How can shadow see the light, when through it
It stands as an entity in created being, within His self-disclosure?
If it adorns itself with the attribute of light, it possesses
The ruling of self-disclosure, but within its adornment.
The spirit is a shadow, and the body's entity manifests it
From the light of an Essence it sees in His descent.
None knows what we have said except a young man
Possessing retreat, who sees Him in his solitude.
He who turns his form away from Him may also
See Him, for He appears to him upon his turning away.
(Light and the Veil)
God, mighty and majestic is He, said, “God is the Light of the heavens and earth” [al-Nūr 24:35]. Some light is that through which one perceives, while it is not perceived in itself. It is thus a veil concealing itself from you. You and the world are a veil over you.
He, God's blessings and peace be upon him, said, “God has seventy thousand veils, or seventy veils”—(the doubt is mine)—“of light and darkness”: the report. One of these veils is the veil of light; the remaining number consists of veiling darknesses.
He is the very veil over you, and the One concealed within it. Through Himself He is veiled.
