بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
“Allah is the Nur of heavens and earth.” Starting phrase of ayat 35, Sura An Nur.
Every Muslim (or almost every Muslim) has heard this ayah and most remember it. This is one of the most famous ayaat, so much so that every Islamic calligraphy shop will contain multiple items with this ayah on it. Scholars some time refer to this ayah as ayah an Nur.
This ayah and the following ayaat are one of the most beautiful introduction to Allah (Azza wa jall) Himself and the iman in the heart of the believer. Not only is this ayah important and beautiful and magnificent, the place it occurs in the Quran is also very significant.
This ayah occurs in Sura an Nur and two severest punishments ordained in Islam also occur in Sura an Nur.
There are 4 crimes for which Allaah has prescribed punishments in which no human has any power of any kind. Those four crimes are adultery (or fornication), slander against a chaste Muslim, stealing, and consuming alcohol. Once these crimes are proved according to the conditions ordained by Allaah, the punishments will be executed and no human has any power to overrule or change the punishment itself or the method of execution. These punishments are called “hadd” plural “hudood”. Pakistani people may have heard about huddood ordinance which is part of our law.
The hadd for zina is flogging hundred lashes to the guilty parties if they are un married and stoning to death if they are married. The hadd for slander (accusing a chaste muslim of zina) is flogging eighty lashes. And both of these punishments should be executed in front of people, to add insult to the injury. Both these punishments are revealed as a part of Sura An Nur.
At a cursory glance there is no link between the majestic ayat an Nur and the severe law. But Allaah chose this very sura to introduce Himself in this spectacular manner to instill His love in our hearts, to emphasize that to carry out a difficult command of Allah is only possible if you have love of Allaah in your heart. The greater this love, the easier it gets to execute Allaahs commands.
Not only does this sura contain the hudood laws, but it also contains many different rules for protecting the moral fibre of a society. And without the love of Allah in our hearts, we will never be able to adhere to these rules. We will briefly discuss those rules at some later point, insha Allaah.
But in the meantime, I urge you to read the ayah an Nur and the following ayaat (ayat 35-40) the last part of ayah 40 gives me goose bumps. Grab a book of tafseer and read the explanation of these majestic ayaat for which hundreds of pages have been written by scholars.