Gender of the Soul Based on Viewpoints Concerning the Emergence of Human Soul in Islamic Philosophy

Upon stating the difference between sex and gender, this research would deal with the way in which human soul has come into existence and would go on to analyze the gender of the soul in respect to the theory of spiritual createdness (rowḥāniyat al-ḥudūth) and corporeal createdness (jismāniyat al-ḥudūth) of the soul. According to the theory of spiritual createdness, the origin of gender comes up only in sex and it has no place in the soul; therefore, the soul is immaterial in essence, lacks gender features and has its specific gender features only as per its various physical conditions. However, according to the theory of corporeal createdness of the soul and with regard to some of the philosophical principles of Mullah Sadra’s philosophy one can achieve conclusion that the soul consisting of body and female physical features is different from the soul consisting of body and male physical features in terms of physical, emotional, and cognitive tendencies and thus gender is an identity issue and the difference between the gender of man and woman is traced back to the very reality of their existence. Therefore, as from the viewpoints of the physicians and psychologists men and women are physically, psychologically, and emotionally different and also as according to religious texts men and women have different rights, so also in philosophical terms the soul of men and women would have their own specific psychic and sensual tendencies proportionate to their feminine and masculine bodies.