Exegesis of the saying of Allah the Exalted: "Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The parable of His Light is like a niche in which is a lamp. The lamp is in a glass. The glass is as if it were a shining star"

Then Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, said: "That is, He illuminated them with the sun and the moon. The parable of His Light is, that is, His attribute in the heart of the believer" and so on. This verse contains several matters. First, Allah said, "The Light of the heavens and the earth." Is this phrase to be taken in its apparent and true meaning, or does it require figurative interpretation? The people of the Sunnah and others differed on this, as is customary regarding the other verses of the attributes. The people of figurative interpretation held that the verse has a figurative interpretation, and they made the interpretation either that "Light" means "illuminated," as the author held, or that "Light" means "possessor of light," just as you say "a just man," meaning a possessor of justice. So the meaning of "The Light of the heavens" is "the possessor of the light of the heavens," and "and the earth" is "the possessor of their light," that is, the Creator of the light in them. And this meaning returns to the first meaning, but the difference lies in the estimation. This is the school of the people of distortion, who are called the people of figurative interpretation. The most correct in naming them is the people of distortion, because figurative interpretation is in reality partly correct and partly incorrect. And what is more fitting for the incorrect figurative interpretation is to be called distortion, because it turns the word away from its meaning without evidence. And this is distortion in reality.
As for the people of the Sunnah and the community, they said that the verse is in its true and apparent meaning, and that Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, is the Light of the heavens and the earth. But light is of two types: light that is the Essence of the Exalted, His attributes, His signs, and His rulings, and this is not created; and another light that is sensory, created, separate, and distinct from Allah. So the light that we see in the sun, in the moon, in the stars, and in the lamp—which of the two types is it? It is the sensory, created light. Then the created light is also of two types: sensory and conceptual. The sensory is what we exemplified, and the conceptual is what Allah the Exalted mentioned in His saying, "The parable of His Light is like a niche" and so on. So the people of the Sunnah and the community say that Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth, so He is Light in His Essence, and likewise His attributes, and likewise His signs. Allah the Exalted called them light: So He, Glorified and Exalted is He, is Light. But the people of distortion, when they thought that light is the substance of illumination or the light itself, said, "This is an attribute that vanishes, and Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, is free from attributes," or "This is a body capable of being illuminated, and Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, is free from a body," according to their expression and their rules. But we say, what obligates us to deviate, or rather, what justifies us to deviate from the apparent meaning of the verse and not say that Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth? And the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: So he affirmed light for His Face. But the sound path is to say that the Light of Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, is not created. It is not like the light of the moon, which Allah placed in it: And it is not like the light of the lamp, and it is not like the light that is in the heart of the believer of knowledge, guidance, and faith. But the light is real for Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He. So He is Light, and His attributes are light, and likewise His signs are light. Allah called them light. But the sound division is to say that light is divided into two parts: uncreated light and created light. So the uncreated is the Light of Allah, Mighty and Majestic. So Allah the Exalted is the Light of the heavens and the earth. He is Light, and His speech is light, and His attributes are also light. But it is not like the light that we imagine or conceive. For the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) says: Meaning, I would have burned up the radiance of His Face, because His vision reaches everything. As for the created light, it is divided into two parts. What are they? Conceptual and sensory. So the sensory is what is seen in these bodies, like the light of the sun, the moon, the stars, and the lamps, and the like. And the conceptual is what is in the heart of the believer of knowledge and faith. With this detail, the problem is resolved, and we keep the verse in its apparent meaning befitting Allah, Mighty and Majestic. And we say that Allah is Light, and His attributes are light, and His speech is also light. And that is because Allah the Exalted described Himself with this thing. So what obligates us to deviate from it, or rather, what justifies it? So "The Light of the heavens and the earth" means He Himself is Light in them. Yes.
The student: ...

The Shaykh : The speech of Allah is light because of the guidance that is achieved by it. That is, the origin of light is that by which one is guided, as if it were knowledge with a fire on its head. So we say that Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, is the Light of the heavens and the earth, that is, Light in them. But this light with which Allah described Himself and made it one of His attributes and names—does it resemble the light of created things? The answer is no, like the other attributes. So the author's statement, "He illuminated them," is distortion and is not correct. Rather, its meaning is Light in the heavens and the earth, Light in His Essence and His attributes and His signs, Blessed and Exalted is He.