because if he would have disappeared (which means the annihilation of the
which is a lamp, the lamp is in a glass (and) the glass is as it were a brightly shining star lit from a blessed olive tree, neither eastern nor western, the oil whereof almost gives light though fire touches it not (heads daffor.) Allah guides to his light whom he pleases and Allah sets forth parables for men and Allah is cogniscant of all things." Al Ghazzali has written a separate treatise called Mishkat ul Anwar dealing exhaustively with the above passage. An excellent summary of his views is given by Razi in his Commentary, vol. VI. 393–408. (Stamboul edition). In the above parable Islam is represented as a likeness of the divine light, a light placed high on a pillar so as to illumine the whole world, a light guarded by being placed in a glass so that no puff of wind can put it out, a light so resplendent that the glass itself in which it is placed is as a brillinnt star. Just as a fig tree stands for a symbol of Judaism (see St. Matthew XXI 19) the olive stands for Islam, which must give light to both the East and the West, and does not specifically belong to either one of them.
The doctrine of Fana is misunderstood by many Western scholars. Tennyson puts it:
"That each, who seems a separate whole,
Should move his rounds and fusing all
The skirts of self again, should fall
Remerging in the general soul,
Is faith as vague as all unsweet." (In Memoriam XLVII)
Ghazzali's vivid description is neither vague nor unsweet. To him Fana is "a prayer of rapture". "In that state man is effaced from self, so that he is conscious neither of his body nor of outward things, nor of inward feelings. He is rapt
