Mostafa Badawi_the Light Of Faith

The Light of Faith by Mostafa Badawi

Light is that which is visible in itself and makes other things visible. Physical light is seen with the physical eye and makes what it falls upon in the physical world visible. The light of reason is invisible to the physical eye but similar to it at its own level. This is why when something intelligible becomes evident through reasoning, we say, “I see.” At a higher level, still, there is the light of certainty which is perceived by the spiritual eye of the heart. The first thing that God created was light, for compared to nothingness, which is total darkness, being is light. Ultimately, there is the Divine Light: “God is the Light of the heavens and the earth” (24:35).

s i n c e c r e at i o n i s but the reflection of the Divine Names and Attributes, the infinitely repeated reflection of the One Light results in the variety of lights, visible and intelligible, that fill the universe. Revealed scripture, the Word of God, in its many forms, is light. God – Exalted is He – says in the Qur’an, Say: Who sent down the Book which Moses brought, a light and guidance for the people? (6:91) We have sent down the Torah in which there was guidance and light… . (5:44) And We sent Moses with Our signs, “Bring your people out of the shadows, into the light, and remind them of the days of God… .” (14:5) The Jews not only altered their Book, but many became obsessed with the outward observance of their rituals, forgetting the reason for them: the purification of the heart. worshipping the Law, not He who prescribed it. Jesus ∑ was sent not to abrogate the Law, which in fact he explicitly confirmed, but to stress its inward spiritual dimension: And after them We sent Jesus son of Mary, confirming the Torah that was before him, and We gave him the Gospel in which was guidance and light, confirming the Torah that was before it, and guidance and counsel to the godfearring.(Qur’an 5:46) The “godfearing” are the people of taqw¥, and taqw¥ is inwardly to be in such awe of God as to avoid displeasing Him. It is to yearn to meet Him so much as to be terrified of any-

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Mostafa al-Badawi is one of the world’s premier translators of Islamic spiritual texts. He is a Consultant Psychiatrist and member of THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF PSYCHIATRISTS. He studied under many shaykhs, foremost among whom is the late Habib Ahmad Mashhur alHaddad. His other translations include: THE BOOK OF ASSISTANCE, THE LIVES OF MAN, TWO TREATISES, THE PROPHETIC INVOCATIONS, and DEGREES OF THE SOUL. He is also the author of MAN AND THE UNIVERSE: AN ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVE, recently published by Wakeel Books. He resides in Medina.

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PHOTO: HANNA SAYYIDA / CWDM

They thus reached the stage where they were

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thing that might become a barrier obstructing

The light of the Prophet and the light of the

the blissful vision of His Countenance in the

Qur’an, when they receive them acceptingly,

hereafter. Thus, the guidance and counsel in

will bring them forth from the shadows of

the verse refer to Jesus confirming the Law and

error and misguidance into the light of faith,

counseling his people on how to follow it,

certainty, and proximity to God by His leave,

while the light in the Gospel refers to the

for ultimately, it is He who will guide them to a

inward dimension of the Law which leads to

straight path.

spiritual enlightenment. In the Qur’an, God addresses the Jews and

The Prophet is also called a radiating light in the following verses of the Qur’an:

the Christians thus: Those who follow the Messenger, the unlettered Prophet, whom they find described in their Torah and Gospel – he will enjoin on them good and forbid them evil, he will make lawful for them all good things and prohibit for them what is foul, and he will relieve them of their burden and the fetters that were upon them. Those who believer in him, honor him, support him, and follow the light which has been sent down with him, they are the successful.(7:157) Here, God calls the Qur’an a light, just as

O Prophet! We have sent you as a witness and a bringer of good news and a warner. And as a summoner to God by His leave, and as a lamp radiating light. (33:45,46) The Qur’an is called ‘a light’ in many more verses: So believe in God, His Messenger, and the light We have sent down. And God is Aware of what you do. (64:8) Among people there are those who dispute about God with neither knowledge, guidance,

He had called the Torah and the Gospel lights.

nor an illuminating book. (22:8)

The outward form of this light is called guid-

O Men! A proof from your Lord has come to

ance and refers to enjoining good, to

you, and We have sent down a manifest light.

forbidding evil, and to legal injunctions and

(4:174)

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prohibitions. The People of the Book are

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exhorted to recognize in the Qur’an the same

The Qur’an, being the uncreated Word of

light that shone forth from previous scriptures

God, represents the appearance of the Divine

and believe in it, thereby becoming successful

Light among men. That which is uncreated

in this world and the next.

is its essence, for its letters, words, and

In another passage, God calls His Prophet a

sounds evidently belong to creation. To

light, again inviting the People of the Book to

perceive the light within the Qur’an is to

recognize him as the same light that shone

perceive its eternal essence, but, at a lower

forth as previous Divine Messengers:

level, it is also to perceive the various lights that branch out from this essence, such as

People of the Book, now there has come to you

the light of outward guidance, of knowledge,

Our Messenger, making clear to you many

of faith in the heart, of certainty, the baraka it

things you have been concealing of the Book

manifests and radiates wherever it is recited,

and effacing many things. There has come to

of inward inspired knowledge, of the Divine

you from God a light, and a Book Manifest,

Names and Attributes it mentions, and so on.

whereby God guides whosoever follows His

These lights bring those who receive them

good pleasure in the ways of peace and brings

acceptingly out of the shadows of disbelief and

them forth from the shadows into the light by

into the light of faith; out of the shadows of

His leave, and He guides them to a straight

ignorance and into the light of knowledge;

path. (5:14,15)

out of the shadows of remoteness from God

and into ever increasing proximity, which brings ever intensifying lights: …so fear god, O people of reason who believe. God has sent you a remembrance: a

O God, put light in my heart, light in my sight, light in my hearing, light to my right, light to my left, light above me, light below me, light before me, and light behind me; and grant me light.6

Messenger reciting to you the clear verses of God, to bring those who believe and do good works out of the shadows, into the light…. (65:10,11) Alif, L¥m, R¥. A Book We sent down to you that you may bring the people out of the shadows, into the light, by leave of their Lord, to the path of the August, the Praiseworthy. (14:1) He it is Who sends clear verses to His slave, that He may bring you out of the shadows, into the light… . (57:9) “God is the Guardian of the believers, Who brings them out of the shadows into the light. The disbelievers, their guardians are the devils who bring them out of the light into the

Part of the surah of Light from a very early Medinan Qur’an.

shadows. Those are the people of the Fire, to remain in it to perpetuity. (2:257) The universe is a tissue of lights of which we

And,

perceive only a minute portion in the physical

“I ask you, O God, O Most-Merciful, by Your majesty and the light of Your countenance, to enlighten my sight with Your Book….”7

world and know only of those we were informed of by the Qur’an and Sunna. “The angels,” said the Prophet œ, “were created of Abraham in the Ka¢ba also shone forth with light before they were brought down to earth. the rubies of paradise, the light of which God has dimmed. Had He not dimmed their two lights, they would have illuminated what is between the East and the West.” 2 The Prophet œ also informed us that the ritual prayer is light,3 that therefore to pray

For the Horn shall be blown, and all those in the heavens and the earth shall be struck down, save those whom God wills. Then it shall be blown a second time, and they shall stand, gazing. And the earth shall shine with the light of its Lord… .(39:68,69) And the Prophet œ said,

one’s supererogatory prayers at home illuminates it,4 and that those who walk in the dark to pray in the mosque shall have complete light on the Day of Arising.5 In his du¢¥’ (supplication) he said,

“No companion of mine will die in a land but that he will be resurrected as the leader of its people and a light for them on the Day of Arising.” 8

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“The Corner and the Station are two rubies of

There will be lights to be seen in the hereafter. The Qur’an says,

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from light.”1 The Black Stone and the Station

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PHOTO: PETER SANDERS FROM IN THE SHADE OF THE TREE

light and shadows in medina

This photograph is intentionally printed upside down to illustrate the illusion created by shadows. He also said, “There shall come on the Day

And those who believe in God and His

of Arising people whose light is like the

Messengers, they are the siddiq‰n. And the

light of the sun.”

martyrs are with their Lord; they have their reward and their light… . (57:19)

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Ab‰ Bakr asked, “Are those us, O Messenger of God?”

day for gardens beneath which rivers flow, in

The physical light which the blind cannot

which you will abide perpetually.” That is the

see, the contrast between the coolness of the

immense success. On that day, hypocrite men

shade and the pain of intense heat, and the

and women will say to the believers, “Wait for

light of life with the darkness of death are all

us that we may borrow of your light!” But it

here given as metaphors for the light of faith

will be said, “Go back and seek some other

and the shadows of disbelief. Those whose

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light!” (57:12,13)

hearts are dead are unable to receive the light

To return to the light of faith, God says,

The reply was, “No, yours will be much good, but those are the poor.” 9

The blind is not equal with he who sees; nor the shadows with light; nor the shade with intense

The Qur’an again says,

heat; nor are the living equal with the dead;

On the day when you will see believing men

God causes whom He will to hear, but you can

and women, their light shining forth before

never make hear those who are in the graves.

them and on their right hand: “Rejoice this

(35:19-22)

of Revelation. In reality they are dead,

the reflection of His light in the created

entombed in the graves, which are their mate-

universe. Now, the most complete and perfect

rial bodies; although the latter seem to live

reflection of His light in the universe is the

and move, real life is the life of spirit, the light

Prophet œ as stated by Ibn ¢Abb¥s and

of nearness to the eternal light of God.

others.10 The “Verse of Light” continues,

We find the same meaning in another verse:

The likeness of His light is that of a niche in which is a lamp. The lamp is in a glass; the

Is he who was dead and whom We raised to

glass is as a glittering star; [the lamp is]

life, and made as a light for him to walk

lighted from a blessed tree, an olive, neither

among people, the same as he who is in the

of the East, nor of the West, whose oil would

shadows, out of which he will not come? Thus

almost glow forth, even if no fire touched it,

is what they do made to seem fair for the

light upon light.

disbelievers. (6:122)

The niche is his breast œ. It has two

When the disbeliever accepts Islam, the

surfaces, one that receives the lights of God –

light of faith infuses his heart with life. God

“God and His angels bless the Prophet”

asks,

(35:36) – and another that radiates it to

Is he whose breast God has enlarged to Islam, so he walks in a light from his Lord [equal with he who remains in darkness]? So, woe to those whose hearts are hardened against the remembrance of God. They are in evident error.(39:22)

mankind. His breast was twice enlarged to receive these lights, once during his childhood and a second time before his ascension (mi¢r¥j). In the niche is a lamp, which is the light of prophethood. Within his breast the lamp is enclosed in a glass, which is his heart. The glass is so pure and sheer as to be like a

But those whose hearts are dark – and,

glittering star. The oil of the lamp comes from

here, darkness equals hardness – those who

an olive tree, the tree of Abraham ∑ which is

are entrenched in their shadows wish to

primordial, neither of the East like that of the

extinguish the light in others, for this is the

Christians, nor of the West like that of the

ongoing battle between good and evil:

Jews, for it is none other than the central tree

“They seek to extinguish the light of God with their mouths, but God will complete His light,

oil of this blessed tree seems to be about to shine forth even before it is touched by the fire of the Qur’an. When the light of the prophetic nature of the Messenger of God received the light of the Qur’an, it became, “Light upon

referring to the light of faith in the heart of

light.” To these lights, which lead to His Light,

sincere believers in the following manner:

does God lead those whom He chooses for

“God is the Light of the heavens and the

eternal bliss: “God guides whom He wills to His

earth.” One of the obvious meanings of this

light and strikes similitudes for the people. And God

verse, and there are many, is that God has

has knowledge of everything” (24:35).

created the secondary causes that illuminate

Now, since each Muslim is a more or less an

the heavens and the earth, such as the sun and

imperfect reflection of the perfect prototype

moon for the terrestrial world; Scriptures,

that is the Messenger of God œ the same

Prophets, and scholars for the hearts of men;

similitude should apply, albeit in a much

angels for the seven heavens; and so on. “The

more limited and conditioned manner.

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In the light of all the above, we may understand the “Verse of Light” (Qur’an 24:35) as

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much as the disbelievers may hate it” (61:8).

of primordial prophethood. The light of the

likeness of His light,” as the verse continues, is

Therefore, we may say that the niche refers to

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the breast of the believer. It has two faces: one

The ones described here are those who

turned to the Prophet, the Qur’an, and the

allow nothing to distract them from the

higher Worlds, receiving the influx of divine

constant remembrance of God and conformi-

mercies; the other turned toward his fellow

ty with the injunctions of SharÏ ¢a, which is the

Muslims, radiating these lights among them.

very definition of sincerity. Constant remem-

In the believer, the glass will be sheer and glit-

brance, which is unbroken awareness of God,

tery to the extent that he is sincere in obeying

is that which allows a Muslim to catch up with

his Lord, following his Prophet, and purifying

such sincere believers as are described above.

his heart. In the glass is a lamp, which is the

The way to achieve unbroken awareness is to

light of faith, fed by the same oil of the knowl-

strengthen the light in one’s heart by abun-

edge of prophethood, but according to its

dant invocations and acts of worship,

limited capacity, to be lighted by the fire of the

following the Sunna in its smallest details,

Qur’an so that it too will become light upon

strengthening the virtues, thinking well of all

light. The Prophet œ said that there are four

Muslims, keeping company with those who

kinds of hearts:

are near to God, and so on. Under such condi-

… a heart that is smooth, containing the likeness of a lamp, radiant; a heart that is enveloped in an envelope that is tied up; a heart that is upside down; and a heart made of layers. As for the heart that is smooth, it is the heart of the believer; its lamp is the light in it. As for the heart that is enveloped, it is the heart of the disbelievers. As for the heart that is upside down, it is the heart of the hypocrite who has recognized [the truth] then denied it. As for the heart made of layers, it is a heart containing both faith and hypocrisy….11

Now, the blessed tree in the verse is neither of the East nor of the West to the extent of his keeping to the middle path, not following sects or heresies. At a higher level, it refers to God’s | au t u m n – w i n t e r 2 0 0 3 - 4 | s e a s o n s

elect who have lost all inclination for the

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pleasures of both this world and the next but yearn only for the Proximity of God – Majestic is He. That the similitude refers to the light of faith in sincere believers is evidenced by the next verse: In houses that God has permitted to be raised up and for His Name to be remembered therein. In these, He is glorified morning and evening by those whom neither commerce nor sale distracts from the remembrance of God, the performance of the ritual prayer, or paying the Zak¥h. They fear a day when hearts and eyes will be overturned. (24:36,37)

tions, verbal remembrance, if practiced in abundance and with concentration, is bound to lead to remembrance of the heart whereby one’s awareness of God remains unbroken even when engaged in necessary worldly pursuits. At this stage, the person becomes subject to the unbroken divine effulgence of graces so that God becomes his WalÏ and he becomes the walÏ of God. ✺ references 1

Muslim, Zuhd, 60; A^mad, 6:153, 168.

2

TirmidhÏ, (878).

3

Muslim, >ah¥ra, 1; TirmidhÏ, (3517)

4

Ibn M¥ja, (1375)

5

Ab‰ D¥w‰d, (561); TirmidhÏ, (223)

6

Bukh¥rÏ, (6316).

7

TirmidhÏ, (3570).

8

TirmidhÏ, (3865)

9

HaytamÏ, Majmac az-Zaw¥’id, 10:258

10

Al‰sÏ, tafsÏr, vol. 18 pp 168, 169, 170.

11

A^mad, (11145)