VISIBLE COLOURS
Here we come across the famous ‘Colour Verses’ (35:27-28):
See you not that God sent down water from the Heaven? With it We then bring out produce of various colours. And in the mountains are streaks of whites and reds, of various colours, and intense blacks. 35:27
And so amongst men and animals and livestock, are they of various colours. As such, only the knowledgeable among His servants stand in awe of God: surely God is Mighty, Forgiving. 35:28
It is fascinating to observe how the above briefly portrays the full spectrum of all very different colours (‘of whites and reds, of various colours, and intense blacks. 35:27’).
After mentioning the full colour WHITE, which contains all the colours of light’s visible spectrum, and then the primary colour RED, which is the most distinct colour and is at the outermost end of the visible spectrum, it descends through ‘OTHER COLOURS’ (‘various colours’) of the range towards the inner end – i.e. orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet – and approaches the pure BLACK (‘and intense blacks’), which, being without colour and at the other end of the continuum, is the complete opposite of white.
Scientifically, this description of colours is both precise and accurate.
An object reflecting all the colours of light is perceived as white, an impression in the brain due to stimulation of all the three types of colour-sensitive visual receptors. On the other hand, an object that absorbs all the colours of light, and hence reflects none of them, appears black, as it creates impression in the brain of no visible light reaching the eye.
Thus – while white represents all colours and black represents no colour – red and then all other colours are in-betweens.
People who behold only seven colours in the rainbow may like the ‘coincidental’ recurrence of 7 in the numerology of the Colour Verses (35:27-28), where 27 contains 7, while 35 and 28 are multiples of 7. They also may appreciate that the plural word ‘colours’ (alwan) occurs 7 times in the Quran (16:13, 16:69, 30:22, 35:27, 35:27, 35:28, 39:21).
However, rather than 7 colours, which is but an illusion, the rainbow or visible spectrum is actually a continuum of infinite number of colours, with no clear distinctions in-between. Thus the rainbow presents as an example how ‘seven’ can be equivalent to ‘innumerable’, which is also a connotation of ‘seven’ in Arabic (cf. our interpretation elsewhere of ‘God is He who created seven Heavens and of the Earth the like of them. 65:12’).
Please note that, following the reference to the ‘whites and reds, of various colours’, the word ‘and’ in the phrase ‘and intense blacks’ appears as ‘and of exclusion’ (‘wa mugha’ira’). This excludes black from the category of colours. Thus we are being told that there are streaks of multiple colours, ranging from whites to reds to many other colours, gradually approaching intense black as the ultimate limit.
Interestingly, the words whites, reds and blacks appear here in plural, indicating that there is not just one white or one red or one black, but there are countless intermediate shades and grades of each of them.
Mountains are specially mentioned in this description of visible spectrum due to obvious reason. It is in the rocks where the endless nuance and effect of colours may be particularly observed. Along with rocks, however, the verses also depict the diversity of colours in plants, crops, flowers, fruits and animals including men and livestock as well as in human minds.
Translated here as ‘streaks’, the word ‘judad’ in the phrase ‘judadun beedun wahumrun’ (‘streaks of whites and reds …’) also means fast-moving tracts or rays (sar’i-us-sair)45. This concurs with some of the dynamic concepts of modern physics regarding light and colours, including the high speed of light and those relating colours with the frequencies of the electromagnetic waves.
Thus, first observing white, which is dissociable into all the colours of light’s visible spectrum, and then looking at red, the primary colour and the most distinct visual impression caused by the longest waves (630-750 nm), if we gradually descend via yellow and green towards blue and violet (380-450 nm), i.e. through the shorter waves towards the inner end of the visible spectrum, we eventually reach the domain of black, the non-colour. Elsewhere, the Quran mentions blue (zurk), the least visible of all colours, to denote blurred vision or relative blindness (20:102).
INVISIBLE COLOURS
The Colour Verses (35:27-28; colours incl. reds) are better understood when read together with the Light Verse (24:35; whites) and the Verse of Darknesses (24:40; blacks). While the Light Verse depicts the mental state of enlightenment emanating from a self-glowing lamp that generates multilayered consciousness, the Verse of Darknesses illustrates the mental state of ignorance as multi-layered darkness in the depths of an ocean.
This Quranic categorisation of all ‘COLOURS’ into whites, reds and blacks is comparable to sattva, rajas and tamas of Bhagabadgita.
Now, for further insight, we will read the Colour Verses (35:27-28) in context:
The blind and the seeing are not equal; 35:19
Nor are the darknesses and the light; 35:20
Nor are the shade and the burning heat. 35:21…
And if they reject you, so did their predecessors, to whom came their messengers with clear proofs and scriptures and the enlightening Book. 35:25…
See you not that God sent down water from the Heaven? With it We then bring out produce of various colours. And in the mountains are streaks of whites and reds, of various colours, and intense blacks. 35:27
And so amongst men and animals and livestock, are they of various colours. As such, only the knowledgeable among His servants stand in awe of God: surely God is Mighty, Forgiving. 35:28
Here the Quran calls us to observe the numerous ‘colours’, i.e. the infinitely diverse ‘hues’ of various objects and events in nature. In inanimate, animate and human world.
And so we are also asked to observe the endless spectrum of colours of human’s infinitely diverse minds.
Please note the parallel mention of invisible and visible, and darkness and light, and shade and burning heat, and light and heat (35:19-21) – and physical and spiritual light (35:25). Note this is then followed by a description of various colours (35:27-28).
Rendered into our present scientific knowledge, this comprises a full range of various radiations of electromagnetic spectrum. From the visible spectrum of light to the many forms of invisible radiations (‘invisible colours’), exemplified here by ‘solar radiations’ (‘the shade and the burning heat’), which we currently understand as electromagnetic waves ranging from infrared to ultraviolet rays.
Some animals, such as bees, can see parts of the spectrum like ultraviolet and infrared that remain invisible to us: the world does not appear to them as to us.
Please note that a deeper connotation of ‘light’ in 35:25 gives the description a spiritual dimension. Thus the references to sight (35:19), sunlight (35:20), solar heat (35:21) and then cognitive light (35:25) constitute a prelude to the description of the sight-giving divine light as ‘a heavenly rain descending from the High and yielding produces of various colours’ (35:27), a description oft-repeated throughout the Quran (35:19-28, 30:9-24, 16:2-69, 39:18-69, 2:22-87, 2:136-164, 23:17-32).
Here the important link between messengers, heavenly light and earthly colours implies the unity in the diversity of the numereous minds of all times and places.
A LIFELONG JOURNEY THROUGH THE INFINITE COLOURS
So there is a call in the Colour Verses (35:27-28) to observe the many colours.
Here the target audience is everyone29: a farmer who appreciates the colours of the soil to get information about its use; a scientist who observes the colourful stripes that bear witness about different geologic strata and provide biological and archaeological evidences; a painter who loves colours of nature as excellent artworks worth imaging in a canvas; a miner who values the colour of the Earth as the colour of gold and rock; and a poet or a mystic who finds the wisdom in the jet-black raven sitting on the edge of a hill as profound and marvellous.
But the Colour Verses ask us to behold the infinitely diverse ‘colours’ and ‘hues’ of the things that involve not only their outward forms and appearances but also their inward contents and attributes.
More than a mere perceiving of the colours, the special call here is to observe the endless ‘hues’ in nature and in human minds to behold in them the splendour, wonder and beauty (‘the beauty of many hues’); and to read therein the messages or ayats that declare God’s oneness, greatness and infinite creative power, including power to re-create (‘only the knowledgeable among His servants stand in awe of God. 35:28’; cf. 16:13).
To this end, we need to undertake a lifelong journey through the infinite colours, where we tour from one domain of knowledge to another, starting, for example, with various branches of science. From physics and optics to study the colours and energies; to chemistry to study the arrangements of atoms and molecules forming properties of different substances; to geology to study the various rocks; to biology to study the staggeringly diverse plants and animals with their unlimited heterogeneity in size, shape, appearance and way of survival; to genetics to study the variance of genes of the virtually never-ending forms of life; to psychology to study the infinite nuance in the emotions and thoughts in human minds; and so on.
In our venture to fathom the mysteries of the multiple colours, we must also travel through various cultures, religions, spiritual concepts and schools of thought. This will further extend our mental horizons, eventually endowing us with the holistic awareness that the observable phenomena do not represent the whole of reality. That we ultimately belong to a realm of unknown dimensions (al-ghayb) that extends beyond the ordinary range of perception and transcends our limited, mortal comprehension.
