Allāh and
the name An-Nūr (The Light)
source:
silsilat ul-hudā wa nnūr ~ the series of guidance and light
~ tape no. 514
Question #4: “Some of the students of knowledge found it
strange that you explained Allāh’s saying, the Most High –
‘Allāh is the Light of the heavens and the earth’[1] – to be
that He illuminates them[2] and that He does not have the
name ‘An-Nūr’ (The Light); so we would like a detailed
explanation about this.”
Shaykh al-Albānī answers:
“I don’t have any detailed explanation except that I don’t
know of An-Nūr being one of the names of Allāh, the Mighty
and Majestic, in an authentic hadīth. Rather, (the Prophet)
(صلى الله عليه وسلم) had said that ‘His Veil is light’ –
when he was asked ‘Did you see your Lord?’, he had said: ‘A
light,[3] how could I see Him?’[4] [5] [6] And (also) in the
narration of Abū Mūsā al-Ashʽarī in Sahīh Muslim, he said
‘His Veil is light…’[7]
[1] Sūrat un-Nūr; 24:35
[2] Tafsīr Ibn Kathīr and Tafsīr as-Saʽdī mention similar
statements, with both literal meanings and also metaphorical
ones such as ‘Allāh is the One who guides those in the
heavens and the earth,’ ‘His Book is a light,’ ‘His
legislation is a light’ etc.
[3] it was not clearly heard that the Shaykh said ‘A light’
due to a problem with the tape recording, but it is part of
the hadīth
[4] Sahīh Muslim #178; it was also narrated in this same
chapter with the wording: ‘I saw a light’
[5] what is meant by ‘A light, how could I see Him?’ is the
light of the Veil, which is mentioned in another hadīth:
‘His Veil is light,’ and it is also mentioned in another
hadīth: ‘I saw a light’ – so its meaning is that ‘how could
I see Him while the light of the Veil had prevented me from
seeing Him?’; refer to Shaykh ʽAbdul Muhsin al-ʽAbbād in
Sharh Sunan at-Tirmithī, tape #361
[6] the meaning of ‘A light, how could I see Him?’ is: ‘His
Veil is a light, so how could I see Him?’; refer to Imām an-Nawawī
in his explanation of Sahīh Muslim, part 3, p. 12
[7] Sahīh Muslim #179
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