The essence of man’s ability is in its creation. There are many other examples from the Holy Quran and the Sunnah of the Prophet that highlight man’s ability. Ibn Khaldun, in The Muqaddimah, emphasises;

“On man’s ability to think, which distinguishes human beings from animals, and which enables them to obtain their livelihood, to co-operate to this end with their fellow men, and to study the Master whom they worship, and the revelations that the Messengers transmitted for him. God thus caused all animals to obey man and to be in the grasp of his power. Through his ability to think, God gave man superiority over many of His creatures.” – (trans. Rosenthal 1958; pg. 411)

The above quote raises the idea of intellectuality. How do we define it and is there a visual representation of intellectual identity? Let’s start with how Ibn Khaldun theorises man’s ability to think. I will use the term human intellectuality to facilitate understanding.

Ibn Khaldun has divided human intellectuality into three parts. The three parts are the discerning intellect, the experimental intellect and the speculative intellect. According to Al Ghazali, the benefits of thinking will provide nourishment to the soul and be reflected upon their physical actions. Abdul Wahab Asy’Sya’rani further extrapolates that seeking knowledge through good thoughts results in a soul that is noble and lofty in aspirations. Let us now delve into the three parts.

1. The Discerning Intellect

This is the one which creates perceptions. This is the intellectual understanding of things that exist in the outside world in a natural or arbitrary order (Khaldun, 1958). Man will naturally, within his own capabilities, try to arrange in the order of importance what is useful for him and his livelihood, at the same time making the choice to reject anything that may be harmful. This may be one of the intellectual powers present in all humans.

2. The Experimental Intellect

This is the one which creates apperceptions. This is the ability to think which allows ideas and behaviours to grow in man (Khaldun, 1958). The ability to communicate, interact and lead is a required skill for man. The continuous experience will then accumulate to form actions and knowledge that may be useful in their lives.

3. The Speculative Intellect

This is the one which creates both perceptions and apperceptions. This is man’s ability to think which provides knowledge or hypothetical knowledge of an object beyond sense perceptions without any practical activity (Khaldun, 1958). The nature of this requires conditions that may be reflected in human reality and the overall perceptions of existence.

It may take a whole thesis to dissect each of the above types of human intellectuality. I will only attempt to focus on the speculative intellect in this explorative journey. I attempt to understand the visual perception of human intellectuality after coming across Ibn Khaldun’s statement that “writing is the outlining and shaping of letters to indicate the audible words which, in turn, indicate what is in the soul” (Ibn Khaldun, 1958; pg. 377). He further states that writing is the special quality of man as it enables the intention to be transported to different realms and forms, thus enabling man to acquire knowledge of learning and the sciences and making meaning out of it.