According to Dr Sharib:
"An-Nur is the One, Who Himself is light and lends light to the people."
To emulate the name we are advised to try to remove from our heart the
darkness of greed, lust, duality, superstition and love of the world. We
should enlighten our heart by the light of the unity of Allah, belief and faith.
Appropriate recitation fills the heart with the light of faith. Recited with
Sura Nur it can bring illumination and purification to the heart.
see 'The 99 Most Beautiful Names of Allah' by Dr Zahurul Hassan Sharib
Some other references:
Allah is the Light
Of the heavens and the earth.
The parable of His light
Is as if there were a nich
And within it a lamp:
The lamp enclosed in glass:
The glass as it were
A brilliant star:
Lit from a blessed Tree,
An Olive, neither of the East
Nor of the west.
Whose Oil is well-nigh Luminous,
Though fire scarce touched it:
Light upon Light!
Allah doth guide
Whom He will
To His Light:
Allah doth set forth Parables
For men: and Allah
Doth know all things.
Al-Ghazali says: "Al-Nur - Light - is the visible one by whom everything is
made visible..."
"Existence is a light streaming to all things from the light of His Essence,
for He is 'the light of the heavens and the earth."
(Al-Ghazali - The Ninety-nine Beautiful Names of God. Trans. Burrel/Daher: ITS: 1992.)
We are told in the famous and beautiful Sura of light quoted above that
God is the light of the heavens and the earth. The rest is a parable or
similitude in which each element has a relationship to other elements in
a way that parallels the relationships found in the universal divine order.
The light from the lamp spreads throughout the niche displacing the
darkness (of materiality or ignorance).
This verse is the subject of much commentary by great expounders of
truth. Its profound symbolism is such that it appears to lend itself to
different levels of understanding according to the limitations and skills of
the one interpreting it, or the needs of his audience.
In his great Sata'at* Shah Wali Ullah of Delhi, as an august example, has
written a treatise which is an elaborate and precise explication of the
significance of this sura. It requires to be read in full along with a
corresponding knowledge of the facets of the universal order
established by God (that may be glimpsed directly by the
knowledge-gifted ones).
At its nub he makes it clear that the substance of the divine spiritual
beings in 'the Great Body', who are known as the holy fold, bear the
same relation to the Light of God as the surrounding glass does to the
lighted wick in the lamp.
JMZ
*Sata'at translated into English by G. N. Jalbani and published by Octagon Press as 'Sufism and the
Islamic Tradition' London. 1980.
"An-Nur is the One, Who Himself is light and lends light to the people."
To emulate the name we are advised to try to remove from our heart the
darkness of greed, lust, duality, superstition and love of the world. We
should enlighten our heart by the light of the unity of Allah, belief and faith.
Appropriate recitation fills the heart with the light of faith. Recited with
Sura Nur it can bring illumination and purification to the heart.
see 'The 99 Most Beautiful Names of Allah' by Dr Zahurul Hassan Sharib
Some other references:
Allah is the Light
Of the heavens and the earth.
The parable of His light
Is as if there were a nich
And within it a lamp:
The lamp enclosed in glass:
The glass as it were
A brilliant star:
Lit from a blessed Tree,
An Olive, neither of the East
Nor of the west.
Whose Oil is well-nigh Luminous,
Though fire scarce touched it:
Light upon Light!
Allah doth guide
Whom He will
To His Light:
Allah doth set forth Parables
For men: and Allah
Doth know all things.
Al-Ghazali says: "Al-Nur - Light - is the visible one by whom everything is
made visible..."
"Existence is a light streaming to all things from the light of His Essence,
for He is 'the light of the heavens and the earth."
(Al-Ghazali - The Ninety-nine Beautiful Names of God. Trans. Burrel/Daher: ITS: 1992.)
We are told in the famous and beautiful Sura of light quoted above that
God is the light of the heavens and the earth. The rest is a parable or
similitude in which each element has a relationship to other elements in
a way that parallels the relationships found in the universal divine order.
The light from the lamp spreads throughout the niche displacing the
darkness (of materiality or ignorance).
This verse is the subject of much commentary by great expounders of
truth. Its profound symbolism is such that it appears to lend itself to
different levels of understanding according to the limitations and skills of
the one interpreting it, or the needs of his audience.
In his great Sata'at* Shah Wali Ullah of Delhi, as an august example, has
written a treatise which is an elaborate and precise explication of the
significance of this sura. It requires to be read in full along with a
corresponding knowledge of the facets of the universal order
established by God (that may be glimpsed directly by the
knowledge-gifted ones).
At its nub he makes it clear that the substance of the divine spiritual
beings in 'the Great Body', who are known as the holy fold, bear the
same relation to the Light of God as the surrounding glass does to the
lighted wick in the lamp.
JMZ
*Sata'at translated into English by G. N. Jalbani and published by Octagon Press as 'Sufism and the
Islamic Tradition' London. 1980.
| Bismillah ir Rehman ir Rahim |
| The Light |
'Allaahu Nuruus- samaa-waati wal-' arzi
Masalu Nuurihii ka Mishkaatin- fihaa
Misbaah: Al-Misbaahu fii Sujaajah:
'az-sujaajatu ka-'annahaa kawkabun
durriyyuny-yuuqadu min Shajaratim-
mubaara-katin Zaytuunatil - laa
Sharqiyatiinw-wa laa
Gharbiyyatiny-yakaadu Zaytuhaa yuziii-'
u wa law lam tamsas-hu naar. Nuurun
alaa Nuur! Yahdillaahu li-Nuurihii
many-yashaaa': wa yazribullaahul
-'amsaala linnaas: wallaahu bi-kulli
shay-' in 'Aliim.
(Qur'an 24:35. Y. Ali trans.)
Masalu Nuurihii ka Mishkaatin- fihaa
Misbaah: Al-Misbaahu fii Sujaajah:
'az-sujaajatu ka-'annahaa kawkabun
durriyyuny-yuuqadu min Shajaratim-
mubaara-katin Zaytuunatil - laa
Sharqiyatiinw-wa laa
Gharbiyyatiny-yakaadu Zaytuhaa yuziii-'
u wa law lam tamsas-hu naar. Nuurun
alaa Nuur! Yahdillaahu li-Nuurihii
many-yashaaa': wa yazribullaahul
-'amsaala linnaas: wallaahu bi-kulli
shay-' in 'Aliim.
(Qur'an 24:35. Y. Ali trans.)
| An-Nur (An-Noor, Al-Nuur, Al-Nur) Qur'an 24:35 |
