The 'light' here means the 'guidance': it means: God guides those who are in the planets including the earth; for the guidance is up to God alone, while the duty of the messenger is only to convey his message.
By the way, some think this aya describes the electric lamp; I asked Abu abd-Allah is this true? He said: No relation.
So in this parable, God likens His guidance to be:
like a niche inside the center of the house or on a road (like the light house); this resembles Mecca, from which the light of guidance came.
The lamp in a niche: the lamp resembles the messenger.
The lamp is inside a glass; it resembles the angels surrounding the prophet to protect him from devils.
The lamp is lit from a tree of olive: it resembles the Muslim nations which is neither to the West nor to the East.
Another aya, which I mentioned in the post #34 in this thread, indicates that God created the heavens and the earth
the planets including the earth) and He assigned the light and darkness.In many other ayat, the 'light' indicates the guidance of the heavenly book.
As in the aya 4: 174, which means:
{O mankind, there has [now come to you the Quran as] a proof from your Lord; We have sent down to you [included in the Quran] an elucidating light.}
Moreover, God cannot be called 'thing'; the word 'thing' is related to material objects.
Quran 42: 11, which means:
{There is not, as His likeness, anything [material or spiritual] i; He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing.}
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i It means: There is none, whether it be material or spiritual being, like Himself.
This interpretation is by Mohammed-Ali Hassan Al-Hilly.
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