Did God exclusively endow humans with intellect, to the exclusion of animals, thereby justifying their legal religious accountability, and how does this reconcile with manifestations of intellect in some animals, such as the hoopoe and the ant?

The intellect, which is the basis of accountability, has been specifically bestowed by Allah upon human beings, distinguishing them from all other animals. It is a fundamental condition for accountability, alongside life. Animals are not subject to reward or punishment in the afterlife. As for intellect in the sense of instinct and perception, every animal possesses what suits the wisdom for which Allah created it, as indicated by Quranic verses such as His saying, "And your Lord inspired the bee." The distinguishing intellect of humans differs from the intellect shared by animals. There has been disagreement regarding its definition. Al-Amidi chose to define it as the essential knowledge that every human soul possesses after the perfection of its perceptual faculties, in which animals do not share. Al-Mawardi divided the intellect into innate and acquired. The innate intellect is the true intellect, by which humans are distinguished, and the acquired intellect is a result of the innate intellect. Sheikh Al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah holds that when the term 'intellect' is used unequivocally, it refers to the intellect of accountability, which enables discernment and inference about what lies beyond the sensible world, and by which its possessor transcends the state of the imbecile. All beings, including inanimate objects, glorify Allah with His praise and possess a type of perception that suits their creation.