I have yet to read mishkat al-anwar, but it's ok to anchor this further using Imam al-Ghazali’s language from Mishkat al-Anwar. Perhaps I will understand.
Good.
Then let us anchor this carefully, using Imam al-Ghazali’s own language and method from Mishkat al-Anwar—without assuming you have read it, and without pushing you into technical philosophy. I will translate the ideas, not the density.
What follows stays within Ahl al-Sunnah, and it will also resolve your concern about “Allah inside / Allah outside” in a disciplined way.
1. Al-Ghazali’s starting point: Light is not what you think
In Mishkat al-Anwar, Al-Ghazali begins by redefining “light”.
He says (in meaning):
What people usually call light (sun, lamp, fire) is not true light.
True light is that by which things are known.
So:
- The sun is not light by itself
- The eye is not light by itself
- The intellect is not light by itself
They only borrow light.
Already, this removes any idea that creation has light independently.
2. Degrees of light: how zahir and batin are ordered
Al-Ghazali describes levels of illumination:
1️⃣ Sensory light (lowest)
- Eyes
- Physical seeing
- Zahir world
This is where the first “east” rises.
But this light:
- sets every night
- can be deceived
- depends on conditions
2️⃣ Intellectual light (qalb level)
- Understanding
- Meaning
- Discernment
This is the second east—the inward horizon.
Here:
- the qalb receives meaning
- truth is grasped, not seen
- confusion can still return (sunset)
This matches your intuition perfectly.
3️⃣ Spiritual light (ruh level)
Now Al-Ghazali becomes very precise.
He says:
- Even intellect is not self-luminous
- It receives from a higher source
This source is not Allah Himself entering the soul, but:
Allah creates illumination in the servant
The ruh does not contain Allah. It is directed by Allah.
This is the East that does not truly set—only becomes veiled.
3. The famous Lamp Verse framework (Qur’an 24:35)
Al-Ghazali uses the Verse of Light as a map of the human being:
- Niche (mishkat) → the body
- Lamp → the heart (qalb)
- Glass → the refined intellect
- Oil → innate disposition (fitrah)
- Fire → divine illumination (created, not incarnated)
⚠️ Key point:
The fire touches, but does not become the lamp.
This is crucial.
No union.
No incarnation.
No “Allah inside you”.
Only illumination by command.
4. Where people get confused: experiential language
Al-Ghazali openly admits:
When illumination becomes intense:
- the servant forgets himself
- multiplicity fades
- only One is witnessed
At this point, people say dangerous sentences.
Al-Ghazali says (paraphrased):
These are states, not doctrines.
Whoever turns them into beliefs has erred.
This is exactly where wahdat al-wujud becomes dangerous.
5. Correct anchoring: not Wahdat al-Wujud, but refined witnessing
What Al-Ghazali allows:
- The servant may witness only Allah’s act
- The servant may forget created causes
- The servant may feel “nothing exists but Him”
But the correction is:
Existence remains multiple.
Attention becomes unified.
This is why later Sunni scholars called it:
- Wahdat al-Shuhud (unity of witnessing)
Not unity of being.
6. Mapping Mishkat al-Anwar to nafs, qalb, ruh
Let us tie everything cleanly:
🔸 Nafs
- Relates to sensory light
- Easily distracted
- Sunrise and sunset frequent
🔸 Qalb
- Receives intellectual and spiritual meaning
- Battleground of attention
- Two easts meet here
🔸 Ruh
- Receptive to divine illumination
- Never autonomous
- Never identical with Allah
- Only unveiled or veiled
The ruh is oriented, not divine.
7. Re-reading Surah Ar-Rahman 55:17 through Ghazali
Rabb al-Mashriqayn wa Rabb al-Maghribayn
In Ghazalian language:
- Allah is Lord of all illuminations
- Lord of their appearing
- Lord of their withdrawal
- Lord of the servant’s awareness and forgetfulness
Nothing you experience—clarity or confusion—lies outside His Lordship.
8. Why this should give you calm, not excitement
Al-Ghazali’s goal is sobriety, not ecstasy.
Signs you are reading this correctly:
- You feel grounded, not inflated
- You become more cautious with language
- You stop trying to “explain Allah”
- You accept alternating states without panic
This is sound suluk.
9. A sentence you may keep (safe, Ghazalian)
If you ever need to express this insight safely:
“Allah is not inside me, nor outside me as a thing.
He is known by His signs—within and without—and I am always in need of Him.”
This sentence protects both:
- tawhid
- experience
If you wish, next we can:
- Extract 3 short passages from Mishkat al-Anwar and paraphrase them slowly
- Or connect this directly to your writing states, time disappearance, and self-criticism, using Ghazali’s psychology
Take this slowly.
This knowledge is meant to stabilize, not to intoxicate.
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