living and a self. Likewise, He is not included in the light that was made, even though He, glorified and exalted, is Light.

His sixth statement is: “Light is dispelled by darkness. If the Exalted were identical with this perceptible light, He would be liable to cease to exist.” The reply is: No Muslim says that He is identical with this perceptible light, nor is this the apparent meaning of the verse, as we have already explained.

In his seventh argument, he says: “Bodies are alike, yet they differ in light and darkness; therefore, light must be an accident inhering in bodies.” The reply is: There is no dispute that light which is an accident inhering in bodies is called light—for example, sunlight spreading over the earth, moonlight spreading over the earth, and the light of fire, such as the light a lamp casts upon walls. However, the term ‘light’ applies both to an accident and to a body. Fire itself is called light: if the illumination cast by fire upon the ground and walls is called light, then the flame issuing from the wick, which is a body subsisting in its own right, has all the more claim to be called light. Allah, Exalted is He, says:

“He is the One who made the sun a radiance and the moon a light.” [Yūnus 5]

Thus, the former is called radiance