Islam > Glossary > Al-ʿql bal-mlka
Discover the meaning of the term Al-ʿql bal-mlka (عقل بالملكة) in Islamic vocabulary.
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Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM
📖 3 min readIt is the knowledge of necessities, and the soul's readiness thereby to acquire theoretical sciences.
The second rank among the four ranks of the rational soul, which consists in intuitive intelligibles being attained by it due to the sensation of particulars and similarities through what is between them of shared and distinct aspects, and its readiness with a near readiness to transition from self-evident truths to theoretical ones through contemplation and intuition. It has been named intellect by habit because the term habit designates either that which opposes the state which is an ungrounded quality, meaning the grounded quality, or that which opposes non-existence, meaning existence. And there is no doubt that the soul at this rank possesses a grounded readiness to transition to theoretical ones, and readiness is a quality among qualities. Furthermore, there has been attained for the soul at this rank the existence of transition to theoretical ones based on the proximity of its existence, just as the intellect in act is called intellect in act despite being in potentiality, because its potentiality is very close to act. And it is better to say that it was named by this existence the near readiness for transition in this rank, and this is closer than the former due to the absence of any need to resort to the metaphor of impending approach, because habit was intended as existence, and its definite article was made as a replacement for the omitted genitive annex, meaning the intellect clothed with the existence of near readiness for transition and not with the existence of transition, so that what is raised does not arise, thus requiring artificiality. Then, if the intellect by habit reaches the point where every theoretical matter is attained for it by intuition without need for reflection, it is called a sanctified power due to its sanctification from the filth of bodily impediments and the impurities of natural attachments, so ponder upon this.
The fact that primary axioms are attained by it.