هُوَ الَّذي يُنَزِّلُ عَلىٰ عَبدِهِ آياتٍ بَيِّناتٍ لِيُخرِجَكُم مِنَ الظُّلُماتِ إِلَى النّورِ ۚ وَإِنَّ اللَّهَ بِكُم لَرَءوفٌ رَحيمٌ
It is He who sends down to His servant manifest signs that He may bring you out of darkness into light, and indeed Allah is most kind and merciful to you.
EXEGESIS
His servant refers to Prophet Muhammad (s). The pronoun He in that He may bring you out of darkness, as in the previous verse, could also refer back to the Holy Prophet. Such a reading would still not change the verse’s import.
Āyah is a sign (pl. āyāt). The Quran usually uses this to either describe what God has created that serves as a sign pointing back to Him (30:20-25), or as a reference to its verses: When Our signs (āyātunā) are recited to him (83:13). And it is with this meaning that it occurs in this verse.
The Quran’s verses are God’s signs because His speech, miraculous in its eloquence, meaning, and inimitability (2:23-24, 10:38, 11:13-14, 17:88), remains the Holy Prophet’s greatest and everlasting miracle and sign pointing back to its author. And hence it is given as manifest signs. Nothing is clearer and more manifest (bayyinah) than the Quran itself.
Bayyinah (manifest) is clear proof or indisputable evidence, that which is evident, plain, and obvious.[1] Similar to the many physical miracles that were manifested at the hands of Prophet Moses (a) and are also referred to as manifest signs (āyāt bayyināt) (17:101, 28:36).
Out of darkness into light is not merely out of faithlessness into faith, or out of misguidance into guidance, because the verse is addressed to the faithful. It also means out of lower to higher levels of faith and guidance. The proof that even those of faith are taken out of darkness into light is found in several other verses including, An apostle reciting to you the manifest signs of Allah that He may bring out those who have faith and do righteous deeds from darkness into light (65:11). In 2:257, first an introduction is made: Allah is the guardian of the faithful and thereafter the verse continues: He brings them out of darkness into light (2:257). The faithless on the other hand are driven out of light into darkness (2:257). Noteworthy is that the Quran always mentions darkness in the plural – ẓulumāt (sing. ẓulmah) – whereas light (nūr) is always in the singular (pl. anwār) as if to drive home the realisation that the paths of misguidance are numerous and confusing whereas the path of guidance is singular and sharply clear for one who is sincere.
The divine attribute al-raʾūf (most kind) is often followed by al-raḥīm (merciful) in the Quran. They differ in how they are interpreted despite their similar meanings. For example, when discussing these two terms under verse 27, many exegetes have said raʾfah is divine mercy before it manifests, while raḥmah is used only after it manifests. And others have said raʾfah is used as kindness that wards off what is seen to be unpleasant, whereas raḥmah is kindness that brings added good or its acquisition. Hence raʾfah is always mentioned first because humans first seek to distance themselves from harm and then focus on acquiring benefit. And the proof of this, according to Makārim Shīrāzī, is the verse concerning the legal punishment for fornication: and let not pity (raʾfatun) for them overcome you in Allah’s law (24:2).[2]
And indeed Allah is most kind and merciful to you alludes to the preceding words in the verse – His revelation of manifest signs and bringing people out of darkness into light is an act of His kindness and mercy. In relation to the surah’s theme, it is also a reminder, says Tabatabai, that faith in God and His Apostle as well as spending in God’s way only benefits the faithful and has no advantage to God as such. So in inviting the faithful to this, God is most kind and merciful, thus encouraging the faithful to reflect on this and respond.[3]
REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE
Regarding the words, bring you out of darkness into light, besides darkness and light being metaphors for obvious examples that are given in the Exegesis, Nasr quotes many other parallels from Ibn ʿAjībah: ‘Out of the darkness of sin into the light of repentance and righteousness; out of the darkness of heedlessness into the light of wakefulness; out of the darkness of desire and selfishness into the light of renunciation and purity; out of the darkness of the sensual into the light of the spiritual; out of the darkness of ignorance into the light of knowledge through God.’[4]
All these meanings can be true at once, as multiple instances and interpretations of the verse. See also 14:1, 14:5, and 33:43 and the other meanings of darkness and light given under 2:257.
INSIGHTS FROM OTHER TRADITIONS
The following Biblical passage also speaks of coming out of darkness into light as a move from Satan to God:
- To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.[5]
[1] Hans Wehr, b-y-n.
[2] Nemuneh, 23/381.
[3] Mizan, 19/152.
[4] Nasr, p. 1333.
[5] Acts 26:18.