Syed Nabi Raza Abidi

Salamoanlaykum

May Allah bless you and your family. 

Scholars of different disciplines use these terms in different ways. In a loose sense, they refer to the same reality – the source of life which is inanimate and eternal. The exact sense will depend on in which context it the term is used.

Muhaqqiq Narāqī in his famous book of ethics, Jamiʿ al-Saʿādāt states, “The soul (nafs) is that heavenly essence which employs the body and uses its various organs to attain its goals and purposes. The soul has also other names as spirit (ruh), intelligence (`aql), and heart (qalb) although these terms have other usages as well.”

Shahīd Muṭahharī indicates that these terms are used distinctly in ʿIrfān based on the qualities of the soul: “The 'urafa' have different words for the human soul; sometimes they call it nafs (self), sometimes qalb (heart), sometimes ruh (spirit) and sometimes sirr (mystery). When the human soul is dominated and ruled by desires and passions they call it nafs. When it reaches the stage of bearing Divine knowledge, it is called qalb. When the light of Divine love dawns within it, they call it ruh.”

In the Qurʾān the terms Qalb and Nafs are used much more often than the term Rūḥ; Rūḥ is also sometimes used to refer to the Holy Spirit or to ʿIsā (ʿa)

Salamonalaykum

May Allah bless you and your family

Lying – that is, not speaking the truth – is an evil trait. If God were to lie, then God would be a liar; that would mean that God committed an evil act. But God cannot commit an evil act because evil arises from ignorance or a need to deceive; in other words, evil arises from a need. Since God knows all things and has no need of anything, God does not commit evil. Thus, God does not lie and He is Truthful (al-Ṣādiq).

Regarding books. You may refer to Shaykh Jaʿfar Subhani’s Doctrines of Shiʿi Islam: A Compendium of Imami Beliefs and Practices (translated by Reza Shah-Kazemi), al-ʿAllāmah al-Hillī’s al-Bāb al-Hādī ʿAshar: A Treatise on the Principles of Shīʿite Theology (translated by William McElwee Miller), Shaykh Miṣbāh Yazdī’s Theological Instructions.

Salamonalaykum

May Allah bless you and your family. 

Yes, we have a ḥadīth in that vein:
 

یَا ابا ذر! کُنْ کَأَنَّکَ فِی الدُّنْیَا غَرِیبٌ أَوْ کَعَابِرِ سَبِیلٍ، وَ عُدَّ نَفْسَکَ مِنْ أَصْحَابِ الْقُبُورِ
 

“Abū Dharr! Be like a stranger in this temporary life or like you are a mere traveler. And consider yourself like one of the people of the graves.”
 

This phrase is part of a longer ḥadīth found in Makārim al-Akhlāq of al-Ḥasan ibn Faḍl al-Ṭabarsī, the son of the author of the tafsīr entitled Majmaʿ al-Bayān. You can read a translation of the ḥadīth here: https://www.al-islam.org/articles/advice-prophet-s-gave-abu-dharr

The phrase “count yourself like one of the people of the graves” means to live as if death is imminent—or, more directly, act as if you are about to die. In other words, live a pious life because you don’t know when you are going to die and return to your Creator and be held accountable for your misconduct. Never take a day or even a moment for granted and expect that if you sin, you will have a moment after the sin to repent. Act as if, at any moment, you may be lowered into your grave and have no second chance to live a pious life.
 

One way to encourage this line of thinking is to visit a Muslim graveyard or the graves of deceased family members and contemplate how close death is and how close the afterlife is—how short our lives are. This should encourage us to, at bare minimum, complete our obligations (wājibāt) and refrain from all that is prohibited (muḥarramāt).