The Intellect
The second means for guidance that God has placed within the human is the intellect. In the religion of Islam. the intellect has been paid special attention to, being introduced as a source that recommends doing what is good. In opposition. individuals have worldly and temporal desires, that pull them towards evil, which arc called the al-nafs al-ammarah. God has created the human free and able to judge between good and bad: he chooses which one he wants. In this judgement, the intellect helps the human to recognise right from wrong and to consequently follow the path to prosperity or adversity. The human can find perfection through the will, in material and spiritual dimensions but he can also, by employing his will in the wrong direction, bring upon himself adversity and destruction.
The human can find perfection through the will, in material and spiritual dimensions but he can also, by employing his will in the wrong direction, bring upon himself adversity and destruction.
Several questions in this regard come to mind: 1) Does the intellect have the ability to make correct decisions in all cases?
2) Does the intellect have the ability to distinguish all things that are beneficial to the human?
and 3) What is the realm of the intellect?
The Realm of the Intellect
By reflecting upon the nature of the intellect and observing the profound differences of opinion of past experiences, it is very clear that the intellect alone is incapable of identifying all that is good for the human and it cannot offer a program that will enable humankind to reach all their possible perfections.
Imagine a person whose liver does not work properly and for this reason, red spots have appeared on his hands. He consults a doctor who does not have sufficient information regarding the liver and its diseases. How probable is it that the doctor would give the correct diagnosis and write him a prescription that would improve his condition? How can the diagnosis and prescription be misted? This situation reflects the position of the human intellect. Since the knowledge accessible to the intellect regarding the human spirit and its perfections is extremely limited and general, it can never provide a complete and reliable prescription for his prosperity and perfection.
Regardless of this fact, if we consider the multitude of views in regards to the definition of prosperity and human perfection that have been propounded, and consequently to the ways in reaching them, it is apparent that the intellect is not sufficient in providing them. Some consider the observance of moral dos and don'ts to be the guarantor of prosperity. Another group considers achieving the highest satisfaction from lusts and material pleasures to be prosperity, whilst others regard a successful society as one which provides the most benefit to the most people, and so forth. However, none of them can present a comprehensive and perfect plan for the human's individual and social perfection. There are always differences of opinion and each day we witness changes in approaches and laws.
Although reason is recognized as an independent source of knowledge, it has its own limits. There are many things on which reason has no judgment and is silent, because they are beyond its scope. Therefore, there might be many things that we can comprehend by other ways, such as perception, intuition or revelation which do not fall in the scope of reason.
Rational arguments will not allow you to grasp how a rose smells or what a mother feels when her child is dead. In respect to religious issues, there are many facts that are not perceptible by reason, such as the details of the resurrection. What is important is that there is nothing in Islam that contradicts reason. One must therefore distinguish between what lies beyond one's actual capacity and what conflicts with rational standards.
Definition of intellect, its types and its functions have been disagreed by different scholars since the promotion of rational sciences in ancient Greece. Intellect has been categorized in different ways, and different names have been mentioned for its different levels. For example, ‘Allama Tabataha’i mentioned four levels for human intellect, potential intellect, intellect by proficiency, actualized intellect and acquired intellect.
By intellect, here in this unit, we mean the intellect which most people have and by which they conceive and assert self-evident and theoretical issues. It is to note that ‘Allama Tabataba’i regarded the intellectual faculty of human being the highest level of human's existence and said that if all potentials of intellect are actualized, all facts of the world will be known to it, but here we are not speaking of such level of intellect, because the intellect discussed in the opposition between reason and religion is not of philosophical intellect type.
Revelation (Al-Wahy)
It was determined that the intellect alone is not sufficient to guide human beings towards perfection. Consequently, the merciful God, who created man. knows all his material and spiritual qualities, and who created the world in order for him to reach prosperity and perfection, guides him in other ways besides his intellect and instincts.