into a single will, as the Nestorians assert; rather, what reaches other things is its ray, and that ray is a created effect that proceeds from it.

Hence, if someone were to say that whatever proceeds from the Lord—His light, His Holy Spirit, His guidance, His speech, and His knowledge—settles in the hearts of His prophets and the believers among His servants, and were to illustrate this by the way a sun-beam rests upon the earth, such an analogy would be closer to sound reason.

For this reason the Exalted said:

“Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The likeness of His light is as a niche wherein is a lamp; the lamp is in a glass…” (al-Nūr 24:35).

Ubayy ibn Kaʿb commented: “The likeness of His light in the hearts of the believers is of this kind.”

Likewise, if it is said that His light, or His guidance, or His speech—which He has named a spirit—dwells in the hearts of the believers, then this, in that specific sense, is correct. Indeed, Allah has called it a spirit, for He, Most High, said:

“And thus We have revealed to you a spirit from Our command. You did not know what the Book was, nor what faith was, but We made it a light by which We guide whom We will of Our servants, and indeed you guide to a straight path” (al-Shūrā 42:52),

and He, Most High, also said:

“He casts the spirit of His command upon whom He wills of His servants” (Ghāfir 40:15).