Day: September 21, 2025

■ The Hierarchy of Lights (Nūr al-Anwār) Diagram

This diagram illustrates the Illuminationist cosmology of light as taught by Shihāb al-Dīn Suhrawardī ق.

At the top is the Light of Lights (Nūr al-Anwār) the Divine Source  from which emanate successive levels of lights (or intellects/angels).

These descending lights govern every aspect of creation, from the highest archangels to the angels of nature and the spheres.

The diagram also shows two cosmic principles: the Principle of Dominion (the downward governance of higher lights over lower) and the Principle of Love (the upward yearning of lower lights toward higher ones).

Together, they depict both the structure of the universe and the soul’s journey of return to its Origin.

1. Light of Lights (Nūr al-Anwār)

“All is from Him and all returns to Him. He is the First, He is the Last, He is the Manifest,
He is the Hidden.” (Qur’ān 57:3)

▪︎ Sayyidina Imam ʿAlī ع Said:

“I did not see anything except that I saw
Allah before it, with it and after it.”

This “Light of Lights” is the Reality of God Himself uncreated, limitless. Every light below it depends on it as rays depend on the sun.

2. The First Light

This is the first emanation, the highest created light sometimes called the First Intellect or the highest angelic reality.

▪︎ Shaykh Junayd al-Baghdādī ق Said:

“The first of the Heart’s knowledge is the knowledge of Allah ’s oneness.”

At this stage only pure unity shines. In the soul’s journey, this is the beginning of real gnosis (maʿrifa).

3. The Highest Isthmus (Barzakh al-Aʿlā)

An “isthmus” (barzakh) is an in-between state. Here it marks the transition from the pure divine to the angelic.

▪︎ Shaykh Dhu’l-Nūn al-Maṣrī ق Said:

“Between the servant and his Lord are veils
of light; when they are lifted, he becomes an intimate of the Truth.”

The isthmus is such a veil neither pure source nor fully separate.

4. The Second Light & Ṭabaqāt al-Arḍ (Horizontal Order)

From the Second Light radiate the great archetypal lights the archangels and cosmic governors (Gabriel, Khurdād, Murdād, Isfandārmuḏ, Urbibihisht). They correspond to the ordering of the cosmos.

▪︎ Shaykh Ibn ʿAṭā’Allāh al-Iskandarī ق wrote:

“Nothing moves in the heavens or the earth except by His command; but He veils the command in causes so that the wisdom may be manifest.”

These angelic lights are the “causes” behind cosmic order.

5. Al-Anwār al-Mudabbira (Managing Lights)

Here the light is diversified into classes of angels:
• Those who guard plants, minerals, animals  the natural guardians.

• Man’s governing angels.

• Angels who move the spheres.

▪︎ Shaykh Sahl al-Tustarī ق said:

“There is not a single thing except that over
it is an angel appointed by Allah to govern it.”

This stage shows how every part of creation, even minerals, has a subtle “spiritual companion” directing it.

6. The Third and Fourth Lights / Lower Isthmuses

As light descends further it becomes more specific, more connected to the material cosmos. Between them are the “spheres”
(fixed stars, lower heavens) each a threshold.

▪︎ Shaykh Bāyazīd al-Bisṭāmī ق Said:

“I crossed beyond the worlds until I came to
the Throne; then I crossed beyond the Throne until I came to the Lord of the Throne.”

For the Seeker, passing through these lights means moving beyond level after level of attachment until reaching pure Presence.

7. Principle of Love (ʿIshq) & Principle of Dominion (Qahr)

• Love (upward arrows): All lower lights yearn upward to the higher the soul’s longing for its Source.

• Lady Rābiʿa al-ʿAdawiyya ق prayed:
“O God, if I worship You for fear of Hell, burn me in Hell; if I worship You for hope of Paradise, bar me from it; but if I worship You for Your own sake, veil me not from Your Beauty.”

• Dominion (downward arrows): Higher lights govern and sustain the lower.
• Imām al-Junayd ق Said:

“The Real rules the servant by His decree, and the servant turns to Him by love.”

Together, these two principles show the whole cosmos as an endless circulation of emanation and return Allah’s light flowing down as sustaining dominion, creation’s love flowing up as yearning.

■ How to read the chart as a Seeker

You can read it outwardly as a description of the unseen hierarchy of lights and angels and inwardly, as the states of your own Heart:

• Light of Lights: Allah’s presence within.
• First Light: your spirit.
• Isthmuses and managing lights: your subtle faculties and states.
• Principle of Love: your yearning upward.
• Principle of Dominion: the divine command shaping your being.

This is why Sufis often Say,

“The macrocosm is within you; ascend within and you will see the entire ladder of light.” ❤️