The Light

Allah tells us to follow the Light that was sent down with Muhammad.

"...So they who have believed in him, honored him, supported him, and followed the Light which was sent down with him. It is those who will be the successful."

What is the Light that was sent down with him?

"O People of the Scripture, there has come to you Our Messenger making clear to you much of what you used to conceal of the Book and overlooking much. There has come to you from Allah a Light and a clear Book."

"With it, Allah guides those who seek His pleasure to the ways of peace. He brings them out of the darknesses into the Light by His permission and guides them to a straight path (ṣirāṭin mustaqīm)."

Allah uses the Arabic pronoun {hi}, which in this context is the singular pronoun meaning "it." So Allah says that He guides with "it," referring to the Light and the Clear Book. This shows that Allah is describing one source with two descriptions, the Light and the Clear Book, the Quran. Not multiple sources, as sheikhs, imams, and scholars try to convince us.

We receive even more confirmation that the Light Allah sent down is the Book (the Quran) when we look at the verse below.

"And thus We have revealed to you an inspiration of Our command. You did not know what the Book was, nor faith, but We have made it a Light by which We guide whom We will of Our servants. And indeed, [O Muhammad], you guide to a straight path (ṣirāṭin mustaqīm)."

Allah explicitly tells us in 42:52 that He made the Book a Light, and that He guides with it whom He wills of His servants.

In this same verse, Allah also says that the Messenger guides to a straight path. What path is that? The next verse tells us.

"The path of Allah, to whom belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth. Unquestionably, to Allah all matters return."

So the straight path is the path of Allah.

What is the path of Allah?

"And this (Quran) is the path of your Lord, straight. We have detailed the verses for a people who remember."

The path of Allah is the Quran. One Book. One source that we are all commanded to remain upon.

See how everything keeps pointing back to the Quran? Nothing is pointing to another source outside of it. Let's continue.

The Quran is meant to bring mankind out of darkness and into the Light because the Quran is the Light.

"[He sent] a Messenger reciting to you the clear verses of Allah, that He may bring out those who believe and do righteous deeds from the darknesses into the Light."

When we ponder all of these verses together, a clear picture emerges. Allah uses the Book to bring people out of darkness and into the Light. The Quran is also described as guidance for mankind in 2:2.

"This is the Book about which there is no doubt, a guidance for those conscious of Allah."

So when the Quran contrasts Light and darkness, the Light represents guidance, while darkness represents misguidance.

And if the Quran is the Light, then by default, anything man made or invented, anything other than Allah's revealed guidance, is darkness.

This may explain why Allah also speaks about the one who walks among mankind with the Light.

"And is one who was dead and We gave him life and made for him a Light by which he walks among mankind like one who is in darkness, never to emerge from it? Thus it has been made pleasing to the disbelievers what they used to do."

The one who walks among mankind with the Light is not like the one who remains in darkness.

So if I walk through this world with the Quran, then I am walking with the Light Allah has given me. If I walk through this world with something else in place of the Quran for guidance, then I am walking in darkness. The verses are clear.

Yet there are still people who tell us that the Light of Allah, the Quran, is not enough. They try to convince us to follow something other than the Quran for guidance.

Allah says:

"Allah is the Ally of those who believe. He brings them out from the darknesses into the Light. And those who disbelieve, their allies are Taghut. They take them out of the Light into darkness. Those are the companions of the Fire. They will abide therein forever."

Allah is our Ally because He brings us out of darkness into the Light. And He tells us how He does that, through His Book, the Quran.

Then He says that those who disbelieve have Taghut as their allies. The word Taghut comes from the trilateral root ṭā ghayn yā (ط غ ي), which carries meanings related to transgression, rebellion, and exceeding the limits.

Allah says that they take people out of the Light and place them into darkness.

How does someone take a person out of the Light and place them back into darkness?

If the Quran is the Light, and Allah uses it to guide people to the straight path, then anyone who turns you away from that guidance, away from that Light, away from that Book, is taking you out of the Light and leading you into darkness.

Is this not what those who follow Hadith do? They try to direct you toward another source besides what Allah revealed. They attempt to shift your reliance away from what Allah describes as pure guidance and toward reports compiled by men centuries later.

According to these verses, the Quran is the Light, the guidance, and the straight path. Everything consistently points back to it.

Therefore, anyone who knowingly leads people away from Allah's revealed guidance and into another source is doing exactly what 2:257 warns against, taking people out of the Light and into darkness. The warning is based on what a person does, not merely on the religious label they claim to belong to. So if someone claims they are a Muslim or they are a believer, don't judge them solely on their label. Pay attention to what they are telling you and their actions. That will tell you who they really are… if they are someone who follows the light, or someone who follows the darkness.