Besides this, the essential principle of evolution, that everything is a product of its environment, seems to be violated by the Arabic language, the Holy Prophet Muhammad, and the Holy Quran. The fact that Arabic is unequalled by its neighbouring languages in breadth of vocabulary, and that the Holy Prophet Muhammad, arising in a land of illiterate people, excelled all the prophets in the wisdom he taught and the book he brought -- this is a miracle which cannot be explained by the laws of evolution. Those principles do apply in every type of creation in nature; however, matters which do not belong to the domain of creation (khalq) but to the domain of Divine command (amr), must not be considered as products or results of evolution but rather they are the creators and causes of evolution. Divine revelation and prophethood were never products of their environment. This is a powerful argument on the existence of God. The Holy Quran says:
"Surely His is the creation (khalq) and the command (amr)." (7:54)
The meaning is that wherever He wishes He creates according to the law of evolution, and wherever He wishes He breaks this rule by His command.
As evidence of this, just consider the Arabic language. The languages of the neighbouring countries, such as Hebrew, Chaldean, Persian and Egyptian, are dumb in respect of colour. The Arabs called all languages other than their own as 'ajmi(dumb) not out of prejudice, but because they found that these languages, as compared to their own, were incapable of expressing the finer and higher thoughts of mankind. The civilizations of those nations may have been magnificent and ancient, but even the Greek philosopher Aristotle, despite the perfection of his knowledge and his intellectual language, knew of no more than three colours. Sir Isaac Newton, as late as the seventeenth century, revealed the existence of only seven colours. But the Arabic language has since ancient times possessed a vast stock of words to describe colours. The verse under discussion succinctly refers to this in the words: "streaks, white and red, of different colours."
"Do you not see that Allah sends down from the clouds water, then brings forth with it fruits of different kinds (or colours). And in the mountains there are streaks, white and red, of different colours, and others intensely black. And of people and animals and cattle there are different colours likewise. Only those of His servants fear Allah who possess knowledge." -- Holy Quran 35:27-28.
The Arabic language has since ancient times possessed a vast stock of words to describe colours. The verse under discussion succinctly refers to this in the words "streaks, white and red, of different colours, and others intensely black". It says that there are innumerable streaks of white and red, and then countless colours from these two. From the dim light of the stars in a dark night to the brightness of mid-day there are numerous degrees of whiteness, which increases moment by moment. All this is encompassed by the words "white streaks" and "different colours".
In the first place, the word baid ("white") is plural, meaning that there are countless degrees of whiteness. Then by using the pronoun ha ("its") in the words mukhtalif-an alwanu-ha (lit. its different colours), it is indicated that all the colours are included in white, and that they reach an end with humr, i.e. the red-most colour which comes at the end of the series of colours. After this is mentioned gharabib sud, "intensely black", which is not a colour but is the absence and disappearance of colour. This is the sum and substance of the modern research about colour, though thousands of pages can be written in fuller and further explanation.
The Holy Quran has laid the world under a debt of gratitude by teaching that the value and excellence of a man is not related to his physical colour but to the colour of the Divine light and attributes within him. While explaining the nature of colours in the verses being discussed here, the Quran says:
"And of people and animals and cattle there are different colours likewise."
Are not asses, oxen, and even stones of white and red colour? Are there not among the white nations people who are stupid, unwise and of bad character? An ass still remains an ass even though it may be white in colour, and a man being white can still be an ass.
To draw a distinction between white and black, and to rob non-white nations of their rights, is another kind of blindness of colour. It was because of this likeness that the dajjal is described in the prophecies as blind in one eye. As regards scientific discoveries and knowledge of the physical world, his sight is very bright, but from the spiritual and moral view-point these nations are blind of colour. During the last world war it was emphasised with great force that the Nazis despised the non-white nations and were proud of their Aryan blood and white colour. However, this evil was not just limited to the Nazis among the German people but is an illness spread among other European nations as well.
Mental & Spiritual Colour Blindness: It has been explained earlier that the advancement of man's knowledge of colours has been painfully slow. Greece was the cradle of philosophy and learning, and yet a philosopher like Aristotle knew of no more than three colours. The Chinese excelled in art, but their knowledge of colour too was deficient. In the Vedas of the Hindus there is no distinction between green and yellow, or black and blue. Hundreds of mantras of the Vedas refer to the sky, but its colour is not described as blue. The blackness of smoke is referred to by the word for blue, and it is clear that in the Vedas there is no distinction between the black and blue colours.
There is another sense in which the Vedas mention colour, which we deal with now. It is acknowledged that the number of colour-blind people in the world is only a few per million, but there are untold numbers of those who are mentally colour-blind. Almost the whole of the West and the Hindu Aryas are colour-blind in a spiritual sense. These nations consider the physical colour of human beings, white or black, as the criterion for superiority or inferiority of nations and castes, whereas the apparent colour of a man is not any indication of how good or bad he is.
The word for colour in the language of the Vedas is varn, but it is also used to mean caste. The word varn is really derived from the Arabic word laun (colour). The letter lam of the Semitic languages often gets changed into the letter r of the Aryan languages. Hundreds of words of Sanskrit are derived from Arabic words. Superiority of colour is so important with the Hindu nation that all its sacred literature, from the Vedas to the Shastras, is full of its mention. For example:
- varn ja -- from the same caste, or of the same colour.
- varn jayanas -- superior by caste, or of a good colour.
- varn tava -- of another caste, or another colour.
- varn dharm -- occupation of one's own caste.
- varn vostha -- caste division.
- varn dev -- god of one's caste, Agni of the Brahmins, Indra of the Kashtaris, Vishva deva of the Vesh.
- varn samyog -- marriage in one's own caste.
- varn sansarg -- marriage in another caste, or forbidden marriage.
Several other such examples of the use of the word for colour meaning caste can be given.
Likewise in the mantras of the Vedas, white colour of skin is considered superior and dark colour is treated with scorn and contempt. In the Rig Veda a distinction is made between the colour of the Aryas which is described as white, and the colour of the reviled enemies the Dasyus which is black. Non-Aryas are referred to as the black caste or as those with black genitals, (Rig Veda, mandal 2, sukt 20, mantra 7.) and it is said that they should be killed by the god Indra.(Rig Veda, mandal 1,sukt 130, mantra 8.)
