Nomos (Islam)

As opposed to eros, which is the life urge of a soul which is individual and exists prior to the body, nomos assumes the soul to be breathed into the body after the body is created (in a foetus of about 4 months). It is essentially corporeal; and it is as a whole man, including the body, that resurrection occurs. Man is saved by following the law. The community, not the individual, is emphasized.

The nomos, or orthodox, pattern is opposed to thelema, where God and man are considered so unlike that neither feels love for the other, God simply willing good to some men for no purpose. In the nomos pattern, all the attributes traditionally ascribed to God are true, although inexplicable. God truly loves and experiences joy. God's love for man follows naturally from his self-love, and is different from the creative aspect of his will. The acts of God have a wise purpose. Man loves God, truly, in and for himself. The consummation of man's love to God is the pleasure of the beatific vision.