Hawzah News Agency - A number of our companions, from Abdillah al-Bazzaaz, from Muhammad bin 'Abd al-Rahman bin Hammaad, from al-Hasan bin 'Ammar that Abu ‘Abdillah (al-Sadiq) in a long narration said,

إِنَّ أَوَّلَ الامُورِ وَمَبْدَأَهَا وَقُوَّتَهَا وَعِمَارَتَهَا الَّتِي لا يُنْتَفَعُ بِشَيْ‏ءٍ إِلا بِهِ الْعَقْلُ الَّذِي جَعَلَهُ الله زِينَةً لِخَلْقِهِ وَنُوراً لَهُمْ فَبِالْعَقْلِ عَرَفَ الْعِبَادُ خَالِقَهُمْ وَأَنَّهُمْ مَخْلُوقُونَ وَأَنَّهُ الْمُدَبِّرُ لَهُمْ وَأَنَّهُمُ الْمُدَبَّرُونَ وَأَنَّهُ الْبَاقِي وَهُمُ الْفَانُونَ وَاسْتَدَلُّوا بِعُقُولِهِمْ عَلَى مَا رَأَوْا مِنْ خَلْقِهِ مِنْ سَمَائِهِ وَأَرْضِهِ وَشَمْسِهِ وَقَمَرِهِ وَلَيْلِهِ وَنَهَارِهِ وَبِأَنَّ لَهُ وَلَهُمْ خَالِقاً وَمُدَبِّراً لَمْ يَزَلْ وَلا يَزُولُ وَعَرَفُوا بِهِ الْحَسَنَ مِنَ الْقَبِيحِ وَأَنَّ الظُّلْمَةَ فِي الْجَهْلِ وَأَنَّ النُّورَ فِي الْعِلْمِ فَهَذَا مَا دَلَّهُمْ عَلَيْهِ الْعَقْلُ قِيلَ لَهُ فَهَلْ يَكْتَفِي الْعِبَادُ بِالْعَقْلِ دُونَ غَيْرِهِ قَالَ إِنَّ الْعَاقِلَ لِدَلالَةِ عَقْلِهِ الَّذِي جَعَلَهُ الله قِوَامَهُ وَزِينَتَهُ وَهِدَايَتَهُ عَلِمَ أَنَّ الله هُوَ الْحَقُّ وَأَنَّهُ هُوَ رَبُّهُ وَعَلِمَ أَنَّ لِخَالِقِهِ مَحَبَّةً وَأَنَّ لَهُ كَرَاهِيَةً وَأَنَّ لَهُ طَاعَةً وَأَنَّ لَهُ مَعْصِيَةً فَلَمْ يَجِدْ عَقْلَهُ يَدُلُّهُ عَلَى ذَلِكَ وَعَلِمَ أَنَّهُ لا يُوصَلُ إِلَيْهِ إِلا بِالْعِلْمِ وَطَلَبِهِ وَأَنَّهُ لا يَنْتَفِعُ بِعَقْلِهِ إِنْ لَمْ يُصِبْ ذَلِكَ بِعِلْمِهِ فَوَجَبَ عَلَى الْعَاقِلِ طَلَبُ الْعِلْمِ وَالادَبِ الَّذِي لا قِوَامَ لَهُ إِلا بِهِ.

“The first, the beginning, the force and the structure of something is that without which something would be of no benefit. The thing that Allah has made beauty and light for His creatures, the people, is intelligence. With intelligence people come to know their creator and that they are created and that He is the one who has designed them and they are the ones who are being maintained. That it is the creator that is eternal and it is the creatures that are mortals. It is intelligence with which they reason from His creatures, like the heavens, the earth, and the sun the moon, night, the day. In this way they learned that they and the creatures have a creator and maintainer who is eternal. With intelligence they learn about good and bad and that darkness is in ignorance and light is in knowledge. These are facts that they learn with intelligence.” People asked the Imam , “Can intelligence only be enough for people?” The Imam then replied, ‘With guidance from intelligence that Allah has made him to depend on and it is, his beauty and guide, a person of intelligence learns that Allah is his creator and that He is his Lord. Through intelligence one learns that his creator loves and that He dislikes certain things, that the Lord must be obeyed and that certain acts are disobedience to Him and that nothing but intelligence shows him all these facts. One also (with intelligence) learns that only with knowledge and searching one may reach the Creator. That one may not benefit from his intelligence if he can not learn the truth about Him through his knowledge. It then is necessary for a person of intelligence to acquire knowledge and proper moral discipline without which there is nothing else so dependable.”

Al-Kāfi, v.1