Nūr () is a term in Islamic context referring to the "cold light of the night" or "heatless light", i.e., the light of the moon. This light is used as a symbol for "God's guidance" and "knowledge", a symbol of mercy in contrast to Nar, which refers to the diurnal solar "hot light", i.e., fire.McAuliffe, Jane Dammen. 2003. Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān 3. DC: Georgetown University. p. 45. In the Quran, God is stated to be "the light (Nūr) of the heavens and the earth" (Verse of Light). Many classical commentators on the Quran compare this to God illuminating the world with understanding, not taken literally. The first and foremost to representatively stand to the concept of nūr muḥammadī (the essence of Muhammad) being the quintessence of everything was Sayyid Abdul Qadir Gilani, who described this idea in his book Sirr ul Asrar.Sayyid Abdul Qadir Gilani in Sirr ul Asrar, discourse 1 This concept was then preached by his disciples. One of Sayyid Abdul Qadir Gilani's disciples was the Andalusian scholar Abu Bakr ibn al-Arabi, who categorized nūr into different levels of understanding from the most profound to the most mundane. Shias believe nūr, in the sense of inner esoteric understanding, is inherited through the Imams, who in turn communicate it to the people.
In the Quran The word nūr comes from the same root as the Hebrew Ohr, the primal light described in the Book of Genesis that was created at the beginning. In Aramaic the term nūr means fire. In Aramaic, it became associated with igniting candles, shifting the term to the meaning of fire, while in Arabic nūr became light. The word nūr, or its derivatives, occurs forty-nine times in the Quran. It is used in reference to God, Muhammad, the Quran, the Book, the Torah, the moon and the faithful men and women. Al-nur is often used in contrast with zulumat (darkness) in terms that describe movement from darkness into light, and from ignorance into faith. The word nūr is also used in eight basic referential meanings: The religion of Islam Faith God's commandments and moral laws in the Torah and the Gospels The light of day The guiding light that God will give to the faithful on the Day of Resurrection The commandments and injunctions of the Quran Justice The light of the moon
Surah 24 of the Quran contains the Ayat an-Nur, the Verse of Light (Q24:35), which reads, "God is the light of the heavens and the earth; the likeness of His light is as a niche wherein is a lamp (the lamp in a glass, the glass as it were a glittering star) kindled from a Blessed Tree, an olive that is neither of the East nor of the West whose oil well nigh would shine, even if no fire touched it; light upon light; (God guides to His light whom He will.)" The phrase "light upon light" (nurun 'ala nur) in this sura is often used among Muslims to denote the infinite beauty, guidance and light of God.
Classical commentaries
Al-Tabari (839–923) says in his Jami al-bayan that the best interpretation is to substitute "guide" for "light", as "God is the guide of the heavens and the earth". Other interpretations make God the source of illumination rather than the light itself, such as "God lights the heavens and the earth". The Persian scholar Al-Zamakhshari () says that the phrase "God is the light" is like saying "Zayd is generous and munificent". This does not mean that Zayd is the properties of generosity and munificence, but that he has these properties. Al-Zamakhshari rejected the possibility of attributes separate from God, such as power or knowledge or light, which would be contrary to the unity of God. He interpreted "God is the light of the heavens and the earth" as meaning,
Al-Ghazali () wrote a treatise on how different types of light should be defined, and how the phrase "God is the light of the heavens and the earth" should be interpreted. In his view, "light" can have three different meanings. The first is the ordinary usage, "an expression of what can be seen in itself and through which other things can be seen, like the sun". In Arabic the word light may also refer to the eye, through which perception takes place, and this may be a more appropriate interpretation. The "eye" of the intellect is an even more perfect organ of perception, and "light" may refer to this organ. In this sense "light" may refer to Muhammad, and to a lesser extent to the other prophets and religious scholars. A third interpretation is that "light" is the first light (al-nūr al-awwal) and the real light (al-nūr al-ḥaqq) since it is the only light that does not take its luminosity from some other source. God is light, the only light, the universal light, and he is hidden from mortals because he is pure light, although he is omnipresent. Using the term "light" for any other purpose is metaphor.
Another passage of the Quran states "The earth will shine with the light of its Lord" (Q39:69). Mainstream exegetes take this statement literally. Exegetes of the rationalist Mu'tazila school of theology of the eighth–tenth centuries interpreted the word nūr in this passage in the sense of "the truth, the Quran and the proof" rather than the commonplace meaning of "light". Shia exegetes take it to mean "the land of the soul will shine with the Lord's light of justice and truth during the time of Imam al-Mahdi." Sufi exegetes take nūr in this case to mean "justice", or take the statement to mean "God will create a special light to shine on the Earth".
Nizari Isma'ili belief
The followers of the Nizari Isma'ili sect believe that divine guidance continues to reach Ismailis through the progeny of Muhammad. The Imams have the function of conveying the inner, esoteric understanding to Ismailis. According to Nadia Eboo Jamal, the Imams are "the inheritors of his spiritual knowledge ('ilm), the bearers of the light (nūr) of God and His living proof (hujjah) on earth."
According to the fifth Shiite Imam, Muhammad al-Baqir, the imams are the muḥaddathūn that are mentioned in the Quran, and are the light of God (nūr Allāh). He was asked to comment on the Quranic verse Q64:8, "And believe in Allah and His Messenger and the nūr (light) that We have brought down." He replied that the imams from the Prophet's family were in fact the light of God (nūr Allah) in the heavens and on earth. This spiritual light, passed down from one generation to the next, symbolizes the eternal knowledge that Muhammad passed on to Ali and his descendants.
There seem to be two concepts. The nūr muḥammadī, a light from the side of Adam that is passed down from Prophet to Prophet until MohammadNorman Daniel, Islam and the West, Edinburgh University Press 1960 p.21. and then through genealogical descent, while the nūr Allah is inherited at the time the previous possessor dies. The imam has the nūr muḥammadī at birth, but is silent until he receives the nūr Allah. The nūr muḥammadī is the symbol of succession and the substance that connects Adam to Muhammad and Muhammad to the imams. The nūr Allah is the symbol of inspiration and prophecy, which the imams share with the prophets and all men chosen by God.
Nūr Muḥammadī as a theological doctrine The concept of nūr muḥammadī (نور محمدي, the Muhammadan Light) refers to the doctrine that before the creation of the physical world, Allah created a primordial divine light from which the Prophet Muhammad and, in Twelver Shia theology, the Imams of his household were subsequently formed. As a theological doctrine, it has been developed across both Shia and Sufi traditions, though with distinct emphases and implications in each.
The doctrine has been traced by scholars to its earliest systematic articulation in the teachings of Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq (d. 148/765), the sixth Imam of Twelver Shia Islam, and underwent significant elaboration through Shia and Sufi thinkers across subsequent centuries. Academic research has identified three broad phases in its conceptual development: an early mytho-cosmological phase in which the light is described as the first spiritual creation; a Neoplatonized phase in which it is understood through frameworks of emanation; and a later ontological phase in which the light is treated as the self-manifestation of God.
A narration widely cited in connection with this doctrine is attributed to the companion Jabir ibn 'Abd Allah, in which the Prophet is reported to have said: "O Jabir, the first thing Allah created was the light of your Prophet from His light." The narration is attributed in several classical works, including al-Qastallani's al-Mawahib al-Ladunniyyah, to 'Abd al-Razzaq (d. 211/827), the prominent hadith scholar and teacher of Bukhari. Classical scholars including Alusi in Ruh al-Ma'ani and 'Abd al-Haqq al-Dihlawi accepted the narration's grounding, while others including al-Suyuti and several later hadith critics questioned its chain of transmission. The scholarly debate over the narration's status has not prevented the theological concept it expresses from becoming foundational in both Sufi and Shia cosmological thought.
In Twelver Shia theology In Twelver Shia Islam, the doctrine of nūr muḥammadī has a specific and foundational theological function that distinguishes it from its Sufi parallels. Shia theology holds that the primordial light was not exclusive to Muhammad but was shared by the Imams of his household, who participated in the same pre-eternal spiritual reality before the creation of the physical world. Narrations in al-Kafi and Bihar al-Anwar describe Muhammad and the Imams as having existed as lights (anwār) under the divine throne before the creation of Adam.
This doctrine is directly connected to the Twelver concept of the Imamate and the doctrine of ismah (infallibility). Shia theologians argue that the unique ontological station of the Imams — their pre-eternal participation in the nūr muḥammadī — is the theological basis for their infallibility and their divinely conferred authority to guide the community and interpret divine law. The Ahl al-Kisa, described as purified of sin in the verse of purification (Q33:33), are understood in this framework as the earthly manifestation of the primordial light, rendering their guidance both necessary and uniquely authoritative.
The Twelver tradition also draws a distinction between nūr muḥammadī and nūr Allāh (the light of God). According to narrations attributed to Imam Muhammad al-Baqir, the fifth Imam, the nūr muḥammadī is the light of prophetic succession passed genealogically from Adam through the prophets to Muhammad and then to the Imams, while the nūr Allāh is the light of divine inspiration and guidance that an Imam receives upon the death of his predecessor. An Imam possesses the nūr muḥammadī from birth but does not exercise his full authority until he receives the nūr Allāh. This two-fold conception of light underpins the Shia understanding of how the Imamate is simultaneously hereditary and divinely conferred.