The Lamp in the Niche in Ayat al-Nur is the Quran Itself

By Naseer Ahmed, New Age Islam 21 May 2025 Introduction My first article on this subject is “An Exposition of the Verse of Light (Ayat al-Nur)” dated 29 September 2016. It contains essentially what I have once again written in my article: “Ayat al-Nur: Divine Light as a Beacon for Moral Living” dated 29 April 2025. The second one was with the assistance of AI, feeding it my first article. Contrary to what people believe, using AI when your own thinking is original is tough. The AI constantly reverts to its default position based on the consensus and opinion of scholars in the literature. To make it think like you is tough and time-consuming, but worth it. It helps clarify your own ideas and test them against what others have said on the same subject. I am grateful to Rasheed sb for his recent comment comparing my Tafsir with that of the classical scholars. While reading his comment, the precise meaning of 24:35 hit me like a bolt from the blue. The Metaphor Comes into Focus Ayat al-Nur (24:35) is a marvel of tightly integrated metaphors. Once viewed through the prism of divine revelation as a moral light, the verse reveals a complete and coherent image. What struck me recently is that the verse is not describing an abstract notion of guidance but something specific and tangible: the Quran itself. In the era before the printing press, Qurans were rare, handwritten, and cherished. Mosques had a niche in the wall—not just a symbolic Mehrab for indicating direction of prayer—but an actual storage space where the Quran might be kept. When we read "Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The parable of His light is as if there were a niche and within it a lamp...", the imagery resonates not only as metaphor but also as physical reality. The Quran, as the perfected source of divine guidance, is the lamp housed within the niche. The Self-Luminous Oil and the First Principle of Morality The oil from a tree neither of the East nor the West is described as "almost giving light even though untouched by fire." This is the self-evident, universal moral truth—the Golden Rule: do unto others as you would have them do unto you. It is not derived from culture or reason. It is of divine origin, revealed through messengers to every civilisation. Without this principle, no civilisation could have taken root. This primal truth shines on its own, once revealed or in hindsight, but once "lit"—once expounded in divine Books like the Quran—it produces "light upon light." The Quran builds upon the universal moral principle and provides its complete articulation, with laws, examples, refinement through ihsan, and elaboration. As Thomas Aquinas argued, all moral norms can be traced back to this first principle of loving one’s neighbor as oneself. Kant, too, offered the same in a secular frame: act only on that maxim which you can will to become a universal law. But in the Quranic framework, this principle is revelation, not reason. Revelation vs. Innate Morality The classical scholars, including Imam Ghazali, could not arrive at this understanding for two reasons. First, the discovery that the Golden Rule is present in every civilisation only emerged in the modern era. Second, they operated under the assumption that humans possess some innate moral knowledge—what they called Fitrah. But the Quran never affirms that we are born with fully-formed moral principles. Rather, it says that Allah has taught us. What we are born with is instinct for survival and the capacity to learn moral behaviour—not morality itself. Even basic prosocial behaviour must be learned. The Limitations of Ghazali’s Interpretation Imam Ghazali's Mishkat al-Anwar remains a celebrated classic. He interpreted the niche as the chest, the glass as the heart, and the light as divine illumination. But this interpretation clashes with the very next verse (24:36), which says the light is found in houses of worship—not hearts. Moreover, the Quran describes the human heart as veiled, diseased, and fallible. It is not a flawless receptacle for divine light. The glass in 24:35 is described as pristine and brilliant—“as if it were a shining star”—making it an implausible metaphor for the human heart. An Integrated Reading Every element of the verse aligns when seen through this lens: • The tree is the divine source in Heaven. • The oil is the primal, self-evident moral truth—self-luminous once revealed. • The lamp is the complete and perfected Deen of Allah when articulated through revelation. • The glass is the pristine, clear language of the Quran. Its function is not only to transmit but also to protect the flame—just as precise language protects and conveys divine guidance without distortion or absorption. • The niche is the encompassing framework that houses it all—visually, physically, and doctrinally. All are aspects of a single, integrated object: the Quran. It is light upon light—universal truth made radiant through perfect expression. This, then, is the beauty of Ayat al-Nur. Its metaphors are not mystifying when we read them in harmony with the Quran's overall message: revelation is the source of moral clarity. And the Quran is its finest lamp. Concluding Reflection It has taken me nine years to fully realise what Ayat al-Nur was pointing to, though all the metaphors were explained by me exactly as I have done today. What was eluding was the single object that all the metaphors alluded to. This delay is not a mark of failure but a testimony to how the Quran unfolds itself to each person in layers — at the pace of their striving, sincerity, and reflection. In this sense, the Quran becomes a kind of personal revelation: not in content, but in the deepening clarity with which its light penetrates the heart and mind over time. The verse that once felt mysterious now strikes with luminous precision. The only reason it took so long is that the image of the Quran kept in a niche is uncommon in our time. We live in an age of mass printing, where Qurans abound in every home and mosque. But in the era before the printing press, they were few and precious. In many mosques, a niche in the wall served not just to mark the qibla but to house the sacred Book itself. This historical reality suddenly brought the metaphor into complete focus — and with it, the luminous meaning of the verse. This is the miracle of a Book that is “light upon light” — ever the same in words, yet ever new in meaning to those who seek. May Allah guide us to His Light. ---- A frequent contributor to NewAgeIslam.com, Naseer Ahmed is an Engineering graduate from IIT Kanpur and is an independent IT consultant after having served in both the Public and Private sector in responsible positions for over three decades. He has spent years studying Quran in-depth and made seminal contributions to its interpretation. URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islam-spiritualism/lamp-niche-ayat-al-nur-quran/d/135604 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism