The Niche of Lights

The Niche of Lights

Sufism -- Doctrines -- Early works to 1800
Qurʼan. Sūrat al-nūr, 35 -- Criticism, interpretation, etc

"Abu Hamid Muhammad al-Ghazali's philosophical explorations covered nearly the entire spectrum of twelfth-century beliefs. Beginning his career as a skeptic, he ended it as a scholar of mysticism and orthodoxy. The Niche of Lights, written near the end of his illustrious career, advances the philosophically important idea that reason can serve as a connection between the devout and God. Al-Ghazali argues that abstracting God from the world, as he believed theologians did, was not sufficient for understanding. Exploring the boundary between philosophy and theology, The Niche of Lights seeks to understand the role of reality in the perception of the spiritual."--Publisher's description.

al-Ghazālī

Provo, Utah : Brigham Young University Press

1998

a parallel English-Arabic text translated, introduced, and annotated by David Buchman

Series: Islamic translation series.

Clarifying that the real light is God and that the name "light" for everything else is sheer metaphor, without reality -- Clarifying the similitude of the niche, the lamp, the glass, the tree, the olive, and the fire -- Concerning the meaning of the Prophet's words: "God has seventy veils of light and darkness; were He to lift them, the august glories of His Face would burn up everyone whose eyesight perceived Him" -- Index of Qur'anic Verses -- Index of Hadiths and Sayings -- Index of Names and Terms.

Book