The Quran

Preface

۞ اللَّهُ نورُ السَّماواتِ وَالأَرضِ ۚ مَثَلُ نورِهِ كَمِشكاةٍ فيها مِصباحٌ ۖ المِصباحُ في زُجاجَةٍ ۖ الزُّجاجَةُ كَأَنَّها كَوكَبٌ دُرِّيٌّ يوقَدُ مِن شَجَرَةٍ مُبارَكَةٍ زَيتونَةٍ لا شَرقِيَّةٍ وَلا غَربِيَّةٍ يَكادُ زَيتُها يُضيءُ وَلَو لَم تَمسَسهُ نارٌ ۚ نورٌ عَلىٰ نورٍ ۗ يَهدِي اللَّهُ لِنورِهِ مَن يَشاءُ ۚ وَيَضرِبُ اللَّهُ الأَمثالَ لِلنّاسِ ۗ وَاللَّهُ بِكُلِّ شَيءٍ عَليمٌ

Yusuf Ali

God is the Light¹ of the heavens and the earth.² The Parable of His Light is as if there were a Niche and within it a Lamp: the Lamp enclosed in Glass:³ the glass as it were a brilliant star:⁴ Lit from a blessed Tree,⁵ an Olive, neither of the east nor of the West,⁶ whose oil is well-nigh luminous, though fire scarce touched it:⁷ Light upon Light! God doth guide whom He will to His Light:⁸ God doth set forth Parables for men: and God doth know all things.

Embedded within certain directions concerning a refined domestic and social life, comes this glorious parable of Light, which contains layer upon layer of transcendental truth about spiritual mysteries. No notes can do adequate justice to its full meaning. Volumes have been written on this subject, the most notable being al Ghazali’s Mishkat al Anwar. In these notes I propose to explain the simplest meaning of this passage. (R).
The physical light is but a reflection of the true Light in the world of Reality, and that true Light is God. We can only think of God in terms of our phenomenal experience, and in the phenomenal world, light is the purest thing we know, but physical light has drawbacks incidental to its physical nature: e.g., (1) it is dependent on some source external to itself: (2) it is a passing phenomenon: if we take it to be a form of motion or energy it is unstable, like all physical phenomena; (3) it is dependent on space and time; its speed is 186,000 miles per second, and there are stars whose light takes thousands (or millions or billions) of years before it reaches the earth. The perfect Light of God is free from any such defects. (R).
The first three points in the Parable centre round the symbols of the Niche, the Lamp, and the Glass. (1) The Niche (Mishkah) is the little shallow recess in the wall of an Eastern house, fairly high from the ground, in which a light (before the days of electricity) was usually placed. Its height enabled it to diffuse the light in the room and minimised the shadows. The background of the wall and the sides of the niche helped throw the light well into the room, and if the wall was white-washed, it also acted as a reflector: the opening in front made the way for the light. So with the spiritual Light: it is placed high above worldly things: it has a niche or habitation of its own, in Revelation and other Signs of God; its access to men is by a special Way, open to all, yet closed to those who refuse its rays. (2) The Lamp is the core of the spiritual Truth, which is the real illumination; the Niche is nothing without it; the Niche is actually made for it. (3) The Glass is the transparent medium through which the Light passes. On the one hand, it protects the light from moths and other forms of low life (lower motives in man) and from gusts of wind (passions), and on the other, it transmits the light through a medium which is made up of and akin to the grosser substances of the earth (such as sand, soda, potash, etc.), so arranged as to admit the subtle to the gross by its transparency. So the spiritual Truth has to be filtered through human language or human intelligence to make it intelligible to mankind.
The glass by itself does not shine. But when the light comes into it, it shines like a brilliant star. So men of God, who preach God’s Truth, are themselves illuminated by God’s Light and become like illuminating media through which that Light spreads and permeates human life.
The olive tree is not a very impressive tree in its outward appearance. Its leaves have a dull greenish-brown colour, and in size it is inconspicuous. But its oil is used in sacred ceremonies and forms a wholesome ingredient of food. The fruit has a specially fine flavour. Cf. n. 2880 to 23:20. For the illuminating quality of its oil, see n. 3002 below.
This mystic Olive is not localised. It is neither of the East nor the West. It is universal, for such is God’s Light. As applied to the olive, there is also a more literal meaning, which can be allegorised in a different way. An olive tree with an eastern aspect gets only the rays of the morning sun; one with a western aspect, only the rays of the western sun. In the northern hemisphere the south aspect will give the sun’s rays a great part of the day, while a north aspect will shut them out altogether, and vice versa in the southern hemisphere. But a tree in the open plain or on a hill will get perpetual sunshine by day: it will be more mature, and the fruit and oil will be of superior quality. So God’s light is not localised or immature: it is perfect and universal.
Pure olive oil is beautiful in colour, consistency, and illuminating power.
The world has tried all kinds of illuminants, and for economic reasons or convenience, one replaces another. But for coolness, comfort to the eyes, and steadiness, vegetable oils are superior to electricity, mineral oils, and animal oils. And among vegetable oils, olive oil takes a high place and deserves its sacred associations. Its purity is almost like light itself: you may suppose it to be almost light before it is lit. So with spiritual Truth: it illuminates the mind and understanding imperceptibly, almost before the human mind and heart have been consciously touched by it
Glorious, illimitable Light, which cannot be described or measured. And there are grades and grades of it, passing transcendently into regions of spiritual height, which man’s imagination can scarcely conceive of. The topmost pinnacle is the true prototypal Light, the real Light, of which all others were reflections; the Light of God. Hence the saying of the Holy Prophet about God’s “Seventy thousand veils of Light”.