We leave it. The long-lasting light of yaqīn (certainty) and the illness that revolves in the qalb (the heart) between ʿayn al-yaqīn (the eye of certainty) is the deficiency in ikhlāṣ (sincerity) and in the investigation of what constitutes good and bad deeds. If such a thing were to occur, the veil would be lifted, expansion (inshirāḥ) would take place, lights would connect, and verses (āyāt) and ishārāt (spiritual indications) would manifest. (Tadbīrāt, 221)
Allah has two lights: one is the light by which He gives hudā (guidance), the other is the light to which He guides (one is the cause of guidance, the other is its result). This light has two eyes in the qalb: one is the eye of baṣīra (inner sight), which is ʿilm al-yaqīn (knowledge of certainty). The other is ʿayn al-yaqīn. The eye of baṣīra sees with the light that Allah guides with, while ʿayn al-yaqīn sees with the light to which Allah guides. (Tadbīrāt, 221)
The sovereignty of light
is the army of the dawns
Night has come, yearning for the day
Light perceives (sees) and is perceived by it. Darkness perceives, but is not perceived by it. The importance of light is great in that it perceives and is not perceived by it; in that it does not perceive and is perceived by it, it is subtle and transparent. Perception occurs only with the help of the light present in the perceiver. For this, reason and sense (perception) are necessary. When the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was asked, "Did you see your Lord?" regarding nūr-zulma (light-darkness), he replied: "He is a light, how could I see Him!" With this statement, the Prophet pointed to the utmost limit of proximity (qurb). He is closer to man than his jugular vein. "We are closer to him than [his] jugular vein, but you do not see [Us]!" (al-Futūḥāt, III, 267; cf. Q 50:16)
Nūr is one of the names of Allah. It is His manifestation through the Name al-Ẓāhir (the Manifest). By this, I mean the manifest existence (wujūd) in all material forms. Nūr is also used for anything that unveils what is hidden from religious sciences, as well as for the divine inspirations (wāridāt) that come to the heart. (Kāshānī, 98; Jāmiʿ, 102)
Nūr is the manifest through which things appear. Allah, for the one who is upright (mustaqīm), through acts of obedience, grants mushāhada (witnessing) of maḥabba (divine love) by means of the nūr of the rūḥ (spirit), until he encounters the nūr of the rūḥ, thus purifying him from the darkness of his nature. In this way, Allah bestows ihsān (spiritual excellence). (Rawḍa, 312)
Upon the brotherhood of tajrīd (spiritual abstraction), lights are born. There are various types: (One of them is) a light that flashes like lightning. Greater than this is the light that comes to the people of bidāya (beginnings). It envelops the darkness of the night like a sweet flash of lightning. At the same time, there may come another light, greater and more like lightning than this. However, this is a frightening lightning. Sometimes, a sound like thunder echoing in the mind is heard from it.
The light that comes sweetly resembles the arrival of water flowing over the head. The one that remains for a long time is a nūr of severe qahr (overpowering). It is accompanied by numbness in the brain. The truly sweet light is accompanied by a subtle brilliance. It arises from hearing drums and flutes. What remains as a superiority, leading to contemplation or imagination, are things that are frightening for the people of beginnings.
A nūr shining with great brilliance manifests a witnessing clearer than the sun. The light of Burāq; for a long time, it is as if it is related to human hair. Successive traveling lights seem to grasp the hair on the head and pull it strongly, giving a sweet pain.
The nūr that arises from the nafs (the lower self), from the animal soul, when this light becomes manifest, it is as if the body is covered with armor. Almost the entire spirit of the body is bound. Its form is radiant and truly sweet.
The nūr whose beginning is an assault; at its onset, a person thinks that something is collapsing. The accompanying light has a burden that is almost unbearable. The light next to it has a force that moves the body almost to the point of severing the joints. (Rawḍa, 516)
The nūr that spreads from the sun's rays in the air to the earth has no existential ḥaqīqa (inner reality) except for the nūr of the eye that perceives it. When the two ayn (sources), that is, the sun and the eye, unite, the things seen are illuminated. It is said: The sun is spread over the things that are seen. Therefore, ishrāq (illumination) disappears with the presence of a cloud, and nūr-i aḥkām (the light of rulings) is absent.
Because the ayn (source), due to the presence of the cloud, has come to perceive another ayn. (Asfār, 20)
Nūr is the cause of unveiling (kashf) and manifestation (ẓuhūr). For if there were no nūr, the eye could perceive nothing. Allah has made this khayāl (imagination) a nūr by which everything is perceived. Its light penetrates absolute nonexistence (ʿadam-i maḥḍ). It gives it form as existence (wujūd). Khayāl is more worthy of the name nūr than all created things characterized by brilliance.
Our companions in this age are mistaken. Most of the possessors of reason (ʿaql) have made its narrow domain the center; its upper domain the highest heaven (falak-i aʿlā)—and the forms within it are the forms of the world. They made the widest part of the tube the top; the narrow part the lowest of the world. The situation is not as they claim. Rather, as we have said, since khayāl is the forms of the Real (al-Ḥaqq), the world is beneath it. So much so that the uppermost part of nonexistence (ʿadam) is narrow; the lowest is wide. Allah created it thus. Therefore, the first created is narrowness; the last created is wideness. (Asfār, 56)
Nūr is the rank of manifest states. Its ruling concerns people. Most of the things manifest among them pertain to the hearing of melodies. For when they descend upon people, they pass through the heavens. Their movements have beautiful breaths that please the ears. Thus, they take on states. Animal nafses descend upon them in samāʿ (spiritual audition) gatherings. (Asfār, 241)
Nūr is existence (wujūd). It belongs to Allah. We have no share in it. It manifests in the realm of possibility (ʿālam al-imkān) belonging to nonexistence (ʿadam) that has not smelled the scent of the wujūd of the Real (al-Ḥaqq). It remains within us according to its possibility. When the Real manifests with any of the possible existents, He annihilates it. Then, according to the levels that become determined within it, it remains within the scope of possibility. If it were to manifest with the knowledge of the Real, it would know everything. (Nafahāt, 77)
(See also: anwār)