Allah and His Messenger are the lights in the darkness of this world

Matthew Arnold, the English poet, wrote:
"Ah, love, let us be true
To one another! for the world, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night."
In this poem, Arnold envisioned the world as aplace of darkness,
conflict and confusion, with no light to show theway out. To him the
beauty of the world was just an illusion, a dream; and the reality of
life wasone of struggle and pain.
Indeed, the world seems to become a more dangerous and hopeless every
day. The news is filled with dire stories about war and starvation,
the inexorable destruction ofthe natural environment, pollution of the
oceans, terrorism, and crime. Most recently we have been reading about
the "Arab Spring", in which the people of several nations have risen
up against their dictators. Asinspiring as these events are, in the
midst lie acts of horrific cruelty. In Libya it is rumored that 100
officers who refused to order soldiers to fire on protesters, were
burned alive. La hawla wa la quwwata il-laa billah. How horrendous.
Wouldn't a sane person be afraid of such a world? Wouldn't an
intelligent person be consumed with anxiety, and wouldn't a very
intelligent person be plunged into despair?
The thing about fear, anxiety and despair is that they flourish in
spiritual darkness, just as some species of mushrooms can only grow in
the dark. They might be represented by the image of a monster hiding
in the corner of a dark room.
What do you do when you're afraid there's a monster in the closet, or
creeping quietly toward you? You turn on the light.
The Light is Allah
For us, the light is Allah, and the Quran through which He
communicates with us. Our guiding lightis the natural bond we have
with Allah, and our instinctive yearning to know our Creator. Let's
cherish that bond and strengthen it, and it will fill us with light.
Allah's light is our salvation from fear of theunknown; fear of
failure; fear of loss and pain; fearof poverty, illness and injury;
fear of enemies who want to hurt us; fearof strange things; fear of
death.
"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 lampis within glass,
the glass as if it were a pearly [white] star lit from [the oil of] a
blessed olive tree, neither of the east nor of the west, whose oil
would almost glow even if untouched by fire. Light upon light. Allah
guides to His light whom He wills. And Allah presents examples for
thepeople, and Allah is Knowing of all things." - Quran, Surat An-Nur,
24:35
An Illuminating Lamp
And what about the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him)?
Allah says in the Quran, Surat Al-Ahzab, 33:45-46,
"O Prophet, indeed We have sent you as a witness and a bringer of good
tidings and a warner, And one who invites to Allah, by His permission,
and an illuminating lamp."
The Messenger too is a source of light. He is an illuminating lamp,
which is what you hold up so you can see the way ahead. His Sunnah
gives us a brilliant path to walk. It shows us the waypast all the
evils that lurk in the darkness, including the evils of racism,
nationalism, anger, selfishness, dishonesty, hypocrisy, and greed.
I'm not saying that all we must do is read the Quranand pray, and
those dire problems that I mentioned earlier will evaporate. Not at
all.
But the solutions to thoseproblems lie within the Quran if we look.
The Quran is the light that shows us the way out outof the gloom that
we have created for ourselves, and example of the Messenger (peace be
upon him) is a beaconthat lights the way forward.
Light in Our Hearts
The verse I quoted above,from Surat an-Nur, mentions the example or
similitude of Allah's light. The Sahabi (companion of the Prophet)
Ubayy ibnKa`b said, 'The similitude of His light [takes place in] the
Muslim's heart.' [Ibn Kathir, 3:464] Faith, dhikr, love of Allah and
compassion toward all creatures, cause that light to grow in our
hearts, until it spreads and appears on our faces, our hands, in our
eyes, on our tongues, and even in our homes. As Allah says, "Or is one
who was dead, and whom We gave life and made for him a light by which
to walk among people, like one who is ina darkness from which he
cannot emerge?" [6:122]
Other people can sense this light, and some will be guided by it,
while others reject it. Those who reject it might even be angered by
it, becauseit represents a refutation of a lifestyle based on narrow
material concerns.
Ibn `Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: "When the Messenger
of Allah got up to pray at night, he would say:
( O Allah, to You be praise,You are the Sustainer of heaven and earth
and whoever is in them. To You be praise, You are the Light of the
heavens and the earth and whoever is in them. )
When life starts to feel like a burden, and your vision contracts so
that all you see is darkness, don't give up. Don't despair. Remember
that there is a light to show you the way. The light is Allah. His
light is expressed through the Quran and through His Messenger. Turn
to it, and it will grow in your heart and bring you peace. It will
give you strength and joy, and willtransform you and all those around
you.