Here, what is meant is the intellect (ʿaql), which serves as a tool for reflection and contemplation. According to the Greeks, however, the intellect is, like the active participle ʿāqil, a substance that subsists by itself.
This definition does not conform to the language of the Prophet and the Qur'an. As Abū Ḥāmid (al-Ghazālī) has mentioned, for them, the world of creation (khalq) means the world of bodies, that is, intellects and nafs (nafs, the lower selves). They also refer to these as the world of command (ʿālam al-amr). They call the intellect the jabarūt realm, the nafs the malakūt realm, and bodies the realm of mulk. Someone who does not know the language of the Prophet, nor the meanings of the Book and sunnah, may think that words such as mulk, malakūt, and jabarūt in the Book and sunnah have the same meaning as these. However, this is not the case. (Furqān, 79)
According to him (Ibn ʿArabī), the source is the intellect, while mulk is imagination (khayāl). Imagination is subordinate to the intellect. According to his claim, the intellect is derived from the essence of imagination. The Messenger (rasūl) received from imagination. For this reason, he claims, the Messenger is superior to the prophet (nabī). If what they call the characteristics of the prophet were as they say, and if, far from being superior, the Messenger were not of the same kind, how could what they say be attainable for every one of the believers (muʾminūn)? Prophethood (nubuwwa) is a state beyond this. (Furqān, 80)
The intellect is given shared meanings. No single definition encompasses all its senses. In the lexicon, it is used for the comprehension and grasping of things (ashyāʾ). The root of the word is the verb ʿaqala (to bind), as in the phrase "he tied the camel" (in the sentence). This is because the intellect is bound to knowledge and is connected with them. It is also said that the intellect binds the nafs by restraining it from desires. People of knowledge, art, contemplation, and wisdom (ḥikma) use the intellect in various senses. For example, the Active Intellect. This is the first being created by Allah.
Some later shaykhs have said: It contains rays of ḥaqīqa (inner reality). Its definition is as follows: it is a spiritual, simple substance that encompasses things entirely with a spiritual comprehensiveness. According to them, the intellect is a distancing word, a differentiating individuality, and the child of the nafs. When it is beneficial and effective, it possesses two aspects. That is, it has two aspects: one facing the Creator (al-Bārīʾ), the other facing things.
Some have said regarding the verse, "The example of His light is like a niche within which is a lamp" (al-Nūr 24:35): The lamp is the greatest nafs illuminated by the light of Allah. That is, the first created universal intellect. This is the lamp; the first transparent, hylic glass is a star of pearl in abstract form. The blessed tree is the universal nafs, the essence of the branches. It is neither of the east nor of the west; it is neither composed (by the combination of multiple essences) nor composite, nor does it possess life. (Rawḍa, 113)
The intellect accepts assistance. The word comes from the First Cause. The nafs turns toward the intellect. Those below the nafs also turn toward it. To the existents below the nafs, a nafs is given according to their capacity, from among the particular nafs. Thus, they turn toward substances purified from matter. These are the spheres and stars, which are nafses appropriate to them. These are spiritual forms, that is, angels, illuminating exalted spirits. Then, they turn toward dark corporeal substances appropriate to themselves. The first created cause is the intellect. It is the most perfect being and the closest to the First Principle. It comprehends itself. It also comprehends those whose essence is outside itself. Other things proceed from the First Agent by His command. Some proceed from others as intermediaries. Due to its distance from the Principle, which is the source of perfection, brilliance, and light, (the process of emanation) becomes denser until it reaches the celestial bodies, and so on, until it becomes completely dense. Follow it, then.