Al-Matalib al-'Aliyah 2787 — Intellect and its virtue

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Anas bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) that Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Salam (may Allah be pleased with him) came to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and said: "O Messenger of Allah! I am going to ask you about qualities which Allah Almighty has disclosed to no one except Musa bin Imran (peace be upon him). So if you know them, the purpose will be fulfilled; otherwise it is something that Allah has made exclusive to Musa bin Imran (peace be upon him)." He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "O Ibn Salam! If you wish, ask me, and if you wish, I will inform you myself." He said: "You inform me." He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Indeed, even the angels brought near have not encompassed the vastness of the creation of the Throne, nor do they have complete knowledge of it; even the angels who carry it do not fully know its reality. When Allah Almighty created the heavens and the earth, the angels said: O our Lord! Have You created among Your creation anything greater than the heavens and the earth? Allah said: Yes, the seas. They said: Have You created anything greater than the seas? Allah said: Yes, the Throne. They said: Have You created any creation that is greater than the Throne? Allah said: Yes, the intellect. They said: O our Lord! What is the measure and standing of the intellect and the extent of its creation? Allah said: 'Far from it, its knowledge cannot be encompassed.' Allah further asked: Do you know the number of the grains of sand? They said: No. Allah said: I have created the intellect in various kinds, like the number of the grains of sand. So among people, some were given merely one grain of this intellect, some two, three or four, some the equivalent of one measure (faraq), some one wasq and some two wasqs; indeed some were given intellect many times more than that, according to the will of Allah." Ibn Salam (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "O Messenger of Allah! Who are those people with more intellect?" He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "They are the people who act in obedience and submission to Allah Almighty, who attain rank in proportion to their deeds, their striving and their certainty. So the light that Allah Almighty has placed in their hearts, and their understanding, are according to the measure that Allah has granted them; so every doer of deeds acts according to that measure of intellect and attains elevation in ranks." Ibn Salam (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "By the One who sent you with guidance and the religion of truth! You have not left out even a single letter of the reality found in the Torah. And indeed Musa (peace be upon him) was the first person to describe this attribute, and you are the second." So the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "O Ibn Salam! You have spoken the truth."
This report has been recorded in the chapter on the virtue of the intellect by al-Hakim al-Tirmidhi and others; however, according to the hadith scholars its chain is extremely weak and its text munkar (denounced), because such details about the creation of the intellect are not established by sahih (authentic) hadith.