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Chapter 24

The Lightal-Nūr ( النور )

64 verses • revealed at Medinan

»The surah that contains the inimitable verse that celebrates God as The Light of the heavens and earth, guiding to Himself whomever He so wills. It is named after the “Light Verse” which occurs at verse 35, where God’s light is contrasted to the darkness in which the disbelievers find themselves engulfed. The surah clarifies several regulations for the Muslim community, mainly to do with marriage, modesty, obedience to the Prophet, and appropriate behaviour in the household.«

بِسمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحمٰنِ الرَّحيمِ

Muhammad Asad: In The Name of God, The Most Gracious, The Dispenser of Grace:

1
سورَةٌ أَنزَلناها وَفَرَضناها وَأَنزَلنا فيها آياتٍ بَيِّناتٍ لَعَلَّكُم تَذَكَّرونَ

Muhammad Asad

FROM various allusions (particularly in verses 11-20) to historical incidents connected with the Prophet's campaign against the tribe of Mustaliq, it is evident that this surah was revealed towards the end of the fifth or the beginning of the sixth year after the hijrah. A large part of it deals with the mutual relations of the sexes and with certain ethical rules to be observed in the context of this relationship. Verses 2-9, in particular, lay down definite legal injunctions concerning illicit sexual intercourse, while verses 27-29 and 58-59 stress each individual's right to privacy. The title is derived from the mystic parable of the "light of God" in verse 35 and its echo in verse 40: "he to whom God gives no light, no light whatever has he!"
A SURAH [is this] which We have bestowed from on high, and which We have laid down in plain terms;1 and in it have We bestowed from on high messages which are clear [in themselves], so that you might keep [them] in mind.
  • I.e., "the injunctions whereof We have made self-evident by virtue of their wording": thus, according to Bukhari (Kitab at-Tafsir), 'Abd Allah ibn 'Abbas explains the expression faradnaha in this context (cf. Fath al-Bari VIII, 361). The same explanation, also on the authority of Ibn 'Abbas, is advanced by Tabari. It would seem that the special stress on God's having laid down this surah "in plain terms" is connected with the gravity of the injunctions spelt out in the sequence: in other words, it implies a solemn warning against any attempt at widening or re-defining those injunctions by means of deductions, inferences or any other considerations unconnected with the plain wording of the Qur'an.