In our time and age, it is a widely known fact that the honey bee is female. They do all the hard work in a bee colony while the male bees are only responsible for mating. In this article we will see what the Quran has said about the honeybees 1400 years ago.
The Female Honey Bee
The most abundant bee in any colony is the female worker bee. As adults, workers spend their days flying from plant to plant gathering nectar and pollen to feed themselves and the rest of the hive population. Along with foraging for food, workers also build wax comb, clean cells and secrete wax for comb construction, regulate hive temperature through fanning behavior, produce royal jelly for larvae development, guard the hive entrance from predators, defend the hive from other insects, orient themselves using celestial cues and maintain social order within the colony by grooming each other and removing dead or injured individuals from the nest.
Male bees, called drones, are only concerned with mating. Unsurprisingly, the queen bee is also a female.
A lesson in Arabic Grammar
Before looking at the verses from the Qur’an, we must first look at the gender differences in Arabic grammar. In Arabic, the words whether they are norms or verbs, have two types. The male and female version. Their endings are different depending on whether the word is masculine or feminine.
Similar gender changes can be seen in other languages such as German. The difference between the German and Arab versions of this grammar rule is that gender changes in German depend upon articles preceding the word itself, whereas language changes in Arabic depend upon the subject of the sentence you are writing: If the subject of the sentence is male, then the verb has its male ending and if the subject is female then the verb has its female endings.
The Honey Bee Miracle in the Qur'an
And your Lord inspired the bees: “Make ˹your˺ homes in the mountains, the trees, and in what people construct, and feed from ˹the flower of˺ any fruit ˹you please˺ and follow the ways your Lord has made easy for you.” From their bellies comes forth liquid of varying colours, in which there is healing for people. Surely in this is a sign for those who reflect.
Looking at the english translation, we are not able to see this particular miracle of the Quran. But when we look at the original Arabic text of these verses, we see that Allah uses female versions of verbs when referring to bees, indicating that bees in these contexts are female.
1- In the verse, in order to express the meaning “make habitation”, the word اِتَّخَذِي, (ittakhadhi) which is used for the feminine, is preferred instead of اِتَّخَذْ, (ittakhadh) which is used for the masculine.
2- In order to express the meaning “eat of all fruits”, the word of كُلِي, (kulliy) which is used for the feminine, is preferred instead of كُلْ, (kul) which is used for the masculine.
3- In order to express the meaning “follow the ways of your Lord”, the word of اُسْلُكِي, (uslukiy) which is used for the feminine, is preferred instead of اُسْلُكْ, (usluk) which is used for the masculine.
4- The pronoun “their” in the sentence “There comes forth from their bellies” is expressed with the word هَا, (ha) which refers to the feminine instead of the word هُ, (hu) which refers to the masculine.
The Quran tells us that the bees who do these duties are female. This is a fact confirmed by scientists. No male bees do these duties. Only the females.
Knowing that the female bees do these duties let alone knowing that there are male and female bees was simply impossible for a man living in mekkah 1400 years ago. This is a clear proof that the Quran is the word of a divine God who has created these bees and anything else that exists.
There is more to these verses...
There is a miracle in the same passage that we discussed above. Allah informs us in the same verse that He has inspired bees not only with the knowledge of what to do but also with the knowledge of how to do it. If we look at a honeycomb, we see that the cells are always hexagon-shaped—and for good reason.
- Hexagonal shapes require the least amount of wax to construct
- Hexagonal constructs are way stronger than any other type
- Hexagonal is the most appropriate geometric form for the maximum use of a given area, since they fit together perfectly without wasting any space.
When bees build honeycombs, they start from different points, creating identical hexagonal shapes. When the bees meet in the middle, their carefully constructed shapes interlock perfectly to create a single structure. As if in an engineers perfect drawing all the shapes align perfectly at the end without leaving any unused space left.
Honey Bee: Instinct or divinely inspired?
Imagine a swarm of bees that must collaborate to build a hive. The swarm consists of thousands of bees that are each not smart enough to escape from a car through an open window, but persist in bumping into the closed window over and over again, making the person inside the car anxious. How could we believe that a swarm of bees, tiny creatures that they are, could collaborate to build such an engineering wonder? Scientists explain it through the instinctive behavior of bees.
No, but rather as the Qur’an states, these bees are able to do such work because of their Lord’s inspiration and their obedience: “…follow the ways your Lord has made easy for you.”
Say thou: "This is my way: I do invite unto Allah,- on evidence clear as the seeing with one´s eyes,- I and whoever follows me. Glory to Allah. and never will I join gods with Allah.”
