Is Nur (light) the hijab and veiling of Allah?

- I heard that the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said, “Allah’s hijab is light, and if He removes that veil, all creatures will burn and perish.”
- Is this information true?

Dear Brother / Sister,

The hadith in question is as follows:

“The hijab of Allah is light. If He opened it, the manifestations of His face (the beauty and majesty of His personality) would burn all the creatures they encompassed.” (Muslim, Iman, 293)

Allah’s hijabs are not material veils; they are hijabs that spiritually cover the majesty and grandeur that we do not know.

When we look at any work in the book of the universe, we watch with amazement the knowledge and wisdom, power and perfection of Allah manifested in that work.

There are so many veils even between us and the flowers that we see every day. We just look at the first veil and admire their shape and color. However, for a botanist, each feature of that flower is a different veil.

All this leads us to the door of the following truth:

“God Almighty is behind seventy thousand veils.”

It is stated in “Miraj Booklet” in the Risale-i Nur Collection that “all the levels to beyond the intermediate world of the Divine Names, the manifestation of the Divine attributes and acts, and the levels of beings” are known as the seventy thousand veils. And attention is attracted to the following in another topic: “You have to pass through seventy thousand veils of darkness and light, that is, material and physical veils and the veils of the Divine Names and attributes if you want to enter His presence without veils. (See Sözler, On Altıncı Söz)

The veils of darkness called “material and physical” are the material realm we see; they are expressed as “the levels of beings” in the previous statement.

The phrase “divine names and attributes” is used for the veils of light. Those veils are manifestations of divine names and attributes at different levels, and are mentioned as “the levels to beyond the intermediate world of the Divine Names, the manifestation of the Divine attributes and acts” in the previous statement.

That is to say, there are more than seventy thousand hijabs before Allah’s sacred being. Some of those hijabs are material, ontological veils. While all beings in the universe witness the existence and oneness of Allah through the window of the manifestation of His Names and Attributes, they also become a veil of darkness for the concealment of His Sacred Essence. Similarly, Allah’s names and attributes indicate the existence and oneness of Allah with their marvelous manifestations but they are also a luminous veil for the concealment of His Sacred Essence.

Just like this book of the universe, the Quran is also enwrapped with meanings and is full of many secrets and wise reasons. It is not possible to move on to the next veil without watching one. There are innumerable curtains in front of human beings in order to be addressed in the true sense by the attribute of kalam (speech), which is the source of that divine decree.

If it is thought that the same Quran educated the companions, mujtahids, mujaddids, all saints and pure ones, and finally all believers, it is clear that there are seventy thousand veils between us and that divine word.

All plants turn their faces to the same Sun, but each takes advantage of it according to its own ability and receives blessings. Every tree in a garden is planted in the same soil, watered with the same water; but different fruits emerge from each of them.

Many attributes such as seeing, hearing, being powerful, being dominant and possessing are common between man and Allah. According to the verse “there is nothing whatever like unto Him (Allah)”, no human quality is exactly like a divine quality. That is how people’s curtains, hijabs and veils should be conceived.

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