Whence the Light of God?

In the Qur'an, it is written in Surah an-Nur (The Light, No. 24), verse 35

"Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The Parable of His Light is as if there were a Niche 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." (Yusuf Ali translation)

and verse 40 reads:

"Or (the Unbelievers' state) is like the depths of darkness in a vast deep ocean, overwhelmed with billow topped by billow, topped by (dark) clouds: depths of darkness, one above another: if a man stretches out his hands, he can hardly see it! for any to whom Allah giveth not light, there is no light!"

The great eleventh century commentator al-Ghazzali juxtaposed with this a Hadith (which, curiously I've found only in Shi'a collections of Hadith) which reads,

"Allâh hath Seventy Thousand Veils of Light and Darkness: were He to withdraw their curtain, then would the splendours of His Aspect surely consume everyone who apprehended Him with his sight." (quoted in Al-Ghazzali, Mishkât Al-Anwar (tr. W. H. T. Gardiner), London: Royal Asiatic Society, 1921, pp. 77-78)

There is such beauty in these verses, in these passages, and at the same time, I see this as being an almost universal yearning in human hearts, for light rather than darkness, for assurance of truly, somehow, to be accepted and received into the very presence of the living God. Certainly in and of ourselves we could never apprehend God as He is. We would be consumed. Like attempting to walk on the moon without a spacesuit; it is interesting that God's presence is described in the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures in places as being like a sea of glass, in other places like a sea or river of fire.


Of course, that is why I believe that the very Word of God Himself became a human and lived among us; that we might bear the Light of God (in the sense of being able to stand in His Presence as well as to "carry" His Presence within us). The Injil contains an interesting, almost parallel passage in this regard,

"But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, then the veil is taken away. Now, the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, he gives freedom. And all of us have had that veil removed so that we can be mirrors that brightly reflect the glory of the Lord. And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him and reflect his glory even more." (2 Corinthians 3:8-10, NLT)

and

"Satan, the god of this evil world, has blinded the minds of those who don't believe, so they are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News that is shining upon them. They don't understand the message we preach about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God. We don't go around preaching about ourselves; we preach Christ Jesus, the Lord. All we say about ourselves is that we are your servants because of what Jesus has done for us. For God, who said, "Let there be light in the darkness," has made us understand that this light is the brightness of the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ. But this precious treasure – this light and power that now shine within us – is held in perishable containers, that is, in our weak bodies. So everyone can see that our glorious power is from God and is not our own." (2 Corinthians 4:4-7, NLT)

God reveals Himself in a unique Way in Christ, the Messiah, Who said, " 'Ana us-Sirat, 'Ana l' Haqq, wa 'Ana l'Hayy!" (I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life!) As our lives are joined with His, and His Death and Resurrection become our own, we are, in spite of our weakness, made increasingly into a reflection of Who He is.