عَرَضَ

presented, showed, placed before their eyes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

البَيَانَ

Root       ب  ى  ن

Separating, severing, disuniting, or cut-ting off; distancing two things from each other; this makes both apparent, manifest, evident, clear, plain or perspicuous;

The basic concept infolded in the Root is to create a distance between two things to make both of them separate and distinguished and distinct from each other.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 :Perception and meanings; Ear has its own memory.

 

            A person/personality is one who is , one who listens and has vision. , , "And indeed Allah is eternally the One Who is a Listener with Vision" {Refer 04:58, 134). A man is also a person who has the freedom of will/ decision/action. And this freedom would be of any meanings only if the man could acquire knowledge:

"We have created the man from a Sperm mingled with others, We have to test him, for that We have made him capable of listening with vision" {Refer 76:02}

                 Can we acquire knowledge merely by seeing something with our eyes?

"And He taught Adam the names of all things; thereafter He placed those things before the angels;

 and said: "Tell Me the names of these if you are truthful {about your saying about Adam}"

They said, "Glory is for You; We don't have the knowledge; we know only what you taught us" {Refer 02:31-32}

The Angles had given their opinion/observation with regard to human's future conduct when they were told that Adam is being given freedom on earth. It was  merely an opinion/presumption not based on complete knowledge. After making the Adam know the names of all things the same were presented before the Angles and were asked to name them to prove that whatever that had opined was based on comprehensive knowledge. Truthful is only he who makes a statement based on complete knowledge; a statement based on incomplete information/data does not rise to the level of truth; it is merely an opinion not worthy to be treated as truth at the given point of time. But at the same time it is not a lie since it is based on some data/information and is not merely an imaginative assertion. The opinion would prove either to be correct or wrong only at a point in time later than it was expressed when further data/information/conduct becomes visible. That is why scientists do not lie, they opine whereas philosophers do lie when they base study on a presumption/imagination/myth. Scientists never waste the time of humanity; philosophers do.

               The things were lying right before their eyes yet they said, "We do not have the knowledge". Knowledge begins not by seeing things but from the point when we know its name/code. Knowledge of anything is obtained first by knowing the name/code of the thing which enables its storage/preservation in the memory. If we do not know the name/code, the physical appearance of any thing in our focus of eye {vision} does not have any significance since it will not let that thing be captivated in the brain as memory. Name/code is THE PRIMARY thing to acquire knowledge. A code of a thing enables a man to perceive the thing in his vision {in metaphorical meanings of بصر}. In Qur'aan the faculty of listening is mentioned first then the faculty of vision {seeing}. Things should never be left in a state where one could speculate negatively or get into some confusion. Things were made clear to the Angels and it was also elaborated what is the second step to consider something as knowledge.

 

He asked, "Adam, tell them, make them aware with the names of these things" {Refer 02:34}

Knowledge is something that could be narrated. Knowledge means to describe things and it shows the faculty of finding distinction amongst things and identify/segregate them by names. And only he can describe knowledge who had earlier perceived it. Knowledge is something which could be communicated to others; which could be explained in words:

"Have We not made for man two eyes?

{Refer 90:08-09}

And one tongue and two lips? {these are main articulators that produce recognizable words}"

"He created man. Gave him the know-how of expressing/explaining/stating knowledge/distinguishing things from each other" {Refer 55:3-4}

         But one thing should be remembered that anything said by someone is not necessarily knowledge since i.e. idle and baseless, absurd talk is also uttered by the mouth. The knowledge is the one which could be communicated/described/stated to others and the faculty of others for receiving the knowledge is listening which has been made possible with the provision of ears. Ears are for listening:

"And for them are the ears but they don't listen with them" {Refer 07:179}

Anything made of the shape of an ear is not ear since it cannot listen. Idols/statues have ears but:

"Or for them are those ears with which they could listen?" {Refer 07:179}

Listening could become meaningful only when the stated thing has been interpreted and stored in the memory. About the ears, Qur'aan has also given this information:

"So that We may make it a matter/message to be described, and it may be remembered by,                an ear acting as receptacle for retaining"{Refer:69:12}

The wordand is made from the Root "و  ع  ى". The basic perception infolded is to "keep or retain".  "وعاء" is a receptacle for retaining things.  is feminine, singular and is also feminine, singular; active participial noun{اسم فاعل}. An ear acts as receptacle for retaining, it has its own memory, retaining place. Quran had disclosed, 1400 years ago, that human ear acts as a respectable to retain the sound/statement. This fact became known in 1960.

American psychologist George Sperling demonstrated the existence of sensory memory in an experiment in 1960. Sensory memory systems typically function outside of awareness and store information for only a very short time. Iconic memory seems to last less than a second. Echoic memory probably lasts a bit longer; estimates range up to three or four seconds. Usually sensory information coming in next replaces the old information. For example, when we move our eyes, new visual input masks or erases the first image. The information in sensory memory vanishes unless it captures our attention and enters working memory. Roediger, Henry L. "Memory (psychology)." Microsoft® Encarta® 2006 [DVD]. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation, 2005. {Quoted with thanks}

 Quran e Majeed had informed mankind, 1400 years back, as follows:

"We will keep making it visible to the eyes of those who do not accept Quran, the signs/knowledge in the Universe and in their own bodies till it becomes evident for them that this Qur'aan is a statement of proven fact" {Refer 41:53}

                The Grand Qur'aan has informed that Allah will keep revealing, the knowledge about the universe and human body, and it will become manifest to the people that the Qur'aan is a statement of proven fact. Why would it become manifest that the Qur'aan is a statement of proven fact when man sees/perceives new knowledge about universe and human body? If the things mentioned in a book written earlier in time and space are subsequently found a scientific fact only then it is evident to people that the Book is really a statement of proven facts and not conjectural and presumptive.

                One may reflect why the Grand Qur'aan has made this tall claim that knowledge of the universe and human body will keep revealing and the words of Qur'aan will keep proving to be a proven fact? Knowledge is primarily divided into two branches; knowledge of things/matter and what happened/was talked about by the people/their dialogues/habits/acts in the past. The knowledge about the matter is verifiable in time and space. Anything said by anyone/book regarding physical matters could be subjected to verification in time and space about its truth to an exact detail. If we find the words of a book relating to physical matters written earlier in time as true and factually and materially correct in all respects then we will have to believe too in those statements of the Book which narrate some events/dialogues between people of past/historical statements. The falsification test of any book/statement could be the physical one. The facts mentioned in the Qur'aan about the Universe and human body is in itself also the falsification test of the Book.

This Quran e Karim has been sent by the Lord of Worlds. Do you take this Hadith {Statement/saying/Quran} non seriously/low estimation? {Refer 56:80-81}

"Undoubtedly, this Quran is the statement of proven fact, absolutely convincing" {Refer 56:95}

"And it is absolutely certain that Quran is the statement of proven fact, absolutely convincing" {Refer 69:51}

And the call is for everyone, believer and non believer, equally:

"And indeed We have made easy The Quran for people to remember; then is there one who takes advice?" {Refer 54:17, 22,32,40}

Perception of Electrical

Signals as Sound

The outer ear collects sounds from the outer world and forwards them to the middle ear, which reinforces the sound vibrations reaching it and transmits them to the inner ear. The inner ear then sends them to the brain by turning them into electrical signals according to their intensity and frequency. After visiting several places in the brain, the messages are finally transmitted to the hearing center where these signals are processed and interpreted, and the process of hearing finally takes place.

One of the most surprising things is the speed at which the 20,000 micro-hairs in the channels in the ear react. The middle channel vibrates at 256 times a second. The channel immediately above it vibrates at 512 times a second, and the channel above that, at 1,024 times. The micro-hairs’ efficiency in analyzing such fast vibrations allows us to distinguish with great sensitivity among musical notes. This constitutes one of the most sensitive and rapid reactions in the body.

As the brain resolves the sound vibrations of speech reaching it, it must convert the sound into syllables, and then into sentences, without being affected by the speaker’s speed, tone or accent. We are generally completely unaware of this amazing analytical system inside our heads. The ear’s complex design has frequently been the subject of praise from scientists.

Of all the organs of the body, few can accomplish as much in so little a space as the ear. If an engineer could duplicate its functions, he would have to compress into approximately one cubic inch a sound system that includes an impedance matcher, a wide range mechanical analyzer, a mobile relay and amplification unit, a multi channel transducer to convert mechanical energy to electrical energy, a system to maintain a delicate hydraulic balance and an internal two-way communication system. Even if he could perform this miracle of miniaturization, he would be unable to match the ear's performance. It can set itself to hear the low throb of a foghorn at one end of its range and the piercing wail of a jet engine at the other end. It can make the fine distinction between the music played by the violin and the viola sections of a symphony orchestra. . . . Even during sleep the ear functions with incredible efficiency. Because the brain can interpret and select signals passed to it by the ear, a man can sleep soundly through noisy traffic and the blaring of a neighbor's television set and then awaken promptly at the gentle urging of a chime alarm clock. [i]

 

The ear also performs selective perception. Consider what happens when you hear the sound of a child crying at night. The sound is sent to the relevant region of the brain and gradually deciphered there. What kind of sound it is, and whom it belongs to is determined. Since you have a long-term memory, this sound seems familiar and you realize that it belongs to one of your children. With this information your brain now knows that your child wants help, and carries out preparatory measures such as the release of adrenaline in order to set your body in motion. All this encourages you to head directly for your child’s bed. In addition, your memory tells you where your child’s bed is. This perception and chain of events, here described in very simple terms, actually involve miraculous biochemical and bio-electrical processes, taking place as the result of hundreds of thousands of axons, each with thousands of terminals, establishing a connection with a quadrillion (1,000,000,000,000,000) fibers. You never realize that the brain is deciphering the signals. So how can it be structures of tissue that perceive all this? This question encourages unbiased scientists to reflect upon.

Gerald L. Schroeder, Professor of Nuclear Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology one of these scientists, questions the following about the sense of hearing:

 

And then comes the hard part of the hard question: the sound of music . . . become[s] converted to bioelectrical pulses that are chemically stored in the cortex of my brain. But how do I hear the sound?. . .But I don’t hear biochemistry. I hear sound. Where is the sound generated in my head? Or the vision; or the smell? Where is the consciousness? Just which of those formerly inert atoms of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, and on and on, in my head have become so clever that they can produce a thought or reconstitute an image. How those stored biochemical data points are recalled and replayed into sentience remains as enigmatic mystery. [ii]

 

Schroeder’s use of the term “mystery” is inaccurate. Of course it is not the brain that perceives the outside world, but the Soul given to man by Allah. The human mind is not a result of biochemical processes, but a blessing bestowed on Man by Allah. In one verse our Lord states:

 

Then [He] formed him and breathed His Spirit into him and gave you hearing, sight and hearts. What little thanks you show! (Surat as-Sajda: 9)


 

[i] S. S. Stevens, Fred Warshofsky, Life Science Library, Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, new edition, p. 38.

[ii] Schroeder, Op. cit., p. 6.