سورة الملك

Ali ibn Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him): لَوْ کُنَّا نَسْمَعُ أَوْ نَعْقِلُ مَا کُنَّا فِی أَصْحَابِ السَّعِیرِ [Had we but listened or pondered, we should not have been among the inmates of the burning fire] — they heard and understood, but they did not obey and did not act; and the proof that they heard and understood but did not accept it is this word of Allah: فَاعْتَرَفُوا بِذَنْبِهِمْ فَسُحْقاً لِأَصْحابِ السَّعِیر [So they shall confess their sin; so far (from mercy) be the inmates of the burning fire].

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Whoever is [truly] intelligent and wise possesses [true and correct] religion and creed, and whoever has religion enters Paradise [through acting and behaving according to it].

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): It is narrated that a group in the presence of the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) praised a man in such a way that they mentioned all his qualities. Then the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) said: "How is his intellect?" They said: "O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family), we inform you of his striving in worship and of the various kinds of his good deeds, and you ask us about his intellect?!" Then he said: "The foolish man, on account of his foolishness, becomes stained with sin and wickedness more than the sinful person. On the morrow of the Resurrection, the ranks of Allah's servants and their attainment of nearness and proximity to the Lord will be in accordance with the measure of their intellects."

Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him): Jibra'il descended upon Adam (peace be upon him) and said: "O Adam! I have been commanded to ask you to choose one of three things, so choose one and leave the other two!" Adam (peace be upon him) said: "O Jibra'il! What are those three things?" He replied: "Intellect, modesty and religion." Adam said: "I choose intellect." Then Jibra'il said to modesty and religion: "Depart, and leave him to himself!" They said: "O Jibra'il! We have been commanded to be with intellect wherever it is."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Muhammad ibn Abd al-Jabbar in a marfu' hadith narrated from Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): I said to him: "What is the intellect ('aql)?" He said: "It is [a faculty and power] by which the Most Merciful is worshipped, and by which the gardens of paradise are attained." I said: "Then what was that which was in Mu'awiya?" He said: "That is cunning and acting with evil thought; and that mischief and acting with evil thought resembles intellect, but it is not intellect."