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Fatwa CenterThe sense of comprehension in the human body
Question
Where is the Aql (intellect) located? In the heart or in the mind. Is there any evidence from the Quran and the Sunnah of it's location?
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger. We ask Allaah to exalt his mention as well as that of his family and all his companions.
Allaah Says (what means): {Have they not travelled through the land, and have they hearts wherewith to understand and ears wherewith to hear? Verily, it is not the eyes that grow blind, but it is the hearts which are in the breasts that grow blind.}[Quran 22:46]. The majority of the scholars 
understood from this verse that 'Aql (the intellect, the ability of understanding and reasoning) is in the heart and not in the brain as the philosophers and some scholars think.
Ash-Shinqeeti 
said: 'The verse proves that the 'Aql is in the heart, and that the hearing is in the ears, so what the philosophers claim that the 'Aql is in the brain is wrong.'
Besides, Al-Qurtubi said in his interpretation of the Quran: 'Allaah attributed 'Aql [which is interpreted in the verse as the faculty of understanding] to the heart, so 'Aql is situated in the heart in the same way that the ability of hearing is in the ears, however, it is also said that 'Aql is in the brain, and this is reported from Abu Haneefah but I do not think that this can authentically be attributed to him.'
Badr Ad-Deen Al-'Ayni said: ''Aql is situated in the heart and not in the brain, and this is the view of the majority of the scholars .'
However, Ibn Taymiyyah is of the view that 'Aql is related to the heart and to the brain together.
Allaah Knows best.
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