An - Noor Part 1

As salamualaykum wr wb !

Firstly, I would like to apologize for the late post. The reason being that work, home, and some classes had taken way too much of my time than required. I also thought that maybe I should start the new name's (and attribute's) series once we are done with it in sister E's class. But, I am sure that by the time we are done I'd have too much to post over here, So I am going to begin the series from today and Insha'allah will try to do the promised posts on time :)

Bismillah

Introduction : The Parable of Allah's Noor is explained in the verse 35 of the Chapter An-Noor in the Quran :

Sahih International: Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The example of His light is like a niche within which is a lamp, the lamp is within glass, the glass as if it were a pearly [white] star lit from [the oil of] a blessed olive tree, neither of the east nor of the west, whose oil would almost glow even if untouched by fire. Light upon light. Allah guides to His light whom He wills. And Allah presents examples for the people, and Allah is Knowing of all things.

The Name and Attribute of Allah, An-Noor in literal translation means ''The Light''. Now, most of us know about this name and attribute but it is not very often that we ponder upon it. Now, let us take a moment and think about what is it that makes our hearts go ''WOW'', sometimes it is just the new buildings, or sometimes it is somebody looking really gorgeous and even fireworks. Now, if we just try to figure out what exactly is it about these things that make us like it? It's the Noor, the Light. What? Yes.

Come to think of it, when a tall sky scraper leaves us in awe it is the lights on it that do the magic and get that whole effect. Fireworks are also a work of light that make the sky look beautiful, Sometimes we ladies also like to have our faces done at the salon to have the whole shining effect on it, right? Well at least I do :P ... So, all these things that leave us in awe mostly are related to Noor, the light that adds the whole wow effect on them.

Wa Lillah Hil Masa Lil 'Ala (And to Allah belongs the best examples), Think Now about the Light of Allah An-Noor... and it is not just a name it is an attribute as well. So, when asked about his Noor, it is said that Nothing can resemble to his Noor from his ENTIRE creation not the Sun, nor the Moon nor the stars. Nothing of the creation is similar to Allah's Attribute.

Now, as we are starting the study of An-Noor, we must also keep in mind that His Noor is not just of one type, It is of 2 types which we shall discuss in detail in this post as well as the next few posts. Mash'allah as I've mentioned before, knowing Allah is just like an ocean which is shallow towards the dock but as we venture further we begin to realize it's depth.

II Types of Noor ;

I. Noor Al Hissi (The Sensible Light)

i) The Light that we can Feel : It is the real light that we can feel, the light that comes from the sun is also the part of His Noor. Whatever lights we can see around us in the creation are given their light from the light of Allah An Noor. This type of light is the only one that we can see right now. This also reminds me of what my teacher always tell us ''Everything in the universe should lead you to your creator'' meaning his name and attributes. Allah An Noor is the one who gives the light in the Sky and Land. Even the light in the paradise is lit by Allah's Noor. So next time, when we see some fireflies it should not just leave us in awe, it should also lead us back to that One Creator of ours who has blessed this creation with Light too. In our lives, we experience only this category of the sensible light.

ii) The Light on the Day of Judgement : The Day of Judgement will be lit by His Light, where do we get our reference from ?

Surah Zumar, Verse 69. And the earth will shine with the light of its Lord (Allah, when He will come to judge among men) and the Book will be placed (open) and the Prophets and the witnesses will be brought forward, and it will be judged between them with truth, and they will not be wronged.

iii) Hijaabuhu An-Noor (The Veil from His Light) : Prophet (saws) has said with regards to the Noor of Allah (SWT) that : ''No one from his creation can stand looking at Allah's Light while living this life''. Even though, Allah's Light is behind a veil, but the light is so strong that even His veil would shine due to the intensity of this Light. If Allah will uncover His veil, the entire creation would burn as long as Allah's sight can reach His creation. This Veil from His Noor, will be lifted when we are in Paradise. He will unveil after the people enter paradise and enjoy their time. He will and ask them

''Are you content?''

They will reply : ''How can we not be content?'' (Because they would be in so much of bliss)

''I will give you something better, I will always be pleased with you'' and then He will remove His Veil.

II) Noor Al-Ma'anawee (The Insensible Light) : Mashallah there are a number of comprehensive notes, that are there in my book regarding this type of Noor. There was just so much of knowledge that I could jot down all that I could within my attention span. There are different types of Noor that fall under this category and the parable of Allah's noor which is mentioned in the Quran will also be discussed in detail within this category. It shall be discussed in the next post Insha'allah :)