AL NUR

Many Muslim scholars feel that a major emphasis in Al Nur is ALLAH’S care of the family. In that context, how fitting it is that the 35th verse of Al Nur contains a beautiful metaphor that reveals the rich dimensions of ALLAH’S revelation of Himself.

“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 a glass:
The glass as if it were a brilliant Planet:
Lit from a blessed Tree, An Olive, neither
Of the East nor of the West, Whose Oil is
Well-nigh Luminous, though fire scare 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.”

GLASS TO BE BROKEN

It is clear that ALLAH is the Transcendent Light. Since the full brilliance of ALLAH’S Light is too bright for humans to endure, He ordained that at the right time and place, His Light would be revealed in a way that would not overwhelm man. ALLAH’S Light is portrayed in this verse as shining within a glass or lamp. The people of the Messiah’s time built niches into the walls of their homes for lamps to give light to the family living in the home. Similarly, Al Nur reveals that ALLAH appointed Isa as a lamp in a niche to enlighten the house of Israel and to give light to the families of Israel.

The leaders of that house rejected ALLAH’S Light. As a lamp made of glass can be broken, the vulnerable Messiah, clothed in the fragility of humanity, was cruelly broken by his own people. This occurred through the incomprehensible Eternal Wisdom of ALLAH, which is beyond human “common sense.” It makes no sense to us that he would allow the leaders of Israel to manipulate the Romans to crucify Isa on a Jerusalem hill.

Here is another way of looking at it. The Holy Qur’an often uses rich symbolic language to teach spiritual truth. In this case, it likens the Messiah to glass that can be broken. This is consistent with another sura that says the Messiah was neither killed nor crucified. Speaking symbolically, is it possible to kill eternal light? No! Speaking symbolically, can a brilliant planet that is destined to soar into the heavens be forever snuffed out? No!

Then it is consistent to symbolically state by skilled hyperbole that the Messiah was neither killed nor crucified in one sura, while teaching in others that Israeli leaders did indeed temporarily take his life.

AN OLIVE TREE

What more appropriately represents the invisible anointing of ALLAH’S Spirit on the Messiah than an olive tree? Consider that it produces oil both anointing and light. As man cannot track the movements of the Spirit, so it is with this olive tree. Its origin is unknown. It comes from neither East nor West. Yet its pure oil when used in a lamp produces a bright light. So, the oil of this olive tree represents both the anointing that ALLAH bestowed on His Messiah and the source of his brilliant light, the Spirit.

A BRILLIANT PLANET

Another representation of the exalted Isa is the brilliant planet or star. The Qur’an uses the word, “brilliant,” undoubtedly because his brightness on earth was so great that it revealed the impurities in the lives of the day’s religious leaders. The light exposed their greed, arrogance; lack of compassion and hypocrisy, and selfish exploitation pf the common people. The most glaring imperfection was the hard-hearted rejection of their compassionate Messiah. Rejected and unjustly excused, he could not be held by death. ALLAH, by His Great Might and Eternal wisdom, gloriously returned him to the appropriate place for a brilliant planet – the heavens, where he was destined to soar.

FIRE

The olive tree image shows that the light shines brightly, not needing fire. The Oil of ALLAH’S Spirit has its own internal flame; external fire isn’t needed. Besides giving light, fire purifies. No, external fire was needed in the life of ALLAH’S Messiah because he needed no purification. Neither was the fire of discipline required because ALLAH’S Spirit constantly led him to fulfill The ETERNAL’S Will.

A PARABLE OF UNITY

Al Nur does not present a formula for ALLAH, unlike some Christian theologians who make a tight formula out of what they describe as trinity. It presents only a representation of ALLAH’S Unity; an attempt to portray ALLAH’S Majestic Unity by formula is inadequate. So it is that this parable about ALLAH’S Light and Spirit helps us understand unity while not representing itself as final truth.