The Lamp of Understanding, The Tree of Religion and The Pure Word of the Imam: Esoteric Reflections on Qur'an 24:35 and 14:24-25
Exploring Qur’anic Symbols in the Light of the Imam’s Guidance and the Ismaili Wisdom Tradition
Sūrah-yi Nūr
God is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The likeness (mathal) of His light is as a niche wherein is a lamp (miṣbāḥ) - the lamp is in a glass, the glass as it were a brilliant star (kawkab-i durriyy), lit from [the oil of] a blessed tree (shajārah mubārak), an olive (zaytūn) neither of the east nor of the west, whose oil would well-nigh shine even if no fire touched it; light upon light (nūrun ‘alā nūr); God guides to His light whom He will and God strikes similitudes (amthāl) for humankind, and God has knowledge of everything.
« 24:35 »
As a member or murid (initiated follower) of the esoteric tariqah (path) of the Murshid-i Kamil (Perfect Guide), the Manifest Imam of the time, a Shi‘i Ismaili Muslim might wonder, “How do I personally and spiritually benefit from Ayat an-Nur (24:35), the famous Qur’anic Verse of Light?” One way to interpret and personally benefit from the Divinely revealed words of this blessed ‘Lamp Verse’ (Ayat al-Misbah), as the verse is also known, is to recall what our spiritual Guide, Nur Mawlana Shah Karim al-Husayni Hazar Imam⁽ˢ⁾, indicated about this verse in his address to the Asia Society in 1979. Speaking about Islamic architecture, our 49th Imam said: