Mohammad Elshinawy – Divine Parables – #15 The Extraordinary Light Of God 24-35
AI: Summary ©
The title of the Quran provides a way to see the world and bring it to the point of being a believer. The importance of the light is discussed, including its protection by glass and the best oil. The benefits of the fruit oil, seen as a universal source of light, are also discussed, including its purest and most beautiful oil. The oil is seen as a universal source of light and is a result of the revelation of Allah.AI: Transcript ©
So with this being our final,
reflection
on the parables of the Quran,
allow me to begin where I ended this
morning
with the eclipse prayer. Allah azza wa Jal,
he said,
Allah does not shy away from striking an
example
using a mosquito
or anything greater than a mosquito.
And we said, this was answering those who
were dismissive of the parables. Like, why is
God talking about a mosquito and a fly
and a spider web and all of these
things?
And so they missed the whole point which
is that Allah a zawajal was giving them
a world view
using things that were very familiar to them.
Giving them
aspects of the seen world,
truths about the seen world
so that they can
refine their perception, their perspective,
their belief, their viewpoint regarding the more important
world,
the unseen realities.
Right?
And so that is the ultimate objective of
the series and before I share with you
the final and as I said my favorite
of all parables in the Quran,
Just I wanted to lock that in so
that we don't get chased off the mic
by time.
Allah says,
how many signs does there have to be
in the heavens and in the earth, and
they just walk past them while negligent, while
oblivious.
That is the objective of those these reflections.
We don't wanna be those people. Allah says,
Don't they roam the earth and have hearts?
Not eyes. You see it with your eyes,
but what's that bringing you to? They have
hearts with which they may reason.
And so bringing it to the final parable
now,
Allah
speaks about
an aspect,
not a trivial aspect,
but rather
one of the most important aspects of the
seeing world,
rather
what makes seeing possible. What is it that
makes it possible for our eyes to see?
Light.
Without light, you can't see.
Allah a zawajal says in the chapter of
light, surat al Nur. And this was called
the chapter of light because the centerpiece of
this surah is aya tanur, the verse of
light.
This verse contains a parable
regarding the light of guidance Allah casts into
the hearts.
The light of guidance.
But he begins how
remember the formula.
Allah
is the one behind
the creator and source of all of your
light in the heavens and the earth. The
seen world, you see the world because of
light, and you see the light in the
world, the light we get out of a
candle, the light we get out of the
sun, where does that come from? From him.
He created all light.
Then he transitions
to the most important light, the light that's
not a physical light. The metaphysical, the the
light of guidance, and that's why the parable
I'm gonna jump to the end now before
I give it to you. It says,
Allah guides to his light whoever he wishes.
Who has the most perfect share of the
light of guidance?
Tell me quickly.
The prophet
And that is why some scholars said, and
this is attributed to Ibn Abbas though he
said both, that this is the light of
guidance we're about to talk about in the
heart of the believer.
And other times he said, this is the
light of guidance in the heart of Muhammad
and
it's he is the standard to which we
reach. He is the ultimate believer. He is
the ideal. He is the gold standard.
Now Allah is the light of the heavens
and the earth. The example of his light,
meaning of guidance. Now that he guides people
to,
is like the example
of a You know, the the the is
that little indent in the wall, you know,
in olden architecture.
They have this little where you place the
candle or the lamp inside, that little niche.
It is the niche. And you know the
purpose of this, this is there's a reason
why they made the light bulb round, because
it sends the light farther when it's round.
So before the light bulb, they would make
the niche curve to send the light farther.
And they said this is the example of
the chest of the prophet alaihis salatu wassalam,
his blessed chest or the chest of the
believer by extension. It sends light to the
world, but to send light farther to the
world, it has it has to contain the
perfect light inside.
So this is a niche, the
In this niche is a lantern. Like a
glass lantern with a little wick, that fabric,
the wick dipping into the oil, and then
you light it from up top. It has
a lantern.
And so this is the heart of the
believer now, the lantern. Yes.
That lantern is encased with glass
because the believer is soft hearted but strong
hearted.
The disbeliever is hard hearted but weak hearted.
You get it? Some think like, oh, the
the soft heart. Soft but not weak. And
the glass glass, especially in pre modern times,
they wouldn't make very thin glass. Glass represented
strength.
Right? Glass held think think of a diamond,
basically. Right? Or a strong crystal.
So this light is protected
by the strong glass around it.
It is a strong heart.
The flame will not flicker with the wind
and it will not break easily,
Though it is very soft, of course, and
tender and sensitive.
So this niche contains a lantern. This lantern
is encased in glass.
This illuminated lantern
is like a remarkable star. It's like a
light from a different world,
and indeed the light of guidance is different.
It's unlike any other light.
But this lantern is
fueled
from a blessed olive tree.
That is neither eastern nor western.
You know those who know, and I don't
know until I read it in the books.
The the the best olive best olive oil
you can make you can have,
and in the blessed lands of Palestine it
is known. Right?
All that extra extra extra extra virgin you
see on the shelf, you throw all those
extras in the garbage,
and if they ever bring you this, if
you have Palestinian friends, you know. It glows
on its own. It looks like I don't
wanna say kryptonite, but it looks like an
asteroid. It really does. It looks like it's
it is lit.
It illuminates in the dark. It really is
interesting.
So but they say the best of the
best of our olive oil is what? The
one that comes from a tree at a
hilltop.
Why? Because if it's on the eastern side,
it only gets half a day of light,
the eastern half.
And if it's on the west side of
the hill, it'll only get half a day
of light.
But the one that's up top gets what?
Lights all day long, the sun all day
long, so it produces the best oil. So
Allah says the heart of the believer
at its base is the purest oil
that it can be found eastern or western
as if to say the fitrah of the
human being, the pure nature of the human
being. And of course the purest of all
natures is the prophet alaihis salatu wasalam.
You know we just heard zudas sharha when
it speaks about Allah opening his chest and
removing that black dot. That black dot is
not the disease of his heart. He never
had any diseases alayhis salatu wa sallam. For
sure. This was his susceptibility
to future disease. He was even
cleared of that.
But all of us in principle, we have
this pure fitra.
We have a fitra that originally is pure
and it's not from this world,
and it seeks something greater than this world.
It is not from the east, it is
not from the west. It is from God
And it seeks to connect with God. Azawajal
subhanahu wa ta'ala.
So oil, the fitrah are pure natures neither
eastern nor western.
The oil almost gives off its own light
even if no fire touches it. Even before
you spark it, it looks like it has
its own light. And likewise with the fitra,
you can almost know good and evil, morality
and immorality
from your fitra even before the revelation comes,
and that is why Islam is such a
natural religion
because it matches what you know deep down
inside in general. Right.
General moral principles. General goodness.
So it almost gives off its light
even before you kindle it. So what happens
when you kindle it?
The very next verse the words in the
verse say what?
It becomes light upon light. It becomes the
most extraordinary light. When that oil, that purity
gets kindled with what?
Revelation. It becomes the light of guidance. The
revelation from above down. At your core, Allah
gave you this fitra as a human being
and from the heavens he extended to you
this heavenly spark called the revelation.
It says, And Allah guides to his light
whomever he wishes.
And he strikes these examples for people so
they may understand.
And then the verses after it, go and
I'm out of time. Into finding this light
where? In the houses of Allah.
Don't drift from the masjid after Ramadan when
shaitan blitzes you. And it's all about keeping
your glass polished. He said, sallallahu alaihi wasallam
about keeping up the fight. He said,
whenever a servant commits a sin,
a black dot is stained onto him.
And if he pulls out and seeks forgiveness
and repents, meaning never stop doing that, no
matter how many times.
Every time he seeks forgiveness, pulls out and
reforms,
He actually said his heart is polished. He
used the word sukhin. His heart is polished.
But if he continues to drift, continues to
commit,
it continues to spread. The stain until it
overwhelms his heart. May Allah protect us and
perfect for us and You our light in
this world and in the darkness of the
grave and the hereafter.
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