Darkness in the deep sea

Al-Ṭabarī (d. 923, Baghdad; the great early commentator who collected the reports of the first generations). For him the darkness stands for what the disbelievers do: "ومثل أعمال هؤلاء الكفار" ("the likeness of the deeds of these disbelievers"); "فجعل الظلمات مثلا لأعمالهم" ("He made the darknesses a likeness for their deeds"). On the last line, the one with no light is "من لم يرزقه الله إيمانا وهدى من الضلالة" ("whoever God does not grant faith, and guidance out of misguidance").

Ibn Kathir (d. 1373, Damascus; his commentary explains the Quran by the Quran, hadith and early reports). In the abridged English: "This is the parable of the heart of the disbeliever whose ignorance is simple", one "who merely follows and does not know the true nature of the one whom he follows". The hand is unseen "because it is so intensely dark." On the last line: "One whom Allah does not guide is ignorant and doomed". In the Arabic text he reports the Companion Ubayy ibn Kaʿb (ra) that such a person "يتقلب في خمسة من الظلم" ("moves about within five darknesses"): his speech, his deeds, his coming in, his going out, and his end in the Fire. He closes with a prayer that God "يجعل في قلوبنا نورا، وعن أيماننا نورا، وعن شمائلنا نورا" ("place light in our hearts, light on our right and light on our left").

Al-Qurṭubī (d. 1273, Córdoba and Egypt; a Maliki jurist whose commentary gathers earlier views). He calls it "another parable for the disbelievers" ("ضرب تعالى مثلا آخر للكفار"). He gives the physical layers first — "ظلمة السحاب، وظلمة الموج، وظلمة الليل، وظلمة البحر" ("the darkness of the clouds, of the waves, of the night and of the sea") — then a reported reading: "وقيل : أراد بالظلمات أعمال الكافر ، وبالبحر اللجي قلبه" ("it was said: by the darknesses He meant the disbeliever's deeds, and by the deep sea his heart"). He also reports Ubayy's five darknesses. On the last line he cites Ibn ʿAbbas: "من لم يجعل الله له دينا فما له من دين" ("whoever God does not grant religion has no religion"), and a second reading about the next world: he "لم يهتد إلى الجنة" ("will not be guided to Paradise").

Al-Jalālayn (15th-century Egypt; a short, widely taught commentary): "those who disbelieve their evil deeds are as the manifold darkness on a deep sea"; "he whom God does not guide cannot be guided."

Tanwīr al-Miqbās (a commentary attributed to Ibn ʿAbbas): "the similitude of denial in the heart of the disbeliever is like darkness in the depth of a very deep sea", "because Allah sealed the disbelievers hearts and hearings and sights." It reads "light" as knowledge: "he has no knowledge in the Hereafter".

On the Light Verse (24:35). Ibn Kathir reports Ibn ʿAbbas that "Light" here "means, the Guide of the inhabitants of the heavens and the earth", and Ubayy ibn Kaʿb that the niche and lamp are "the likeness of the heart of the believer": "The lamp is the light, and this refers to the Qur'an and the faith that is in his heart." On "Allah guides to His light whom He wills", Ibn Kathir: it "means, Allah shows the way to the ones whom He chooses". Al-Jalālayn: "God guides to His Light that is to the religion of Islam whom He will."

Where they differ. They agree that the verse is a parable about those without faith. They differ on what the darkness stands for: their deeds (al-Ṭabarī; al-Jalālayn), the heart of one who follows blindly (Ibn Kathir), or denial sealed in the heart (Tanwīr); al-Qurṭubī reports the physical layers first and the deeds-and-heart reading as a "said" view. On the last line, "light" is faith and guidance (al-Ṭabarī; Ibn Kathir), religion (Ibn ʿAbbas via al-Qurṭubī), Paradise in the next world (al-Qurṭubī's second reading), or knowledge (Tanwīr). None of them reads the waves as hidden layers inside the sea.