This phrase, which Reverend Fethullah Gülen Hodjaefendi uses by referring to the verses in the Chapter Nur (24:36-37), defines the houses where intellectual laborers, whose hearts are filled with the knowledge of God, and who strive to offer solutions to the problems of humanity, grow up.

“All the institutions that raise enlightened generations today can be likened to a huge tree formed from a small kernel that was thrown into the bosom of absence at one time. Yes, like a candle lit during this period when darkness follows each other, huts in which a few people can stay, then the light houses and larger complexes that bear the spirit of Ahmet Yasawi, did the same thing under the tutelage of the Sublime Light of the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, just as this light has constituted the basis of the entire Earth and heavens as the first cause, being like a sperm.”¹⁾

“… as of the first period, along with heroic men such as Siddiq Süleyman, Hulusi Efendi, and Hüsrev Efendi, there are some women we know. They were like the shadows of Lady Nasiba and Lady Sumayra, who have participated in the Battles of Badr and Uhud with a heroical spirit. These women have not stayed behind the men in supporting this exalted cause. Today, the light houses should again nurse these heroes.”²⁾

“The Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him, states in one of his sayings: ‘God Almighty has supernumerary angels who travel about, seeking the gatherings of the remembrance of Allah. When they encounter such a gathering, they encircle the people, and then supplicate to God: ‘O Lord, we are now with some of Your servants. They recite Your book, send blessings to Your Prophet, and study and discuss your greatness.’ Then God Almighty decrees: ‘Encircle them and envelop them with My mercy; none among them shall suffer.’”³⁾

“Those blessed places where God is invoked are the light house where manifestations of His power are discussed, where the arguments for the Prophethood of God’s Messenger are reiterated, where discussions are sealed with the fragrance of musk of salutations and blessings to the Prophet, and which smell of spirituality and carry the realms beyond.”⁴⁾

“As regards the building jungles in their surrounds, the light houses are each like moonlight interpreting the verse of light to the society of stars forming a halo, or a caravanserai for those seeking eternal light and eternal serenity on the road to Paradise. In the internal structure and depths of these villas of light, for those looking carefully, that the truth of, ‘(This light can best be obtained and those guided to it are found) in some houses (that are usually concealed from people’s eyes and) for which God has provided a way for them to be built and appreciated, and for His Name to be mentioned and invoked therein; in them glorify Him in the morning and evening, (Those guided are) men (of great distinction) whom neither commerce nor exchange (nor any other worldly preoccupations) can divert from the remembrance of God, and establishing the Prayer in conformity with all its conditions, and paying the Prescribed Purifying Alms; they are in fear of a day on which all hearts and eyes will be overturned.

“Indeed these light houses, great and small, with the water of life they send in abundance to hearts thirsty for the tranquility of belief like mercy-laden clouds, and the rays of experiential knowledge, love and spiritual delight they release to the hills of hearts, have for years on end been a Trumpet of Israfil breathing revival and the breath of Gabriel animating consciences.”⁵⁾

“The joy, jubilation, happiness, and dependence that others feel when going to places of entertainment, distraction, and indulgence, the ‘holy ones’ have felt and experienced, and even more so, on the road extending towards the light houses. They have received those things thought, discussed, and read on these roads of light and these blessed homes which are the assurance of these roads, as breezes of inspiration coming from beyond and have listened to them as breaths transcending the heavens.”⁶⁾

Marcia Hermansen, “The Cultivation of Memory in the Gülen Community”

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