Perhaps more than any other, this single ayat suggests only mystical interpretations, as the metaphor is completely coherent, but it does not surrender an obvious meaning. Hence it was and remains a key Qur'anic passage to many Sufis and Muslim Philosophers into the present day, who argue for esoteric readings of the Qur'an. Most noteworthy amongst the intellectual and spiritual geniuses who have puzzled over Ayat an-Nur is al-Ghazali (d.