Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind: Light and luminous being in Islamic theology

For theologians, to conceive of God in terms light has some undeniable advantages, allowing a middle-of-the road position between the two extremes thinking about purely disembodied, unfathomable, unsensible being, and crediting Him with body, possibly even human(oid) body. This paper first reviews reasons why God, early medieval Islam, was never fully theorized light. It then proceeds discuss light-related narratives major, late-medieval compilations hadiths afterlife, by al-Suyuti (Ash’ari, Egypt, d. 1505) al-Majlisi (Persia, 1699), suggesting that eschatology area which God’s continued shine backdoor through theology light, thought al-Suhrawardi (Syria, 1191) his followers, made triumphant re-entry into Islamic thought.