B1noun
عَقْل
ʿaql
mind / reason / intellect
Example
استَخدِمْ عَقلَكَ قَبلَ أَنْ تَتَكَلَّم.
istakhdim ʿaqlaka qabla an tatakallam.
Use your mind before you speak.
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Arabic root
ع-ق-ل
3 words from this root family
A2noun
عَقْلٌ
ʿaql
reason / intellect / understanding
Example
أَفَلَا تَعْقِلُونَ
afalā taʿqilūn
Will you not then use reason? (2:44)
Grammar
Masculine noun (maṣdar). Verb: عَقَلَ (to reason/understand). The Quran never uses ʿaql as a noun directly — always as a verb (تَعْقِلُونَ, يَعْقِلُونَ), emphasizing active reasoning.
Culture
The Quran addresses the ʿaql over 49 times, always in verb form — reason is an activity, not a passive possession. Anti-intellectualism contradicts the Quran.
B1noun
عَاقِلٌ
ʿāqil
rational person / one who reasons
Example
إِنَّ فِي ذَلِكَ لَآيَاتٍ لِقَوْمٍ يَعْقِلُونَ
inna fī dhālika laʾāyātin li-qawmin yaʿqilūn
Indeed in that are signs for a people who reason (13:4)
Grammar
Active participle of عَقَلَ (to reason). Plural: عُقَلَاءُ. The Quran repeatedly addresses 'people who reason' (قَوْم يَعْقِلُون) as an intellectual call to faith.
Culture
The Quran appeals to reason as a path to faith — unlike blind following, it demands evidence-based belief and intellectual engagement.