۞ Allah is the light of the heavens and the earth: the likeness of His light is as a niche wherein is a lamp; the lamp is in glass; the glass is as though it were a star brilliant; lit from a tree blest, an olive, neither in the east nor in the west; well-nigh its oil would glow forth even though fire touch it not. light upon light. Allah guideth unto His light whomsoever He will: And Allah propoundeth similitudes for mankind: verily Allah is of everything the Knower. 35 In houses (mosques), which Allah has ordered to be raised (to be cleaned, and to be honoured), in them His Name is glorified in the mornings and in the afternoons or the evenings, 36 are men who exalt Him there, whom neither trade nor sale can divert from the remembrance of Allah, and establish the prayers, and pay the obligatory charity; fearing a Day when hearts and eyes shall be turned about, 37 That Allah may reward them according to the best of their deeds, and add even more for them out of His Grace: for Allah doth provide for those whom He will, without measure. 38 (On the other hand,) the deeds of those who disbelieved, maybe likened to a mirage in a waterless desert, which the thirsty one took for water; but when he reached there he found nothing to drink; nay, he found there Allah Who settled his full account, and Allah is very swift at reckoning. 39 Or like darkness in a wide, wide sea, waves surging upon waves, with clouds overhanging, darkness on darkness. If you stretch your hand, you could hardly see it. For him whom God does not give any light, there is no light. 40