The Human Combined Nature of Spirit and Body; Hesham b. al-Hakam's Theorizing on Human Nature

The early Imamiyyah believed in "Real Dualism" in the topic of human nature. Some other of the most important opinions about the human nature consisted in: the physical theory of the human nature, the latent spirit theory of Nazzam and the philosophical theory of spirit. According to the early Imamiyyah the human nature consists of a combination of spirit and body that at the same time that spirit is principal, but the body is also considered as important. The theory of Hesham b. al-Hakam more exactly considers the human nature in three arenas: this worldly arena that includes the spirit and body as a real combination; the "differentiated" arena which is the reason and the ability of free will in human beings; and the spirit arena which is regarded as the principal and consistent component on human nature that is relatively and not philosophically pure immaterial and can be perceptively active without any need to other things.