There are a few verses in the qur'an that create a confusion and which caused a difference of opinion among theologians, sectarians etc.
Among these verse you may find the three verses you've quoted in your question.
A deeper look into "breathed into him of My soul وَنَفَخْتُ فِيهِ مِنْ رُوحِي"
This statement as provided in your question has been repeated in two (similar if not identical) verses:
And when I have proportioned him and breathed into him of My [created] soul, then fall down to him in prostration." (15:29 and 38:72)
both verses address the topic of the creation of Adam and Allah the almighty's order to HIS exalted assembly to prostrate to HIS creation once HE presented it.
In the following I'd like to share an insight in the beauty and eloquence of the words used in this verse. Feel free to skip to the next part of my answer as this is somewhat off-topic.
As for the verse in surat al-Hijr we may find that Allah describes both kinds of HIS creation humans and Jinn and the basic material they were made of here he said:
And [mention, O Muhammad], when your Lord said to the angels, "I will create a human being out of clay from an altered black mud. (15:28)
While in surat Sad the story is written from the perspective of a dispute among the exalted assembly were Allah simplified the information saying:
[So mention] when your Lord said to the angels, "Indeed, I am going to create a human being from clay. (38:71)
Now an interesting question is why did Allah use the verb to breath in the verses we discuss? And why was it important to make clear that humans are made of clay before this verse?
The answer is because the audience or later reader who will hear or read the verse knows how we create something from clay:
we form it (by adding water), and then we put it in a stove which is heated by wood and let air breath in this stove to make the wood burn so that the formed clay gets solid. So breathing or blowing is an essential part of this "creation". And once it gets solid our "creation" is finished (it has a corpus). But it certainly has no soul in contradiction to humans who are among Allah's creation. A soul (ruh روح) that is certainly part of the human even if we can't see it and that seems to me the closest thing that might present a link to Allah, we can't see him either (at least in this life) and it is him who put this soul inside our corpus.
Actually many scholars and philosophers (Muslim and non-Muslim) tried to give evidences and explanations about the existence of this soul, but only Allah knows about it best as He said:
And they ask you, [O Muhammad], about the soul. Say, "The soul is of the affair of my Lord. And mankind have not been given of knowledge except a little." (17:85)
A simple but maybe meaningful remark:
The Arabic terms: ruh (the soul) الروح and reeh (the wind) الريح are related to the verb: راح/ بروح which means went away or leaves, one could even say both are blown away so they are not meant to stay forever nor stand still. But they are always on the road. Therefore it sounds strange to use them in relation to our eternal Creator!
Actually the English translation of the discussed verses adds the majority view and interpretation "[created] soul". Let's now see what are the opinions of scholars on the matter:
The points of dispute in these verses
First be aware that the term "soul (ruh روح) appears in the qur'an more than ten times (in most of them related to the creation of 'Isa () as a ruh from Allah was blown into Mariam ()).
The main issue here is about the relation of the soul that was blown into Adam () and Allah the Creator! The issue is big enough as the Christians actually consider 'Isa () a soul of Allah.
We basically already know by now that neither 'Isa() nor Adam () are not a part of Allah.
The sunni scholars have consensus about the fact that this "soul" was "created" and there's no dispute about the fact that adding it to Allah is an addition meant to honor this Creation of God.
But they held three known opinions about this "soul":
- This soul is not an attribute of Allah, but refers to the messenger among the Angels who was sent by Allah as is the case in the verses: (21:91), (26:193), (97:4). So each of these are acts realized by the corresponding Angel who is Jibreel (). Among the scholars holding this position you may find imam al-Qurtobi.
- This soul is not among Allah's attributes, but it is the created soul inside the humans. Among those who held this position you may find imam Ahamd ibn Hanbal, As-Sama'ni. Abu Ya'ala, an-Nawawi, al-Bagahwi, ibn Taymiyyah, ibn al-Qayyim, abu Hayyan, ibn Hajjar and ibn 'Othaymeen.
- This soul refers to the power, so it means "I've breathed inside it MY power" and among those who said so are a-Dahhak and at-Tabari.
As for Dr. Ziyad ibn Hamad al-'Amir he comes to the conclusion that the 2nd view is the closes to truth and most correct one in this article on alukah.net (in Arabic).
For further information you may also refer to islamweb #25702 (in Arabic).
As for a (pure) sufi interpretation ibn 'Ajibah (who is also known as a maliki faqih and has also compiled a commentary on ibn 'Ata Allah's Hikam and a book on qira'at) in his Tafsir al-Bahr al-Majid fi tafsiri al-Qur'an al-Majid البحر المديد في تفسير القرآن المجيد explains the matter as follows:
In the following and later I'm translating from Arabic as the interpretation and trabnslation is of my own take it carefully
{فإِذا سوَّيتُه} أي: صوَّرْتُه بالصورة الإنسانية، والخلقة البشرية، أو: سويت أجزاء بدنه، بتعديل أعضائه،
(And when I proportioned him) means: I formed him and gave him the human form, and the human structure or I've proportioned his body parts by proportioning his limbs.
{ونَفَخْتُ فيه من روحي} الذي خلقته قبلُ، وأضافه إليه تخصيصاً، كبيت الله، وناقة الله. والروح سر من أسرار الله،...
(and breathed into him My soul) which I've created before, and He added it explicitly as He added a house of Allah, a She-camel of Allah. And the soul is a secret among the secrets of Allah …
before pitching into deep sufi signs and explanations.
Let's discuss "We are closer to him than [his] jugular vein ونحن أقرب إليه من حبل الوريد"
Beside the presented verse:
And We have already created man and know what his soul whispers to him, and We are closer to him than [his] jugular vein (50:16)
We will also find another one saying:
And Our angels are nearer to him than you, but you do not see - وَنَحْنُ أَقْرَبُ إِلَيْهِ مِنْكُمْ وَلَكِنْ لَا تُبْصِرُونَ (56:85)
In both verses the meaning of the "nearness" was a point of discussion among scholars. Ibn Kathir presented some of these opinions in his tafssir:
(And We are nearer to him than his jugular vein.)
means, His angels are nearer to man than his jugular vein. Those who explained "We" in the Ayah to mean "Our knowledge," have done so to avoid falling into the idea of incarnation or indwelling; but these two creeds are false according to the consensus of Muslims. Allah is praised and glorified, He is far hallowed beyond what they ascribe to Him. The words of this Ayah do not need this explanation (that "We" refers to "Allah's knowledge"), for Allah did not say, "and I am closer to him than his jugular vein." Rather, He said,
(And We are nearer to him than his jugular vein. )
just as He said in the case of dying persons,
(But We are nearer to him than you, but you see not.) (56:85),
in reference to His angels (who take the souls).
So among the presented interpretations of scholars we may find the following:
- the nearness meant here is the nearness of the angels not that of Allah so these verses don't address an attribute of Allah. This view was held by at-Tabari, ibn Tayymiyah (in one of his statements), ibn Qayyim (in one of his two statements), ibn Kathir, ibn 'Othaymeen and Muhammad ibn Ibraheem Aal Sheikh.
- the verse is among the those addressing attributes of Allah as Allah here is close with His knowledge and His exhaustiveness (إحاطة) and His power and might.. This view was held by AHmad ibn Hanbal, Ishaaq ibn Rahawayh, A-Darimi, at-Tabari (in one of his statements), ibn al-Majashoon, Ibn Jazy, abu 'Omar at-Talmanki, al-Bagahwi, ibn Tayymiyah (in another statement), ibn Qayyim (in his second statement), a-Shawkani, as-Sa'adi (in one of his two statements) and a-Shatibi and many among the salaf and khalaf from ahl-as-Sunnah and it was attributed to ibbn 'Abbas ().
- the nearness meant here actually includes both the nearness of Allah's angels and that of Allah's knowledge, exhaustiveness, power and might. This view was held by ibn Tayymiyah and as-Sa'adi in one of their statements and also by the Saudi fatwa council.
This last view was favored by Dr. Ziyad ibn Hamad al-'Amir in this article on alukah.net (in Arabic).
You may also refer to fatwa islamweb #93443 (in Aabic).
As for verse (50:16) ibn 'Ajibah explains the nearness as follows:
{ونحن أقربُ إِليه} أي: أعلم بحاله مما كان أقرب إليه
(And we are nearer to him): means: We have deeper knowledge about his conditions than any(thing/one) that would be nearer to him.
