ʿAql can designate the human theoretical faculty that receives universal quiddities or a separate active intellect wholly immaterial in itself.
In ʿAllāmah Ṭabāṭabāʾī’s Works
Intellectual cognition
Bidāyat al-Ḥikmah
intellectual cognition — definition and use
Intellect and intellection name universal acquired cognition.
Limits of this account
It does not identify this cognitive use with a separate immaterial intellect.
al-Mīzān fī Tafsīr al-Qurʾān
intellectual cognition — explanation
Arguing that sense and experiment alone do not yield universal cognition, Ṭabāṭabāʾī states what he means by intellect in this argument: the principle of universal assents and what apprehends general judgments. The passage characterizes intellect through what it does.
Limits of this account
This is a working characterization within an argument against relying on sense alone. It does not replace the broader account of intellect as universal cognition, and it does not address the distinct question of the separate immaterial intellect.
Separate immaterial intellect
In the reviewed Nihāya cosmological passage, ʿAllāmah Ṭabāṭabāʾī uses ʿaql for an intellect immaterial in essence and act, immediately posterior to the Necessary Existent and prior to lower ranks of existence. This is a distinct metaphysical use, not a name for universal cognition as such.
Source: Nihāyat al-Ḥikmah
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