The Concept of Divine Intellect in Ancient Iranian Metaphysics (with Reference to Dādistān-ī Mēnōg-ī Xrad)

The Concept of the Intellect (xrad) in Middle Persian literature is portrayed at various existential levels. Sometimes it is seen as an acquirable intelligence, which does not transcend the individual state; sometimes it is described as an essential and primal intellect that intuitively perceives the truths, and sometimes the highest level of the intellect is in view, i.e. Ohrmazd’s omniscient intellect. Dādistān-ī Mēnōg-ī Xrad (The Tribunal of the Divine Archetype of the Intellect), a work with a primarily metaphysical tone, emphasizes the āsn-xrad, or the inner primal intellect, and its divine archetype (mēnōg ī āsn-xrad, abridged as mēnōg ī xrad) in particular, and discusses the role of this archetypal intellect in relation to Ohrmazd, as well as to the spiritual and corporeal worlds. In the present study, we examine the concept of divine intelligence from an Islamic metaphysical perspective, explore the text to identify the divine archetype of the intellect, and establish a correlation between the concepts of Mēnōg-ī-xrad and Spǝnta-mainyu of the Gathas.