This week I attended the ICNA convention.
Honestly,I wasn't like really excited about the title of the convention I thought would be bland and general. I was probably more excited about the change of the location because I really love any location that is on the water.
I know there are a lot of lessons you can take from the probably 20 plus lectures offered at these conventions but you will most likely only take away some heart catching lessons that you felt like Allah sent to you directly.
Take those few lessons or even if its just one and one quote and build upon them reflect upon them and like one of the ICNA organizers said, go home and teach others.
This convention was one of those like lectures you attend just to attend but end up getting sooooo much more then you expected, I got lots of unexpected lessons about one of my favorite concepts in the Quran, one of my favorites ayas, the ayah of "Noor alya Noor" "Light Upon Light".
While I was deciding on which sessions I wanted to attend I was surprised when I came to realize that a lot of the sessions were based on this aya Light upon Light. Or when I was about to leave a session to go on a cruise only to stay and find Yasir Qadhi going over the tafsir of the aya Light Upon Light, subhanAllah.
Speaking of Noor, Noor Vitamins now has a halal gummy bear vitamins for kids, like you know how exciting that is? They make you feel all NoorEnergized. And fun fact the road towards the harbor water area in the convention area was called "Light Street". How ironic, heres a picture of Light St.
Here are notes from the lectures in which the speakers spoke about the aya Light upon Light and some which spoke about the heart which is the center of this inner light.
To get you started, Sheikh Hassan Saleh reciting the Light upon Light ayas:
تلاوة من سورة النور للشيخ حسن صالح
I will start off with the tafsir Noman Ali Khan taught us, and then moments later Sheikh Yasir Qadhi also gave a tafsir of the ayas but both had different and new lessons mashAllah.
Noman Ali Khan said:
In the aya Allah says,
"Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth.The example of His light is like a niche within which is a lamp"
The keyword here is "like".
Allah is the like of the sky and the earth
Think about the light of the sky and the earth. Allah is giving us a physical scene to get an idea of the unseen scene.
Allah describes Himself as Light. Also eman, Quran, angels, the Prophet are all called light.
These are unseen kinds of light are spiritual, but Allah teaches us about the unseen light through an example of physical light through this aya!
Eyes, and your vision is also called light
The light of the sun is no good if the light of the eye is missing
You need inner light (like your eyes) to see the outer light the sun.
The light inside of you is your rooh, your fitra, your soul, and the outside light is the Quran.
Why do you need a lamp at night? The sun is Allahs light everything is lite through the sun during the day that you don't need a lamp, you only use the light bulb or lamp at night.
Compared the Quran to the large amount of light the sun gives and compare yourself to that small lamp that barely gives off light.
When people turn on their own light (lamp, lightbulb) its the minm, its incomparable to the light Allah gives us from the sun, this sun gives off light, and life to everything in the world.
The light of the sun not only gives off light to see but also good feelings, joy, compare the day time and the night time which is that of darkness, fear and sadness
Allah takes ownership of both Lights from above us ( the light from the sun) and and inside of us
The word "kamishkatin" or "niche" represents the heart of the believer.
Actual meaning of a niche: In old homes they had an in dent in the wall where they would place a light bulb and the curve shape of the dent would helo bring in more light. The shape of the niche is similar to the shape of the cage your heart is in (subhanAllah!)
The word "feehamisbahun" or "lamp" means a device that would try to recreate the morning (misbah means morning in Arabic). Meaning until we have the real sun shining light upon us we will try to bring in the minimum through this misbah.
The lamp within this niche which is only used to light up at night is like the comparison to the shinning star.
The word "kawkabun" brilliant star". Why a star? Because at night when the people of the earth look up to the skies they see the light of the stars, the physical light, and spiritually when the angles look down upon us they see the light of our hearts the light of eman (everyone in the audience went subhanAllah and awwwww when he said this).
The word "Zaytoun" means the real oil that comes from the "zaytoun olive" tree. Arabs take their olive oil very seriously! The best kind of oil comes from this tree and the best tree that produces the best and most pure kind of oil is on its own in the field.
This oil is like the light inside you that is not fueled on its own , Allah fuels it. This light within you is capable of amazing things (this is eman).
The word " mubarakatin" comes from the word Baraka like blessing, it keeps increasing and it goes above and beyond. That same light within us is also of that same type of Baraka, the fuel within our souls that wants more.
The Light of Allah, the Quran, connect to our soul.
The light of the believer will truly shine in its darkest times
That is when your light "your lamp" within is needed the most!
In this darkness, Allah uses your light to guide you
Allah guides us all the way to His Light. The light inside of us comes from Allah, the Light of the Quran.
Allah made this Quran for students, for regular people to understand it, Allah gave examples for who? He says in the end of this aya " al nas the people". Allah doesn't say the scholars, the Prophets, the Imams, He says the people.
After this aya is the aya about the light in the masjids
Such niches are in mosques which Allah has ordered to be raised and that His name be mentioned therein; exalting Him within them in the morning and the evenings
Think about this...salat al fajr, maghrib and isha which are all in the dark are the only salats in which the imam reads the Quran loud, because it is in the darkest times that you have to raise your voice to Allah.
Dr Yasir Qadhi tafsir:
No aya of the Quran has been commented on and more tafsir then this ayat noor . The bulk of booklets of tafsir books are written about the ayat of noor
1. Allah noor Samat wa al ard
There are three primary interpretations:
Allah is the source of guidance in the land and Samat
Allah calls the Quran light, The prophet light, Guidance is light. The prophet is a sarj muner (light).
Allah guides to Light
Light is symbolic of guidance
2. Allah brings a physical light in the land and the sky, the stars, the sun. (check Nomans tafsir notes)
3. Allah describes himself as Light in a way Allah knows but we don't know When Allah says He is light . We take it and we say Allah is light but we know it is greater then our minds can imagine.
Prophet used to say you are noor al Samwt wa al ard , Oh Allah you are the Light of the skies and the earth.
Allahs hijab is light . That hijab itself is light . If Allah removed this hijab the rays of light coming from His Noble Face would be so strong people can't handle .We cannot withstand this brilliance
Allah is the ultimate beauty and light.. Even His hijab is of light
When the Prophet returned from the Isra and Maarj the Prophet responded I saw light
The example of the light
Some say it's the light of Quran light of Allah
The light of this aya is the light of Eman that Allah places in the light of the believers
Inside this niche there is a candle and the candle or lamp is enclosed in glass. The crystal the lamp itself is like a beautiful star .This oil is so beautiful and pure
Symbolism
Take this entire parable as a wholestic example that this is a beautiful example of a protected lamp , glass niche oil all protected
Or you can go one by one
What does the light symbolizes the lamp the glass the oil ?The niche represents the chest of the believer . The glass represents the heart. The light itself represents the light of Eman . The Eman is protected in the heart. The heart is like the glass which could be fragile or as hard as glass .The hearts are the believers are like the glasses of Allah on earth .The blessed tree is the Quran
How do we get guided to this light? Dua, the Prophet used to always to make the dua in which he would ask Allah for light: http://www.makedua.com/display_dua.php?sectionid=12
This duaa is esp for when going to the masjid (makes sense if you think back to the aya after the light upon light aya in which Allah mentions the masjid )
"O Allah, place within my heart light, and upon my tongue light, and within my ears light, and within my eyes light, and place behind me light and in front of me light and above me light and beneath me light. O Allaah, bestow upon me light"
The believers will see their light on the Day of Judgment racing in front of them.
We can enlighten others with this light
The ultimate goal is to attain the ridaa of Allah
Dr Tariq
The universal question is: what is the purpose of our lives?
Noor alya noor:
The fitra within us is the spark, the light is the eman, revelation The Quran is noor, let that light meet the noor within you (your soul, fitra) putting your heart at peace.
Yasmine Moghaed:
Why is the heart so important in Islam? The essence of Islam
How do we connect the rules to thea heart? Staying away from the prohibited manners is not you doing a favor for Allah but rather for your own self. God gives us the rules not for His Sake. We in fact are doing ourselves a favor when we follow the rules.
It isn't just about the rules. What does the heart have to do with the rules, the haram and the halal?
The Arabic term for life is dunya, and the word dunya means that which is lower and less real
Surat Al Fajr
He will say, "Oh, I wish I had sent ahead [some good] for my life."
We think we are living life now, this time in dunya will be like the blink of an eye. The preparation in this aya is the preparation of the heart. This is a process ad journey. Protect the heart. The Quran, the words of the Prophet are all medciations to protect the heart.
Omar Suleiman
The Prophet talks about the four different types of hearts
1. Al Qalb Al Jarn : a heart that is full
This heart has a light in it. Its full of the love of Allah and it is radiating with Light. The noor is the light of eman. It is full it is content.
2. Al Qalb Al Daf: a heart that is wrapped at the cover , this is the heart of the disbeliever
3. Al Qalb Al Manqws : a heart that is upside down , this heart heart is in between eman and hypocrite.
4. Al Qalb Al Masfe : In between states , covered but not completely
Al Qalb Al Muneeb: a heart that is physically, spiritually turned towards Allah
Your heart is heavily dependent upon your environment
Ibn Al Jawzi: If you felt darkness after you commit a sin than know that you still have light in your heart..
That means that your heart is not dead but its just weak. A dead heart no longer feels the pain of sin.
The remembrance of Allah keeps the heart alive.
The Prophet said: your heart is more inconsistent then boiling water.
The goal is to settle the heart
Its a good sign when you feel dicsuted of the sins you do
Run from the things that you keep you away from Allah and run to Allah. He says if you come running I will come running.
Someone asked how do I come to oh Allah?
Allah said, " Atareek nafsik wa taaal" Leave yourself and just come"
And finally Farahans lecture, I LOVE what he said about saying Asalaam Alkum, and he also brings in the light upon light concept into his lecture
Farhan:
(So basically he said Aslaam Alkum to the crowd, and then he asked us to say it again, and he asked did you feel anything?)
The small things we do like saying "Asaalaam Alkum" should remind us and connect us to Allah. It should remind us of the verse in the Quran in which on the Day of Judgement as you enter Jannah and the angels will welcome you with the words of "Aslaam Alakum"
Surat Az Zumar
And those who feared their Lord will be led to the Garden in crowds: until behold, they arrive there; its gates will be opened; and its keepers will say: Salamun 'Alaikum (peace be upon you)! You have done well, so enter here eternally
Allah Himself will also say Asalaamu Alkum and we will reply
When someone says salaam to you think of theses ayas and the salam of longing that you will await for that day.
Hassan Al Basre said: Allah is preserving you when you memorize the Quran
Glasses, tints: use the tints of Quranic vision
Light upon Light
Everywhere I look I will see signs of guidance . Seeing , hearing that light in everything you do, knowing that Allah is everywhere with you.
A bedioun was able to see the light in the creation of the dunya, he was contemplating and acknowledging that Allah is the Creator.
This is the Light of Allah that you want in everything you do.
Any decision you make you want to have that Light of Guidance
People will see that Light that comes in your face, smile and character
Allah is placing that Light in you " the hadith about how Allah will be the hearing, vision, with which you see and hear
The Prophet used to say "Oh Allah you are The Light of the Heavens and the Earth and to you belongs all haamd
How are you going to achieve this light? If you have that taqawa, Allah will teach you, He will guide you. Taqwa is deeper then fear, it comes from another word of "khashya" which means consciousness that comes with reverence and respect
The more you know Allah the more you will respect Him and have reverence for Allah . That is the noor alya noor, the light of guidance <3.
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