Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth,
The parable of His Light is as if there were a niche,
And within it a Lamp: The Lamp enclosed in Glass; The glass
as it were a brilliant star;
Lit from a blessed Tree, An Olive, neither of the East nor of the West,
Whose oil is well-nigh luminous, though fire scarce touched it;
Light upon Light!Allah doth set forth parables for men: and Allah doth
know all things.
24:35 Al Nur (The Light) Yusuf Ali's translation
I love this particular Ayat of the quran, and I know that many of the bloggers love it as well ( Zesty and Noor come to mind) and while Ibn Kathirs tafseer is quite good ( I believe he captures it better than Makki). Maududis interpretation was also quite good, but I still believe that the best explanation was given by Sheikh Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani in his book Secret of secrets.
The Sheikh says " The meaning of the niche is the faithful heart of the believer. The lamp enlightening the niche of the heart is the essence of the heart, while the light that it sheds is the divine secret, the sultan-soul. The glass is transparent and does not keep the light within, but protects it and allows it to spread, which is why it is likened to a star. The source of the light is a divine tree. that tree is the state of unity reaching out with its branches and its roots, inculcating the principles of faith, communicating without any intermediary in the language of purity.
There is much more written about this ayat, and I particularly enjoy Moulana Fazl ur Rahman Ansaris allegory of it, but perhaps we can get into that another time because its is 4 a.m and I am teaching at 9, so best i log off and sleep.
MJ
