۞ Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The Parable of His Light is as if there were a Niche and within it a Lamp: the Lamp enclosed in Glass: the glass as it were a brilliant star: Lit from a blessed Tree, an Olive, neither of the east nor of the west, whose oil is well-nigh luminous, though fire scarce touched it: Light upon Light! Allah doth guide whom He will to His Light: Allah doth set forth Parables for men: and Allah doth know all things. 35 They worship in houses which Allah has bidden to be exalted and His name to be remembered therein; they hallow Him therein in mornings and evenings 36 by people, who can neither be diverted by merchandise nor bargaining from worshipping God, saying their prayers and paying religious tax. They do these things, for they are afraid of the day when all hearts and eyes will undergo terrible unrest and crisis. 37 That Allah may reward them [according to] the best of what they did and increase them from His bounty. And Allah gives provision to whom He wills without account. 38 But as for those who are bent on denying the truth, their [good] deeds are like a mirage in the desert, which the thirsty supposes to be water - until, when he approaches it, he finds that it was nothing: instead, he finds [that] God [has always been present] with him, and [that] He will pay him his account in full - for God is swift in 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