Recognition of Imam Part II - Luminous Lamp (siraj-i munir)
Luminous Lamp (siraj-i munir)
Tags: Luminous lamp, siraj-i munir, Hazrat Muhammad
In verses (33:45-46), God says: "O Prophet! Lo! We have sent you as a witness and a bringer of good tidings and a warner and as a summoner unto Allah by His permission and a luminous lamp".
Some everlasting and living attributes of the Prophet have been mentioned in the wisdom of these two holy verses above, which show that his other attributes are also everlasting and eternal. For instance, when it is accepted that the Prophet is witness over the deeds of his entire ummat (community) and witness means a person present at an event, then it should be understood that this attribute of the Prophet is living and everlasting.
Similarly, his other attributes too are necessarily living and everlasting, such as bringer of good tidings and a warner. In order to give good tidings and warn the servants of God, the Prophet has to be present during their deeds, so that he may give good tidings to those who do good deeds and warn those who do bad deeds. Similarly, another such living attribute of the Prophet is his being a da`i or a summoner, which shows that even today he is inviting people towards the true path by the permission of God, just as he used to do in the time of Prophethood. This means that the mission of the Prophet is always according to the Divine revelation, which necessitates that the Prophet's holy light is living and present in the humanity of the Imam of the time.
The same applies to his being a luminous lamp. For, this holy lamp of the Divine light should never be extinguished, nor should any defect or decrease occur in its attribute. The wise Qur'an asserts in many places, that the light of God is an everlasting reality. Thus, after the demise of the Prophet, all these living and lasting attributes, continue and last in the position of his light, and that light continues forever in the chain of the Imamat of Hazrat-i Mawlana `Ali(`a) and his progeny.
The attribute "luminous lamp" in the wise Qur'an is such a wisdom-filled and comprehensive supreme name of the light of Prophethood and Imamat, that its reality and meaning contains the power and manifestation (mazhariyyat) of all the attributive names of God. Regarding this comprehensive light, which contains all Divine attributes and which, rising from the lamp of the personality of the Perfect Man, the Imam of the time, illumines the world of religion and the world of the heart, it suffices to say that in the verse of light (24:35), God, says: "Allah is the light of the heavens and the earth; His light is as a niche in which is a lamp", in spite of the fact that with respect to His incomparable Essence, He has no resemblance and similitude, as is said in the Qur'an: "Naught is as His likeness; and He is the Hearer, the Seer" (42:11).
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