Wikipedia's first sentence called it “ismaili concept referring to natural human knowledge in islamic theology or to intellect in islamic philosophy”. Today it says “arabic term used in islamic philosophy and theology for the intellect or the rational faculty of the soul that”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the October 6, 2023 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in October 6, 2023
Arabic term for the intellect A visual rendition of the Islamic model of the soul showing the position of "'aql" relative to other concepts based on a consensus of 18 surveyed academic and religious experts. ‘Aql ( , meaning "intellect") is an Arabic language term used in Islamic philosophy and theology for the intellect or the rational faculty of the soul that connects humans to God . According to Islamic beliefs, intellect is what guides humans towards the right path ( sirat al-mustaqim ) and prevents them from deviating. In jurisprudence , it is associated with using reason as a source for sharia or "religious law" and has been translated as "dialectical reasoning".1
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1153734946.
The opening as it stood in 2010
‘Aql ( , meaning "intellect" -] عقل "id."), is an Ismaili concept referring to natural human knowledge in Islamic theology or to intellect in Islamic philosophy . In jurisprudence , it is associated with using reason as a source for sharia "religious law" and has been translated as "dialectical reasoning". While predominantly expounded by Shī‘ī thinkers, Sunni Muslims such as Barelvis and Sufis share similar beliefs.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 368921006.
The opening as it stood in 2015 2 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
‘Aql ( , meaning "intellect"), is an Arabic language term used in Islamic theology or philosophy for the intellect the rational faculty of the soul or mind.It is the normal translation of the Greek term nous . In jurisprudence , it is associated with using reason as a source for sharia "religious law" and has been translated as "dialectical reasoning". While predominantly expounded by Shī‘ī and Sufi thinkers, some Sunni Muslims such as Barelvis share similar beliefs.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 663459598.
The opening as it stood in 2020 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
‘Aql ( , meaning "intellect"), is an Arabic language term used in Islamic philosophy or theology for the intellect or the rational faculty of the soul or mind. It is the normal translation of the Greek term nous . In jurisprudence , it is associated with using reason as a source for sharia "religious law" and has been translated as "dialectical reasoning".
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 856003205.
The opening as it stood in 2025
Arabic term for intellect A visual rendition of the Islamic model of the soul showing the position of ' aql relative to other concepts based on a consensus of 18 surveyed academic and religious experts. ' Aql ( Arabic : عَقْل , romanized : ʿaql , lit. ' intellect ' ) is an Arabic term used in Islamic philosophy and theology for the intellect or the rational faculty of the soul that connects humans to God . According to Islamic beliefs, ' aql is what guides humans towards the right path ( sirat al-mustaqim ) and prevents them from deviating. In jurisprudence , it is associated with using reason as a source for sharia and has been translated as 'dialectical reasoning'.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1252591751. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “ismaili concept referring to natural human knowledge in islamic theology or to intellect in islamic philosophy”. Today it says “arabic term used in islamic philosophy and theology for the intellect or the rational faculty of the soul that”. Read the current article and compare.
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2010, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
ismaili concept referring to natural human knowledge in islamic theology or to intellect in islamic philosophy
Now
arabic term used in islamic philosophy and theology for the intellect or the rational faculty of the soul that
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
