HADRAT ALI'S CONCEPT OF SOUND,LIGHT AND MICRO ORGANISM

"Every listener other than Allah is deaf to light voices while loud voices make him deaf and distant voices also get away from him.Every onlooker other than Allah(God) is blind to hidden colours and delicate bodies." Nahjulbalagha:sermon.64

In the above paragraph Hadrat Ali (as) says that sound is of three kind,one which we cannot hear,one which makes us def and last which gets aways from us.Well every one know now that sound waves which has a frequency less than 20 hertz is called infra sonic sound which is inaudible to human beings.Falling rain drops,movement of eye lid,running of blood in our veins etc produce infrasonic sound which we cannot hear.

Fig.1. Modern art's imagination of infrasonic sound.

Sound is measured in a unit called decibel(db).Sound of more than 120 db can make us def in long run.While the sound which can cause deafness(momentary deafness) instantly is the supersonic sound which is produced by a concord when it breaks the sound barrier(343m/s).

Fig.2.Sound scale in decibel.

The third kind of sound which Hadrat Ali (as) mentions is the sound which gets away from us.Well, this needs a bit of explanation,the infrasonic sound waves are not noticed by our ear drum and hence are inaudible,while the supersonic sound has large waves and hence causes deafness and the sound waves which get away from us may refer to the microwaves which pass through our external ear,middle ear and internal without any hindrance ,like X-rays which pass through our body,and hence are not audible to us.The distance voices which get away from may refer to the microwave background discovered by Penzias(for which he was awarded noble prize).Microwave background is nothing but the microwaves coming from the distant galaxies and were formed at the time of big bang.

Fig.3.Image of earth surrounded by microwaves,the whole universe is surrounded by these waves and we are also surrounded by them and they are reaching us every second but we cannot hear them because they get away from us.

It will not be wrong if we assume 'the distant voices which get away from us' as mentioned by Hadrat Ali to be the microwave background .

HIDDEN COLOURS:White light emitted from the lamp,candle etc when passed through a prism get split into seven colours called spectrum of light.Newton was the first scientist to prove that the light produced form candles and other sources is composite and is made of seven colours(VIBGYOR).

Fig.4.Spectrum of light showing that the white light is made of seven colours.

Blood appears red because it absorbs all the colours from the white light except red,hence it appears red.A mango appears green because it absorbs all the colours except green,but when it ripes it reflects yellow light because of change in its composition(ripe mango contains lots of fructose).If an object reflect two or more than two colours,it appears in the combination of the colours it reflects,this is an explanation for colours in our surrounding and that they are reflected light.According to Hadrat Ali (as) there are light waves(HIDDEN COLOURS) which are invisible to us .In this century it was discovered that the spectrum of light beyond red contains invisible wavelength which we now know as infrared rays and the invisible wavelength beyond Violet colour was termed as ultraviolet rays.Both are invisible and can be called as hidden colours.

Fig.5.Spectrum of light showing infra red and ultraviolet light which are invisible.

When Hadrat Ali knew that there are hidden colours then it can be argued that he knew every thing about light,well truth is stranger than fiction.

DELICATE BODIES:Hadrat Ali says that we are surrounded by organisms so delicate that they are invisible to us.It is obvious that he(as) is referring to the microorganisms like virus,bacteria and protozoa.The world of micro organisms was discovered by Anton von Leeuwenkoek in the 17Th century,well ,Hadrat Ali (AS) was at least 1000 years ahead of Leeuwenhoek.

Fig.6.Potreit of Anton Van Leeuwenhoek,father of microbiology

At this stage I would like to quote the speech of Van Leeuwenhoek which he delivered when he was awarded by the royal society for his pioneering work on microorganisms,

". . my work, which I've done for a long time, was not pursued in order to gain the praise I now enjoy, but chiefly from a craving after knowledge, which I notice resides in me more than in most other men. And wherewithal, whenever I found out anything remarkable, I have thought it my duty to put down my discovery on paper, so that all ingenious people might be informed thereof." - Antony van Leeuwenhoek"

Now what should I about the marvelous and magnanimous personality of Hadrat Ali (as) who despite of having so much of knowledge lived a simple God fearing life content with meagre sustenance.May the immense grace and peace be upon Hadrat Ali(as) and his pious progeny-Amin.