The Verse of Light () is the 35th verse of the 24th surah of the

Quran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...

( Q24:35). It has often been closely associated with Sufi thought, primarily because of

al-Ghazali Al-Ghazali ( – 19 December 1111), archaically Latinized as Algazelus, was a Shafi'i Sunni Muslim scholar and polymath. He is known as one of the most prominent and influential jurisconsults, legal theoreticians, muftis, philosophers, the ...

's commentary on it, entitled '' Mishkat al-Anwar'' (Niche of the Lights).

Verse

Commentary

The verse has been the subject of many exegeses, having been commented by

Avicenna Ibn Sina ( – 22 June 1037), commonly known in the West as Avicenna ( ), was a preeminent philosopher and physician of the Muslim world, flourishing during the Islamic Golden Age, serving in the courts of various Iranian peoples, Iranian ...

, Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, Ibn al-'Arabi,

Rumi Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī (), or simply Rumi (30 September 1207 – 17 December 1273), was a 13th-century poet, Hanafi '' faqih'' (jurist), Maturidi theologian (''mutakallim''), and Sufi mystic born during the Khwarazmian Empire ...

Mulla Sadra Ṣadr ad-Dīn Muḥammad Shīrāzī, more commonly known as Mullā Ṣadrā (; ; c. 1571/2 – c. 1635/40 CE / 980 – 1050 AH), was a Persians, Persian Twelver Shi'a, Shi'i Islamic philosophy, Islamic mystic, philosopher, Kalam, theologian, a ...

Ibn Kathir Abu al-Fida Isma'il ibn Umar ibn Kathir al-Dimashqi (; ), known simply as Ibn Kathir, was an Arab Islamic Exegesis, exegete, historian and scholar. An expert on (Quranic exegesis), (history) and (Islamic jurisprudence), he is considered a lea ...

Al-Tabari Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Jarīr ibn Yazīd al-Ṭabarī (; 839–923 CE / 224–310 AH), commonly known as al-Ṭabarī (), was a Sunni Muslim scholar, polymath, historian, exegete, jurist, and theologian from Amol, Tabaristan, present- ...

, and

Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya Shams ad-Dīn Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr ibn Ayyūb az-Zurʿī d-Dimashqī l-Ḥanbalī (29 January 1292–15 September 1350 CE / 691 AH–751 AH), commonly known as Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya ("The son of the principal of he scho ...

. The eighth Imam of the Twelver Imami Shiites Ali ibn Musa says in the interpretation of this verse:

He is the guide of the people of heaven and the guide of the people of the earth.

and the sixth Shiite Imam, Jafar Sadiq, has stated that:

God first spoke of His light. The example of God's guidance is in the heart of the believer. The glorious is inside the believer and the lamp of his heart, and the lamp is the light that God has placed in his heart.

Hence it was and remains a key Qur'anic passage to many Sufis and

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

philosophers Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, value, mind, and language. It is a rational and critical inquiry that reflects on ...

into the present day, who argue for esoteric readings of the Qur'an.

Al-Ghazali Al-Ghazali ( – 19 December 1111), archaically Latinized as Algazelus, was a Shafi'i Sunni Muslim scholar and polymath. He is known as one of the most prominent and influential jurisconsults, legal theoreticians, muftis, philosophers, the ...

's reflections on this verse are collected in his Mishkat al-Anwar (the "Niche of Lights"). This verse is also the primary source of one of the 99 Names of God: an-Nur (), "The Light".

Notes

References

External links

English translations of the "Light Verse" (Q. 24:35)
— {{webarchive, url=https://archive.today/20241206142610/https://www.islamawakened.com/quran/24/35/, date= 6 Dec 2024 Quranic verses Esoteric interpretation of the Quran An-Nur Islamic theology Allah Light and religion

Verse

Commentary

Notes

See also

References

External links