Wisdom is intelligence in its pure essence, which is not necessarily dependent upon the knowledge of names and forms.
Hazrat Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Related Material by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Compiled by Wahiduddin Richard Shelquist – wahiduddin.net
Often people confuse the two terms intellect and wisdom; sometimes they use the word intellect for wisdom, sometimes wisdom for intellect. In point of fact these are two different qualities altogether. The knowledge which is learned by knowing names and forms in the outside world belongs to the intellect; but there is another source of knowledge, and that source of knowledge is within oneself.
The words ‘within oneself’ might confuse some people. They might think ‘within oneself’ means inside one’s body; but that is because some are ignorant of themselves. Some have a very poor idea of themselves, and this keeps them in ignorance of their Real Self. If we only knew how large, how wide, how deep, how high is our being, we would think, act, and feel differently; but with all our width, depth, and height, if we are not conscious of them, we are as small as we think ourselves to be.
The essence of milk is butter, the essence of the flower is honey, the essence of grapes is wine, and the essence of life is wisdom. Wisdom is not necessarily a knowledge of names and forms; wisdom is the sum total of that knowledge which one gains both from within and without.
Intellectual knowledge has much to do with the brain, while wisdom comes from within the heart. In wisdom both head and heart work. One may call the brain the seat of the intellect, and the heart the throne of wisdom; but they are not actually located in the brain or in the heart. Wisdom may be called spiritual knowledge but the best definition of wisdom would be perfect knowledge, the knowledge of life within and without. How does one pursue the wisdom which is within? By first realizing that intuition exists within oneself. …
It is not meant by this that everyone should become a kind of super-being. It is not meant at all that people should be able to perform wonders or miracles; it is only intended that they should live a fuller life and become real human beings, in order to bring about better conditions in the world. What do we want? We want human beings. It is not necessary that everyone should become religious, or exceedingly pious, or too good to live. We want wise people in business, in politics, in education, in all walks of life; those who do not live only on the surface and those who do not believe only in matter, but who see life both within and without. It is such souls who will produce beauty; it is such souls who will harmonize the world, who will bring about the conditions we need today.
( from the Sufi Message Series, Volume VII – In an Eastern Rose Garden: Intellect and Wisdom )
Commentary by Murshid S.A.M. (Sufi Ahmed Murad)
Samuel L. Lewis
This intelligence is the natural faculty and condition of the heart when it is not veiled by the mind, when the activity of the consciousness is focused in the depths of one’s being. Wisdom may be considered as the apperception or grasping of the fundamental principles which lie beneath name and form. While these principles can be perceived through particulars and do operate through particular forms, atoms and vibrations, they are essentially aspects of Nuri Mohammed, that is to say, of the Divine Mirror of God into which God gazed. When we gaze into that mirror, this knowledge, called by the Sufis Ilm, is identical with Wisdom, God-knowledge or Tasawwuf. [ Tasawwuf in Arabic and Urdu literally means ‘becoming suf’ or ‘becoming a sufi’, or ‘sufism’ ie the process of realizing ethical and spiritual ideals, mysticism or esotericism, and by extension the entire body of experiential spiritual practices of introspection, meditation, contemplation, and so on, which foster spiritual closeness with God and which ultimately lead to Mystical Union with The Only Being. One of the literal meanings of ‘suf’ is ‘wool’ referring to the wool robes that the early ‘sufis’ wore … so, woolies. — Muiz ].