Let the discerning reader reflect on this magnificent verse and how closely it accords with these sublime meanings. Allah, glorified and exalted, mentions His light in the heavens and the earth, and His light in the hearts of His believing servants: the intelligible light recognized by inner sight and hearts, and the tangible light perceived by the eyes, which illuminates the reaches of the upper and lower worlds. These are two great lights, one greater than the other.

Just as, when one of them is absent from a place, neither a human being nor any other living creature can live there—for living creatures exist only where there is light, and no creature can live or exist at all in dark places upon which no light shines—so too a community deprived of the light of revelation and faith is inevitably dead. A heart deprived of this light is likewise inevitably dead, utterly devoid of life, just as no living creature can survive in a place without light.

24:35 “Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The likeness of His light is that of a niche in which there is a lamp. The lamp is within glass, the glass like a radiant star, lit from a blessed olive tree, neither of the east nor of the west, whose oil would almost glow even if no fire touched it. Light upon light. Allah guides to His light whom He wills. Allah sets forth examples for people, and Allah has knowledge of all things.”

His words, Most High, “Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth,” have been interpreted to mean that He illuminates the heavens and the earth and guides their inhabitants. Thus, through His light, the inhabitants of the heavens and the earth are guided.

This, however, describes only His action. The light that is one of His attributes subsists in Him, and from it derives His name “the Light,” which is one of the Most Beautiful Names.

Light is ascribed to Him, glorified is He, in one of two ways: as an attribute is ascribed to its possessor, or as an effect is ascribed to its producer.