To understand properly al-Sijistānī's doctrine concerning intellect, it is essential to approach it from two ostensibly different aspects. On the one hand, intellect – ‘aql in Arabic – is an angelic, hypostatic being standing at the absolute summit of creation (but, of course, not outside it). As the first “originated being,” al-mubda‘ al-awwal, and the first created being, intellect is the sum of all existents.

In this sense al-Sijistānī is an orthodox Neoplatonist. Most of Plotinus' teaching about intellect – nous in Greek – finds an echo in his writings. What begins to reveal a deviation from this tradition is his use of a special term for this primordial universal intellect. In Arabic it is al-sābiq – an unusual word which requires a technical term in English translation such as “the Preceder.” That in any case is the word used throughout this study for this special Arabic term. As a name for intellect, it does not occur in the Arabic Plotinian materials and it is as yet of an unknown origin outside of the Ismaili da ‘wa where, however, it is standard. Nevertheless, its meaning is relatively clear since it is one of a pair which always includes al-tālī or the Follower, and which is another way of referring to universal soul – that is, the universal form of soul.

The other aspect of intellect is its individual and particular representation in the human being.