A soul without a human body would not be a true human soul, and if it would have been better off in that state, God would have left in such a manner. The very fact that He placed a soul in a human body implies that it would be for the sake of improvement from a previous state. The body is an integral part of the soul's functionality. Saadia goes on to say that, “the soul and the body constitute one agent.” This is the dualistic point of contention which Saadia mentioned earlier, and the arguments for the duality of body and soul are based on Scripture, a misinterpretation of Scripture according to Saadia. He turns to Scripture as well, and turns their argument against them. The supporters of dualism cite examples of where a part is referred to as the whole and use it as evidence that the bones or the blood or the heart is responsible for the soul, but Saadia finds further examples where a body is clearly being used to represent the whole and again shows the dangers of a literal translation of the Torah.
When a human being dies, it is according to the destined age that God has set out for them, unless they have either sinned and done something to shorten their life, or they have been virtuous and God gifts them with a long lifespan. At the moment of death, a blazing angel arrives with sword drawn, and his appearance shocks the soul so severely that it is separated from the physical body. Pure souls are rewarded with a blissful afterlife close to God, while wicked souls receive punishment appropriate for their misdeeds.
Saadia goes on to argue against the principle of rebirth, that is, a soul entering a new body after the previous one has died, either human or even animal. A human soul cannot have its substance altered so as to remove accidents of cognition and intellect in order to enter an animal form. His opponents argue that a child who is born into poor living conditions or who has or develops some sort of ailment suffer because of transgressions from past lives. He states that God does not provide life which accounts for the past, a poor life for transgressions and a good one for virtue. Life exists on a moving forward basis and is relative not to the past, but to the future. He says that, “God charges his servants with obligations on account of the future and not at all on account of the past.” He also asserts that the supporters of rebirth have faulty interpretations of Scripture, some of which are based around mere semantics, and Saadia refutes them with his own Scriptural evidence.
Overall, Saadia Gaon provides a comprehensive analysis of the human soul. He examines multiple theories, painstakingly refutes the incorrect ones, and finds specific support for his own theory through the four roots of knowledge, his personal method of argumentation. He finds that the soul is of a substance superior, though similar to heavenly matter, which it is created with and is one with the body, that it is not an accident, and that its existence in a physical body is for its own benefit in accordance with the laws of divine justice.
