Surah An-Nur 24:35-40 - Quran Translation Commentary

35. Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth.⁵⁷ The example of His light is as a niche wherein is a lamp.⁵⁸ The lamp is in a glass, the glass is as it were a shining star. It is lit from a blessed tree, an olive neither of the east nor of the west, whose oil would almost glow forth though no fire touched it. Light upon Light;⁵⁹ Allah guides to His Light whom He will.⁶⁰ And Allah speaks to mankind in examples. And Allah has knowledge of all things.⁶¹

36. (This lamp is burning) in houses which Allah has ordained to be exalted and His name to be remembered therein.⁶² In them morning and evening His praise is sung.

37. Men whom neither trade nor sale can divert from remembering Allah, establishing salat and giving zakat;⁶³ they dread the day when heart and eyes will be overturned;⁶⁴

38. That Allah may reward them for the best of what they did, and increase reward for them of His bounty.⁶⁵ And Allah gives without measure whom He will.⁶⁶

39. As for the unbelievers,⁶⁷ their deeds are as a mirage in a desert. The thirsty one supposes it to be water till he comes to it and finds it to be nothing, he finds Allah there, who pays him his due,⁶⁸ and Allah is swift at reckoning.⁶⁹

40. Or like darkness on a vast, bottomless sea, there covers him a wave, above which is a wave, above which is a cloud. Layer upon layer of darkness. If he stretches out his hand, he cannot see it.⁷⁰ And he whom Allah does not grant light, for him there is no light.⁷¹

Commentary

57. Light is a very delicate, beautiful and pure thing. It manifests itself and causes other things to manifest themselves in its glow. The meaning of Allah’s being the Light of the heavens and the earth is that in this universe He is fully manifest, shining. He is extremely delicate, possessor of utmost beauty, purest and most clean. His Being is manifest by Itself, otherwise Allah is neither light in the literal and material sense of the word, nor is it correct to imagine Him to be on the lines of the physical light, for ‘Laisa Kamithlihi shaiun’ (Shoora -11): “There is nothing like Him.” Therefore, without falling into the philosophical discussions and the whirlpool of interpretations, the simple and direct sense of Allah’s being the light of the heavens and the earth that comes to the mind should be considered sufficient. About Allah’s attributes our righteous forefathers had this attitude, and this is the path of safety.

58.The example which is given here is not meant to relate the nature of Allah’s attribute, light, because its nature is out of the reach of understanding by human mind, but its purpose is to guide mankind to that light which is manifest in the universe, and through which His recognition can be attained. The perfection of this light of recognition and its brilliant manifestations have been explained by means of an example.

59. That lamp which is placed in a niche gives more light, and if the lamp is within a glass, then its light will be more bright. And if the glass is clear and shining like a bright star, then the light of this lamp will be very brilliant. Then again if this lamp is being burnt by the olive oil, obtained from an olive tree, which was in the open, absorbing the sun’s rays directly in the morning and evening giving oil which burns very brightly then in such a case the light of such a lamp will be very very bright. It will be emitting light upon light. In this example, the purpose is to express the extreme brilliance of this light.

This brilliant light is the light of recognition of God, who is manifest in this universe, but to see it, spiritual insight is necessary.

In this example the olive tree has been termed as blessed because it is very useful and its oil is very beneficial. If this tree is situated on a hill or in a plane in such a way that on this eastern and western side there is no obstruction to the sunlight, then the sunlight will fall on it every morning and evening and the oil yielded by this tree will be so clear and bright as if it is about to be lit up.

The example of olive has been narrated here in connection with the recognition of the light of God, but seen from another aspect this example fits Islam also. Islam is a blessed religion, which is neither eastern nor western, but is universal. Similarly the example of the olive oil rings true in the case of a man of sound and honest nature, whose heart is about to touch the string of the harp of tawheed, and when the divine inspiration gives him the message of tawheed, he becomes fully harmonious with it. The guidance of the nature combined with the guidance of inspiration (Quran) acts as light upon light (Noorun a’la Noor).

60. It is learnt that the example of light which was given above is related to guidance, therefore, it refers to the light of recognition of God only, and it is the light of the recognition of God only which, inspite of being manifest with full brilliance, is seen only by those who see it with the eyes of spiritual insight. Allah guides such people only, and such people alone attain His recognition.

The place of the ayah of Noor in this surahnay in the whole Qur’an is such as if it is a ruby which is fixed in a magnificent palace. When by the light of recognition of God, the light of faith is created in the human heart, then the whole life of the man of faith becomes bright, whether it is domestic life or family life, whether external or social, the light of faith illuminates every nook and corner of human life.

6l.That is :The example given by Allah is based on knowledge, therefore, quite appropriate, and the point which has been explained with the help of this example is absolutely real.

62. Means mosque, and by exalting them is meant to build them and to pay them due respect. It also means raising the buildings of the mosques to good heights so that the concept of the greatness of the mosques is established. Building of mosques has been termed in the hadith as an act which merits the award of Paradise :

“Whoever built a mosque for Allah, Allah will build for him a house in the Paradise.” - (Mishkat-Kitabus salat with ref to Sahihain).

And paying due respect to the mosques comprises of keeping them clean and pure, to enter them in a clean state, not doing any business transactions therein, nor doing anything which may be against the etiquette prescribed for the mosques. Such a respect also includes not constructing any grave inside the mosque, nor of constructing a mosque over the grave of anybody, because it is absolutely contrary to the sanctity of the mosque. In the hadith it is stated :

“Allah’s curse on the Jews and Christians, they have made the graves of their prophets their mosques (worshipping places).”

-(Mishkat-Kitabus Salat, with ref. to Sahihain)

And the purpose of building mosques is that in them Allah’s name be remembered. That is: therein only Allah’s name may be mentioned, His praises sung, His name be invoked, etc., for mosques are reserved for Allah alone. However, some illiterate Muslims do not fail to invoke the name of their ‘Peer Dastagir’ in the mosques. Such polytheistic prayers of theirs very badly trample on the respect of the mosques.

63. In the foregoing ayat the etiquette for entering the house and for domestic life were narrated, and in this ayah the etiquette for Allah’s house is related. In other words, when the mention of the house was made, the narration was turned towards Allah’s house, and this is perceived to be the method of Quranic training that it turns the minds from lower to the higher, from the branch to the root. Accordingly when the narrative is about clothing, then the minds are turned towards the clothing of ‘taqwa’ (God-fearing) -(Surah A’raf-26).

In the foregoing ayah the narration was about Allah’s worshipping places, where His light sheds brilliance all around, and in this ayah the narration is about those who receive benefit from this light. Their basic attribute is that earning livelihood does not keep them away from remembering Allah. While attending to their business engagements and dealing with their selling and buying requirements, they remember Allah, they offer salat on time, and they do not fail to pay their due zakat.

Here the point which by itself becomes clear is that the person who remembers Allah even during his business engagements and dealings will naturally strive to earn lawful (Halal) livelihood..

However, today the condition of Muslims is most regrettable. Many are the people who do not offer salat on time on account of their business engagements. And there is still a larger number of people Who does not offer salat at all, as they do not find leisure time, as if offering prayer is a work to be done during leisure and business and trade have priority, over salat, This way of thinking is out and out materialistic. How can such stray and misguided people achieve the good fortune of establishing prayers!

64. That is: Owing to the devastating effects of the Doomsday neither the hearts will find peace nor the eyes will be calm.

The people of faith feel shaky from the fear of that awful day, and this fear makes them sober and serious. It creates in them a sense or responsibility. When a sense or responsibility is created in a slave, he adopts the altitude of obeying Allah.

65.That is: These slaves of Allah, who develop in themselves these attributes, will receive these fruits that whatever would be their best deeds they will be considered as the standard and will then be given their rewards. Besides Allah will further bless them with additional favours.

66. Allah gives so much that we cannot estimate His bounty. He is extremely gracious in giving, and the rewards with which He will bless these sincere slaves of His, they cannot imagine it in this world.

67. In the Quranic terminology ‘kufr’ (denial) does not merely mean denying the existence of God, but believing in Him yet denying His attributes or to associate with Him someone else, or to deny to worship Him without associating somebody with Him, to refuse to believe in anyone of His messengers or His books, to not accept His guidance, to deny obeying Him and His commandments, and not to believe in the Hereafter is also ‘Kufr’ Therefore, one should not be under this wrong impression that only he who denies the existence of God is’ Kafir’ or infidel, but even that person is also an infidel who believes in God, but not in the manner in which Allah has commanded in Qur’an.

68. In the acts of infidels all those acts are included which they perform in the name of God and religion, e.g. polytheists’ charitable work, establishment of charitable institutions, or work of public welfare, etc., and the polytheists of Arab used to perform Hajj also. So far as the Jews and Christians are concerned, they worship God in their own way, and follow some commandments of the divine shariah. Similarly some Muslims who are hypocrites, also sometimes offer prayer (salat), and also participate in some other religious work. All these acts are acts of virtue, and despite this they are contaminated with the filth of kufr, and therefore, all these acts of theirs are without spiritual benefit, and they will not earn any reward from Allah, nor will they get any reward for these acts in the Hereafter, which they performed for their country and the nation. Of their acts being fruitless has been described here by the example of mirage. As a thirsty traveller sees mirage in the desert and thinks it to be a rivulet for quenching his thirst. But comes to grief when he reaches near it. Similarly these infidels who may be thinking that if after death there would arise the matter of reward and punishment, then their virtuous acts would get them reward from God are prey to wishful thinking. On the Day of judgment they will realise that the hope which they had been nursing is false and that the reality of their virtues is nothing more than the reality or a mirage. On the Day of Judgment they will find that Allah exists and He will settle their account quickly and with full justice.

69. Allah will not take any time in reckoning the accounts of good deeds and bad deeds of millions, billions and trillions of people on the Day of Judgment.

70. This is the second example of the ignorance of the unbelievers. They are under the layers and layers of darkness of ignorance and they are unable to see any glimmer of light. Anything darker than this cannot be imagined.

71. It has become clear that he who does not get light from Allah will not be able to get any light from anywhere. He is destined to wander in darkness.