التَّأوِيلُ الإِسمَاعِيلِيُّ لِلنُّورِ وَالظَّلَام — النُّورُ وَالظَّلَام: كَيفَ تُقرَأُ [2:257 اللهُ وَلِيُّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا يُخرِجُهُم مِنَ الظُّلُمَاتِ إِلَى النُّور] وَآيَةُ النُّورِ [24:35] فِي التَّأوِيلِ الإِسمَاعِيلِيِّ بِوَصفِهِمَا خَرِيطَةً لِوَظِيفَةِ الإِمَامِ بِوَصفِهِ النُّورَ الحَيَّ الَّذِي يَهدِي المُؤمِنِينَ مِن ظَلَامِ الجَهلِ الرُّوحِيِّ إِلَى إِضَاءَةِ التَّأوِيل
In Ismaili ta'wil, al-Nur wal-Zulam (النُّورُ وَالظَّلَام — Light and Darkness; *nur*: light; *zulam/zulmat* [pl.]: darkness, darknesses; the paired Quranic antithesis: the Quran consistently pairs nur [light] and zulam [darkness] as the central metaphor for guidance and misguidance: 2:257 'God is the wali of those who believe — He takes them from the darknesses to the light; and those who disbelieve, their protectors are the taghut, who take them from the light to the darknesses'; 6:122 'Is one who was dead and We gave him life and made for him a light by which to walk among the people like one who is in darkness?'; 14:1 'A Book We have revealed to you that you may bring humanity from the darknesses to the light'; the light verse (ayat al-nur): 24:35 'God is the light of the heavens and the earth; the likeness of His light is as a niche within which there is a lamp, the lamp in glass, the glass as it were a glittering star, lit from a blessed tree, an olive neither of the east nor of the west, whose oil would almost glow even if untouched by fire — light upon light! God guides to His light whom He wills'; the classical interpretations of 24:35: [a] cosmological: God's light pervades creation; the niche/lamp is Muhammad or the believer's heart; [b] Mu'tazili: the light is rational guidance; [c] Ash'ari: the light is the light of faith and revelation; [d] Sufi: the verse maps the stages of mystical illumination; Ismaili ta'wil of nur/zulam: [1] the three types of darkness: [a] zulam al-'adam [darkness of non-existence]: the condition before creation; [b] zulam al-jahl [darkness of ignorance]: the condition of the uninstructed soul that lacks ta'wil; [c] zulam al-kufr [darkness of covenant-breaking]: the active state of one who has rejected the Imam; [2] the three degrees of light: [a] nur Allah [God's light]: the transcendent divine light that cannot be grasped directly; [b] nur al-nabi [the Prophet's light]: the revelatory light of tanzil — the Quran as divine light in textual form; [c] nur al-Imam [the Imam's light]: the living light of ta'wil in each age; the Imam is the nur that makes 2:257's 'bringing from darkness to light' operative in the present age; [3] ayat al-nur ta'wil: the 'niche' = the Imam's person as the container of divine light; the 'lamp' = the ta'wil itself; the 'glass' = the clarity of the Imam's transmission; 'light upon light' = the successive layers of illumination (zahir illuminated by batin, zahir of batin illuminated by deeper batin); [4] 2:257: God's act of taking believers from darkness to light is mediated by the Imam — the living wali (God is al-wali of believers, 2:257) who performs the transition through bay'ah and ta'wil; [5] the walayah-light correspondence: entering walayah = moving from zulam to nur; breaking walayah = moving from nur back to zulam; this is why 2:257 contrasts God's wali-function [for believers] with the taghut-function [for those who deny] — opposite movements through the light-darkness axis; the badr connection: the full moon [badr] is the Imam's light — it illuminates the 'night' of the age between prophetic cycles) is the Ismaili theology of divine illumination through the Imam.
Light Upon Light
The Nur Allah verse (24:35) is the Quran’s most intricate image of divine illumination: a niche, a lamp, glass like a glittering star, lit from an olive tree whose oil almost glows untouched by fire — “light upon light.” The verse’s layered imagery — each element multiplying the previous — has generated more interpretive literature than almost any other single verse.
In Ismaili ta’wil, the layering is structural: each element maps a level of the cosmological-Imamic hierarchy. The niche is the Imam’s person as the container of divine light. The lamp is the ta’wil itself. The glass is the clarity of transmission. “Light upon light” is the successive illumination of zahir by batin, and batin’s zahir by deeper batin — the inexhaustible interpretive depth of the Imam’s guidance.
Three Kinds of Darkness, Three Kinds of Light
Ismaili ta’wil distinguishes multiple registers of the light-darkness contrast. The darknesses are not identical: pre-existence darkness (zulam al-‘adam) is neutral; the darkness of ignorance (zulam al-jahl) is the condition of the soul without ta’wil; the darkness of covenant-breaking (zulam al-kufr) is active rejection of the Imam.
Correspondingly, the light operates at three levels: God’s transcendent light (inaccessible directly), the Prophet’s revelatory light (the Quran as written light), and the Imam’s living ta’wil light (the Quran’s illumination made operative in the present age). The Imam is the only active light in the third register.
2:257: The Wali Who Moves Believers Across
2:257’s structure is precise: “God is the wali of those who believe — He takes them from the darknesses into the light.” The divine action is mediated: God, as the ultimate Wali, performs this movement through the Imam as His earthly wali. Bay’ah is the crossing; ta’wil is the sustained illumination on the other side.
See also: Ismaili Tawil Of Al Badr, Bayah And Walayah, Tawil Esoteric Interpretation, Ismaili Cosmology Hudud Al Din, Ismaili Tawil Of Al Mawt Wal Hayat