and by it He strengthens them—just as the same is meant when one speaks of “the light of Allah.” The Exalted said:

“Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The parable of His light is that of a niche wherein is a lamp; the lamp is in a glass, the glass is as if it were a brilliant star lit from a blessed olive tree, neither of the east nor of the west, whose oil would almost glow even if fire did not touch it. Light upon light. Allah guides to His light whom He wills, and Allah sets forth parables for mankind, and Allah is Knowing of all things.” (al-Nūr 24:35)

Thus Allah offers a similitude: the believer whose breast He has made like a niche, whose heart within that niche is like the glass, and the light of faith within his heart—which is the light of Allah—is like the lamp inside the glass. Yet that light in his heart is not the very divine attribute that subsists in Allah Himself.

It becomes clear, then, that whenever an informed person ponders the words of the prophets and contrasts them with the claims of the innovators among the Christians and others, he finds in prophetic speech only what points to the opposite of their error, never what supports it.