Difference between Intellect and Reason

It may be useful at the outset to clarify our preference for the English word ‘intellect’ rather than ‘reason’ to translate ‘aql. What we wish to evoke here is the original meaning of intellectus in Latin Christendom, a meaning which is practically identical to that of nous in the Patristic Greek tradition: intellectus/nous is that which is capable of a direct contemplative vision of transcendent realities, whereas reason–the translation of the Latin ratio and the Greek dianoia–is of an indirect, discursive nature; it works with logic and arrives at mental concepts, only, of those realities. With the intellect, then, one is able to contemplate or ‘see’ the Absolute; with the reason, one can only think about it.

JUSTICE AND REMEMBRANCE – Introducing the Spirituality of Imam Ali – by Reza Shah-Kazemi

Related:
Interview with Dr Reza Shah-Kazemi
Hazrat Ali (A.S) – Collection of ahadith