According to few verses from Qur'an though the following information can be deduced: In part 15 verse 29, the creation of man involves Allah "breathing" a soul into him. This intangible part of an individual's existence is "pure" at birth - according to mystical beliefs which a majorty opinion amongst Muslim - and has the potential of growing and achieving nearness to God if the person leads a righteous life(to be noted: this is a sufi perspective of the soul which is also held by a large majority of Sunni and Shia layman Muslims but which cannot be directly supported by the Quranic texts or Mutawatir Ahadith except with extremely free interpretations and influence of other religions and philosophies)[citation needed]. At death, the person's soul transitions to an eternal afterlife of bliss, peace and unending spiritual growth until the day of judgement where both the body and soul are re-united for judgement at which point the person is either rewarded by going to heaven if he has followed God's commands or punished if he has disobeyed Him (Qur’an 66:8, 39:20).

From the Hadith we understand that Allah assigns an Angel to "breathe" soul into an embryo after 40 days of pregnancy[citation needed].

Generally, it is believed that all living beings are comprised of two aspects during their existence: The physical (being the body) and the non-physical (being the soul). The non-physical aspect, namely the soul, is one's soul-related activities like his/her feelings and emotions, thoughts, conscious and sub-conscious desires and objectives. While the body and its physical actions serve as a “reflection” of one’s soul, whether it was good or evil, and thus "confirms" the extent of such intentions[citation needed].

This view of a combination of two aspects of human existence is to be considered as an idea influenced by the Christians and the Hindus beliefs wide spread amongst the Muslim laymen, especially amongst the Sufi branch of Islam, which are not presented so in the Islamic texts[citation needed]. Briefly, the concept of soul widespread amongst the Muslims today is a mixture of Greek-Hindu-Christian beliefs and Islamic sources[citation needed]. Islam itself discerns between "Ruh" and "Nafs" just like it is done in the Hebrew language. Both "Ruh" and "Nafs" are translated into soul causing much confusion concerning the two different concepts. There is no evidence at all that the Quran treats the soul (Ruh) as the place of feelings or thinking. No where in Quran it is said that the Ruh of man which is the source of life speaks to him or whispers to him but it is often said that his Nafs whispered to him[citation needed]. But Nafs is not the source of life. It is something other than the Ruh. But partly because of the Hellenistic influence and latter the influence of the Hindus in the Indian sub continent and under the influence of the Persians it has become more widespread amongst the Muslims that the source of life which is the Ruh is the centre of feelings and thinking with an independent entity[citation needed]. In order to understand the concept of soul amongst the laymen Muslims you would need to understand this concept from a Greek-Hindu and Christian perspective. When you compare it to the Islamic texts you would find out that this more widespread concept of soul is hardly traceable to the Quran itself except if you force yourself to make it seem so[weasel words] [5][6].