Originally published in Sufi Journal Issue 38 (Summer 1998)
Reprinted from Discourses on the Sufi Path
The question often arises of what the role of the intellect is in Sufism. To begin with, let us identify three categories of people in this context: first, the ordinary; second, scholars and intellectuals; and third, the Sufis.
The ordinary are those who are ruled by the nafs and governed by the intellect only from time to time.
As for scholars and intellectuals, they live by the lamp of the intellect in such a way that their nafs fulfills its desires with the aid of the intellect. Of course, the nafs occasionally embarrasses them by ignoring the intellect and pursuing its own inclinations.
The root meaning of the Arabic word for ‘intellect’ (‘aql) is ‘to hobble a steed’. Thus, one may say that the intellect ‘hobbles’ that drunken camel which constitutes one’s selfish desires, keeping the nafs from running rampant and doing whatever it wishes. Sometimes, however, this drunken camel breaks the hobble and bolts, creating catastrophe all around.
The Sufis are those whose intellect is sincerely obedient to love. In the early states of the Path, the nafs may in fact be in league with the intellect to lead the Sufi astray, but in the final stages, once the army of love has completely defeated the inclinations of the nafs, the intellect becomes the sincerely devoted servant of the Sufi.