What does the light of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) being created from the light of Allah mean?

- Ajluni reports the following hadith from Jabir (r.a): “O Messenger of Allah! May my father and mother be sacrificed for you! Will you tell me the first thing that Allah created?” The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) answered him as follows:

- “O Jabir! Allah created first the light of your prophet from His light before creating things. The light existed and moved based on His power and as He wished. Lawh al-Mahfuz (Preserved Tablet), Pen, Paradise, Hell, Angels, the Sky, the Earth, the Sun, the Moon, Jinn and Human Beings did not exist then. When Allah wanted to create the creatures, He divided that light into four parts. He created the Pen from the first part, Lawh al-Mahfuz from the second part and the Throne from the third part. He divided the fourth part into four again…

- Hadith scholars have tried to explain what the word “light” mentioned in the hadith means based on the hadith above and some other hadiths to prevent misunderstanding:

“What is meant by His light is not a light that is permanent in His essence according to the apparent meaning of the word since it is impossible for Allah Almighty. Light can exist only together with bodies. What is meant in the hadith is that He created Muhammad from a light created before His light. In addition, the following possibility can be added: The light from which He created Muhammad is His essence. However, it does not mean that the light from which Muhammad was created is matter. On the contrary, it means Allah’s will to create light without using anything as a mediator.” (Ajluni, 312)

- The explanation above also shows the deviancy of the philosophy of Ishraqis (Illuminationists) to show the divine reality with the understanding of material light. It is a Quranic and absolute fact that Allah is beyond all kinds of ascriptions. And the reality of His essence is far beyond the limits of what the human mind can comprehend. What does he mean when he says, “The light from which He created Muhammad is His essence. However, it does not mean that the light from which Muhammad was created is matter”? Does he want to say that this explanation is wrong? Will you please explain it?

Dear Brother / Sister,

It will be useful to explain the issue in a few articles:

a) One of Allah’s names is Nur (light). However, we know that the name Nur has nothing to do with material light because “it is out of the question for Allah to resemble any other being”; therefore, it is definitely not possible to know the nature of His name “Nur” because the unknown can be known in comparison with the known.

“There is nothing whatever like unto Him, and He is the One that hears and sees (all things).” (ash-Shura, 42/11)

In the verse above, we are clearly taught the fact that “it is wrong to make an analogy acting upon the names and attributes of Allah - based on the similarity of a name”.

Yes, Allah hears and human beings also hear, but the way of hearing is never alike. Allah is Light and the sun is also light, but the nature of those two lights is very different; they never resemble each other.

Yes, “the sun, which is like a dense mirror to the divine name of Light (Nur) among the All-Glorious Maker’s most beautiful names Allah,” (see Sözler, p. 166) is different from the nature of the name Nur.

“The All-Glorious One, Who is the Light of Light, the Illuminator of Light, the Determiner of Light, and in comparison to Whose knowledge and power the sun’s light and heat is like earth, is all-present and all-seeing and infinitely close to all things with His knowledge and power.” (see Sözler, p. 166)

b) It can be said that the statement “Allah the Exalted created first the light of your prophet from His light before creating things” in the hadith narration is a metaphor, an attribution of honor. That is, Allah did not create the Prophet “from the light of His own sacred essence”, but from a specially created light. The expression “from His own light” aims to honor the first created light and the Prophet.

Indeed, according to the investigative scholars, the meaning of the phrase “breathed something of His spirit” in the verse “And He (Allah) breathed into him something of His spirit” (as-Sajda, 30/9) means “from the spirit He created”. The use of the expression “Min Ruhihi” (from His spirit) aims to emphasize the importance of the spirit created for man in the sight of Allah and to honor him. (see Raai, Baydawi, Ibn Ashur, the interpretation of the verse in question)

c) The fact that the Prophet (pbuh) was created from light might also mean that his nature received maximum luminous manifestations of the names and attributes. In fact, all names and attributes of Allah are lights of unknown nature. From this point of view, everything He created is luminous and the manifestations of those luminous names.

However, the special emphasis on the luminousness of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) indicates his value in the eye of Allah because none of the creatures has received the divine light as much as the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).

“Thus, it is through this mystery that the Prophet Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him), whose essence is light and nature, luminous, in this world hears at the same time all the benedictions recited for him by all his community, and at the resurrection will meet with all the purified at the same time. One will not be an obstacle to another. In fact, some of the saints who have acquired a high degree of luminosity and are called ‘substitutes’ (abdal) have been observed in many places at the same time.” (bk. Sözler, pp. 194-195)

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