The Concept of God as Light according to Imami Exegetes

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Assistant Professor at Persian Gulf University, Bushehr, Iran.

2 Associate Professor, University of Tehran (Farabi Campus), Qom, Iran.

Abstract

 There are various aspects to the matter of God as light and, therefore, it is difficult to explain Quranic verses in this regard. In Quran 24:35, God is equated to light. This verse counts as a difficult verse of the Qurʾan due to the delicacy and subtlety of the topic, the supra-rationality of God, and the fact that the Quranic verse is ambiguous (mutashābih). Since light is a creation of God, how might God be compared to a creation? This question has sparked a variety of explanations for this verse. The ongoing development of ideas concerning this verse as well as the puzzle of God’s comparison to light require an examination of the issue in greater detail. The present study examines and evaluates the historical evolution of Imami approaches to the topic. It also provides a comprehensive theory inclusive of the previous views and in keeping with the context, exegetical narratives, and the meaning of light.

Keywords

References

ʿArūsī al-Ḥuwayzī, ʿAbd ʿAlī ibn Jumʿah al-. 1415 AH. Nūr al-thaqalayn. Edited by Sayyid Hāshim Rasūlī Maḥallātī. Qom: Ismāʿīliyyān.
Baḥrānī, Sayyid Hāshim al-. 1416 AH. Al-Burhān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Tehran: Bunyād-i Biʿthat.
Faḍl Allāh, Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥusayn. 1419 AH. Tafsīr min waḥy al-Qurʾān. Beirut: Dār al-Mulk li-al-Ṭabāʿah wa al-Nashr.
Fayḍ Kāshānī, Mullā Muḥsin. 1415 AH. Tafsīr al-Ṣāfī. Edited by Ḥusayn Aʿlamī. Tehran: Intishārāt-i al-Ṣadr.
Ibn al-Athīr, Majd al-Dīn al-Mubārak. 1364 Sh. al-Nihāyah fī gharīb al-ḥadith. Edited by Ṭāhir Aḥmadzādī and Maḥmūd Muḥammad Ṭanāḥī. Qom: Ismāʿīliyyan.
Ibn Manẓūr, Muḥammad ibn Mukrim. 1414 AH. Lisān al-ʿArab. Beirut: Dār al-Fikr li-al-Ṭabāʿah wa al-Nashr wa al-Tawzīʿ.
Jurjānī, Abū al-Maḥāsin Ḥusayn ibn Ḥasan. 1377 Sh. Jalāʾ al-adhhān jalāʾ al-aḥzān. Tehran: Intishārāt-i Dānishgāh-i Tihrān.
Kāshānī, Mullā Fatḥ Allāh. 1423 AH. Zubdat al-tafāsīr. Qom: Bunyād-i Maʿārif-i Islāmī.
Makārim Shīrāzī, Nāsir. 1374 Sh. Tafsīr Nimūnah. Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyyah.
Muqātil ibn Sulaymān Balkhī. 1423 AH. Tafsīr Maqātil ibn Sulaymān. Edited by ʿAbd Allāh Maḥmūd Maḥātah. Beirut: Dār al-Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth.
Qummī, ʿAlī ibn Ibrāhīm al-. 1367 Sh. Tafsīr Qummī. Qom: Dār al-Kitāb.
Rāghib al-Iṣfahānī Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad al-. 1376 Sh. Muʿjam mufradāt alfāẓ al-Qurʾān. Tehran: Murtaḍawī.
Rashīd Riḍā, Muḥammad. n.d. Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-karīm (Tafsīr al-Manār). Beirut: Dār al-Maʿrifah. 1, 22.
Rāzī, Abū l-Futūḥ Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī al-. 1408 AH. Rawḍ al-jinān wa rūḥ al-janān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Edited by Muḥammad Jaʿfar Yāḥaqqī and Muḥammad Mahdī Nāṣiḥ. Mashhad: Bunyād-i Pizhūhish-hā-yi Islāmī-yi Āstān-i Quds-i Raḍawī.
Shubbar, Sayyid ʿAbd Allāh. 1412 AH. Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-karīm. Beirut: Dār al-Balāghah li-al-Ṭibāʿah wa al-Nashr.
Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥusayn. 1417 AH. Al-Mīzān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Qom: Daftar-i Intishārāt-i Islāmī.
Ṭabrisī, Faḍl ibn Ḥasan. n.d. Majmaʿ al-Bayān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Tehran: Nāṣir Khusraw 17, 138.
Thaʿlabī, Abū Isḥāq Aḥmad ibn Ibrāhīm al-. 1422 AH. al-Kashf wa al-Bayān ʿan Tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Beirut: Dār al-Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī.
Ṭurayḥī, Fakhr al-Dīn al-. 1375 Sh. Majmaʿ al-baḥrayn. Edited by Sayyid Aḥmad Ḥusaynī. Tehran: Kitābfurūshī-yi Murtaḍawī 3.
Ṭūsī, Muḥammad ibn Ḥasan al-. 1372 Sh. al-Tibyān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Edited by Aḥmad Qaṣīr ʿĀmilī. Beirut: Dār al-Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī.
Zarkashī, Badr al-Dīn Muḥammad al-. 1410 AH. Al-Burhān fī ʿulūm al-Qurʾān. Beirut: Dār al-Maʿrifah.

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics