Allah is The Light of The Heavens and Earth

Allah is The Light of The Heavens and Earth

Opening Praise and Gratitude

(الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ الَّذِي هَدَانَا لِهَٰذَا - Alhamdulillahi alladhi hadana lihadha). All praise is due to Allah who has guided us to this path of faith that we would not have been able to guide ourselves, had not Allah chosen to guide us.

(الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ الَّذِي أَنزَلَ عَلَىٰ عَبْدِهِ الْكِتَابَ وَلَمْ يَجْعَل لَّهُ عِوَجًا - Alhamdulillahi alladhi anzala 'ala 'abdihi al-kitaba wa lam yaj'al lahu 'iwaja). All praise is due to Allah who has revealed the scripture unto His servant and has made no crookedness therein. (Quran 18:1)

All praise is due to Allah who describes Himself as light. He mentions it in the Quran.

Allah: The Divine Light

Allah is the light of the heavens and the earth.

One of Allah's names is An-Nur (اللَّهُ نُورُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ - Allahu nurul samawati wal ard). Allah is the light of the heavens and the earth.

What does this mean? The most basic meaning is that Allah is the only one unique in His creation, unique in His powers, unique in His wisdom, unique in His knowledge. He is the only one who brings forth creation from the darkness of nothingness.

The Darkness of Non-Existence

The greatest darkness is the darkness of non-existence. If this room were wholly dark but someone told us there were men and women in the room, we couldn't see them, but we could begin to conceive of what they look like because we know what men look like. We know what women look like. Even though we couldn't see them, we could begin to conceptualize their existence. But they're still in the dark. So as far as we're concerned, they're not there. They're silent. We can't see them. We can't hear them. As far as we're concerned, they're not there. They're in the dark.

But something that doesn't even exist, so we say it is non-existence. We can't even begin to conceive of what it might look like, what it might be like. There's no foundation for us to even begin to conceptualize what it's like. Therefore, that's the deepest level of darkness.

And it is Allah who brings forth existence from the deepest level of darkness. And this is what it means: Allah is the one that brings every creature, every inanimate object, every molecule, every atom that ever has existed, that exists currently, that will exist in the future. Allah is the one who brings it forth from nothingness into existence. This is a power unique and distinct to Allah. Allah is the light of the heavens.

The Wisdom of Ibn Ata'illah

Imam Ibn Ata'illah, at the beginning of one of his aphorisms, he says: (الْقَوْمُ كُلُّهُ ظُلْمَةٌ وَإِنَّمَا أَنَارَهُ ظُهُورُ الْحَقِّ فِيهِ - Al qawmu kulluhu zulmatun wa innama anarahu zuhuru al-haqqi fihi). The creation, all of this, is darkness.

In other words, the origin of everything that exists is nothingness. And it's illuminated or brought into existence so that we can see it or perceive it or conceptualize it through physical light, and those things we can't see but we know they exist through the light of our intellect. But it's all from Allah.

The Prophet as Light

Allah has described His Prophet ﷺ as light. (قَدْ جَاءَكُم مِّنَ اللَّهِ نُورٌ وَكِتَابٌ مُّبِينٌ - Qad ja'akum min Allahi nurun wa kitabun mubin). There has come to you from Allah a light and a clear scripture. (Quran 5:15)

That light is Muhammad ﷺ. The mufassireen, the commentators, are in agreement on that. (قَدْ جَاءَكُم مِّنَ اللَّهِ نُورٌ وَكِتَابٌ مُّبِينٌ - Qad ja'akum min Allahi nurun wa kitabun mubin). There has come unto you from Allah a light and a clear scripture. That light is Muhammad ﷺ.

Emerging from Multiple Darknesses

And so Allah describes Himself as a light. He describes His Prophet as a light, and we emerge from the darknesses. There's the darkness of nothingness, that's the deepest darkness. There's also the darkness of idolatry and the darkness of disbelief.

How does Allah describe shirk or idolatry? Shirk is a great darkness, and it's the light of Allah and the light of His Prophet Muhammad that bring us from that darkness into the light of faith.

Allah's Wilayah for the Believers

Allah is the protecting friend, the protecting loving friend of those who believe. All those meanings are in wilayah. (اللَّهُ وَلِيُّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا - Allahu waliyyu allatheena amanu). Allah is the protecting friend of those who believe. (Quran 2:257)

Al-wilayah includes al-mahabba (love), al-qurba (nearness), wal-nusra (help). Wilayah is love. Wilayah is nearness to Allah. Wilayah is help, assistance, protection from Allah. Al-wilayah, wal-mahabba, wal-qurba, wal- 'inaya, wal-ri'aya, wal-himaya. Wilayah is nearness, and it's assistance, and it's love, and it's care, and it's protection, and it's nurturing. This is what Allah provides to the believer.

(اللَّهُ وَلِيُّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا يُخْرِجُهُم مِّنَ الظُّلُمَاتِ إِلَى النُّورِ - Allahu waliyyu allatheena amanu yukhrijuhum min azzulumati ila an- nur). Allah is the protecting friend of those who believe. He brings them forth from darknesses into light. (Quran 2:257)

From the darkness of idolatry, first of all, from the darkness of nothingness, from the darkness of idolatry, from the darkness of ignorance, from the darkness of disbelief into the light of faith. (يُخْرِجُهُم مِّنَ الظُّلُمَاتِ إِلَى النُّورِ - Yukhrijuhum min azzulumati ila an-nur). Into the light of iman, into the light of truth, into the light of guidance.

One Light, Many Darknesses

We said the darknesses are many, and the light is one. But those qualities of light are inseparable. Truth cannot be separated from guidance. There's no guidance without truth. Faith cannot be separated from truth and guidance. There's no faith without truth and guidance. They're inseparably bound to one another.

Those who reject faith, their friends, and their imagined protectors, and their imagined lovers, because it's all an illusion. It's the illusion of protection. People are resorting to devil worship. They think they'll get some powers of protection. They'll only get what Allah wills for them to have. Everything returns to Allah. And attributing any power to shaitan, any power to science, any power to human intellect or reason is an illusion, because all power is with Allah. All power is with Allah. There's no strength, no power except with Allah.

Gratitude for Faith and Existence

Thank Allah if you have faith in this existence. Thank Allah if Allah has brought you into this existence and guided you. Thank Allah, because it's only owing to Allah. Innama. Say, innama. Innama is a restrictive particle.

(إِنَّمَا أَنَارَهُ ظُهُورُ الْحَقِّ فِيهِ - Innama anarahu zuhuru al-haqqi fihi). And it is only the manifestation of Allah's power.

Or in another version (إِنَّمَا أَنَارَهُ وُجُودُ الْحَقِّ فِيهِ - Innama anarahu wujudu al-haqqi fihi). It is only the existence of Allah, the necessary existence of Allah, whose existence is necessary for all other existence, that brings it into being.

So thank Allah for bringing faith into our hearts. Defend that faith. Protect that faith. Nurture that faith. Cherish that faith. Because without that we're lost. Without that we are lost.

The Testimony of Our Age

This is the testimony of time. Now we're in the age of atheism. As atheism goes up, what do we find? More content human beings? More satisfied human beings? More fulfilled human beings? We find human beings with no purpose. We find nihilistic human beings. And as a result, atheism is going up at an all-time high.

Suicide, going up. Drug addiction, opioid addiction amongst simple country people, the people who are supposed to be the people of faith, going up. Alcoholism, going up. Suicide, going up. Those are indications of less fulfillment, less happiness, less purpose, less meaning in the life of a human being.

There is no true happiness divorced from a relationship with our Creator. There is no fulfillment for a human being divorced from a relationship with our Creator. There is no guidance for a human being divorced from a relationship with our Creator.

The Battle Against Falsehood

Allah is the loving, nurturing, guiding, protector, friend of those who believe. (وَالَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا أَوْلِيَاؤُهُمُ الطَّاغُوتُ -

Wallatheena kafaroo awliyauhumu at-taghut. Those who reject faith, their imagined protectors and imagined friends and imagined helpers are the false gods. (Quran 2:257)

Those things that are set up for worship other than Allah. Let me get the verse right:

Those who believe fight in the cause of Allah, and those who disbelieve fight in the cause of false gods. So fight the allies of Satan. Indeed, the plot of Satan has ever been weak. (Quran 4:76)

So Allah says He is the protecting, nurturing, loving, dear friend. (فَقَاتِلُوا أَوْلِيَاءَ الشَّيْطَانِ - Faqatilu awliya ash- shaytan). So fight the dupes of Satan. And that doesn't mean a physical fight in this context.

We have to understand though, brothers and sisters, there is a battle going on. There is a battle going on between people who want to rob you of your relationship with Allah, who want to tell you Allah doesn't even exist. How can you have a relationship with something you don't believe exists, or someone you don't believe exists? They want to rob you of your relationship with Allah. They want to rob you of the purpose that Allah has given us that defines our creation.

I've only created the jinn and the human that they worship Me. (Quran 51:56)

That's the purpose of our creation. And that's the key to our fulfillment as human beings.

Resisting the Redefinition of Purpose

They want to take worship away from us so they can redefine our purpose. And they're redefining it not in a way that benefits us, not in a way that benefits our soul, but in a way that benefits their purpose or their bottom line. You exist to consume. You exist to shop until you drop. You exist to consume this or that product. You exist to consume my alcohol. You exist to consume my marijuana, to consume my cocaine, to consume my heroin.

To consume—and we might think, oh, illegal drugs. What about the legal dope? You exist to consume my Oxycontin and my Percocets and my this, that, and the other that I sell over the counter by the millions of tablets, not caring that these are just as addictive as the former ones we mentioned. But it serves my bottom line.

So I have to take faith out of your soul. I have to take guidance out of your soul. I have to take purpose out of your life so you can become my slave and not the slave of Allah. This battle is real. And we have to fight back. We have to stop sitting around waiting for something to come and bowl us over. We have to steel ourselves. We have to strengthen ourselves. We have to strengthen our faith. We have to cling to the believers and come together to resist.

The Real Enemy to Resist

People are rallying us for their purpose. Resist Trump. Trump isn't worth resisting. Resist the underlying forces that Trump is a spokesperson for, or that Trump mobilizes. That's what needs to be resisted. After 2020 or at the

latest 2024, Trump is done. There's no more Trump. But what about the underlying movements and historical forces that produce that spokesperson? That's what has to be resisted.

The emptiness in people's souls. There is a deep emptiness in the soul of many people who would describe themselves as white Americans. Describe themselves—I've never seen a person this color, actually. But many people who would describe themselves as white Americans, there is an emptiness in the soul that would lead a person to give themselves and be vulnerable to the naked, raw, debasing, dehumanizing appeals of racism. That emptiness is what we have to resist, not its manifestations.

Only a fool puts a band-aid on cancer. A doctor tries to address the actual malady itself. And Muslims are told to address, to stand up, to resist, to fight against the actual malady itself. Those forces that are pulling people away from faith, that's what we have to fight. Those forces that are pulling people away from the purpose of their creation, to worship our Creator who has brought us into existence with His sole and unique powers. That's what we have to fight.

Preparing for Victory

And we can win that battle if we prepare ourselves for it. We can win that battle if we recognize that indeed there's a battle going on. We know it's going on. You get proof every day when your child comes home and says, "I don't know if I believe anymore. I don't know if I'm going to be a Muslim anymore." There's a battle going on. Either we're going to engage the battle, or we're going to stand on the sidelines and be swept away by forces that will grow too big for us to control.

The foundation of that resistance is the strength of our faith. And the strength of our faith is based on the purity of our hearts. So we have to be about the work to purify our hearts. It's a spiritual strength that we possess. We don't have weapons.

If America decided today, "Alright, forget all this nonsense about MBS and this. We'll just drop nukes on Arabia. We'll drop 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90 nuclear bombs and just wipe it off the face of the earth." They won't do it because Allah will hold their hands. But if Allah willed, what resources do Saudi Arabia or any other Muslim country possess to stop it from happening? Zero. Zero.

True Strength is Spiritual

Our strength isn't weapons, guns, bombs and bullets. Our strength is the spiritual strength that Allah puts in the heart of the believers. And when we as an ummah cultivate that strength collectively and that power, there is no strength, no power, no bomb, no bullet that can stop us and stand against us.

Understand, brothers and sisters, it's part of the deception that gets us trapped into physical thinking, which is playing into someone else's strength. We have to begin thinking at another level. Once we do that, we'll unleash a power like that power that came out of the Arabian desert with those barefoot, destitute Arabs who went forth and changed the course of history.

The Light of Joy

Another light that Allah puts in the heart, this one is important, is the light of joy. Joy is a manifestation of that.

And so our Prophet ﷺ, despite all the struggles he was engaging in with his companions—Khandaq and Uhud, this, that and the other—he was still, throughout it all, he had the ability to smile. Throughout it all, he had the ability to play with the children, play with al-Hasan, with Husain and the other children from the Sahaba. Throughout it all, he had the ability to shed tears, tears of joy in some instances and tears of sadness.

His situation did not rob him of his humanity because the light was always shining. We cannot allow our situation to rob us of the ability to rejoice. We have faith, therefore we have purpose, we have guidance, we have direction.

Say, "In the bounty of Allah and in His mercy—in that let them rejoice; it is better than what they accumulate." (Quran 10:58)

Say, in the grace of Allah, in the faith that He's given us, and in His mercy, in this, let them rejoice. It is better than anything anyone can gather from this world.

Being Joyous While Struggling

So while we are struggling, while we are going forth to do those things we must do to preserve the light of faith in the world and to strengthen that light, both within our hearts and within our worlds, we should be joyous people throughout. We should be celebratory people throughout. We should be able to take a break to come and enjoy dinner with each other, to enjoy the celebration of our Prophet ﷺ, to enjoy Eid with each other, to enjoy the weddings and the feasts.

We're celebratory people, but we're serious people. We're serious people. And our hard work gives us something to celebrate and blesses us to appreciate the celebration all the more. Because they punctuate—their punctuation marks are the sentences of seriousness, punctuation marks of joy and celebration and community and love and mutual support.

May Allah bless us to witness that and to show it to the world. People, who's going to show it? If we don't join with those who are trying and add our weight, our communal weight, not our individual weight.

The Greatness of Community

And we'll stop at this point. Islam will not be great in this country until we are a great community. It won't be great because one person here said, "Oh, Ahmed, my co-worker is the nicest guy, has more integrity than anyone I