Light is the attribute that reveals the essence and serves as the vehicle carrying the divine names and attributes in the divine disclosure. Allah indeed says: "Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth." (Qur’an 24:35) In the Karkariya, as in all preceding Shadhuli orders, the disciple journey to the truth through the all-encompassing name Allah, which points to the essence. Within this school, if one seeks the essence, light acts as a general intermediary between them and the essence. If one seeks a specific facet of God—one of His names or attributes for a particular need—then the light operates through the power of that specific name or attribute.

However, as our Shaykh, may Allah sanctify his secret, teaches, the disciple cannot separate the names and attributes from the essence, as doing so leads to ilḥād (misguidance). But what does it mean to separate the essence from the attributes?

Separating the dhāt (essence) from the ṣifāt (attributes) implies viewing God's essence as independent of or disconnected from His actions (afʿāl), names (asmā’) and attributes. This is a theological error. In Sufi understanding, God’s essence is one and the same as His names and attributes; He is not distinct from them. They are expressions of His essence.

When the name Allah—which points to the essence—is revealed, all actions, predicates (aḥkām), names, and attributes of Allah are concealed (tastatir) by the majesty and exclusivity of this name. However, at the level of disclosure (tajallī), the names, attributes, predicates, and actions manifest and become apparent in the niche of divine identity, symbolized by the letter hāʾ in the divine name. Approaching the divine from the perspective of disclosure (the hāʾ) allows one to witness facets of divinity, offering delimited (muqayyad) understandings—symbolized by the closed circular shape of the letter hāʾ—of Allah through His revealed qualities. 

However, if one severs these disclosures from the essence they unveil, they risk falling into ilḥād (misguidance), akin to affirming two gods: one who accepts comparability (tashbīh) and another who is completely transcendent (tanzīh). In reality, Allah is one, without a partner. To illustrate this idea, we can refer to the human being, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Allah created Adam in His own image." (al-Bukhārī, 6227; Muslim, 2841) 

For example, consider yourself as a person. Your body is one of your disclosures. When I see your body, I say, “This is you.” I cannot separate your body and its properties from the inner essence that resides in the mystery of your heart. To claim that your body and the attributes it expresses is not you would render you unrecognizable, as it is through this outward form that your inner essence is apprehended and expressed in a comprehensible way. 

Similarly, Allah says: "There is nothing like His likeness (laysa ka mithlihi shay’), and He (huwa) is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing." (Qur’an 42:11) In this verse, Allah affirms both His transcendence and the comparability of His disclosure revealed in the niche of divine identity (huwa).

Consider the divine names and attributes like raḥma (mercy) or qudra (power). These are not external to, different form, or added to God’s essence. Rather, they are simultaneously concealed within the essence while also manifesting it in ways that allow limited beings to comprehend aspects of the divine reality. Divine actions, predicates, names, and attributes are relational—they provide a way for finite creation to witness and experience the divine essence in ways suited to their capacities.

Attempting to separate the essence from the names and attributes reduces God to an abstract, unknowable concept, detached from the immanent nature of His self-disclosures (tajalliyāt). This undermines the unity (tawḥīd) of God and leads to theological imbalances. The essence is the source—the unchanging reality, the ocean of stillness—while the attributes are both concealed within its vastness and serve as dynamic modes through which it is revealed and experienced in the niche of existence, referred to as the hāʾ of divine identity (hāʾ al-huwiyya). Recognizing their inseparability preserves the balance between transcendence (tanzīh), immanence/comparability (tashbīh), and ultimately, the true understanding of tawḥīd.

Ultimately, such realization should not remain theoretical but must arise from luminous disclosures, as light is what reveals Allah through His names and attributes in the niche of existence. Delving into these realities while constrained by the forms of the lower world (dunyā) and lacking the epistemological means to grasp them is dangerous and can lead to grave errors. Those who have not witnessed these realities should refrain from discussing them and adhere to the foundational principles of the Ashʿarī creed, affirming literally everything the Qur’an states, delegating the true meaning to God and without falling into the trap of reductionist metaphorical or rational reinterpretations (taʾwīl).