Its marvels will never cease

(Jami Tirmidhi)

Scientific and Archaeological Explanation of

the Ayaats of the Holy Quran

For the complete work, visit our blog

Miraculousquran.blogspot.com

Comments, queries and feedback at

Muhammad.Awais.Tahir@gmail.com
 Sura: Al-An’aam
Ayat 1

All praise is due to Allah, Who created the heavens and the earth and made the darkness and the light;
yet those who disbelieve set up equals with their Lord.

M Shakir's Quran Translation

Electromagnetic Spectrum and Visible Light

Light is a basic requirement of life. Without light one cannot see his surroundings. The waves that accompany light
are made up of oscillating, or vibrating, electric and magnetic fields, which are force fields that surround charged
particles and influence other charged particles in their vicinity. These waves are known as electromagnetic waves.
The electromagnetic spectrum refers to the entire range of frequencies or wavelengths of electromagnetic waves.
Light is traditionally referred to the range of frequencies of the electromagnetic spectrum that is visible to humans.

Electromagnetic Spectrum
The electromagnetic spectrum includes radio waves, microwaves, infrared light, visible light, ultraviolet light, x rays, and gamma
rays. Visible light, which makes up only a tiny fraction of the electromagnetic spectrum, is the only electromagnetic radiation
that humans can perceive with their eyes.

From the above figure it is pretty evident that the visible spectrum is only a small portion of the electromagnetic
spectrum. A tiny fraction of frequencies from 1 Hz to 1026 Hz is what the human eye can perceive. Visible light
spectrum has very high frequencies i.e. from 5 x 1014 to 7.5 x 1014 Hz and their wavelength is from 400 nanometers to
700 nanometers. Each different frequency or wavelength of visible light causes our eye to see a slightly different
color. The longest wavelength we can see is deep red at about 700 nm. The shortest wavelength humans can detect
is deep blue or violet at about 400 nm.

Creating Darkness
Absence of light is normally termed as darkness but, in the light of the above information, to our naked eye darkness
should be termed as the absence of electromagnetic waves in the visible light spectrum. So, when Quran mentions
‘making of darkness’ it is accurate in the sense that those electromagnetic waves which we cannot see are also
‘made’ but for us they are a part of ‘darkness’. It is a striking fact that such accurate information exists in a 14
centuries old book.

Using the word Darkness in Plural form

Another interesting fact is that in this Ayat and in many other Ayaats Quran uses the word darkness as plural ‫ظلمات‬
and the word light‫ نور‬as singular. Quran uses the word ‫ ظلمات‬23 times i.e. the plural form of darkness and it always
uses the word ‫ نور‬i.e. the singular form of light. The singular of ‫ ظلمات‬is ‫ظلمة‬. Imam Raaghib says that it means the
absence of light. Remember Quran also uses the terms darkness and light analogous to guidance and ignorance.
Even in those cases Quran uses darkness in plural form and light (guidance) in singular form because there are many
paths that are wrong but the real true path is only one which Quran terms as the ‘‫’صراط مستقيم‬. In this Ayat when
Allah mentions the process of creation, He uses plural form for darkness and singular form for light pointing to the
striking fact which modern science has only recently discovered.

As described above visible light spectrum is only a portion of the large ‘variety’ of frequencies ranging from 1 Hz to
1026 Hz. Visible light spectrum has ranges from 5 x 1014 to 7.5 x 1014 Hz. Quran is very accurate in using the plural for
darkness (frequencies other than the visible spectrum) because they have much greater range of frequencies.
Hence, we can safely conclude that in Quranic terms used in this Ayat ‫ نور‬is the ‘visible light spectrum’ and ‫ ظلملت‬are
X-Rays, gamma Rays, Ultraviolet rays etc.

Ayaats in which the Quran uses the word ‫ظلمات‬

Surah Baqarah 2:17, Surah Baqarah 2:19, Surah Baqarah 2:257, Surah Maida 5:16, Surah Anaam 6:1, Surah Anaam
6:39, Surah Anaam 6:59, Surah Anaam 6:63, Surah Anaam 6:122, Surah Anaam 13:16, Surah Ibrahim 14:1, Surah
Ibrahim 14:5, Surah Anbiya 21:87, Surah Noor 24:40, Surah Naml 27:63, Surah Ahzaab 33:43, Surah Faatir 35:20,
Surah Zumar 43:6, Surah Hadeed 57:9, Surah Talaq 65:11.

This document is based on my under process book. I plan to collect all the Ayaats of the Holy Quran with deal with
scientific, historical and archaeological subjects. I am trying to provide explanation to those Ayaats in light of
Previous commentaries (Tafaseer), established science, archaeological discoveries and Arabic lexicons. Send in
your comments, queries and suggestion at Muhammad.Awais.Tahir@gmail.com

Please do not copy paste without permission, until my book is published, Insha’Allah.

For the complete work, visit our blog

Miraculousquran.blogspot.com