The second extremely esoteric verse is the 35th ayat of surah “The Light.” Let’s read it:
“Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The example of His light is like a niche within which is a lamp, the lamp is within the glass, the glass as if it were a pearly star: lit from a blessed tree, an olive neither of the East nor of the West, whose oil would almost glow even if untouched by fire. Light upon light.”
The verse begins like this: Allahu nuru ssamawati wal ard – “Allah is the light of heaven and earth.” What does it mean? As we know, Allah is above all things, and nothing is like Him. Therefore, His Essence cannot be likened to light. Light is one of His creations. Therefore, when the verse says that Allah is the light of the heavens and the earth, we understand that it does not mean His Essence but His action.
What is light? In its most general sense, light is something that itself is manifest and manifests everything else. And such is the action of Allah, through which all things are manifested and created. The action of Allah, that is, His Will, His Plan, Mashiyya (because His will is His action since He does not hesitate or procrastinate) is the first light – light of lights. As we have said, light is something that is manifested through itself and manifests everything else.
And here, it is necessary to understand that Allah has sifats (attributes) of Essence and sifats of action. Sifat of Essence is He in Himself, in His Essence: what He was before the creation and will be after creation. For example, “The Knowing,” “The Seeing,” “The Hearing,” “The Strong,” “The Living” are the sifats of His Essence. This means that there is no difference between these sifats (attributes) and His Essence. They are His very Essence, they are He Himself. There are no many sides in His Essence, so His knowledge would be different from His power, the power would be different from His life, and so on. No, they are all the same, they are all His one and incomprehensible Essence. Therefore, when we talk about the sifats of His Essence, we must understand that we are talking about synonyms, between which there is no difference. His Knowledge is the same as His Life, the Life is the same as the Power, the Power is the same as the Seeing…
Sifats of Essence are synonymous words because they cannot denote different realities, that is, it cannot be that “the Knowing” means one thing, and “the Strong” means something other because then Allah would be something made up of parts, as Christians say that God is one in three persons. Then we would have to say that Allah is “one in the multitude of sifats,” which is impossible. That is why Imam Ali (A) said, “The truth of Tawhid is the denial of the sifats from Him.” [1] These words mean the denial of the plurality of the sifats, and not the sifats themselves, so we would say that Allah is not Knowing, not Strong, etc. No, Allah is Knowing, Strong, Seeing, Hearing, but not in the meaning of the plurality of sifats within Him. What is described through Knowledge is the same thing described through Power; what is described through Power is the same thing described through Life, and this is the unknowable Essence of Allah.
This is about the eternal sifats of His Essence, which are entirely incomprehensible. But He also has other sifats through which He is manifested for His creation, and these are the sifats of His actions. If not for them, He would never have been known because His Essence, as we have said, is absolutely incomprehensible.
Any difference in the sifats refers to the difference in action and results of action. Allah is known not through His Essence but through His actions. For example, because He has created all creation, He is called khaliq – the Creator. This is His action. Through the fact that He has given all creatures their rights and judged between them justly, He is called adil – the Just. Because He has provided all creatures, He is called razzaq – the Provider. He gives them life and therefore is called muhyi – The Giver of Life. He brings them death and therefore is called mumit – The Bringer of Death. He leads them along a straight path and therefore is called hadi – The Guide…
All these are His actions among His creations, and by these actions, He is cognized by the creatures and described by them. And this is the meaning of the hadith qudsi: “I created creation in order to be known.” [2] For Allah is perceived and known only through the created qualities of His action, which are His manifestations among His creations.
I’ll give you an example to make it clearer. Consider, for example, a person by the name Zeid. He has essence and actions. His essence is himself. It does not change. For example, as they say in school textbooks on logic, he is a speaking animal. Man is a “speaking animal”… This is his essence, which we do not see. But for us, this person is manifested through his actions, which we see and directly perceive from him. He writes, and therefore we call him “the writing.” He walks, and therefore we call him “the walking.” He sits, and therefore we call him “the sitting.” All these are actions of the person through which his hidden essence is revealed to us. That is why we call him like this: “O writing one,” “O walking one,” “O sitting one.” These are his names and qualities through which he manifests to us. And there is no difference between him and these positions, although, in their essence, they are not him, only his manifestations and his actions that he performs.
And in the same way, Allah has incomprehensible sifats of Essence, which are nothing more than synonyms in relation to each other, and has the created sifats of action by which He is manifested for us.
And we have said that the creations are not equal to each other, that there is a ladder or hierarchy of creations, at the top of which are Ahl ul-Beit (А), the Fourteen Infallibles, that is, Muhammad (S), Fatima, Ali, Hasan, Hussein and nine Imams from the offspring of Hussein which are in their Essence one Light. Therefore, these sifats of action, by which Allah manifested for creation, are embodied in them. Quran says, “And to Allah belong the best names, so invoke Him by them” (7: 180). Imam Sadiq (A) says in the interpretation of this verse, “We are the best names of Allah.” [3] What does it mean? This means that when we say, for example, “ya Rahman” (“O Merciful”), we appeal by this to God, Who described Himself for creatures through the created “mercy,” and they (Ahl ul-Beit) are this mercy … When we say “O Ever-Forgiving,” we are calling on God who described Himself for creatures through created “forgiveness,” and they are this forgiveness. And so it is with all other names.
So, Ahl ul-Beit is created grace, generosity, forgiveness, etc. And they are generosity, and He is Generous, that is, the One who does generosity. And “Generous” is a name that points to Him, and the One who is meant by it is He and only He.
And this is the meaning of other words of Imam Sadiq (A): Nahnu maanihi – “we are His meanings.” This means that they are the meanings of His actions. For example, He is Generous, and they are generosity, that is, the manifestation of His action as generosity.
Allah is not known, except as He has described Himself, and He hasn’t described and hasn’t let the creatures understand Himself, except through the sifats of His action. And the sifats of the action have effects that indicate them, just as fire is indicated by effects such as heat and burning.
We do not say that these sifats reveal His Essence as it is, but we say that they point to Him, as He manifests Himself for us through His actions, and in no other way can we comprehend Him. For His Essence does not manifest itself to us by itself, as it is, but only through His actions.
And this is evidenced by a considerable number of hadiths, such as: “We are the Heights (aʻaraf), and Allah is not known except through the knowing us”[4]; “Whoever knows us, knows God”[5]; “The knowing of Allah is the knowing of the Imam of time,” [6] and so on …
In other words: Creator has manifested Himself for the creations not by His Essence but through these creations themselves. And His first creation was His action, that is, His Mashiyya, and the first creation of Mashiyya was the Light of Muhammad (S) and the Household of Muhammad (S). Allah is completely unknowable by His Essence, but He is known through how He described Himself for His slaves. And everything that We know about Him is only what He Himself revealed to us. He revealed Himself through His maqams (standings), through which “those who recognize You could only recognize You,” as it is said in “Dua Rajab” from the Imam of time (A). And when a person’s heart turns to these maqams, he finds Allah there, as well as his eye finds Him when he turns to the Kaaba. Turning towards the Kaaba is turning towards Allah. And worship consists in invoking Him through them, through these best names of His action – just like salat consists in addressing Allah through the Kaaba.
So, Allah is known only as He Himself has described Himself, and He has described Himself through His supreme sign and His masal – an example or similitude in the heavens and earth: “And for Him is the highest similitude in the heavens and earth” (30: 27).
And this is what the continuation of the verse “Light” says: masalu nurihi ka-mishkat – “The example of His light is like a niche …” In the previous part, we said that Allah has no misl, no similarity: wa leisa ka-misli-hi shai, “there is nothing like Him,” “He has no misl” (41: 11). But He has a masal – a similitude or example. That is, the sign and the highest ayat. This example or similitude is in no way similar to His Essence. It expresses His action – His mercy, His power, His wisdom, His forgiveness, His endowment, and so on…
And so, Allah says here, “The example (masal) of His light is like a niche within which is a lamp….”
We have said that all creations are traces of the action of Allah. All creations, without exception, manifest in themselves His action and the sifats of His action. But among them, there is a certain hierarchy: some of them manifest these sifats to a greater extent, others to a lesser extent; some manifest several sifats, others manifest a large number or all of them. This is similar to how a footprint from a person’s foot reveals only one sifat of this person – his being, that is, the fact that someone who exists has left this footprint. But on this trail, we can’t find his other sifats, for example, what nation he belongs to, his profession, and whether he is wise or stupid, handsome or ugly… But if we take another imprint of this person’s actions, for example, a book of memoirs written by him, we will already learn much more about his sifats and his qualities.
And it is the same with the actions of Allah. By the wall, you can know the One who has created this wall, but not in the same way as you know Him by the rose flower. Because a rose is more perfect than a wall. And so, ascending from one level to another, we will reach His highest creation, in which all the sifats of His action are manifested in the highest degree. This is Ahl ul-Beit, the Fourteen Infallibles. The highest degree of light has manifested in them, and therefore the Almighty says about them, “The example of His light is like a niche….” Other creations are also manifestations of the Creator’s actions, but they are not as perfect as this supreme creation, and therefore they cannot be called masal, an example of His light.
Now let’s take a look at the big picture that this verse gives us. It says, “The example of His light is like a niche (mishkat)….” Mishkat is a niche, that is, a cavity in the wall, where the lamp was placed in the old days. This cavity had two functions: firstly, it protected the light of the lamp from external influences so that it would not go out; secondly, it made its glow brighter, preventing it from scattering around the room.
This is mishkat… Further, Allah says: fiha misbah – “within which is a lamp,” al-misbahu fi zujaja – “the lamp is within glass.” So, if we visualize this picture, we get a niche, that is, a hole in the wall; this niche is covered with glass, and behind the glass is a lamp. And then we read: az-zujajatu ka-annaha kaukabun durri – “the glass as if it were a pearly star,” that is, the same transparent and light. So, we have clearly presented this picture: a niche, a transparent glass, a lamp behind the glass.
And there is such an important point. Why didn’t Allah say just only about the lamp? Why is it said here that the lamp is behind the glass, and the glass is in the niche? Obviously, He wanted to indicate a certain plurality, which at the same time is something one: one light. That is, there is only one light from the lamp, but it is also reflected through the glass and focuses from the niche, thereby becoming brighter and richer.
This is the light of Ahl ul-Beit (А). In its essence, it is one light, but in each of the Fourteen Infallibles, it is refracted in its way. Each of them has his own rays, his own aroma. And you feel it when you visit their holy shrines. For example, near Imam Reza (A), you feel warmth and love, near Imam Hussein (A), you feel the spirit of sacrifice and shahadat, as well as near Imam Ali (A), you feel greatness… Each of them has his own gamut, although they are all one light.
Let’s go further. We have many hadiths with different versions of the meaning of lamp, niche, glass… There is a hadith that the niche is the body of Muhammad (S), the glass is the heart of Muhammad (S), and the lamp is the knowledge of Muhammad (S). In another hadith, it is mentioned that the niche is the heart of Ali (A), the lamp is the light of knowledge that passed from Muhammad (S) to the heart of Ali (A). And in the third one: the niche is Fatima (A), the lamp is Hasan (A), and the glass is Hussein (A)…
There is no contradiction between these hadiths. Each of the Ahl ul-Beit (A) can be the masal (example) of all this light. Therefore, we can say that the lamp is the Messenger of Allah (S), Ali, Hasan, Hussein (A) – and so on until Mahdi (A). Or you could say that this whole verse speaks about each of them. Or that this verse talks about them all together. There is no difference between them because they are one light. As Imam Ali (A) said, “The first of us is Muhammad, the middle of us is Muhammad, the last of us is Muhammad, and we are all Muhammad.” [7] At the level of reality that this verse speaks of, there are no such distinctions we are familiar with in this world.
Although, despite this, there are preferred options the hadiths emphasize. So, the lamp can be primarily interpreted as Muhammad (S) and the light of his prophecy and knowledge. The niche as Fatima (A) and the glass as any of the Imams (A).
And Fatima (A) is a niche in this verse because she collects and guards the light of the Imamat. That is why she is also the “night” in Sura “Qadr,” according to other hadiths, and the light grain in Sura “Baqara,” from which the seed of the Imamat grow. That is, she plays the role of storage – storage of light, storage of a day or the grain. Her very name “Fatima” indicates this: it comes from the verb fatama – “to cut off,” “to tear off”: she keeps (“cuts off”) the Shia from the Fire. And in another hadith: she is called “Fatima” because she cuts the truth from the lie.
“Glass” can be primarily interpreted as any of the Imams (A). Glass protects the lamp from being extinguished and serves to spread its light more. And the same was the mission of all Imams regarding the prophecy of Muhammad (S). Thanks to them, the light of prophecy was not extinguished, and the divine religion was preserved as it is. If it were not for Ali (A), there would be no conquering sword through which Islam was established over the polytheists. If it were not for Hussein (A), there would be no Ashura whose blood preserved Islam. If it were not for Baqir (A) and Sadiq (A), the true knowledge and hadiths of the prophetic family would not have reached the people. And so on for each of Imams – up to the last of them, through which Allah will establish this religion throughout the earth.
Let us now turn to the following words of the verse: “Lit from a blessed tree, an olive neither of the East nor of the West.”
What does this mean? Let’s visualize the big picture again. So, a lamp is placed in the glass, and the glass is in a niche. Now we see that this lamp is lit from a certain tree called “olive” and characterized as “blessed.” And it is said that this tree is not in the East or the West.
The question arises: how can a lamp be lit from a tree? And what is this tree? Why is the Quran talking about a tree here? And what is the connection between lamp and tree?
It is clear that here it means some extremely esoteric things that our mind’s efforts cannot discover without relying on the hadiths of the prophetic family.
The key to the meaning of these words is that the tree is the universal Will of Allah, His Plan, His Mashiyya. The tree is an image for the Mashiyya of Allah (which is nothing but His action) because the Mashiyya, like a tree, branches out into countless multitudes of creations to which it is applicable. That is, the Mashiyya has, figuratively speaking, a trunk, has main branches, side branches, leaves, and so on. And the fact that Allah calls this Mashiyya “blessed tree” is clear because all existence and creation come from the Mashiyya. For the same reason, Allah speaks of the blessed fire shown to Musa (A) at the beginning of his prophecy: “Blessed is he who is in fire and who is around” (27: 8), and “fire” here is also a symbol for Mashiyya. According to a hadith, “the one who is in fire” is Muhammad (S) – in the fire and light of the Mashiyya – and “who is around” is Musa (A), as well as the highest angels and those who comes after them in the hierarchy of creations. And Muhammad (S) is called here “the one who is in fire” of the Mashiyya because it is manifested through him, as the sifats of fire are manifested through the red-hot iron in the fire. That is why the verse “Light” says that the lamp is lit from this tree: that is, the Mashiyya of Allah is manifested in Ahl ul-Beit, and they are the hearts and vessels for it. As Imam Mahdi (A) says, “Our hearts are the vessels of the Mashiyya of Allah.” [8]
So, this is the tree of the Will of Allah, His Mashiyya, which is mentioned in the surah “Ibrahim”: “An example of a good word is a good tree, whose root is firmly fixed and its branches in the sky” (14: 24). The root of this tree is in the world of Sarmad (eternity), the fruits hang in the world of Jabarut, and the Holy Spirit, which is the First Intellect (Aql), tasted from them.
And then you understand the meaning of the tree to which Adam got closer, and the fruits of which he wanted to taste, although they were not intended for him…
And then ayat “Light” says: “Whose oil would almost glow even if untouched by fire. Light upon light.”
That is, the Mashiyya is so overwhelmed with the light of being that this being is ready to pour out without any restrictions, even without the touch of the fire of Mashiyya, because of its subtlety and greatness. And “oil” here is the Muhammadan Reality or Being pouring from the Mashiyya. This Being is the matter of all worlds or the first Water from which Allah “made every living thing” (21: 30) and which is poured onto arda l-juruz, the “barren land” of possibility: “Have they not seen that We drive the water to barren land?” (32: 27) – so that from it, the gardens of all creation grow, the first of which is the highest Intellect or the Holy Spirit. As Imam Askari (A) said: ruhu l-qudus fil jianani ssakura zaka min khadaiqina bakura, and this phrase is difficult to translate unambiguously; an approximate translation would be, “The Holy Spirit tasted of our irrigated gardens.” [9]
And when this water had poured out on the barren land, or, in other words, when the oil had glowed from the fire, fruits rose (according to the first formulation), or a lamp shone (according to the second one). And this is the name “with which the heavens and the earth were illuminated.” And this is the Universal Intellect (Aql), or the Intellect of Muhammad (S). Allah gave it the meanings of all creatures by saying “Move away” – and it did so; “Come closer” – and it did so, “as given in “Kafi.”[10] And in this moving away and the subsequent coming closer is the birth of all creations.
Therefore, the entire system of being can be described with the help of such an image, as close to this verse as possible… If we take a lamp, then the fire in it is the unknowable Essence of Allah. The heat from the fire is His Mashiyya (His will or action). And then an example of the Muhammadan Light here is the oil of a lamp, which shines from the heat of the fire, so that two things emanate from it – light and smoke. And light here is the existence of all things, and smoke is their forms. The entire cosmic reality is like such a lamp.
The light in this example has no connection with the fire. In the same way, everything that is temporary and created has no connection with the eternal and uncreated Essence of Allah. The connection is only between creations and Allah’s action, not His Essence.
Allah did not create anything by His Essence, for His Essence is higher than contact with anything. But He created everything by His action and the effect of action (Ahl ul-Beit), that is, His Mashiyya, which is His action. Ahl ul-Beit (A) is the place or instrument for the realization of His Mashiyya, just as the pen is the place for the realization of writing, that is, the instrument with which they write. So, in this example, “writing” (the process of writing) is the action of Allah, “pen” is Ahl ul-Beit, and “what is written” is all creation.
Imam Sadiq (A) says, “Allah created Mashiyya through itself (bi nafsiha), and then He created all things through Mashiyya.” [11] Imam Ali (A) also says in the speech known as “Darra”: “The reason of what He created is this very creation, and it has no reason,” [12] that is, the reason for His action is the action itself, and creation returns to the very action of creation. And hence the answer to the question “why did God create the world?” There is no reason and no “how” for the Creator’s action, that is, His Mashiyya. Therefore, this question is incorrect and doesn’t make sense. There is no reason for the Creator to act, because nothing forces Him to act somehow.
Imam Sadiq (A) says, “Allah has denied that things should happen otherwise than in accordance with the reasons.”[13] Everything has a reason. For example, heat is caused by the burning of fire. There is a reason for the burning of fire too, and so on until we reach the cause of the causes and reason of the reasons, and this is the Mashiyya of Allah, which has no reason. That is, the Mashiyya was created without reason preceding it; it is the reason for itself. Allah said about this, “He will not be asked about what He is doing (He will not be asked about His action), but they will be asked” (21: 23). That is, there are no questions about the action of Allah; there is no reason or cause for this action.
And, finally, the last words of this verse: nurun alya nur – “Light upon light” – are completely clear after everything that we have said. That is, one of the Ahl ul-Beit after the other, Imam after Imam…
[1] “Tuhafu l-uqul,” 61.
[2] “Bihar,” Vol. 84, 199.
[3] “Kafi,” Vol. 1, 144.
[4] “Tafsir Nuru thaqalein,” Vol. 2, 34.
[5] “Amali” of Saduq, 755.
[6] “Ilalu sharia” of Saduq, Vol. 1, 9.
[7] “Bihar,” Vol. 26, 4.
[8] “Tafsir Safi,” Vol. 7, 366.
[9] “Bihar,” Vol. 75, 378.
[10] “Kafi,” Vol. 1, 24.
[11] “Kafi,” Vol. 1, 85.
[12] “Manakib” of Ibn Shahr-Ashub, Vol. 2, 162.
[13] “Kafi,” Vol. 1, 183.
The first volume of Amin Ramin’s “Man in Islam” can be purchased on Amazon at this link.
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