﴿ ۞ ٱللَّهُ نُورُ ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ ۚ مَثَلُ نُورِهِۦ كَمِشْكَوٰةٍۢ فِيهَا مِصْبَاحٌ ۖ ٱلْمِصْبَاحُ فِى زُجَاجَةٍ ۖ ٱلزُّجَاجَةُ كَأَنَّهَا كَوْكَبٌۭ دُرِّىٌّۭ يُوقَدُ مِن شَجَرَةٍۢ مُّبَٰرَكَةٍۢ زَيْتُونَةٍۢ لَّا شَرْقِيَّةٍۢ وَلَا غَرْبِيَّةٍۢ يَكَادُ زَيْتُهَا يُضِىٓءُ وَلَوْ لَمْ تَمْسَسْهُ نَارٌۭ ۚ نُّورٌ عَلَىٰ نُورٍۢ ۗ يَهْدِى ٱللَّهُ لِنُورِهِۦ مَن يَشَآءُ ۚ وَيَضْرِبُ ٱللَّهُ ٱلْأَمْثَٰلَ لِلنَّاسِ ۗ وَٱللَّهُ بِكُلِّ شَىْءٍ عَلِيمٌۭ ﴾

“God is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The parable of His light is, as it were, that of a niche containing a lamp; the lamp is [enclosed] in glass, the glass [shining] like a radiant star: [a lamp] lit from a blessed tree - an olive-tree that is neither of the east nor of the west the oil whereof [is so bright that it] would well-nigh give light [of itself] even though fire had not touched it: light upon light! God guides unto His light him that wills [to be guided]; and [to this end] God propounds parables unto men, since God [alone] has full knowledge of all things.”

God is the light of the heavens and the earth�That is, the One who has adorned the heavens and earth with lights. The likeness of his light means the likeness of the light of Muḥammad . Ḥasan al-Baṣrī said, �He intended by this the heart of the believer and the luminescence (ḍiyāʾ) of professing the divine oneness (tawḥīd), for the hearts of the prophets  are far too brilliant in their light to be described in terms of the likeness of these lights. He said, �The similitude of the light of the Qurʾān is a lamp (miṣbāḥ), a lamp whose candle (sirāj) is gnosis (maʿrifa), whose wick (fatīl) is the religious obligations (farāʾiḍ), whose oil (duhn) is sincerity (ikhlāṣ) and whose light (nūr) is the light of [spiritual] attainment (ittiṣāl). Whenever the sincerity increases in purity, the lamp increases in brightness(ḍiyāʾ); and whenever the religious obligations increase in [inner] realisation (ḥaqīqa), the lamp increases in light (nūr).His words: