, and it dies. Its death, in their view, is its passage from one body to another, and the person who has decayed is annulled. 2 3
This is a presentation of al-Masudi's account of the adherents of the doctrine, and not a statement of the museum.
People and things also explored
The world's createdness or eternity· Al-Sharif al-Jurjani, Ali ibn Muhammad· The people of the qibla and not declaring takfir for sin· The hereafter: the grave, resurrection and reckoning· The ten promised Paradise· Signs of the Hour· Bid'a (religious innovation)· الغيبة
Sources
- Muruj al-Dhahab — al-Masʼudi, p. 546-547
- Muruj al-Dhahab — al-Masʼudi, p.546
- Muruj al-Dhahab — al-Masʼudi, p.547
Cite this page
islam.museum contributors. “The transmigration of souls”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/concept/tanasukh-al-arwah/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Accessed 2026-10-17.