Q0567
“Prophecy is a perfection of the human intellect joined to a power…” — Avicenna (The Healing, on prophecy)
Verified English quotation. Primary source: The Healing, on prophecy. Theme: faith.
English
Prophecy is a perfection of the human intellect joined to a power of imagination that receives and expresses what the intellect knows.
Source and attribution
The archive attributes this English wording to The Healing, on prophecy and files it under Islamic Philosophy. That locator distinguishes the passage from loose internet attributions: readers can return to the named work or section to check translation, surrounding argument, and edition-specific wording.
About Avicenna
Ibn Sīnā (Avicenna, 980–1037) wrote The Healing and The Canon of Medicine, dominating Islamic and later Latin curricula. Born near Bukhara, he synthesized Aristotelian and Neoplatonic themes into a system centered on the Necessary Existent and an immortal rational soul.
How to read this passage
Across 4 recurring voices here (notably Anselm of Canterbury and Averroes), faith is framed through Islamic Philosophy and Scholasticism. Some passages define faith; others warn how it fails; still others relocate it inside habit, community, or language. This passage enters that discussion through faith.
Concepts in this quote
- Faith
- Faith appears in this archive as a live philosophical concern—not a slogan. These verified English passages show how thinkers treat faith as a problem of judgment, practice, or explanation.
How to cite this quotation
APA: Avicenna. (n.d.). Prophecy is a perfection of the human intellect joined to a power of imagination that receives and expresses what the intellect knows. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0567
MLA: Avicenna. “Prophecy is a perfection of the human intellect….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0567.
Chicago: Avicenna. “Prophecy is a perfection of the human intellect….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0567.
Frequently asked questions
What is the source of the quotation “Prophecy is a perfection of the human intellect…”?
The passage is attributed to Avicenna, The Healing, on prophecy. The archive attributes this English wording to The Healing, on prophecy and files it under Islamic Philosophy. That locator distinguishes the passage from loose internet attributions: readers can return to the named work or section to check translation, surrounding argument, and edition-specific wording.
What does Avicenna mean by faith?
Across 4 recurring voices here (notably Anselm of Canterbury and Averroes), faith is framed through Islamic Philosophy and Scholasticism. Some passages define faith; others warn how it fails; still others relocate it inside habit, community, or language. This passage enters that discussion through faith.