Allah is the light of the heavens and the earth; a likeness of His light is as a niche in which is a lamp, the lamp is in a glass, (and) the glass is as it were a brightly shining star, lit from a blessed olive-tree, neither eastern nor western, the oil whereof almost gives light though fire touch it not — light upon light — Allah guides to His light whom He pleases, and Allah sets forth parables for men, and Allah is Cognizant of all things.

{Quran; 24:35}

As we read this ayah (sign from the Lord) we find ourselves reflecting, mesmerised by the complexity of image within   image, where Allah (swt), He who transgresses the faculties of the human mind, describes Himself as the noor (light).

The light here described must be something other than the material light. But light is a simple reality, independent of anything, there is no demonstration for it. The dictionary definition tells us that light is that which makes other things manifest. Then if that is its function, is not God that which makes everything manifest? Is not Allah (swt) the Ultimate Reality and the Giver of existence? He is the pure light that is always present, He is not absent to become illuminated, He is illumination. Light is His manifestation, not His being.  Imam Ali (as) who referred to this verse non-metaphorically in the past tense, indicated that Allah (swt) was the Light (the Creator) of the heavens and the earth.

On studying the multiple interpretations of this multifaceted verse one realises they are of the same essence: the Knowledge of Allah (swt). The sensory light of the sun, the stars and the lamp, and the non-sensory light of knowledge and faith both make other things apparent. Allah (swt) is the Light that makes things apparent but by His Mercy He gives of His light to the heart of the believer and opens the believer’s eyes to knowledge of Him. This then becomes light upon light.

The niche is a recess in a wall, high up from the ground. In it lays a lamp contained within a glass; the light within the lamp burns from the oil of a blessed olive tree that is neither from the east nor from the west.  This olive tree is said to be a tree in Sham (A region in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Palestine) which is a place neither of the Occident nor of the Orient. It is also said to be a tree from Heaven – not from the east or west of this world – which the perfect man will reach and eat of its fruits.

Moreover, the orient is symbolic of the Necessary Being and the occident of the contingent (human being). The essence of the Creator is the place where the lights of existence rise, and the world of the contingent is where those lights set, where the realities of the Divine names lay down.

It must be noted that by the heavens and the earth, all existence is denoted and thus if God is the light of the   heavens and the earth nothing can be known but through His light. A tradition from Imam Sadiq (as) tells us that what is meant by ‘the likeness of His light’ is Muhammad (pbuh), the niche is the similitude for Muhammad’s breast, where lies the light of knowledge which is Prophethood (lamp), and the glass surrounding it is the knowledge of the Prophet emanated towards the heart of Ali (as). Because of the glass’ fine nature, and its closeness to the Light, it emanates luminosity on things though it does not touch the fire.

It is only possible to reach the Divine Light through the veil of the blessed Prophet for he is the first servant to confess complete belief in ‘There is no God but Allah’. He and his purified progeny are the transparent glass of the highest transparency through which one can see the Light in its purity. As Mulla Sadra so beautifully puts it, ‘The Perfect Man is a comprehensive book of the signs of His Lord the All Holy; a rolled-up scroll in which are the realities of intellects and souls; a perfect ‘word’ full of various sciences and [their] branches; a copy written from the symbol of ‘Be and it becomes [kun fa yakun].’

References:

Pooya/Ali Commentary – http://www.al-islam.org/quran

On the Hermeneutics of the Light Verse, Mulla Sadra Shirazi

Al-Mizan fi tafsir al-Quran, Alama Sayed Hussain Tabatabaei

Forty Hadith, Imam Khomeini