light verse in the qur'an

8/2/2019 Light Verse in the Qur'An

1/33

The Light Verse: Qurnic Text and Sf Interpretation

Author(s): Gerhard BweringReviewed work(s):Source: Oriens, Vol. 36 (2001), pp. 113-144Published by: BRILLStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1580478 .

Accessed: 26/03/2012 04:02

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of

content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

BRILL is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Oriens.

http://www.jstor.org
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=baphttp://www.jstor.org/stable/1580478?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/stable/1580478?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=bap


2/33

THE LIGHTVERSE:QUR'ANICTEXTAND $UFIINTERPRETATIONby

GerhardBoweringNew Haven

For Franz Rosenthalon his eighty-ffth birthday

Throughout he ages, light has beenvalued as the most beautifulphenom-enon of creationand the eye that perceives it as the most importanthumanorganof sense perception.Monotheistic eligionssuchas Islamseekthe originof natural ight in God, the eternal source of light, an unapproachableightwithout darkness,and they actualizethe desire to know God in an act ofseeing the divine light. Maintainingthe distinction between Creator andcreation,earthly light is understoodas an image of eternallight, thoughfollowing the principle of like drawing to like, light can only be knownthrough ight. God can be seen only throughan inner eye, the spirit or theintellect,and this vision of God cannotbe achieved by humaneffort alone.Rather, t is ultimately a gift of God, an illumination.God is not identicalin essence with light, and natural ight does not coincide with divine light,although ight is the most inclusive attributeby which God is described.Atthe same time, light is the most exalted image by which the invisible Godcan be represented n a visible andtemporalworld, and the most powerfulsymbol by which the eternal God can be apprehended n the humanrealmof sense perceptionand intellectual insight.In the Qur'an,the Holy Book of Islam, the theme of light, God's light,is most directlyaddressed n the famous "lightverse," Q 24:35, which thisarticleanalyzes in two stages. First, explaining the Qur'anby the Qur'an,the wording of the qur'anic text is comparedmethodicallywith parallelpassages, and this inner-qur'anicevidence is set against the cultural andreligiousbackgroundof Arabia duringMuhammad's ifetime. Second, rel-evant Suftl nterpretationsrom the Qur'ancommentaries f Sulaml (d. 412/1021), Qusayrl (d. 465/1072) and Daylaml (d. shortly after 593/1197) areselected to illustrate the overlay of the qur'anictext with various themes


3/33

114 GerhardBoweringreflecting the culturaland religious backgroundof 3rd/9th o 6th/12th cen-tury Iraq and IranSn particular hat of Bagdad, the capital of the 'Abbasidempire, and Hurasan, ts eastern province.The verse Q 24:35 in the actualtext of the Qur'an,which we hold in ourhands today, reads as follows:

>f >,, ,, _ } } }E

6 y = . Y 1 , ' w f a t *, ,

, ,8 8 ,> X 5 ,> , , , 8 },,vWj ^Zi 6'II99AcjS# / / , ,/ , ,,S''s ''' }'JJ'SJ3X@'sfJ,;jT

y>/ >// 8 /87/ } / / S >/ // S b / - / }>/Ji, {M u j JL G-;f Y, tY fUM j

,, , ^ > }, , } , 5 g JJ, 8 , >,JA-b ? 0 WaiXk j j CQy , , w} }/ / / ,,f,,o, 8 /E

,s,Syaf, =usY8wS.faThe Arabic of the verse may be translated n the following standardway:'God is the light of the heavensandthe earth; he likenessof His light is as a nichewherein s a lamp the lamp n a glass, the glass as it were a glittering tar kindledfroma blessedtree, an olive that s neitherof the Eastnor of the Westwhose oil well-nigh would shine, even if no Elre ouched t light upon light. God guides to His lightwhomHe wills. AndGodstrikes imiles ormen,andGodhas knowledge f everything."This verse, widely known in Muslim sources as the "light verse" (ayat

an-nur) andcharacterizeds a simile or a metaphor, ormspartof the Medinansurathat takes its name from this passage.l The full sura, as it stands,dealsprincipally with domestic legislation and prescriptions or proper Muslim1 I. Goldziher,ie Richtungen er islamischenKoranauslegung,Leiden 920, eprint 970,183-184.


4/33

The Light Verse: Qur'anic Text and $ufi Interpretation 115conduct. It includes a veiled reference o the slanderingof 'A'isa (Q 24:1 1-20), followingher disappearanceuring hereturn romthe expeditionagainstthe Banu Mustaliq,an episode that has recently been analyzed by Schoe-ler.2 Only loosely relatedto its principal hemes, the sura also includestwolarger passages which appear o be digressions and which exhibit signs oftextual revision or interpolation,as alreadynoted by Noldeke and Schwal-ly.3 Neither passage seems pertinent o the context of the sura as a whole.Their unexpectedappearancen the sura may be due to editorialconfusionor, what I suggest is more likely, may be the result of express editorialinsertion during the text's composition and final redaction.The two passagesin questionare verses 34-45, which juxtaposeGod, theLight of the world, to the darkness of unbelief, and verses 46-56, whichreproach hose who, despite their oath of allegiance, do not join Muham-mad in warfare,possibly with referenceto the battle of Uhud andthe siegeof the Handaq.Bothpassagescommencewithan almost denticalphraseecho-ing crucialwords included n the very first verseof the sura.Verse 34 begins,wa-laqad nzalna laykum yatinmubayyinatin,And We have sent downto you signs makingall clear,"and verse 46 startswith, laqadanzalna yatinmubayyinatin,We have sent down signs making t all clear."Afterthe intro-ductorybasmala,he first verse of the surabegins with the phrase,suratunanzalnahawa-fara.dnahaa-anzalnaiha ayatinbayyinatin,A sura thatWe have sent downand appointed;and Wehave sent down in it signs, clearsigns" (24:1).4 Thepivotal wordsayatandmubayyinat,hich also occur inQur'an 65:10 (ayatillahi mubayyinatin),ave their origin in the Meccanperiodof Muhammad's ur'anicproclamation.The particular se of the wordsura,however, referring o a short unit of revelation rather han an entirechapterof the book suggests a Medinancontext,not unlike the otheroccur-rences of this word within the qur'anic text.5The light verse forms a central and integral part of thefirst of the twoparticularpassages introducedby ayatinmubayyinatin,amely verses 34-45. Its remarkablemageryis conveyed by the key words of the simile: thelight (nur), he niche (miskat),he lamp (misbah),he glass (zugaga), he

2 G. Schoeler, Charakterund Authentieder muslimischenUberlieferunguberdas LebenMohammeds,Berlin-New York 1996, 119-165.3 Th. Noldeke andF. Schwally, Geschichtedes Qorans, 3 vols., Hildesheim-NewYork1981, 1, 210-212.4 The phrase, wa-fara.dnaha, lso appears o be an editorial insertion.5 Sura occurs nine times in the singular and once in the plural, suwar, all in Medinanverses, cf Qurzan2:23; 9:64; 9:86; 9:124; 9:127; 10:38;24:1; 47:20 (twice) and 11:13 (su-war).


5/33

116 GerhardBoweringglitteringstar(kawkabunurrlyun),he blessed olive tree (sagaratinmuba-rakatin aytunatin),he light lit by itself without fire touching it (wa-lawlamtamsashu arun), ight upon light (nurunalanurin),and the similes(amtal)of divine illumination.The verse itself, one of the most evocativeof all Medinanverses, has long been regardedas an especially lofty andexalted one. Its first words adornthe cupola of the Aya Sofya mosque inIstanbul, ts symbolismprovided hethemeforMiskat l-anwar, l-Gazzall's(d. 505/1111)famousmystico-philosophicalreatise,6 ndits simileis echoedin the title of the highly popularHadltcollection, Miskat l-masablh.7bnal-Muqaffa'(d. 139/756) supposedlybegan his heretical imitationof theQur'anwith the words, "Inthe name of the Light, the Merciful,the Com-passionate."8Christian eadersof the Qur'anmay picturethe verse againstthe solemn atmosphereof altarslit for worshipin EasternChristianchur-ches andmonasteriesanddetectin the qur'anicwordingphrasesthatrecallthe "Lightof the World" n John's Gospel and the "Lightfrom Light"inthe Nicene Creed.9Linkedin its qur'aniccontext with the verses that directlyprecedeandimmediately ollow it, the lightverseoccupiesthepivotalpointof a qur'anicpassage that clearly refers to forms of early Christianworship.The ante-cedentverse andthetwo subsequent erses frame he actual ightversewiththe assertionthat it is a simile derivedfromthose who have passed awayand who are known for their glorificationand remembranceof God bothmorningand evening in houses of prayer.The antecedentverse, Q 24:34,reads,"NowWehavesentdownto you signsmakingallclear,andanexamplefromthose who passed away beforeyou (wa-matalanmina ladlnahalawminqablikum),nd an admonition or the godfearing(wa-maw'izatani-l-muttaqlna)."he verses subsequent o the light verse, 24:36-37, continue

theimage of the shining light, "in houses (,fi buyutin)God has allowedtoberaisedup, andHis nameto be commemoratedherein; hereinglorifyingHim,in the morningsand the evenings, are men whom neithercommercenortraffickingdiverts from the remembranceof God and to performtheprayer,and to pay the alms, fearinga day when heartsand eyes shall beturned bout."Thisperceptionof a coherentcontextforthe passage,verses 34-37, finds6 cf. W.H.T.Gairdner, l-Ghazzali'sMishkatl-anwar"ThenicheforLights"), on-don 924.7 Abu AbdallahMuh.mmad . 'Abdallaht-Tabrlzl,Miskat l-masablh, vols.Beirut1417/1996;nglishranslation,. Robson,Mishkat l-Masabih, vols.,Lahore 973-1975.8 F. Rosenthal, nowledge riumphant,eiden1970,157.9 D.B.Macdonald,Allah," I (reprint 987)1/303.


6/33

The Light Verse: Qur'anic Text and SuRiInterpretation 117filrtherconfirmationonce two sets of rhymepatternsaretraced n the finalredaction f thequr'anic ext.Inthis case, anunderlying hymepattetnendingin the assonances of long alif (plus consonant)can be seen as overlaid andobscuredby additions hyming n longya' plusconsonant.Attemptsattracingthe overlayingrhymepatternshave been made by a few scholars, in partic-ularBell10andBlachere.1lAlthoughnone of these attemptshas been total-ly felicitous or conclusive, they offer compellingarguments hatparticularphraseswere inserted at the final redactionof the text, as for instance, theobvious insertionn verse 37, "and o performheprayerandto pay thealms"(wa-iqami$-salatiwa-lta'iz-zakati)l2and the probableaddition n verse 34,"andanadmonition orthegodfearing"wa-maw'i?atan li-l-muttaqina).Withcertainprovisos, editorialactivity may also be spotted in the last lines ofthe lightverse, fromthe phrase"andGod strikessimiles"(wa-ya.dribulaXul-amtala)until its end.When heseadditions reremoved, hepowerfulrhymein long alif is left andan underlyingMeccanversion of the passageappearsin strikingcontrast o its Medinanrevision that, at the final redaction,wasintegrated nto the actualpassage of our present-dayQur'an.My assertionthat there is a background or this passage in the prayerpractices of EasternChristianoratoriescan also be substantiated n moregeneral erms,ontheonehand hroughheliteralmeaningof thewordQur'an,which implies a liturgicaltext recited in privateandpublic worship,13 ndonthe otherhand hrough henotuncommon eferences f earlyArabicpoetryto Christianmonksandhermits.l4Fromsuch sources we know that,duringtheir night vigils, these monks kept their lamps burning n their cells andplaces of prayer, he light of whichcould be seen from a distanceandcouldguide the nighttraveler o a safe haven.Theproclamation f the lightversewas not influenced,however, by the use of oil-lampsintroduced nto Mus-lim publicworshipduringMuhammad's ifetime. Tamlmad-Darl, an ArabChristian romPalestinewho convertedto Islam in Medinaafter the cam-paign to Tabukin 9/63 became a companionof the Prophetand probablydied in 40/660-661.15Though a wine merchant,l6 slamictraditionportrays

R. Bell, A Commentary n the Qur'an, 2 vols., Manchester1991, 1/601-603.R. Blachere,Le Coran,Paris 1966, 380-382.12 Thepaying of zakatwouldbe inappropriateo monks orpriests,cf. Bell, A Commmen-tary, 1, 60.13 E. Graf, 44Zu en christlichenEinflussenim Koran,"ZDMG111, 1962, 396-398.14 J. SpencerTrimingham,Christianityamong the Arabs in Pre-IslamicTimes,London1979, 247-248; W. Rudolph, Die Abhangigkeit des Qorans von Judentum und Chris-tentum,Stuttgart1922; E. Beck, 4'DaschristlicheMonchtum m Koran,"StudiaOrientalia13, 1946, 1-29; C.H. Becker, Christianityand Islam,New York 1974, 2-33.15 G. Levi Della Vida, 44Tamiml-Dari,"EI (reprint 1987) 8/646-648.16 Every year Tamimad-Dari,assisted by his slave Sirag, brought a wine bag for the


7/33

118 GerhardBoweringhim as a formermonk who came to be known as the first storytellerofreligioustales (qass) aboutthe apocalypticend of the world,the Antichrist(ad-daggal)andtheBeast(al-gassasa). 7Tamlmad-Darladvised hePropheton buildinga pulpit(minbar) n his mosqueat Medinaandusing oil-lampsfor its illumination,adoptingtheiruse fromChristianPalestinianand Syr-ianpractice.l8According o Muslimsources,palmleaves(sa'afan-nahl)wereburnt or lightingthe interiorof Muslimmosquesprior o theuse of lampsl9andthe practiceof lighting lampsat night in mosquestook root only aftertheProphethadapprovedhecustomforhis mosqueatMedinaon theadviceof Tamlmad-Darl.The accountsof this episode referto the oil lampwithwick broughtby Tamlmad-Darl from his native Palestine and lit in theProphet'smosqueat Medinaby the synonym,qindll (candelabrum),whichdoesnot occur in the Qurzan.20 he absence of the term qindll from thequrzanicext, as well as the obvious fact that the underlyingMeccanver-sionof the light verse can be tracedto the time before the higra, whereasTamlmad-Darl's advice came years after it in Medina,demonstrate hatneitherhe episode itself nor the actuallanguageof its accountinfluencedthecompositionof the light verse.Whilethe episodeof Tamlmad-Darlandthe use of thenon-qur'anicermqindzleflect a SyrianChristiancontext, the Ethiopic loan-word,miskat,translateditheras a "nichein a wall,"as observedby Jeffery,2lor also asa"window,"as suggestedby Noldeke22andParet,23 oints to an Abyssin-ianChristianorigin for this crucialterm employedin the light verse. A1-readyMugahid(d. 104/722)24andIbnQutayba d. 276/889)25maintain heProphet until the drinking of wine was proscribed. Sirag later became the guardian of theTemple in Jerusalem (sadin bayt al-maqdis), M.Lecker,44Tamim al-Dan," EI (new edition)10/176. According to an-Nuwayn (d. 732/1332), the People of the Book light a fire nightand day in synagogues and churches (buyut al-niran, buyut al-'ibadat) and have guardians(sadin, pl. sadana) who maintain the fire in the sanctuaries (Nihayat al-arab, Cairo 1923-37,1/103-129, especially 107), cf. T. Fahd,4;Nar," EI (new edition) 7/960.17 I. Goldziher, Muhammedanische Studien, 2 vols., Halle 1889-1890, reprint Hildesheim1961, 2/161.

18 Clermont-Ganneau, RHR 81, 1920, 247-252.l9 cf. M.A.J. Beg,4'Siradj," EI (new edition) 9/665, citing Ibn 'Abdalbarr (d. 463/1070).20 ibld, 9/665.

21 The word miswkat occurs only once in the Qur'an (24:35). The apparent Persian paronymmusku, masku notwithstanding (cf. Clermont-Ganneau,44La lampe et l'olivier dans le Coran,"RHR81, 1920, 219), the word is doubtlessly of Ethiopic origin and can hardly be explainedas n Arabic word derived from saka, cf. A. Jeffery, The Foreign Vocabulary of the Qur'an,Baroda 1938, 266.22 Th. Noldeke, Neue Beitrage zur semitischen Sprachwissenschaft, Strassburg 1910, 51.23 R. Paret, Der Koran, Kommentar und Konkordanz, Stuttgart 1980, 360.24 as-Suyut.1, al-Itqan fi 'ulum al-Qur'an, Calcutta 1852-54, 324.


8/33

The LightVerse:Qur'anicText and Sufi Interpretation 119Ethiopic origin of miskat.Wansbrough's analysis of the interview thatMuhammad's ousinSJa'farb. Ab1 Talib (d. 8/629 at Mu'ta), had with anEthiopian ruler, based on Ibn Hisham's biography of the Prophet, whichquotes the word miskatSmay also be cited in support of an AbyssinianChristianbackground or the term.26Again,miskats a hapax n the Qur'an,while the termmiArab, hich became the dominantexpression for "niche"in Arabic literature, s mentioned n differentcontexts of the Qur'an,refer-ring to "sanctuary"Q 3:37; 3:39; 19:11) and "palace" Q 38:21; and 34:13,plural,maharlb).27lthoughwidely used from early Islamic times, the termmanaror manara,"lampstand" oes not appear n the Qur'an.28The pre-Islamic poet Imra' al-Qays (d. about 550 C.E.) comparesthe countenanceof his beloved to "thenightlight manara)f the anchoritedevoted o God,"29and questions,"Was it its blaze, or the lamps of a hermitthat dwells alone,and pours o'er the twisted wicks the oil from his slender cruse?"30,whilehis namesake, Imra' al-Qays, living in early Islamic times, says that "thestars (nugum)essemble the lamps of monks (masabzhuAban)."3llacedin a miskat, niche or a hollow in the wall, the lamp,misbah,which mayalso be translatedas "lightedwick," generates more light than it would inan open space. This lamp, in turn, is depicted as kept in a glass (zuga-ga),like the lighted wick fed from a tray of oil and ringed by a tube or flask ofglass that s suspendedEom the ceiling. It is worthnoting hat he termzugagais employed in the Qur'anonly in ayat an-nur.32 ther qur'anicreferencesto glass-like substancesdeploy differentvocabulary.For example, he blessedin paradiseare said to drink from ;'vessels of silver and goblets of crystal"

25 "Al-miskatmeans smallwindow' in the Ethiopic anguage al-kuwabi-lisanal-habasa),"Ibn Qutayba,Adab al-katib (ed. M. Grunert),Leiden 1900, 527.26 J. Wansbrough,QuranicStudies, Oxford 1977, 38-43.27 For the architectural ppearanceof mEhrab s a doorway and the variant nterpreta-tions of the term, rom"throne-recess"nd "burial lace" o "most mportant lace"and "spacebetween columns",cf. G. Fehervari,"Mihrab",EI (new edition) 7/7-15.2B The word manar can also be used interchangeablywith sawma'a, "a monk's cell hav-ing a high and slender head," E.W. Lane, An Arabic-EnglishLexicon, London 1863-1893,1728.29 Imra' al-Qays, Mu'allaqa (ed. C.J. Lyall), London 1894, 18 (line 39); cf. GAS 2/122-126.30 ibid. 26 (line 72), cf. C.J. Lyall, Translations f AncientArabianPoetry, London 1885,re-print 1930, 103-104.31 L. Cheikho, Le Christianisme t la litterature chretienne en Arabie avant l'Islam, 2vols., Beirut 1912-19, 2/56-60; C. Hechaime,Louis Cheikhoet son livre {'LeChristianismeet la litteraturechretienneen Arabie avant l'Islam", Beirut 1967.32 The word zugaga, "glass vessel, crystal,"occurs only in Q 24:35 (twice) as a loan-word from the Syriac. "It was probablywhen the Arabs came to use glass that they took overthe word along with the article,"cf. Jeffery, Foreign Vocabulary,150-151.


9/33

120 GerhardBowering(bi-aniyatinmin i.d.datinwa-akwabinkanatqawarzra) Q 76:15-16), whichlattertermis well-knownfromthe "pavilionsmoothedof crystal"(sarhunmumarradunminqawarzra),mentionedn thequr'anic toryof Solomonandthe queen of Sheba(Saba') (Q 27:44).The light verse also has a certainresemblance o a nightvision recordedin the HebrewBible, namely in the fourthchapterof Zechariah:"Andtheangelaskedme, 'Whatdo you see?' I answered, I see, andbehold,a lamp-standall of gold, with a bowl on the top of it; it holds seven lamps, andthereareseven pipes for the lampson top of it, with two olive trees stand-ing by it, one on the rightof the bowl, andanotheron the left"' (Zechariah4:2-3).33This biblical reference,as well as the place of the olive tree inTalmudic exts, may indicatea connectionbetweenthis verse andrabbiniclore and literature.Zechariah'svision appears o be reflectedin the imageof the two olive trees mentionedin the Apocalypseof John in the GreekNew Testament:"Thesearethe two olive treesandthe two lampsthatstandin the presenceof the Lordof the earth" Apocalypse 11:4).34Both Horo-vitz35and Speyer36have collected referencesfrom Jewish and Christian

33 The verses of Zechariah4:2-3 forma textualunitwith 4:11-14; cf. C. Jeremias,DieNachtgesichtedes Sacharja,Gottingen1977, 176-188;L.G. Rignell,Die NachtgesichtedesSacharja,Lund 1950; Clermont-Ganneau,La lampeet l'olivier dans le Coran,"RHR81,1920,213-259; especially,225-227. The seven-branchedampstand,madeof puregold, waserectedn thetemple Exodus25:31-40)andtheJewskept helamp, ueledby oliveoil, burningperpetuallyn the sanctuary Exodus27:20-21) as a symbolof the divine presence(kabod,cf. S. Aalen,Die BegriffeLichtundFinsternisimAltenTestament,mSpatjudentumndimRabbinismus,Oslo 1971, 75, 85). Obviously,therearemanycrucialreferences o "light" ntheBible, such as, "Godsaid, 'Let therebe light', andtherewas light"(Genesis 2:3), "Godsaid,'Let therebe lights in the vaultof heavento separateday fromnight"(Genesis l: 14),"wrappedn a robeof light, Thouhast spreadout the heavenslike a tent"(Psalm 104:2),"Iamthe Lord,thereis no other;I makethe light, I createdarkness" Isaiah45:6-7), "in thelightof Thypresence" Psalm4:6;44:3; 89:15),"inThy lightwe arebathed n light"(Psalm36:9),"theLordshall be your everlasting ight"(Isaiah60:19), "thepeople who walkedindarkness ave seen a greatlight"(Isaiah9:2), "theLordis my light"(Micah 7:8) and "theLords my light and my salvation" Psalm27:1). Mentionmay also be made of the lampsusedat the feastof Chanukkacf. Aalen,ibid. 130-152).IntheNew Testament,"God s lightand n Him thereis no darkness" l John 1:5), God is "theFatherof the lights of heaven"(James1:17),who "dwellsin unapproachableight"(1 Timothy6:16), whereasthe Wordis"theightof theworld" John8:12;9:5; 12:46)and"thetruelightthatenlightenseveryman"(John1:9). Finally,2 Peter 1:19 compares he propheticwordto "a lamp shiningin a darkplace,until the day dawnsandthe morningstarrises in yourhearts." n addition,Christianliturgys focussedon the comingof the divine light intothe worldof darkness,especiallyatChristmas, piphany,Candlemasand Easter,and occupies an importantplace at baptism,communionnd funerals.34 TheApocalypseof Johnalso includestwo shortparallelpassagesto the shininglamp-stands,f. Apocalypse1:12 and 1:20;cf. R. North,Biblica 51, 1970, 183-206.35 J. Horovitz,KoranischeUntersuchungen,Berlinand Leipzig 1926, 123-125.36 H. Speyer,Die biblischenErzahlungenm Qoran,Hildesheim1961, 62-66; 430-431.


10/33

The Light Verse: Qur'anic Text and SuRiInterpretation 121literature hatunderstand he olive tree as relatedto the tree of life, the treeof paradise, he olive tree of whichJesus's cross was made, andthe tree thatstandsin the center of the world. In the Jewish andChristian ources, how-ever, this tree is usually located in Jerusalemunlike its qur'anicplacementat Sinai. Wensinck has devoted a special study to the cosmic tree and thesun in NearEasternreligions,and has examineda broadrangeof traditionsthat locate the treeat the ends of the earth, n its center, or even in paradiseand hell.37The generalconclusions of all these studies, to which I cannotrefer in detail in this article, point to an understanding f the olive tree asa treeof heavenlyrather hanterrestrial rigin, whose oil is a source of bothlife and light. The phrase of the light verse, "an olive that is neither of theEast nor of the West" would correspondwell with the explanationof thetree as superterrestrial ndcelestial, while the phrase,"whose oil well-nighwould shine, even if no fire touched it," would corroborate ts nature assuprasensualand heavenly.Two crucialMeccanpassagesprovide ntra-qur'anicvidencethatthe olivetree in Q 24:35 refers to one growing on MountSinai, which is also under-stood as the tree of paradise n the Qur'an. The qur'anicverses, Q 23:19-20, state:"ThenWe produced or you therewithgardensof palmsand vineswherein are many fruits for you, and of them you eat, and a tree issuingfrom the Mount of Sinai that bears oil and seasoning for all to eat (wa-sagaratantahrugumin turi sayna'a tanbutubi-d-duhniwa-sibgin i-l-akilzna)."38he otherMeccan passage, Q 95:1-2, begins with an oath in-voking the olive and MountSinai, "Bythe fig and the olive and the MountSinaiand this land secure(wa-t-tzni a-z-zaytunia-turi znlnawa-hada -baladi -amzn)."39f these two passagesare set next to each otherand com-

37 A.J. Wensinck,Tree and Bird as CosmologicalSymbols n WesternAsia, Amsterdam1921.38 Rather hanzayt, "olive oil," this passageemploys the termduhn, "oil,"probablywiththe implictionof its meaningfuel, while sibg refersto "seasoning" r "condiment," ossiblyimplyingthatthe treeprovidesbothilluminationand sustenance. n the lightverse (Q 24:35),however, the termzayt is used to denote the fuel for the lamp; cf. Horovitz,Koranische Un-tersuchungen, 24;Paret,Kommentar, 53. Duhnandzayt appear ach only once in the Qur'an(23:20). The olive (zaytun) is mentionedfour times in the Qur'an,twice together with thepomegranaterumman,Q 6:99; 6:141), twice together with the date palm (Q 16:11; 80:29)andonce with the fig (Q 95:1). Theolive was not indigenousamongthe Arabsand the Arabicwords,zayt, "olive oil," and zaytun,"olive tree,"can be explainedas earlyborrowings rom

the Syriac, cf. Jeffery,Foreign Vocabulary,156-157.39 A propheticHadlton theauthority f AbuHurayra tates:"Among hecities God chosefour,Mecca, the city par excellence (al-balada),Medina, hepalmtree al-nahla), Jerusalem,the olive tree (az-zaytun),and Damascus, the figtree (at-tln)";cf. H. Sauvaire,Histoire deJerusalem et d'Hebron, Paris 1876, 186. AnotherHadlt states, "The Figtree(at-tln) is themosqueof Damascus,he olive tree(az-zaytun)heMountof theOlives (TurZayta), he mosque


11/33

122 GerhardBoweringparedwiththe lightverse,"atreeissuingfromthe Mountof Sinaithatbearsil andseasoning"echoes the descriptionof"a blessed tree,an olive thatiseitherof the Eastnor of the West whose oil well-nigh would shine, evenf no Elre ouchedit."40Furthermore,he linguisticevidence of vocabularyriginally foreign to Arabic employed in Q 24:35 (miskat, ugaga,zayt,aytuna),s well as a numberof loan words in the parallelpassages thatavebeen cited, also indicatea non-Araband,most likely, Christian ettingf the imageryincludedin the light verse.Thisevidencecanbe corroboratedy two episodesfromthequr'anic toryfMoses, who received the Torahon Mount Sinai (Q 23:20; 95:1) andncountered od in the burningbush"onthe rightside of the Mount" minanibi-turi -ayman,Q 19:52;20:80; 28:29).41In the Bible the revelationf he Torahand the encounterat the burningbush occur at two differentites;he Qur'an,however,seemsto placethemon one andthe samemoun-ain.42itingthe introductory athof the Meccanpassagethatbegins sura2,amedat-.hur,ne encountersa clearreference o MountSinai,theplacehereMoses received the Torah,"By the Mount (wa-t-turi) nd a Booknscribedn a parchment nrolled,by thehouseinhabited ndtheroofupliftedndhesea swarming"Q 52:1-6).MountSinaialso is theplacewhereMoseseheldfilre nar) andfetcheda brandof it (qabas,Q 20:10; sihabqabas,7:7;adwaminan-nar,28:29) for his people.Other han n the lightverse,the termnaroccurs128times in the Qur'an,11imes with referenceto hellElre, he punishmentof which is also Elveimesalled, 'adab l-harlqQ 3:181;8:50;22:9;22:22;85:10),whilegahlmnda'lrappear26 and 16 times,respectively,as synonymsof narwith themplicationf hellElre.Q 55:35 cites filreas a sign of divine power and Q:183a sacrifilcedevouredby filre"(bi-qurbanin a'kuluXu-nar)as a testuthenticatinghepropheticmission.43Q 15:27and55:15assert hattheginnaterusalem,ndthe Mountof Sinai (Sur Slnln) is the mountainon which God conversedithoses."ibid. 41040Thereis the remote,thoughunlikely,possibilitythatthe wordat-turmay refereithero theountof Olives, knownas TurZaytaandstill calledGabalat.-Tur,which lies east oferusalemcrossthe valley of Cedron called wadl Gahannam),or to the hills of Tabor, heite ofesus'transfiguration,r to Gerizim, he mountainof the Samaritans, othalso calledt.-Tur;f. E. Honigmann,"al-Tur,"EI (reprint)8/868-870.1Deuteronomy33:242Speyer,followingthedistinctionmadeby Horovitz(KoranischeUntersuchungen,24-25),oteshatthe tural-ayman(Q 19:53;28:29; 28:46), the site of the burningbush (cf.

xodus:2), is different romthe Turwherethe Torahwas revealed(Q 52:1-2;2:87;2:213;:3;:46)lthoughhe also reckonswith a possibleconfusionof the two sites in the Qur'anBiblischeErzahlungen,255).43f.Genesis4:3-5, the offeringsof CainandAbel; 1 Kings 18:21-40,Elijahon Mountarmel.


12/33

The Light Verse: Qur'anic Text and Sufi Interpretation 123were made of Elre,and Q 7:12 and 38:72 cite Iblls's insistence on his na-ture having been created of Elre.The Qur'anmentions Elre(nar) as thepunishment nflicted on Abrahamby his polytheisticpersecutors Q 21:69;29:24)44and rejectsthe worshipof the celestial Elreof the sun by the queenand people of Saba'(Q 27:24) and the cult of the sun, the moon andVenusadoredby Abraham'sadversaries Q 6:74; 37:86; 41:37).45In pre-Islamictimes, filrewas used ritually to obtain rainin times of drought, o concludea pact between parties(with the kahin hrowingsalt in the filre o make itcrackleand intimidate),and to seal the departure ndpreventthe returnofan unwelcomeguest. It was also a pre-Islamiccustom to light Elres s a signof hospitality,guiding travellerstoward a safe haven or greetingthem ontheir safe return,as a summonsto war, signallingmen from afarto gatheragainsta hostile attack,and as a sign of victory after a raid, enablingthedefeatedtribe to ransomor reclaimwhat was left of the spoils. Somewhatobliquely,Gahiz (d. 255/868-69) mentionsoil lamps ignitedon the eve offestivals withoutElrehrough hetrickeryof monks at the Churchof the HolySepulchre n Jerusalem.46As Moses approached he Elre,a voice came: "Blessedbe He who is inthe filre,and he who is about it. Glory be to God, the Lord of all Being"(Q27:8), or: "Moses, I am your Lord;put off your shoes; you are in the holyvalley of Tuwan" Q 20:11-12). In this "holy valley of TUwan"bi-l-wadil-muqaddasiuwan),Moses receiveshis missionto PharaohQ 79:16), withhis brotherAaron as a companion,and is given the various signs of hismission, his rod thrown on the groundandquivering ike a serpentand hishandturnedwhite when drawnout from his armpit cf. 20:11 36; 28:29-32).When Moses approaches he burning bush "on the side of the mountain"(minganibit-tur,28:29), the voice cries from"the rightbank of the valley(minsati'i l-wadi -ayman),n the sacredhollow, coming from the tree (4l-buq'ati-mubarakati inas-sagara):Moses, I am God, the Lord of allBeing"(Q 28:30), or in a parallelpassage,God calls "from he rightside ofthe Mount"(minganibit-turi -ayman), ringing Moses near in commun-ion (Q 19:52). On this "right side of the Mount"God made His covenantwith thechildrenof Israel,sendingdown onthemmannaandquails(Q20:80).

44 Possibly taking up Daniel 3:13-30.45 T. Fahd, Le pantheonde l'Arabie Centrale a la veille de l'hegire, Paris 1968, 9-18;"Le feu chez les anciensArabes,"Lefeu dans le Proche-Orientantique,Leiden 1973, 43-

61; "Nar,"EI (new edition)3/957-960.Abraha, he rulerof pre-IslamicSouthArabia, s knownas "the manof manar"because he was the first to orient convoys travellingby night in thedesert in time of war by placing "fire" andmarksalong their routes,cf. T. Fahd,"Le feuchez les anciens Arabes,"43-61.46 T. Fahd,Le pantheon,9-18; "Lefeu chez les anciens Arabes,"43-61; "Nar,"EI (newedition)3/957-960.


13/33

124 Gerhard BoweringThree Medinanverses confilrm he event, "And We raised above them theMount (at-tur), making the covenant with them" (Q 4:154; 2:63; 2:93; cf.also the late Meccan verse, 7: 171).47As is well-known, the oldest continuously nhabitedChristianmonasteryin the world, St. Catherinesat the northern oot of Mount Sinai, was found-ed a generationbefore Muhammad'sbirth.48 t was, and still is located atthe foot of the mountainwhich, with termsof Syriacorigin, the Qur'anoncecalls Sayna' (Q 23:20) and once Slnln (Q 95:2), for the sake of rhyme. It isotherwise simply referred o in the Qur'anas at-tur (Q 2:63; 2:93; 4:154;19:52; 20:80; 28:29; 28:46; 52: 1). To its north lies the desert of the "wan-derings" (tlh), in which, according to the Qur'an, the children of Israel,wanderedaboutbecause they were forbiddenby God to enter the holy landfor forty years (Q 5:26,fa-innaha muhramatun alaykimarba'lna sanatanyatlAunafS -ard). The Qur'andoes not refer to this monastery,but the cir-cumstantialand linguistic evidence of the Meccan passages that have justbeen quotedmakes it a possible type of location for the phenomenon f lightdescribed n the light verse. By the time of Muhammad he ascetics of Sinaiand the monasteryat the foot of the mountainwere well known to the Arabs.Since the middle of the fourthcenturyC.E. hermitsand anchoriteshad livedin the caves of the mountain(Gabal Serbal) bordering he fertile oasis ofWadl Fayranwhich served as a caravan-staging oint, became the site ofcenobitic communitiesand had become a bishopricby the Council of Chal-cedon. In 371-372, and again in 395-400, many of the monks were massa-cred by maraudingKushitetribes crossing over to the Sinai from the Egyp-tian shores of the Gulf of Suez or by pagan Arabs who offered humansacrifilces o the MorningStar,Venus.49When the ascetics of the Sinai suf-fered again fromnomadic ncursions n 498 and 529, they petitioned he By-zantineemperorJustinian or protection.Justinianhad a fortressbuilt on the

47 B. Moritz,"Der Sinaikult n heidnischerZeit,"Abhandlungen er koniglichenGesell-schaft der Wissenschaften u Gottingen,Berlin 1916, 1 64, especially 58-61.48 Althoughhermitshad at times lived on Mount Sinai, the monasterywas only built atabout the same time as the Hagia Sophia of Constantinople uring he rule of the ByzantineemperorJustinian ruled 527-565 C.E.); cf. C. Bailey, "Slna',"EI (new edition) 9, 625; Jef-fery, Foreign Vocabulary, 184-185. In the 4th/lOth century, Muqqadaslobserved, "TheChristianshave a monastery n MountSinai surrounded y well cultivated ields where olivetrees grow. They are mentionedby God in the Qur'an n a passage concerning he 'blessed

tree, an olive that is neither of the East nor of the West.' The olives of these trees are sentas gifts to kings"; cf. G. Le Strange,Palestine under the Moslems, Boston and New York1890, 73; R. Bell, The Origin of Islam in its ChristianEnvironment,London 1968, 115-116.49 A. Smith Lewis, "The Forty Martyrsof the Sinai Desert and the Story of Eulogius,"Horae Semiticae9, Cambridge1912; H. Skrobucha, inai, London 1966, 20-22; L. Eckstein,A History of Sinai, London 1921, 97.


14/33

The LightVerse:Qur'anicText and Sufi Interpretation 125northside of the mountain GabalMusa) between 548 and 562 that becamethe present monastery of St. Catherine and marked the transition of themajority of the monks from the Monophysite to the Chalcedonian ine ofChurchdoctrine.50Some philologicalobservations houldalso be made about he term"light"and its synonyms in the Qur'an. The term light, "nur" ccurs 43 times inthe Qur'an,always in the singular, n contrast o the term for darknesswhichappears n the plural. The active participle,"illuminating"munlr),s men-tioned four times as an epithet of revealed scripture Q 3:184; 22:8; 31:20;35:25), once with reference o the moon (25:61) and once with reference othe Prophet Q 33:46). Only in the light verse is God explicitly called "thelight of the heavens and the earth" nuru -samawatiwa l-ard).5l The otherparallelqur'anicpassages simply mentionthe "light of God"(nura lahi,Q9:32; 61:8) or the "earthshining with the light of its Lord"(bi-nuri ab-biha,Q 39:69), or speak of"a light that has come from God"(mina lahinurun,Q 5:15). Q 39:22 asks abruptly, Is he whose breastGod has expandedunto Islam, so he walks in a light from his Lord"(fa-huwa aZa urinminrabbEhi),hile verses Q 4:174, 7:157 and 64:8 refer to the light that Godhas sent down to humanity.The Qur'an,however,neitheremploysthe phrase,"light of lights" (nural-anwar), y which God is frequentlycited in laterIslamic writings, nor states that God's natureor essence is light. The wordfor light,nur,may be understood s paralleledby the qur'anicdiya',52 hichrefers to the sun (Q 10 5), to the revelation(al-furqan)iven to Moses andAaron that is termed a light (diya'an) nd a remembrancedikran)or thegodfearing muttaqin,1 48), and to the illumination diya')God would offeron the Day of Resurrectionhad humanity o live in darknessuntil then (Q

50 J. Spencer Trimingham,Christianityamong the Arabs in Pre-Islamic Times, London1979, 257; cf. Procopiusof (Caesarea,Wars,SecretHistory:Buildings ed. andtr. H.B. Dewingand Downey, Loeb), 7 vols., 1914-40, 5/8.51 Similarities n the wording of this phrase and the wider context of the light verse arealso exhibited n, "To God belongsthe kingdomof the heavensandthe earth mulku -samawatiwa-l-ar0; and God is powerful over everything. Surely in the creation of the heavens andearthand in the alternation f night and day there are signs for men possessed of minds whorememberGod, standingand sitting and on their sides, and reflect upon the creationof theheavens and the earth." Q 3:189-190). Yahuda,however, sees a Jewish rather han a (Chris-tian prayerpractice reflected in these words, cf. A. S. Yahuda, "A contribution o Qur'an

and Hadlth nterpretation,"gnaz GoldzikerMemorial Volume ed. S. Lowingerand J. Som-ogyi), 2 vols., Budapest 1948, 1/280-308, especially 292.52 Diya', directlyrelated o the verbalnoun, daw', with the identicalmeaningof the sameArabicstem, and not a loanword n Arabic, may be associatedneverthelesswith the Sanskritdelo,Latin,Deus, expressinga personiElcationf the source of light, as suggestedby T. Fahd,"Nar,"EI (new edition) 7/957.


15/33

126 GerhardBowering28:71). Otherderivatives romthe samerootas diya'denotethe lightof filre(nar:Q 2:17, a.da'at),f lightning(barq:Q 2:20, a .da'a)ndof the burningoil lamp(zayt:Q 24:35,yudi'u). n Q 10:5, .diya'eems to have a morein-tensive meaningthannur,since the light of the sun is called .diya'ndthatof the moon, nur.It is questionable,however,whetherthe Qur'antherebyimplies thatdiya'refersto the light of light-producingbodies, such as thesun, and nurto thatof light reflectingin bodies, such as the moon.Theimageryof the lightverse suggeststhatits contextis the night,a factconElrmed y the occurrenceof the phrase,"a glitteringstar"(kawkabundurrlyun) hich, like all stars, glows in the darknesswith self-luminousradiance.The light verse employs the word kawkabatherthan the morefrequently ited termnagm or "star" n the Qur'an.Whenkawkab ccursin hesingular,other han n thelightverse,it is usedin thecontextof biblicalfilgures, brahamandJosephrespectively(Q 6:76; 12:4);when it occursintheplural,it refersto the apocalypticscene of the catastrophic nd of theworld,"whenthe starsarescattered" wa-ida-kawakibutatarat,Q 82:2),or o God's creationof the starsas adornment f the lowerheaven(bi-zlnatil-kawakib,37:6). This latterverse, Q 37:6, stands n textualproximity othequr'anicreference o Godas the Lordof the Eastandthe West (Q 37:5;cf.70:40;7:137;26:28; 73:9; 55:17), or as one may be inclinedto translatethe hrase, heLordof the sunrisesandthe sunsets,meaning he Lordwhoselightulesboththedayandthenight.Inthisperspective f sunriseandsunset?thenigmaticphraseof the olive tree 4'thats neitherof the Eastnorof theWest" ouldreferto a sourceof illumination hatis beyondday andnight.Amongthe passagesthatemploythe termnagm,53assages Q 55:6 and22:8bothspeakof thestarsandthetreesbowingbeforeGod,a themeechoedin salm 136:4-9,a hymnpraisingGodwith a uniqueantiphonalpattern.54Its worthrecallingthatfromancienttimes the Bedouinswere skilled star-gazersecausethey neededthe Elxed tarsto predictthe weatherandrain-falls,o determine he seasons, andto provideorientation or theirnightlytravels.s a matterof fact,in classicalArabic iteraturehephrases,masablhun-nugumnd a'lamu -kawakibignify the stars or constellationsthat aresignsf the way for travellers.55A broadercomparisonwith the qur'anicversesealingwith the sun (sams)andthe moon (qamar),which the stud-iesf Fahd56 ndRodinson57 ave examinedagainstthe pre-Islamicback-53 In the Qur'an,nagmappears ourtimes in the singular(Q 16:16;53:1; 55: 86:3) andineimes in theplural,nugum Q 6:97;7:54; 16-12;22:18;37:88;52:49;56:75;77:8;81:2).4 M. Dahood, ThePsalms, 3 vols, New York 1970, 3/264-267; cf. R. Paret,';DieBe-eutungon an-Nagm n Sure55,6",in:Der Koran(ed. R. Paret),Darmstadt1975,304-308.5 E.W. Lane,An Arabic-EnglishLexicon,London 1863-1893, 1643, 2140.56 T. Fahd,Lepantheonde l'Arabiecentraled la reille de l'hegire,Paris1968, 150-153.


16/33

The LightVerse:Qur'anicText and SufiInterpretation 127ground,also presentspowerfulimages. Lunarand solar cults played a sig-niElcant ole in pre-IslamicArabia,especially in Hadramawt nd Saba', andthe nomads of the desert, avoiding the heat of the day, relied on the moonfor theiractivities at night. The Arabs developed a rich vocabulary or themoon and its mansions,observed ts phases to calculatetime, used the cres-cent to 1X ritualevents,compared he beautifulhuman ace to the full moonandassociated he moon with magical and astrologicalpractices.Mentioned36 timesin the Qur'an, he moonis invokedby solemnoaths(Q 74:35; 84:18;91 :2)and the sun, mentioned33 times, is conjuredby its brightness Q 91:1),the dawn (Q 89:1) and the high forenoon (Q 93:1). As apocalyptic signs,the sunis darkened Q 81:1) andthe moon is split in two (Q 54:1) or eclipsed,mergingwith the sun (Q 75:8-9). Beyond the moonwaxing and waning andthe sunrising and setting,Abrahamdiscovers the trueGod (Q 6:77-78). Sunandmoon are "signs" of God's power and neither of them should be wor-shiped(Q 41:37). Both are subjectedby God to a stated erm (Q 16:12;39:7;31:28)and each of them follows its course n its own sphere Q 21 :34; 36:39-40).Yet another ruitfulconnectioncould be madebetween this verse and thedepiction of the divine throne.Although the Qur'andoes not describe thedivine throne on which God rested after completingHis work of creation,referred o in Q 7:54 and its parallels (cf. also the throne verse 2:255), asconsisting of light, post-qur'anicSl'a interpretation ictures the light issu-ing from the divine throne as having colors, not unlike the rainbow, andformingthe light of the heavensand the earthas well as that of the sun andthe moon.58Further, he light that, according o the Prophet'sbiographybyIbn Ishaq (d.150/767), appearedas a prophetic blaze (gurra)on the fore-head of Muhammad's ather,was interpretedby the Sl'a as split into twoandsharedby both Muhammad nd 'All.59Two principal hemesrunthroughthe Sl'a accounts,procreation n the genealogical ine of Muhammad's hys-ical ancestors or transmission n the spiritual ine of his prophetical ore-bears.On the one hand, the primordial ubstanceof the light of Muhammad(nurMuhammad)s transmittedwith the spermthrough he generationsofMuhammad'sArabancestors,on the otherhand,thepre-existentdivine light(nurAllah)passes at the deathof one prophetto the next until it reaches

57 M. Rodinson, "La lune chez les Arabes et dans l'Islam," in: La lune,mythes t rites(Sourcesorientales, 6), Paris 1962, 153-215.58 J. van Ess, Theologie ndGesellschaftm 2. und3. Jahrhundert idschra, and 4,Berlin 1997, 4/407-409.59 U. Rubin, "Pre-existence ndlight,"IsraelOriental tudies , 1975, 62-119, especial-ly 83-104; A. Guillaume,TheLife of Muhammad,ondon 1955, 69 (cf. Ibn Hisham,Slra101).


17/33

128 GerhardBoweringthe spiritof Muhammad ndis passedon as his hereditaryauthority n theline of the imams.60Despite many stylistic similaritieswith qur'anic an-guage, the Sl'a claim thatthe so-called "suraof the two lights"(suratan-nurayn)efemngto Muhammadnd'All, formedoriginallypartof theQur'ancannotbe substantiated.61Whilethereis only one verse in the Qur'an,24:35, thathas acquired henameayatan-nur,herearea few otherverses thatmay also be consideredqur'anic ight verses. They focus on two images, eitherthatthe light is thequr'anic evelationtself orthat t is Muh.mmad, heProphet.TheJirst mageis based on two passages, 64:8 and 61:8, both includedin Medinansuras.Q 64:8 says:"Therefore elieve in GodandHis Messenger,andin the lightwhichWe have sent down."The meaningof the phrase,"the light whichWehave sentdown,"as referring o the qur'anicrevelation s conElrmedytheintra-qur'anic vidence of Q 5:44, innaanzalna -tawrataiha hudanwa-nurun,SurelyWe sentdownthe Torah,wherein s guidanceandlight."Thisqur'anicverse, not unlike Proverbs6:23, speaksof the Torahas light(nur),n explanationborneout by the principleof Jewishbiblical interpre-tationhatwherever he wordlight appears n the HebrewBible, the Torahismeant.62With a change in rhyme pattern,Q 61:8 directly follows thefamous assage n whichJesus,son of Mary,announcesa messengercomingafter im, namedAhmad(Q 61:7). This passage, supportedby the parallelpassageQ 9:32, accusesthe evildoersof puffingup theircheeks andblow-ing ut the flameof the qur'anicrevelation,"Theydesireto extinguishwiththeirmouthsthe light of God (yurldunai-yutfi'u ura lahi);but God willperfectHis light (wa-llakumutimmuurihi)"Q 61:8; 9:32).The second mage is includedin the crucialqur'anicpassage, Q 33:45-46, ndruns:"OProphet,We have sentyou as a witness, andgood tidingsto earandwarning(sahidanwa-mubassirana-nadlran)allinguntoGodbyHis leave (wa-da'iyanla llahibi-idnihi),ndas a light-giving amp(wa-siraganuniran)."his passage comparesMuhammado a shining lamp,for hichthe wordsirag(cf. also Q 25:61; 71:16;78:13) is employedrath-erhan mi$bah,which appearsonly twice in Q 24:35 (and, in the plural,ma$ablh,n the two Meccanverses, 41:12 and 67:5, with referenceto thelightsf the lowerheaventhatserveas a protectionagainstevil forces).Bothimages,ight identifiedwith qur'anicrevelationandwith Muhammad, ave60 T. Andrae,Die Person A@uhammedsn Lehreund Glaubenseiner Gemeinde,Stock-olm918, 322-326;U. Rubin,IOS 5, 1975, 62-119; "Prophets ndprogenitorsn the earlyhl'aradition," erusalemStudiesin Arabicand Islam 1, 1979, 41-65.61 This"sura" asbeenshownto be a falsification,probablynotantedatingSafavid imes,f.h. Noldeke and F. Schwally,Geschichtedes Qora-ns /100-112.62 Speyer,Die biblischenErzahlungen,297.


18/33

The Light Verse: Qurzanic Text and Sufi Interpretation 129exerted an influence on variousinterpretations f the famouslight verseSQ24:35, eitherexplicitly by syntheticalQur'an nterpretation r implicitly inanalyticalways of explanation But, while these other qur'anic ight versesrefer to the light of the sun, the light of revelation, whetherqur'anic orbiblical, and the light of theProphet, he famousayatal-nur peaksof God slightand uses an elaboratesimile (mata[)o portray t. The Qur'ancontainsnumerousS ften quite vivid similes in all kinds of contexts.Linguistically,however, the light verse stands out, both by its unique imageryand by itsexplicit self-referenceas a simile through he two phrases, "thelikeness ofHis light is as a niche"(matalunuriAl a-miskatin)nd, "Godstrikes sim-iles for men"(yadribulakul-amtalai-n-nas)."63Before moving to the exegetical section of this article, I will close thisexamination f the inner-qur'anic videncethat s pertinent o an understand-ing of Q 24:35 by summarizing he Sitzim Leben hat I have proposed forthis verse: the simile of ayatan-nur eplicatesa night-timeexperience,onein which the desert traveler s surrounded y the stars and guided by "thelight of the heavens and the earth.' Moving underthis canopyof stars thatcast a mysteriousglow over the night's darkness, he traveler eels as if hehas entered a huge house of prayerilluminatedby burning oil lamps thathangfrom its ceiling. This evocative experience s thenexpressed in a lan-guagethatborrows lements rombeyond heboundanesof Arabicand drawsupon the rich symbolic resources of Arabic poetrySJewish and Christanbiblical lore and EasternChristianpractices of prayer.As a prelude o entering he field of Sufi interpretations f the light verse,it maybe helpfill o recallthat he cultural ndreligiousbackground f Islamicsociety had changed significantly from the time of Muhammad o that ofthe 'Abbasidempire of the 3rd/9th and 4th/lOthcenturies.Throughmili-taryconquests andcultural ntegration he Muslimcommunityhad encoun-tered a wide range of worldviews which had a deep influenceon it. Lightspeculations,rooted in gnostic conceptions,64Hellenistic Judaism,65Man-ichaean ideas,66andNeoplatonicphilosophy67 s well as in the Iranian ra-

63 In parallelqur'anicverses the latterphrase s continuedwith words such as,4'perhapsthey will remember la'allakumyatadakkaruna)"Q 14:25;39:27) or, "perhapshey will re-flect (laCallakumatafakkaruna)" Q 59:21; cf also 29:43; 47:3; 22:73).64 W. Bousset, Hauptproblemeder Gnosis, Gottingen 1907, F. Cumont,Lux perpetua,Paris 1949; cf. R. Bultmann,"ZurGeschichte der Lichtsymbolik m Altertum,"Philologus97, 1948, 1-36.65 E. R. Goodenough,By Light,Light: TheMystic Gospel of Hellenistic Judaism, NewHaven 1935.,t H.C. Puech,Lemanicheisme,on fondateur, a doctrine,Paris 1949;G.P.Wetter,Phos,Eine Untersuchunguber hellenistischeFrommigkeit, ugleich ein Beitrag zum Verstandnisdes Manichaismus,Uppsala 1915.67 I. Goldziher,"Neuplatonische nd gnostische Elemente m Hadlt,''ZA21, 1908, 107-


19/33

130 GerhardBoweringditionsof MazdaismandZurvanism68apturedts attention.Theessence ofthese worldviews,exhibitedin the works of Arabicscience, optics in par-ticular,69n the Theologyof Aristotle,70 ndin the Iraniandualismof LightandDarkness71 adbecomepartof the culturalandreligiousbackgroundnwhich SuEism lourished.Furthermore,when SuEismbegan to compile itsmajorQur'ancommentaries, uch as the commentariesof Sulaml,QusayrlandDaylaml,traditionalMuslimexegesis had already aid a foundationofqur'anic nterpretation.TraditionalMuslimexegesis of the Qur'an,as presentedmainly in theQur'ancommentaryof Tabarl(d. 310/923),72explains the many facets ofthelight verse by dividingit into text segments,following the methodof acontinuousndrunning ommentaryn theQur'an.Themain inesof qur'anicexegesisnoted by Tabarlmay be summarized n the following clustersofimages.73God, the light of the heavensandthe earth, s understoodn threeways:as the guide of the inhabitantsof heaven and earth,the rulerof theworldwho adorns he universewith light by day andby night,andthe onewho lluminatesthe heartsof the believers. The likeness of His light, de-pending n the crucial interpretation f the suffix "hu"in nurihi, s alsoexplainedn three ways, as the light of divine guidance,the heartof thebelieverwhich enshrinesthe light of faith and the Qur'an,or the light ofMuhammad,n explanationof the Prophet'sluminousnaturetracedbacktoKa'bal-Ahbar d. 32/652 or 34/654), Ibn'Abbas(d. 68/687) andMuqatil(d. 50/767). Theniche is explained iterally,as a windowlessrecess in thewall f a house, a candlestickor a wick, and symbolically,as the chest oftheelieverholdingthelampof faithandtheQur'an n theglass of his heart,ors thebody of Muhammadnclosingthe lampof faith.Theglitteringstar134246-344);P. Merlan,FromPlatonismto Neoplatonism,Den Haag 1953;C.J.de Vogel,Aa recherchedes etapesprecisesentrePlatonet le Neoplatonisme,"Adnemosyne17,1954,9-12; F.N. Klein, Die Lichtterminologie ei Philon von Alexandrienund in den hermeti-chenchriften,Leiden 1962.68 H.H. Schaeder,"Studienzum antikenSynkretismus us IranundGriechenland,"tu-iener BibliothekWarburg, ol. 7, Leipzig-Berlin1926; M. Mokri, "Lalumiereen Iranncient dansl'Islam," n:M.M.Davy,A. Abecassis,M. MokriandJ.P.Renneteau,Le themeea lumieredans le Judaisme, e Christianisme t l'Islam, Paris1976, 325-428;M. Mokri,aumiereet le feu dans l'Iran ancien, Leuven 1982.69 H.J.J.Winter,"Theopticalresearchesof Ibn al-Haytham,"Centaurus3, 1954, 190-10;. Pingree,"'Ilmal-hay'a,"EI (new edition)3, 1135-1141.70 W. HartnerandTJ. de Boer, "Nur,"EI (new edition)8/121-123.71 H. Corbin,TheAlanof Light in IranianSufism,Boulderand London1978.72 AbuGa'farMuh.mmadb. Garlrat.-Tabarl, ami'al-bayani tafsiral-Qur'an,30 vols.,eirut406-07/1986-87; f. GAS1/323-328;F. Rosenthal,"TheLifeandWorksof al-Tabarl,''heistoryof al-Tabarl,Albany1989, 1/5-134;J.D. McAuliffe,Qur'anicChristians,Cam-ridge991, 38-45.73 Tabarl,Gami al-bayan, 18/104-114 (ad Qur'an24:34-38).


20/33

The Light Verse: Qurzanic Text and Sufi Interpretation 131is traditionally xplained by Ibn 'Abbas as one of the five brilliantplanetsor, by Muqatil, as either Venus or Jupiter,whereasTabari eaves open thepossibilityof interpretingheadjective"glittenng," s eitherdurrlyun,ithouthamza, parkling ike a pearl,or as dirrl'un/durrl'un,ith hamza, epellingevil, like a shooting star that is launched against the devil.The blessed tree is explainedas bathed in sunlightall day, with the sunneitherrising nor setting on it, and as raised high on a hill, with neither amountaincasting a shadow on it nor a valley reflecting its shade. The treeis not of this world, yet standsat the very center of the universe (in Syria),neithera fraction to the east nor a fraction to the west, encircling all treesof the world. The tree resemblesthe believer, who worships God with pureintention,without ascribingpartners o God, is grateful or the divine bless-ings, steadfast n trials,just in actions and truthful n words. The oil of theolive tree, with its sap shiningthrough he bark, s likened to Muhammad'sprophethood hat was transparento the eyes of others even before he pub-licly proclaimed t, just like olive oil appearsas a translucent,brilliantsub-stance before being touchedby fire. Muqatil sees in the blessed tree a sym-bol of Abraham,who prayedneitherto the east, as the Christiansdo, nor tothe west, as it is the custom of the Jews (living east of Jerusalem),but to-ward the Ka'ba of Mecca. The phrase, light upon light, is explained eitheras Muhammad ollowing uponAbraham,his prophetical orebear,or as thelight of qur'anic revelation given by God to humanity, in addition to thelight of divinely infusedreligion sharedby all humanbeings since creation.74Some of the major lines of Tabarl's nterpretation f the light verse canbe found in the Qur'ancommentaryattributed o 'Abdallah b. 'Abbas (d.68-70/687-89), which also follows the basic structure f a runningcommen-tary and briefly lists two lines of interpretation or the simile focused onthe likeness of"H/his" light.75One line interpretsGod,the light, as the guide(al-hadl) f the inhabitants f the heavens and the earth, he one who adorns(munawwir)he heavens with stars and the earthwith plants and rivers andenlightens(muzayyin)he hearts of the people of the heavens and the be-lievers on earth. The likeness of God's light (nurAllah) n the believer's

74 The skeleton of this traditionalexegesis of the light verse was fleshed out by Hadlaccountsand stories from the literature f the Qi$a$al-anbEya',which cannotbe analyzed nthis study.75 Abu Tahir Muhammad . Ya'qub al-Flruzabadl d. 817/1415), Tanwiral-miqbas min

TafsirIbn 'Abbas,Cairo 1380/1951,220. For Ibn 'Abbas as Qur'ancommentator, f. GASI,25-28; for the question o what degreeIbn 'Abbas' Qur'ancommentary an be reconstructedon the basis of the commentaries f Taban (following his isnad on 'All b. at.-Talh.'s author-ity) and the citations included in the Tanwiral-miqbas, cf. C. Gilliot, Exegese, langue, ettheologieen Islam, Paris 1990, andidem, "Portraitmythiqued'Ibn Abbas",Arabica32, 1985,127-184.


21/33

132 GerhardBoweringheartis like a small opening,meaning n Ethiopica skylightwithoutopen-ng (kuwa ayrnafida),hatholds a burning ight (sirag) n a lamp(qindll)adeof pearlandshining ikea bnlliantstar,oneof thefive planets,Mercury,upiter,Venus, Mars(bahram)r Saturn.The oil fuelingthe flame is takenroman olive tree (zaytun)tandingon a hill in a desertthatneithercastsshadownor is reachedby the sun, rising and setting, and yet whose oilhineshrough ts barkwithouthavingbeenset afire.All is wrappedn light,helame,the lampandthe oil, lightuponlight, andGodguidesto His lighthoevers worthyof it throughGod'sknowledge ma'rifa)ndreligion(din).he otherline in the commentaryattributedo Ibn 'Abbassees the like-ess f the light of MuhammadnurMuhammad)nshrined n the loins ofisorefathers, ike a burning ampenclosed in a niche and kindledfromhereeof Abraham's ight, the truemonotheist(hanif, who was neitheraewora Christian ndwhose good actions,like oil fuelingthe flame,burntnhe loins of Muhammad's ncestors.HadGodnot appointedAbraham oe prophet,he would not have possessed this light, neitherwould theelievers,ad God not favoredthemwith it. God strikesthe simile of theighto empowerthe believers to know and thankGod and by it demon-tratehatGod's knowledge(ma'rifa)lluminates,yields benefits,andover-owershe darknessesof unbelief and idolatry.God's knowledgeis takenromod like oil fromthe olive tree which, neitherof the east nor of theest,ignifiesthatthe believers'religionis trulymonotheist hanafi),akeneitherrom Judaismnor from Christianity.Just as the oil is lit fromthereeithoutflre touchingit, so no kindlingis neededto light the faith ofheeliever. ot unlike ightengulElnglame, ampandniche,so thebeliever,orthyo receive it, is enclosed by the light of God's knowledgein bodyndoul (literally,heartandbreast)fromthe beginningto the end of life.76ufiQur'aninterpretation, s collected by al-Sulamlin his .Haqa'iqt-afsirndtheZiyadat,ts separateappendix, ollows the framework f a con-inuousur'ancommentary ndselectsa largenumberof versesas thebasisorufi xegesis.77Sulaml'scommentaries onsist of two strandsof inter-76nthe Tanwlral-miqbas, bn'Abbascontinues o explain hatthe"houses"buyut)Godasommandedo bebuiltarehousesof prayer masagibl)n whichcandelabrasresuspended;bid.20.77he references o Sulaml'sHaqa'iqat-tafslrarebasedon the followingmanuscripts:SSstanbul,udaiEfendi 77 (399 ff., 553 h.); London,BritishA8useum,Or. 9433 (388f., 564.);Istanbul,Fatih262 (296 ff., 672 h.). FortheZiyadat,cf. Ziyadathaqa'iqat-tafslred. G.owering),2nded., Beirut1997, 106. Forbasic information n Sulaml,cf. G. Bowe-ing,''al-Sulaml,''I (new edition)9, 811-812; idem,"TheQur'anCommentary f Al-Su-aml,''n:W.B.HallaqandD. P. Little(eds.),IslamicStudiesPresentedto CharlesJ. Adams,eiden1991,41-56;idem,"TheMajorSourcesof Sulaml'sMinorQur'anCommentary,"riens5,996,5-56.


22/33

133he Light Verse: Qur'anic Text and Sufi Interpretationpretation,actual Suf1glosses, directly and intimately inked to the qur'anictext on which they comment, as well as Sufi sayings, echoing the tenor ortopic of particularqur'anic verses. Both kinds of interpretation re citedinterchangeably n such a fashion that a numberof different Sufi authori-ties and their sayings are quotedone by one after each qur'anicphrase.Thiscreates a fairly unif1ed hematic picture while at the same time conveyingthe often pithy statementsof a highly variegated pectrumof authorities.TheSufi interpretations f the light verse, collected by Sulaml, shall be illus-tratedby referencesto prominentSufi authorities,active in the second halfof the 3rd/9th or the f1rsthalf of the 4th/lOth century, whose biographiesare markedby persecutionor violent death. They are Abu Sa'ld al-Harraz,Sahl at-Tustarl, bn 'Ata' and Abu Mansural-Hallag, all of them contem-poraries f Gunayd d. 297/910) and associatedwith his SufLlircle in Bagdad.In additionto these f1ve earlier representatives f Sunni Sufism two addi-tional, slightly laterauthorities,Abu 'Ali al-Guzaganiand Pseudo-Ga'far s-Sadiq, offer somewhatmore elaborateglosses on the light verse. The state-mentsof all these SufLlsnteriorize he light verse, projecting he cosmic imageof the qur'anicverse onto the innertransformation f the mystic's soul. Theearlierauthorities tay within the range of the qur'anicsimile; the later oneshave moved to the level of a full-fledged allegory, only tangentiallycon-nected to the qur'anic text.Gunayd(d. 297/910)78differentiates hree ways of interpreting he lightverse. God, the light of the heavens and the earth, illuminated he hearts ofthe angels so that they fell down before Him in adorationand glorified Him.He illuminated he hearts of the prophets so that they knew Him throughdirect knowledge and worshippedHim with true adoration.And God illu-minated the hearts of the believers by bestowing on them knowledge andgranting hem divine guidance.79Harraz(d. 277/891)8 interprets he lightverse as an explicit simile for Muhammad, he prophetand spiritual egateeof Abraham.Harrazsays: "The niche is the cavity of Muhammad'sheart,and the glass is his heart.The lamp is the light that God placed in his heart.'As if it were a glittering star kindled from a blessed tree' means that thetree is Abraham n whose heart God placed the same light He placed inMuhammad's eart."81 urtheron he states, "GodcreatedMuhammad romHis own light, then consumed him with His light, then returnedhim into

78 A.J. Arberry,"al-Djunayd,"EI (new edition) 2, 600; A.H. Abdel-Kader, The Life,Personality and Writingsof al-Junayd, London 1962.79 MSS Hudai Efendi 77, f. 221b; BritishAluseum,Or. 9433, f. 202b; Fatih 262, f. 158b.80 W. Madelung,"al-Kharraz," I (new edition) 4, 1083-1084.81 MSS Hudai Efendi 77, f. 221a; British Aluseum,Or. 9433, f. 202a; FatEh 62, f. 158a.


23/33

134 GerhardBoweringHis greatestmajestyof light. But when God makes Himself manifest o him,namely Muhammad,He does not consume him because he has become alight from His light, upon His light, and in His light, 'light upon light'."82While Gunaydwas content with the distinctionof various levels of divinelight made manifest in angels, prophets and believers, Harrazfocuses thelight on the Prophet n a spectacularway, not unlike Sahl at-Tustarl d. 283/896) whose conception of nurMuhammads a pillar of light in pre-exist-ence I have treatedelsewhere.83Ibn 'Ata' (d. 309/922),84on the other hand, is inspiredby the correspon-dence between the macrocosmof the heavens and the microcosmof the souland explains the qur'anicphrase, "God is the light of the heavens and theearth,"on this basis: "God has adorned he path of the planets in the heav-ens with the twelve castles of the signs of the zodiac. They are the Ram,the Bull, the Twins, the Crab, he Lion, the Spike, the Scales, the Scorpion,the Archer, the Goat, the Bucket and the Fish. And He adorned he heartsof the gnostics with twelve qualities, namely intellect, awareness,receptiv-ity, intelligence, knowledge, certitude,understanding,ntuition, life of theheart, fear, hope and shame before God. As long as these signs of the zo-diac remainstanding, he universe s fully orderedand plentifully furnished.In the same way, as long as these qualitiesremainflrmly established n thegnostic's heart, there is in it the light of well-being and the sweetness ofworshippingGod."85 bn 'Ata' continues to interpret he olive tree "that sneither of the East nor of the West," as a tree "that s without relation tonearness or distance, because God is near to distance and distant to near-ness,"86and identifies it with the believer's heart.He says: "Thetree is theheart, ts root flrmly grounded n true faith and its branches he limbs of thebody, educated to perform works of obedience. The root of this tree isknowledge, its branchesare the religious duties and its twigs the customsof the Prophet. ts water s the Qur'an, ts fruitwisdom and its juice the loveof God."87Hallag (d. 309/922)88understandsGod as the one who enlightens (mu-nawwir)he hearts of the believers and interprets"the light of the heavens

82 MSS Hudai Efendi 77, f. 223b; BritishA8useum,Or. 9433, f. 204b; Fatih 262, f. 160a.83 G. Bowering, "Sahl at-Tustarl,"EI (new edition) 8, 840-841.84 R. Gramlich,Abu l-'Abbasb. 'Ata':Sufi undKoranausleger,Stuttgart1995. P. Nwyia,Trois oeuvres inedites de mystiquesmusulmans,Beirut 1986, 23-182.85 MSS Hudai Efendi 77, f. 220b-221a;British Aluseum,Or. 9433, f. 202a; Fatih 262, f.158a.86 MSS Hudai Efendi 77, f. 221a; BritishAluseum,Or. 9433, f. 202b; Fatih 262, f. 158b.87 Ziyadat, 106.88 L. Massignon, The Passion of al-Hallaj, 4 vols., Princeton 1982. idem, Essai sur lesorigines du lexique techniquede la mystiquemusulmane,2nd ed., Paris 1968, 385-386.


24/33

135he Light Verse: Qur'anic Text and Sufi Interpretationand the earth"as a symbol of God's eternaloneness to which the hearts ofthose are guided by illuminationwhom God has chosen to be His friendsand His elect. ThroughHis divine favor, God creates he blessings they havereceived, and throughHis will, He maintainsand perfects them. "God s thelight of light (nur al-nur); He guides whom He wills throughHis light toHis omnipotence,and throughHis omnipotence o His mystery,and throughHis mystery to His eternity, and throughHis eternity to His being withoutbeginningand end, and throughHis being withoutbeginningand end to Hisunity. There is no god but He (Q 23:1 16), memorableare His work and Hisomnipotence,may He be glorifiedand exalted.God grants ncrease n knowl-edge to whom He wills through His being professed as one and unique,throughthe exaltation of His station and unity, and throughthe glorifica-tion of His being Lord."89 or this purpose, so Hallag states, God has en-trusted nner gifts of illumination o the believer. Hallag says: "In the be-liever's head there is the light of divine revelation,between the eyes (in theforehead)the light of secret communionwith God, in the ear the light ofcertitude,on the tongue the light of manifest proof, in the chest the light offaith, and in the limbs of the body the light of worshippingGod."90Em-powered by these lights, the believer is guided from the world of creationto the mystery of divine eternityand ultimateunion with God. In a parallelpassage, Hallag says, "in the body there is the light of glorification,namelythe acclamation, There is no god but God!', the laudation, Praise belongsto God!', and the exclamation, God is great!' Wheneverone of these lightsis aflame, t overpowers he other ight and draws t into its own power.Whenit abates, the power of that other light returns,more abundantand perfectthan it was before. When all lights are aflame together,they become 'lightupon light'. And God guides to His light whom He will.''91

With Pseudo-Ga'faras-Sadiq and Abu 'All al-Guzaganl, both flourish-ing in the first half of the 4th/lOth century, the allegorizing tendency ofqur'anicexegesis assumes full flight. Pseudo-Ga'far s-Sadiq92 numeratesdifferent types of light that are found in the believer's heart and exempli-fies each by a particular lass of believers. They are the light of introspec-tion, fear, hope, love, meditation,certitude,recollection,knowledge, shame,faith, Islam, good works, blessings, graces, benefits, generosity,compassion,prudence,awe, perplexity, life, intimacy, steadfastness,humility, tranquil-89 MSS Hudai Efendi 77, f. 223b;British Museum, Or. 9433, f. 204b; FatEh 262, f. 160a.90 MSS Hudai Efendi 77, f. 224a; British Museum, Or. 9433, f. 205a; Fatih 262, f. 160b.9I MSS Hudai Efendi 77, f. 224a; British Museum, Or. 9433, f. 205a; Fatih 262, f. 160b.92 For the authorshipof the statementsattributed y Sulaml to Ga'far as-$adiq (d. 148/765), cf. G. Bowering,Oriens 35, 52-56 and P. Nwyia, "Le Tafslrmystique attribuea Ga'far$adiq,"MUSJ43, 1968, 181-230.


25/33

136 GerhardBoweringity, majesty, splendor,power, beauty,justice, strength,divinity, oneness,unicity,endlessness,everlastingness, ternity,beginninglessness,permanentsubsistence,wholenessanddivine He-ness.Eachof the believerspossessesone of these lights, some mayhave a share n two orthreeof them,butonlythe Prophetpossesses themall becausehe stands n the presenceof God asa trueservantwho loves God.93 n anotherpassage,Pseudo-Ga'far s-SadiqdescribesGodas the light of the heavensby meansof the light of the stars,the sunandthe moon,as the light of the earthby meansof the lightreflect-ed in the plantswhich are red, yellow, white, etc., and as the light of theheartsof the believersthrough heir faith and submissionto God. He alsomakesa distinctionbetweenfour lights of the heavens,the angels Gabriel,Michael,Israfiland 'Azra'll,andfourlights of the earth,surprisingly,AbuBakr,'Umar, Utmanand'All, all fourrepresentingways leadingto God.94Abu 'All al-Guzaganl,a Sufi of the 4th/lOthcenturywho apparentlyeftno tracein the biographical ources,derivesthe certitudeof faith, foundinthe believer's heart,from the divine light. By virtue of this light, the be-lieveris ableto see theentiredivinekingdom,beholding hemarvelsof God'screation, perceiving God's power, might, commandand rule, and beinggranteda vision of whatis hidden n the sevenheavensandthe sevenearths.The 'niche' refersto the believer's soul likenedto a house in which thereis the lampof knowledgeandto the believer's mouththrough he openingof which,as througha window,he speaksforthwhateverhis hearthas beenallowedto recollectof the illuminationsdescendingfromthe divinethrone.Theglass refersto divinely given success, the wick to renunciation,he oiltocontentment ndthe lampsuspended tthewindowto intelligence.95Whenthe lampis lit, it sparkles n the light of threejewels, fear,hope and love,and hewholebeingof thebelieverbecomesa lightshining orth n thepurityof his innerattitudesand the clarityof his outeractions.96

Qusayrl,Abu'l-Qasim Abdalkarlm . Hawazinb. 'Abdalmalik n-Naysa-burlal-Ustuwa'lal-Qusayrl d. 465/1072), a descendantof a land-owningArabfamily in the region of Nishapurin north-eastern ran,received hisinstructionn SuEismirstfromAbu 'All ad-Daqqaq d. 405/1015) andthen,fromAbu'Abdarrahmans-Sulaml d. 412/1021). He also studiedSafi'l lawwithAbu BakrMuhammadat-Tuslan-Nawqanl(d. 420/1029) and As'an93 MSSHudaiEfendi 77, f.222a; BritishMuseum,Or.9433, f.203a-203b; Fatih 262, f.159a.94 MSSHudaiEfendi 77, f.225a; BritishMuseum,Or.9433, f.206a; Fatih 262, f.161a-161b.95 MSS HudaiEfendi 77, f.221b-222a; BritishMuseum,Or. 9433, f.202b-203a; Fatih262, .158b.96 MSS HudaiEfendi 77, f.224a-224b; BritishMuseum,Or. 9433, f.205a-205b; Fatih262, .160b-161a.


26/33

The Light Verse: Qur'anic Text and Sufi Interpretation 137theology with Ibn Furak(d. 406/1015). In his time Qusayriwas known asa masterfulpreacherand a renownedteacherof Hadit. He became famousas the authorof the $ufi handbook,ar-Risala,completed n 438/1046.97InadditionQusayri s known as the compilerof two Qur'ancommentaries, neof which has appearedn print, entitledLata'if al-isarat and written n 434/1042-43. Prior to this work, which includestraditionaland mysticalmodesof qur'anic interpretation,Qusayri compiled his great commentaryon theQur'an at-Tafsir l-kablr),extant n a manuscriptopy of his weeklyteachingsessions during the months of Du'l-Higga to Rabl' I, 413-414/February oMay, 1023, numbering he sessions (maglis) 462 to 477 and coveringsuras57:21 - 66:12.98Obviously,the latter work does not include his commen-tary on the light verse which, however, appears n its appropriate lace inthe continuous and eclectic commentary,Lata'if al-isarat.99Qusayridivides his exegesis of the lightverse into two parts,a tradition-al explanationof its crucial phrases and a mystical exposition of its sym-bolism, and adds a lengthy excursus on the experience of mystic illumina-tion. God, the guide of the inhabitants f the heavens and the earth, s called"light" nur) for He is its origin because the thing that is named derivesitsname from the name-giver. As Creator,God establishes the perfect struc-ture, he principles hatorder he heavensandthe earth,and illuminates hem,fashioning heir splendorand beauty and endowingthem with theirmagnifi-cent phenomena.As God lights up the lower heaven arching he earthwiththe stars as "lamps" masabih, quoting Q 41:12), so He adorns the humanheartswith lights - intellect, understanding, nowing, certitude,knowledgeof God and oneness with God -, the rays of which, increasinganddecreas-ing, are reflected in the hearts according o their aptitude.The "likenessofhis light" refers to the light of the believer's heart which is the knowledge

97 (ed. 'Abd al-HallmMahmudand Mahmudas-Sarlf),2 vol., Cairo 1972-74;R. Gram-lich, Das Sendschreibenal-Qusayrls uber das SuJitum,Wiesbaden 1989.98 This large sectionof Qusayrl'sat-Tafslral-kablr,MS Leiden 1659 (297 ff.; 535 h), inwhich Qusayrl cites his teacher, "our master (shayvAuna)bu 'Al1 (ad-Daqqaq),"s clearlydifferent rom the at-Tayslrfl 'ilm at-tafslr,which H. Ritter Oriens 3, 1950, 46-47) attributesto Qusayr1's on Abu Na$r Abdarrah1m. 'Abdalkar1m. Hawazin d. 514/1120).MS IstanbulUniversitesio 228 (303 ff., 866 h; sura 1-31), however, represents a mainly philologicalcommentaryon the Qur'anidentified as an extract of a larger commentary(tafslruhu'l-mukAtasarmin tafslrihi'l-baslt,ff. la) and compiledby an authorwhose name is given asAbu Nasr Muhammadb. al-Hawazin al-Qusayri f. la; cf. 303a). There is no similarity nmethodand contentbetweenMSS Leiden 1659 and IstanbulUniversitesi3228, andthe latter

cannot representan abbreviationof the former. For the confusion between Qusayrl,fatherand son, in the bibliographical ources, tracedbackto Haggl Hallfa (GALI, 432, S I, 772),cf. H. Ritter, Oriens 3 1950, 46-47; G. Bowering,Orientalia 58, 1989, 569-572; G. Bowe-ring, TheMystical Visionof Existence in Classical Islam,Berlin-New York 1980,21, 31; R.Ahmad, Islamic Quarterly13, 1969, 16-69.99 Qusayrl,Lata'ifal-isarat, 3 vols., Cairo 1981, 3/611-614.


27/33

138 GerhardBoweringof God. Theheart,enclosed in the body (literally,the breast), s lit like thelamp(qindil)n a niche thatresemblesa brilliantstar.This lamp,the heart,is fed by the knowledgeof God as if it were pureoil fueling the flame ofa lamp (sirag)that is takenfrom a perfectolive tree and kindledwithoutfire touchingit. The believer'sknowledgeof Godresemblingpureolive oilsignifiesthe law of theProphetandhis monotheistreligion(dlnuXu-hanafi)which is neitherthat of the Jews100 rayingto the West nor of the Chris-tiansprayingto the East."Lightupon ight"eithersignifiesthat ightis bothacquiredby one's effortandreceivedby God's grace,addingthe gift of directwitnessing('iyan) othehumaneffort of rationalproof, or that it is Muhammad'sheartwhoseknowledgeof Godis lit fromthe treeof Abraham,his monotheist orebear.Theolive that is neitherof the Eastnor of the West standsin the light ofthesun all day andnight, growingto a perfectshapeandyielding the pur-estoil. For the mystics the tree that is neitherof the East nor of the Westsymbolizeshe completelybalancedstatesof fearof God andhope in God(aswell as otherantipodesof spiritual xperience),preventinghehearts romeitherlippinginto despairor showingcomplacency.Theirhearts(himam),havinghecharacteristics f aliens(al-guraba'),reathomeneithereastnorwest, either n the uppernorlowerworld,neitheramong inn norhumans,neithertGod'sthronenorfootstool,risingabovethecreatures ndyetunableto ain access to ultimatereality(haqlqa).Becausethe Real One is beyondcomprehension,hey remainseparated romGod neverpermanentlyunitedwithHim, foreveraliens, illustratedby the propheticHadl, "Islambeganas strangerand will returnas a stranger ust as it began."Concludinghis exegesis of the light verse with a fine mystico-theologi-calxposition,Qusayrlgives a rareaccountof theway in whichearlySuEismdescribeshe gradual lluminationof the mystics' hearts.The heart,moti-vatedy its discomfortwith idleness and drivenby its desire to ponderisaidedy the lightof divinelygiven success (nurat-tawfiq)o makeextraor-dinaryfforts to counteract ts evil inclinations,overcomeits complacencyandnvigorateits rationalreflection. In this endeavor,the heartacquiresknowledgendcertitude, xperiences onsolationanddesolationandreceivesrewardsnd requitals,as its insights increase with persistentefforts andecstaticevotion (wagd)overtakescontinuousprayer(wird).Then, in thedivinelluminationsof both appropriate ocial conduct(nural-mu'amala)andersonalspiritual truggle(nural-munazala),hereappearsn the heartstheaylightof mysticalunionand the sunlightof oneness with God, withnoloud castinga shadowon theirinmostbeings andno rancourappearing100 mplicitlyreferring o Jews living east of Jerusalem.


28/33

The Light Verse: Qur'anicText and Sufi Interpretation 139on the horizon.The appearance f the light of God asking for account(nural-mutalaba)ncites the mystics to an examinationof conscience. Inspect-ing the register of theirspiritualaccounts andperceivingthe depthof theirsinfulness, the mystics are granted the light of interiorscrutiny (nur al-mu'ayana)o thatthey cast blame on themselvesand emptythe "cups"ofremorse,progressinghenceforthwith lasting purpose,purified from anymomentsof listlessness.With steadfastnessat this stage, the light of spiritualfixation (nur al-muraqaba)s unveiled, making them awareof God's ever watchfulpres-ence as privy to theirthoughts. Thenthey are illuminatedwith the percep-tion of God's presence in their mind (nural-muha.dara)s flashes ofinspiration trike theirhearts.Now, they aregranted he light of experienc-ing the divineattributesnural-mukasafa)s these areunveiledandthe lightof witnessing themdirectly(nural-musahada)s if nightenlargesinto dayand the stars' dimmerglow expands into moonlight and then swells intosunshine.Thenthereappearhe lights of onenesswith God(anwar t-tawhid)introducing hemysticinto a transconsciousness f beingalonewiththe OnlyOne, unable to distinguishwhat is humanfrom what is divine. Incapableofperceivinganythingbut this oneness, they can neitherdefine their state norcapture t by allusion,the latterbeing obscureandthe former nconsequen-tial, for it is impossible to perceive anyone or anythingelse in this state.Now, corresponding o the apocalypticmoment of the universe describedin the beginningof suras81, 82 and 84, "whenthe sun will be darkened,the starsthrowndown,the mountains et moving,the pregnant amelsaban-doned, and the heaven split open,"whateverbelongs to transitorynon-ex-istence vanishes from the mystics' consciousness and whateverpertains otrueexistencecontinues o subsist n them. Thereremainonly majesticunity,glorious eternity, holy everlastingnessand pure divinity.ll

Daylaml, SamsaddlnAbu Tabit Muhammadb. 'Abdalmalikat-Tusl ad-Daylaml(d. shortlyafter593/1197),l2known as the teacherof Mahmud-iUsnuhl (d. 7th/13thcentury),l03was an original,yet obscure, Sufi author,describedby Gaml "as a greatmasterand scholarwhose teachingson thetruerealityof time, as set forth n his writings,arerarelyfoundin the worksof others.''l04Daylamlwroteabouttwentytreatisesmainly in Arabic,some10lWithregard o the"houses"buyut)Qusayriaddsthatthemosquesarehousesof prayer(buyutal-'ibada) and the heartshouses of religiousaspiration buyutal-irada).102 G. Bowering,"Deylami,"Encyclopaediaranica7, 341-342; A.J.Arberry, TheWorksof Shamsal-Dinal-Dailami"BSOAS29, 1966,49-56; G. Bowering,"TheWritingsof Shamsal-Din al-Daylami," slamic Studies 26, 1987, 231-236; GAL2/207.103 QasimAn$ari,"Taguddin-iUsnuhiwa-targuma-inawista'iaz-u,"Ayandah9, 1362/1983, 770-780.104 'Abdarrahman . Ahmadal-Gami,Nafahatal-uns min ha.daratal-quds (ed. Tawhi-dlpur),Tehran1373/1954, 355.


29/33

140 GerhardBoweringalso in Persian,mostof thempreservedonly in manuscriptorm,exceptonethat has appeared n print.l05The most voluminous of them is Futuhar-Rahmani isaratal-Qur'an,Isoknownby thetitle, Tasdlql-ma'arif;hichis a continuousyet eclectic commentaryon the Qur'an.l06n the introduc-tion to this commentaryDaylaml mentionshis radicalintellectualchangefrom a critical stance toward SuEism n his early writings to a favorableappreciation f Islamicmysticismat laterstages of his life. While thereisno explicitreference,eitherin his own worksor in the Islamicbiographicalsourcesl07hathe was a Jewishconvertto Islam, it is certainthatDaylamwasable to readthe HebrewBible with accurateunderstanding, s can beshownby the quotationsfromthe HebrewBible in Arabicscriptincludedinhis commentaryon the Qur'anas well as in some of his otherwritings.Thequalityandsignificanceof Daylami'sknowledgeof Hebrewcanbestbedocumented roma passage in Gawahir l-asrar,l08is treatiseof Sufitheology n which he defines the parameters f his mysticalvision. He re-visedandcompleted his treatise n 589/1193, havingchanged ts title upondivinenspiration romthe earlier itle,Kasfal-haqa'iq i-kunhd-daqa'iq.Thework is divided into 14 chaptersand adoptsthe scholasticstyle of Is-lamicdialecticaltheology, framing ts statementsas responsesto rhetoricalquestions,fa-inqalaqa'il...qulna).ts main themes are the natureof thehumanntellect,the vision of God,the compatibilityof time andspacewiththedea of God, and the interpretation f Islamicmonotheism n mysticalexperience. he frequentcross-referenceso most of Daylaml'sotherwrit-ingsn ArabicandPersian ndicatethatthe workwas revisedby the authortowardheendof his life. TheHebrewpassageincluded n Gawahirl-asrarisitedfrom hebeginningof thedecalogue Deuteronomy: 7-9a;cf. Exodus

105 Gayatal-imkan i dirayatal-makan, he workof Daylamithathas beenpublished, sronglyscribed o 'Aynalqud.t al-Hamadan1d. 525/1131)by R. Farmanes,Ahwal-o-aar-Aynalqudat, ehran1339s/1959,appendix,1-54. Accordingto Gam1,Mahmud-eUsnuhlrotetreatisewithanalmost dentical itle,Gayatal-imkani ma'rifataz-zamanwa'l-makan,f. ami,Nafahat, 355.106 Daylam1's ommentary n the Qur'an s extant n a good numberof manuscripts,wofhichhave been used for this article,MSS Istanbul,Veliyuddin 30 (123 ff.; 794 h) andstanbul,eniCami57 (154 ff.; 892 h). The othermanuscript opies which I have inspectedre:SS Aleppo,Ahmadlya14095/1 (ff. la-139b; 772 h), Aleppo)Mawlawlya18264 (120f.;75 h;sura 36 to theend),IstanbulKoprulu53/1 (110 ff.; 935 h), Istanbul,Nuruosmaniye07204 ff.; 989 h), Istanbul,Bagdatli VehbiEf: 185 (136 ff.; n.d.; suras 1-68), Bursa,Haraccioglu34 (279 ff.; 1066 h), Istanbul,Feyzullah2163 (612 ff., n.d.).107 Thebiographicalourcesof IslamaretotallysilentaboutAbuTabital-Daylaml,houghheyncludereferences o his contemporaryndnamesake,gamsadd1nMuhammad . 'Abd-lmalik,nownas Ibnal-Muqaddam, ho was a generalunderNuradd1nnd$alahadd1nndiedn 583/1187-88; cf. Ibnal-A lr, al-Kamil i 't-tarlh,Beirut1403/1983, vol. 9, 126-131;afadl,l-Wafibi'l-wafayat,Beirut 1401/1981,vol. 4 (ed. S. Dedering),39.108 Gawahiral-asrar, MS Istanbul,SehitAli 1346/1 (ff. lb-38a; 795 h.).


30/33

141he Light Verse: Qur'anic Text and SuRiInterpretation20:3-Sa) and is offered by Daylaml as conflrminghis interpretation f thequrzanic hrase,42:11,"laysaka-mitlihiay'un,Clike im there s naught.''l09

Presentinghis interpretation f this phrase, Daylami Elrstcites the He-brew verses of Deuteronomy5:7-9a in Arabic script (omittingverse 6) andthen gives an almost flawless phrase-by-phraseArabic renderingof theirmeaning. By introducinghis citation of the Hebrew Bible with the phrase,qala i Jt-tawrat,He said in the Torah,a'Daylaml seems to imply that heaccepts the revealed natureof the Hebrew scripture. n addition,he identi-fies the passage as taken from the decalogue, referring o it as the "begin-ning of the ten commandments"ibtida' asarkalimat), nd cites a variantreading of a Hebrew phrase, clearly locating its precise point of citation inthe text with the statement,wa-finushatin hra "and n anotherversion").He adds the Arabic version of Deuteronomy 5:6 to his phrase-by-phrasetranslation, opying it from an actualArabictranslation f the HebrewBibleat his disposal, termedKitab argamat t-tawratShile stating his aware-ness of having omittedthe verse in his Hebrewcitation.110He then proceedsto cite the Arabic renderingof Deuteronomy5:7-9a in toto copying it fromthe very same Arabic translationat his dispoal. Daylaml's familiaritywiththe Hebrew Bible is also reflected in his Qur'ancommentary in which hecites Hebrewtext segments of the creationstory, drawn rom Genesis 1:26-27.111The key to Daylami's understanding f the words "likeness " (mitl) and';simile''(matal) is the biblical idea of the humanbeing created n the im-age of God a symbolismwhich he employs as the pivotal point of his com-mentaryon ayat an-nur. Daylaml develops a twofold interpretation f thelight verse,l12one being an allegory for faith and the other a simile for thesoul. He claims that he was taught the interpretation f the verse directly

109Gawahiral-asrar, f. 29b; Deuteronomy5:7-9a. "You shall have no othergods beforeme. You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anythingthat is inheaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth;youshall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God."110Deuteronomy :6: "I am the Lordyour God, who broughtyou out of the land of Egypt,out of the house of bondage."lll E.g. the Hebrew segments quoted from the Bible corresponding o Genesis 1:26-27("ThenGod said, sLet Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness'...So God createdmanin His own image, in the image of God He createdhim") are cited in Daylami's commentaryon Qurzan :30, "inni ga'ilun Ji'l-ardi khalifatan,I am setting in the earth a viceroy" (MSSVelEyuddin30, f. 8a; YeniCami 57, f. 8b) and on the light verse, Q 24:35 (MSS VelEyuddin430, f. 80b; Yeni Cami 57, f. 101a). They are also cited in Daylami's Mukimmat l-wa$ilin,MS ChesterBeatty 4142, f. 10a, cf. MSS Damascus, .Zahirtya 989 (ff. 153a-177b;856 h.);TopkapiE.H. 1810 (22 ff; 1063 h), and MS Sehit Ali 1346/1 (ff. lb-38a; 795 h.).

112 Futuh ar-Rahmdn i isarat al-Qurzan,MS Veliyuddin430, ff. 79b-81a; Ta$diqal-ma arif MS Yeni Cami 5 7, ff. 99b-101b.


31/33

142 GerhardBoweringby his Lord,in the worldof "lightupon light"which he calls the worldofewilderment hayra).God taughthim with certainty hatthe "heavens"nhisversereferto the worldof divineomnipotence gabarut)ndthe "earth"o the worlds of divine sovereignty(malakut),eachingfrom beyond theivinethrone o beneath he ground, he formerworldreferring o the worldf the spirits and the latterworlds to those of the bodies God strucktheimileof the light verse to facilitatehumanunderstanding nd said, withmphasisnthecomparison, the ikenessof His lightis as a niche,"meaningherebyhe humansoul. Inner-qur'anicvidence,a statementof the Prophetecordedn Had1, and crucialquotations romthe TorahconE1rmhat theumanoul is the simile closest to God's own light. The verse followingheightverse,"inhousesGodhasallowedto be raisedup"(Q 24:36),whichentionsheeliteof menengaged n recollection,andtheverse,"Iamsettingnhe eartha viceroy"(Q 2:30), namelyAdam,both referto the vision ofodhe prophetsand great saints possess on account of their pure andeacefulouls.Thesimile,corroboratedy thestatement f theProphet,"GodreateddamafterHis image,''ll3 s most deeplyrootedin a passagefromheorah,citedby Daylam1n Hebrew written n Arabicscript),"thenGodaid,letUs makeman n Our mage'...so Godcreatedman n Hisownimage,nhe image of God He createdhim"(Genesis 1:26-27).nhis allegoryfor faith,Daylam1 emainswithinthe conE1nesf qur'anicmageryithout recourse to an explicit biblical reference and applies aymbolicinterpretationo the olive-tree,the olive, andits oil. Thetree andtsruit,the olive, referto the believer's faith, which is an acquired aith,hilehe oil refers to the divine gift of faith. The blessed tree (sagara)epresentsnehalfof the faith,namely ts professionas included n thewordkalima),there s no god butGod,"becausethe Qur'ansays, "agood words asgood tree"(Q 14:24).Its otherhalf, the belief of the heart(tasdlqal-alb),hich is the Elrmbelief realizedby rationalreflection and logicalnference,s representedby the olive (zaytun),he tree's fruit.The blessedliveree is neitherof the East nor of the West because the belief is ac-uiredy rationalreflectionratherthantaken blindly from the people ofheastr the West. To these two pillars of faith, its professsionby theonguendthe belief in the heart, s addeda thirdpillarof faith,represent-dbyhe oil (zayt),which is the gift of faith,cited in the Qur'an,"Hehasrittenaithupontheirhearts" Q 58:22). The perfectbelieverbases him-elfnhese threepillarsof faith, one divinely infused and two acquired,hennateaith being the oil andthe acquired aith being the tree and the113.J.WensinckandT. Fahd,"$ura,"EI(new edition)9/889-892 In the contextof hisrgumentaylamlclearly intimates,"afterHis (i.e. God's) image (

light verse in the qur'an

Documents