The Intellect (Al-ʿAql)

The Intellect that guided you, O brother of sound faith and universal integrity, toward what you have discerned and sought, is the very scale Allah established among mankind to distinguish the rational from the ignorant. Allah—exalted be His praise—has honored the Intellect, linked it to His own Essence, and elevated its people, for they are the possessors of distinction and rectitude. Thus, Allah the Almighty favored them with His honor when He said to His Messenger in His firm Revelation: {And these examples We present to the people, but none intellectualize them except those of knowledge.} (29:43).

The Imams (may their glory be exalted) further purified the concept of the Intellect by stating: "Whomever Allah has granted Gnosis—what has He deprived him of?"

(1) And the saying of our Master Sayyid al-ʿĀbidīn (may his glory be exalted): "Sitting with the righteous is a call to righteousness, obedience to the possessors of authority is the perfection of might, guiding the seeker of guidance is a fulfillment of the right of grace, the manners of the scholars are an increase in the intellect, and refraining from harm is the completion of virtue".

(2) And from what we have narrated of reports regarding that is what Abū Naṣr Muḥammad narrated to me; he said: My master, the majestic Shaykh Abū al-Ḥusayn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī al-Jillī narrated to me from his Shaykh al-Ḥusayn ibn Ḥamdān al-Khaṣībī, from his men, from the Master Messenger Muḥammad (may his glory be exalted), that he was asked about the intellect, so he said: "Allah is not worshipped except through it, and none has worshipped Allah except the possessor of an intellect".

(3) And on the authority of our Master al-Jillī, as narrated from al-Khaṣībī from his shaykhs, on the authority of the Scholar (may his glory be exalted), that he was asked about the intellect, so he said: "The intellect consists of two types: an innate intellect latent within hearts, like the latency of fire within iron, and a gifted intellect bestowed from the Lord upon the subject; for through the existence of the intellect, its possessor finds the Gnosis of his Lord".