It is the soul’s light which is natural intelligence.
Hazrat Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Related Material by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Compiled by Wahiduddin Richard Shelquist – wahiduddin.net
Coming to the cause of the lack of joy, one realizes by pondering on the subject that it is not pursuing after joy that results in disappointment, it is the wrong method adopted in the pursuit of joy which brings, instead of joy, sorrow or disappointment. … Nothing can take away joy from those who have right understanding. Through all conditions of life they will retain it, but those who lack understanding, nothing in the world or Heaven there is which can bring them a lasting joy. This shows that, in reality, joy does not come from the external life, though always it seems so. Joy has only one source and that is the heart of humanity, which is the globe over our souls’ light.
( from Sangatha, Series III: Tasawwuf (Metaphysics) [ unpublished ] )
The soul has the tendency to look forward to what is going to be, or at what has been in the past. It is the light of our soul, the intelligence that does this. Intelligence working through physical means is no greater than intellect. But intelligence working freely and independently from physical means is wisdom. And wisdom is not cleverness, but infinitely superior to it. Wisdom works independently of the physical means, and therefore, requires intuition. The clever person works by means of the physical body, but the wise person works independently of it.
The Qur’an says, ‘God is the Light of the heavens and of the earth;’ and if there is any spark of God that can be found in humanity, it is our intelligence. Naturally, therefore, when this divine light which is hidden in us is once brought to a blaze and has risen as a flame, it illuminates our path towards perfection.
Commentary by Murshid S.A.M. (Sufi Ahmed Murad)
Samuel L. Lewis
What is called Nur is the Universal Light which touches every part of the universe. Without this Light there would be no universe: it is the aspect of Ishk which we call Intelligence because it becomes the light of the Mind. Although Ishk is all light, it is Oneness. In it there is no Mind, although there is Buddhacitta, the essence of Mind. By an accommodation in the Supreme the light produces forms, but these forms are made out of the vibrations of the light-self. Then the light appears within these forms and enables them to perceive phenomena.
It is, however, the soul which sees, whether through an individual — be that individual rock, plant, animal, human, or planet — or whether it be the sight of body, mind, or heart.