101 Hadith Qudsi by pImam ibn Arabi

Appendix
God is the Light of the heavens and the earth; the likeness of His
Light is as a niche wherein is a lamp, the lamp in a glass, the glass as it
were a glittering star kindled from a blessed tree, an olive that is neither
of the East nor of the West, whose oil would shine, even if no ¥re
touched it; Light upon Light; God guides to His Light whoever He
wishes. And God strikes similitudes for men, and God has knowledge
of everything. 14
The imagery of this verse has formed the basis for much contemplation within
the Islamic tradition. In a ¢ad¨th reported by Êabar¨:
Ibn ¡Abbås [cousin of the Prophet] came to see Ka¡b al-A¢bår and
asked him: “Tell me about God’s words ‘the symbol of His Light is
as a niche’”, to which Ka¡b replied: “The niche is a hole in the wall
which God has given as a symbol of Muhammad, blessings and peace
be upon him; ‘wherein is a lamp’, the lamp designates his heart; ‘the
lamp in a glass’, the glass is his chest …” 15
According to Ibn ¡Arab¨’s friend and teacher in Tunis, ¡Abd al-¡Az¨z al-
Mahdaw¨, the “niche” (mishkåt) is the symbol of Muhammad’s body, the
“lamp” his heart, the “glass” his mind, the “star” his secret heart (sirr), “kindled
from a tree” whose origin is light. Mahdaw¨ also understood the verse
in a macrocosmic sense, with the “niche” symbolising the Divine Throne
(in other words the whole “body” of manifestation), the “lamp” the light
of Muhammad and the “glass” the bodies of the prophets. 16 For Ibn ¡Arab¨
himself, the “niche” also appears as an image of the external covering of
the heart, a “cordial” membrane that gives protection against the passions
(ahwå¤), while the glass symbolises the heart which has attained the station
of purity (ßafå¤) – its transparency allows the light of the heart’s lamp to
shine forth, ¥nding its fullest degree in the person of the Prophet. 17 In the
Mishkåt al-anwår the “lights” are the Divine Sayings which appear in the
“niche” of the Prophet, who manifests the glory and beauty of these lights
exactly as they are in reality.
Ibn ¡Arab¨’s title for this collection of ¢ad¨th quds¨ is reminiscent of
another very well-known work, also entitled Mishkåt al-anwår, by the great
twelfth-century theologian and mystic, Ab¬ ±åmid al-Ghazål¨ (d.|505/1111).
14. Q. 24: 35.
15. Jåmi¡ al-bayån, XVIII, 104–11.
16. See P. Beneito and S. Hirtenstein, “The Prayer of Blessing by ¡Abd al-¡Az¨z al-
Mahdaw¨”.
17. See Fut.|I.|434.
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