Surah Nur is currently my favorite surah of the Quran.

The surah starts with social laws and then we are introduced to the heart of all law: faith. The passage about eeman in this surah is probably the most beautiful ayah in the whole of the Quran that has to do with eeman in the heart of a believer.

As muslims, we understand that we have a seen heart and an unseen heart.

In this surah, Allah gives us a complete inside view of what is going on inside the heart of a believer. What does the heart of a believer look like? The science of it, spritual cardiology , if you will!!

This insight is the ayah of Nur.

Allah put this ayah in the middle of all the social laws in the surah because unless the eeman is there , these laws do not mean anything. People will not value them.

The Ayah of Nur

Allahu nooru alssamawati waal-ardi
mathalu noorihi kamishkatin feeha misbahun
almisbahu fee zujajatin alzzujajatu kaannaha kawkabun durriyyun
yooqadu min shajaratin mubarakatin zaytoonatin
la sharqiyyatin wala gharbiyyatin
yakadu zaytuha yudee-o
walaw lam tamsas-hu narun
noorun AAala noorin
yahdee Allahu linoorihi man yashao wayadribu Allahu al-amthala lilnnasi waAllahu bikulli shay-in AAaleemun Surah 24:35

1. Allahu nooru alssamawati waal-ardi

Allah is the light of the skies and the earth

This means that Allah is the means by which the heavens and the earth can be seen for what they really are. Light is the means by which you can see. Without Allah, you will still see the skies and the earth but not what they actually are.

Without light, you can't see things for what they truly are. That is the bottom line of this ayah. When you have the faith of Allah in your heart, then you can understand the universe and the things around you for what it really is.

2. mathalu noorihi kamishkatin feeha misbahun

The example of His light is something like a niche, in it there is a lamb

The example is made a distant close hence the it is described as something like a niche because the light of Allah can not be fathomed, Allah gives us an distant example to help us understand something of it. This is just to give us an idea, what humans can handle.

Now let us talk about this niche,In old homes, they used to have an Indent on the wall shaped like an arch, this was the place where they would put a lamp. It was shaped like that so that the light would hit it and reflect to the entire room

feeha misbahun: In it there is a lamp

Misbah comes from subr which means morning. It literally means a tool to make it seem like morning. .

3. almisbahu fee zujajatin alzzujajatu kaannaha kawkabun durriyyun

the lamp is inside a clear glass, the glass itself is like a extremely glittering star

The image is that of a glass that is so sparkling and clean that it has a star-like effect to it when you look at it. The twinkle effect of a glass?

4. yooqadu min shajaratin mubarakatin zaytoonatin

Fuelled from a blessed Olive tree

mubarakatin means the tree is blessed and give off more good than is expected . Where is this olive tree located that gives off so much good

5. la sharqiyyatin wala gharbiyyatin

Neither to the east nor to the west

Meaning it is nether to the east of the woods or the west of the woods.. Meaning it is not in the woods at all. It is a tree that stands by itself. Why is this Important? If it is on the east end of the woods, when the sun comes up, It shines on one half of the tree and the other is in shade constantly. If it is on the western end, one side enjoys the sun as the sun goes down and the other is in shade. On either side, It would not enjoy the full blessings of the light of the sun.

This olive tree is constantly enjoying the sunlight from sunrise to sun fall. These are the kinds of trees that produce the purest of oil. The one that get the most exposure to the sun. This is why they try to plant them distant from one another.

So the oil has been extracted from this blessed tree.

6. yakadu zaytuha yudee-o walaw lam tamsas-hu narun

whose oil almost gives light even when no fire touches it

Ever seen gasoline light up??, Allah describes the oil as one that runs after the flame, highly flammable kind of Oil. Fire has not touched it yet and it is still about to light up. Even if you didn't put the light in, it has a shine itself, then the light comes and it lights up immediately. It doesn't take it anytime.

7. noorun AAala noorin

Light upon light

This is light upon light...

This is the example.. What does it mean??

The explanation would come in the next post In shaa Allah.

The Ayah of Light (roughly translated):

God is the Light of the heavens and earth. His Light is like this: there is a niche, and in it a lamp, the lamp inside a glass, a glass like a glittering star, fuelled from a blessed olive tree from neither east nor west, whose oil almost gives light even when no fire touches it– light upon light.

Explanation:

The indent is shaped like an arch,i,e the niche... There is also an indent shaped like that in the human being.. That is the rib cage. There is a lamp inside that rib cage, that is the heart(spiritual), and the heart is surrounded by a clear glass on the outside. That is the fitrah of the human being. Every child is born on the fitrah, pure and clean. No dirt.

Now inside the heart lies a very pure thing that has no biases not to the east nor to the west. That is his Ruh.

The Ruh that came from Allah after 120 days in the womb of his mother. So the Ruh itself is pure and the outer layer (glass) of the heart (lamp), the fitrah is also pure. Clear glittering glass. Therefore what is inside comes outside without any obstruction.

The Ruh is described as a creature of light, The ruh is made of Light. Allah describes Himself here as the Light of the heavens and the earth. The lamp is a source of Light. Guidance is also called light in the Quran.

Now, this light (oil/ruh) is inside this lamp (heart), It is about to fire up on its own. It is already ready. This potential Light is put inside us.. The potential has not been realised yet, so the potential light is there and it is pure but it need to catch fire.

When the potential light meets the fire, you have light upon light....

Potential light is our Ruh, every human has light inside them, Then there is the light Allah sends from revelation, revelation itself is a form of light.

There is a dichotomy in the human being, the outer self and the inner (unseen) self.

Now the human body has appetites, It needs food, clothing, shelter, attraction... It has these appetites. The body is dirt so its appetite is satisfied by things that come from dirt, everything our bodies desire is a product of dirt, whether it is our food, clothing, mates, shelter etc ....

The inner self also has appetites, the ruh also has an appetite and since the Ruh is made from light so it needs light to satisfy its appetite. It cannot feed on anything except light.

So there is this physical hunger and there is a spiritual hunger a person feels when he says there is something more or when he feels an emptiness inside himself. The oil (ruh) is hungry but the revelation (fire) has not come yet. When Allah exposes them to revelation, the light inside finally gets to meet the light outside... Now you have two lights, The potential light inside and the light of revelation outside.

This is captured in the phrase "Light upon light". SubhanAllah.. The process of someone coming into Islam. The goodness inside of them and the fuel that activates it.

There is one more thing: Allah did not just say there is a lamp, Allah talks about the clear glass that surrounds the lamp. With clear glass, light from the inside can go out and light from the outside can go in. If the glass is dirty, the light on the inside is trapped and the light on the outside can not make its way in.

This is the human fitrah.. Every single sin/ spiritual crime dirties this glass, little by little. To the point that if it is completely covered in darkness, two problems occur:

i. The goodness inside of you is choking to death

ii. The goodness of revelation that tries to go in and meet light upon light can not get in. It is met by the filth of all of those temptations, sins, greed, jealousy and anger.. The revelation is therefore unable to make it all the way to the heart.

Allah talks about the heart enjoying that sweetness of Eeman, Light upon light. Everytime we make salat , It is supposed to be light upon light, every time we make dua it is supposed to be light upon light, Everytime we recite the Quran, It is supposed to be Light upon light.

When you do not feel anything when you do these things, the glass must be dirty... We have got to clean that up.

To clean the glass up,

i. dhikr of Allah helps,
ii. dua also helps,
iii. getting rid of things that harden the heart easily (watching the eyes, useless talk, over indulgence)

These are the kinds of things that harden the heart. If you have a hard time, finding yourself in tears when you pray, then know that a lot of wiping needs to be done.

Next time you look at a light bulb, think about yourself....

Assalam Aleikum.

Disclaimer: I am not a scholar or an ustadh, whatever is written is from more knowledgeable sources. I just try to pass the message on.

A reminder

very beautiful, I always found that ayah mysterious. it is a very deep verse indeed. thanks for posting.

sometimes when you see exegesis on a verse of the quran, you feel like abandoning all worldly pursuit and concentrating on Quran only, even if it's a verse a day. but we have to eat nah.

tbaba1234: Disclaimer: I am not a scholar or an ustadh, whatever is written is from more knowledgeable sources. I just try to pass the message on.

you know I was just about to ask you if you wrote this from yourself or other sources.
Jazakallahu.

snubish: very beautiful, I always found that ayah mysterious. it is a very deep verse indeed. thanks for posting.

sometimes when you see exegesis on a verse of the quran, you feel like abandoning all worldly pursuit and concentrating on Quran only, even if it's a verse a day. but we have to eat nah.

You can study an ayah a day... I try to study for at least an hour a day even though i am half distracted most times. I have the literature/videos so someone has to study them.

snubish:

you know I was just about to ask you if you wrote this from yourself or other sources.
Jazakallahu.

Everything i write is from more knowledgeable sources, hence the signature. I study then try to pass it on...