al-Baqara 2:257 — The darknesses are plural, the light singular

"God is the friend of those who believe; He brings them out of the darknesses into the light. The friends of those who cover over are the ṭāghūt; they bring them out of the light into the darknesses."

ٱلظُّلُمَٰت is plural, ٱلنُّور is singular. And this is a consistent usage in the Qurʾān.

I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the number of the words: darkness is the absence of light, and the forms of absence are many; light is one. The way is lost in more than one manner, but the place arrived at is one.

And in the second half of the sentence the direction is reversed: yukhrijūnahum mina'l-nūri ila'l-ẓulumāt. The same verb (ikhrāj — to bring out) is used in both directions. The second group too, that is, is taken somewhere; it is not left to itself.