The Light (an-Nūr)

Start with what we know

Start with something we know. Then take away everything it needs. What is left is not a bigger version of us: it is the Name.

Episode 1

In us

The rod cells of the human eye can register a single photon of light (Tinsley and others, 2016). But we need light from outside, and darkness to see it against.

Episode 2

In nature

Off the coast of California, about three in four deep-sea animals make their own light.

Episode 3

At our best

The speed of light is now fixed exactly: 299,792,458 metres a second. The oldest light we have caught left 380,000 years after the universe began. All light travels, takes time, and fades.

Episode 4

The Break

Take away a source, fuel, travel time, fading. Every light we know travels from somewhere. An-Nūr is the One by whom anything is seen: “light upon light”, a lamp whose oil “(This lamp is) kindled from a blessed tree, an olive neither of the East nor of the West, whose oil would almost glow forth (of itself) though no fire touched it.” (Qur'an 24:35 · Pickthall).

Read: 24:35 (niche, lamp, glass, olive oil, 'light upon light'); 2:257.

From the tradition: Muslim (API 443): asked if he saw his Lord, the Prophet (peace be upon him) said '(He is) Light; how could I see Him?'; 'His veil is the light' (API 445). Bukhari 1120 'You are the Light of the heavens and the earth'. Ghazālī, Mishkāt al-anwār. In al-Maqṣad, an-Nūr is 'the manifest by whom every manifestation is': what is manifest in itself and makes other things manifest is called light.

Watch and listen

Films, documentaries and voices that reach towards this Name. Each links out to where you can watch it.

FreedocuseriesBlue Planet IIThe ocean's darkness and light - the Qur'an's 'darkness upon darkness' in the deep sea, filmed for the first time.2017 · 7 x 60 min · BBC Natural History Unit; narr. David Attenborou · BBC iPlayer (free with TV licence); buy Apple TV, Amazon

Trailer ▶F-ILM

paiddocuseriesWonders of the Universe (Brian Cox)Brian Cox explains light, time and stardust - we are made of the dust of stars.2011 · 4 x 60 min · BBC Science with Science Channel; presenter Bria · Widely available to stream or buy

F-ILM

FreeYouTube videoWhat Is Light?What light actually is, in four and a half minutes.4:39 · Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell

On screen

—

Where it shows up

In scripture: Q 24:35; 24:40; 2:257; Ps 27:1; Ps 139:12; 1 John 1:5.
The same thread in Jewish and Christian scripture: Ps 27:1 'GOD is my light and my help'; Ps 139:12 'darkness is not dark for You'; 1 John 1:5 'God is light'. Strong.
In the universe: Planck CMB oldest light (ESA).
In nature: Oceans: bioluminescence (Blue Planet II).
In people: Lamps in every faith's sanctuary: the mosque lamp of 24:35, the ner tamid, church candles.
In science: Electromagnetism; photosynthesis (half Earth's oxygen from ocean plankton, NOAA).

Living it

Bring people out of darkness; truthfulness that illuminates.

Its kind

Capacity: a quality we know a little of: hearing, knowing, seeing.

In the Qur'an: 24:35

The prayer of light

ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAbbās was a boy, perhaps ten years old. He stayed overnight at the house of his aunt Maymūna, one of the wives of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ (peace be upon him). He lay awake in the dark, curious, watching.

In the night the Prophet woke, washed his face and hands, slept again, and later rose and made his ablution carefully, using little water. Ibn ʿAbbās got up quietly, stretched so it would not look as if he had been watching, washed too and went to stand beside him to pray.

Then he heard the Prophet ask for light: “O God, place light in my heart, light in my sight and light in my hearing. Light on my right and light on my left, light above me and light below me, light in front of me and light behind me. And make me light.”

Ibn ʿAbbās grew up to be one of the great teachers of the Qur'an. Muslims still pray these words, often on the way to the dawn prayer, when the sky is just beginning to lighten. It is not a prayer to see God. It is a prayer to be filled with the light that comes from Him.

What each faith says

Read:

Judaism

“The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”
Psalms 27:1 · JPS 1917

“The LORD is my light” opens one of the best-loved psalms, said daily by many Jews in the month before the High Holy Days. Another psalm says that for God “the darkness is even as the light” (Psalm 139:12).

Every synagogue has a ner tamid, an eternal lamp, burning above the ark that holds the Torah scrolls. The Torah commanded that the lamp in the sanctuary be fed with pure beaten olive oil to burn continually (Exodus 27:20). On Friday evenings, Jewish women traditionally light the Sabbath candles, covering their eyes as they say the blessing, so that the week ends in light.

Christianity

“This is the message which we have heard from him and announce to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.”
1 John 1:5 · WEB

In John's Gospel, Jesus says: “I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in the darkness” (John 8:12). The Nicene Creed calls the Son “Light from Light”. Advent candles, the Easter candle and candles lit in prayer all draw on this.

The First Letter of John puts it most simply: God is light, with no darkness in Him at all.

At Evensong in Anglican churches and cathedrals, the evening ends with an old prayer from the Book of Common Prayer: “Lighten our darkness, we beseech thee, O Lord.”

Islam

“Allah is the Protecting Guardian of those who believe. He bringeth them out of darkness into light. As for those who disbelieve, their patrons are false deities. They bring them out of light into darkness. Such are rightful owners of the Fire. They will abide therein.”
Qur'an 2:257 · Pickthall (1930)

Muslim scholars read “God is the Light of the heavens and the earth” in more than one way, and both readings are mainstream. Many, following Ibn ʿAbbās, explain it as: God is the One who lights them and guides those in them. Others affirm Light as a real attribute of God, while insisting it is like no light we know. All agree that God is not a body made of light and cannot be pictured.

Asked whether he had seen his Lord, the Prophet (peace be upon him) answered: “Light: how could I see Him?” (Muslim 178). The Qur'an speaks of God bringing people out of darkness into light, the light of guidance.

Same and different

All three faiths call God light, keep a lamp burning in their places of prayer, and pray to be led out of darkness. The olive-oil lamp appears in both the Torah and the Qur'an. They differ in how close the light comes. Christians believe the Light became flesh in Jesus Christ, ‘Light from Light’. Jews and Muslims speak of God's light as His guidance and presence, never as a body, and Islam is especially careful that no picture or glow ever stands for God.

A moment to reflect

When have you felt you were brought out of a kind of darkness? What, or who, was the light?
Is there a light you switch on, or a candle you light, that means more to you than just being able to see?
The prayer asks to be made light. What would that look like for someone around you?

Watch

What Is Light? · Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell Plays on “Light upon light” →

Kurzgesagt on what light actually is, in clear, simple steps.

MBARI scientists explain why so many deep-sea animals make their own light.

The simple story of photosynthesis and food - Amanda Ooten · TED-Ed Plays on “Photosynthesis: eating sunlight” →

How plants turn sunlight into food and oxygen: the light inside every breath.

Do it together

schoolsThe hidden starch test

Cover part of a leaf on a potted geranium with foil for two days, then (with an adult) soften the leaf in hot water and add iodine. The parts that had light turn blue-black with starch; the covered part does not. Light made the food.

faith groups / neighbours / familiesLamps of three houses

In winter, gather to share the lamps of different traditions: Hanukkah candles, Advent candles, a Ramadan lantern. Each host explains what their light means. Read Psalm 27:1, 1 John 1:5 and Qur'an 24:35 by candlelight.

Go deeper

NOAA: How much oxygen comes from the ocean? · article
Qur'an 24:35, the Verse of Light · scripture
Psalm 27 (JPS 1917) on Sefaria · scripture
BBC Bitesize: photosynthesis · article
John 8 (WEB) on Bible Gateway · scripture

Others say it too

Beyond the Abrahamic family, other traditions reach for something like this. Each in its own words; we connect, never rank.

Sikh

The light which is in everything is Thine, O Lord of light. From its brilliancy everything is brilliant.

Arti, Dhanasari, Guru Nanak · Guru Granth Sahib p. 663 · tr. M. A. Macauliffe, The Sikh Religion (1909), vol. 1

Hindu

Sunburst of a thousand suns flooding earth with beams undeemed-of...

Bhagavad Gita 11.12 · tr. Edwin Arnold, The Song Celestial (1885)

Sources (5)

About half of Earth's oxygen comes from the ocean, mostly from phytoplankton: NOAA National Ocean Service
Ibn ʿAbbās at Maymūna's house; 'place light in my heart…': Sahih al-Bukhari 6316
'Light: how could I see Him?': Sahih Muslim 178
Pure beaten olive oil for the continual lamp: Exodus 27:20, JPS 1917
Ibn ʿAbbās: God is the guide of those in the heavens and earth: Tafsir al-Tabari on 24:35 (via Quran.com tafsir)

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