Surah An-Nur—the verse of Light (24:35):
“God is the Light of the heavens and the earth; the likeness of His Light is as a niche
wherein is a lamp
(the lamp in a glass,
the glass as it were a glittering star)
kindled from a Blessed Tree,
an olive that is neither of the East nor of the West whose oil wellnigh would shine, even if no fire
touched it Light upon Light
(God guides to His Light whom He will.) (And God strikes similitudes for men, and God has knowledge of everything”
The Surah An- Nur is one of the most poetic surah of the Holy Quran.
For Sufis this verse is taken as a metaphor for the human heart in which God’s light resides and by which man is guided on his mystical journey.
Photo:
Mosque Lamp of Amir Qawsun
ca. 1329–35
‘Ali ibn Muhammad al-Barmaki
@metmuseum