Prophetic Light
“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 if it were a glittering star—kindled from a blessed tree, an olive tree that is neither of the East nor the West, whose oil well nigh would shine even if no fire touched it: Light upon Light; God guides to His Light whom He wills. And God strikes similitudes for man, and God has knowledge of everything.” (24:35)
Some thinkers give an esoteric interpretation of the Light Verse in the Qur’an (above). Ali Asani explains Muqatil ibn Sulayman’s interpretation: “[T]he lamp, in this verse, is a fitting symbol for Muhammad, who has been described elsewhere in the Qur’an as a ‘shining lamp.’ Through him the divine light could shine in the world and guide humanity to the origin of this light, its true home.”[1] A theory of ‘light mysticism’ sees this light as “the fountainhead of all prophetic activity, first manifesting itself in Adam, then in all the prophets, one after the other, until it found its full expression in the historical Muhammad.”[2] In Islam, Muhammad is seen as being the last of many prophets of God. Before him there were other prophets, including Abraham, Moses, Jesus; and they are all members of an extended, prophetic family, chosen by God.[3] Asani writes, “Besides the twenty-eight prophets mentioned in the Qur’an, Muslim popular belief acknowledges that before the advent of Muhammad, God had sent many messengers to humanity—as many as 124,000 according to legend—to every nation and to every people.”[4] Some Muslims even consider religious figures and thinkers such as Socrates, Plato, Alexander the Great, Krishna, and Confucius to be earlier prophets.[5] While the Qur’an does not distinguish the prophets in terms of rank (3:84), many Muslims believe Muhammad to be superior to all prior prophets.[6] Regardless of whether or not Muhammad should be ranked higher, he is the last Prophet of God in Islam and can be seen as unique for that reason.
My project aims to depict the notion of Prophetic Light explained here. The largest candle on the pedestal symbolizes Muhammad while the other, smaller candles represent the prophets preceding Muhammad. They are shown as being melted shorter the farther they are from the candle that represents Muhammad. This indicates that some candles (prophets) have been burning before others, highlighting the temporal element of the order of the prophets. Adam was before Abraham, Abraham before Moses, and Moses before Jesus, and so on. Also, the candles can be understood as being equal-sized steps in the direction of Muhammad. The flames point toward Muhammad, indicating that he is the last in line of the prophets. The direction of the flames also references the concept of Ruh, or divine breath. In the Qur’an we read that God made a mortal out of dried clay and breathed his spirit into him.[7] With this divine breath comes life, and my project hints at the divine breath of God giving life to all the prophets. I have also included a glass candleholder to indicate the representation of Muhammad as a lamp from various interpretations of the Light Verse.
[1] Ali Asani, Infidel of Love, (forthcoming), 133.
[2] Ibid. 133.
[3] Ibid. 112.
[4] Ibid. 113.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Ibid. 114-115.
[7] Qur’an 15:28-29