THE FEMALE HONEYBEE?S ABDOMEN AND THE HEALING POWER OF HONEY

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THE FEMALE HONEYBEE?S ABDOMEN AND THE HEALING POWER OF HONEY

69- Then eat from all the fruits and flit about the spacious paths of your Lord. 
There issues from within her abdomens a drink of varying colors, wherein is 
healing for the people. Verily in this is a sign for those who understand. 
16-The Honeybee, 69 

The honeybee has a body that varies in length between 1cm and 3cm, and that is 
divided into three parts: head, thorax and abdomen. The verse quoted above 
stresses that in the individual female bee there are ?abdomens,? which in Arabic 
is ?butuniha,? the ?ha? referring to a singular female bee. If the plural of the 
word ?abdomen? was meant to refer to the female bees, then the plural female 
pronoun ?hunna? would be attached to the verb ?butuniha.? This makes clear the 
segmented abdomen of the bee. Inside the abdomen there are two stomachs or crops. 
When collecting the nectar from flowers, nectar is stored in this honey stomach 
for transport back to the hive. At the rear of the honey stomach is a valve that 
prevents stored nectar from passing on into the rear portion of the digestive 
system, except for the small amount needed by the bee to sustain life. The hind 
portion of the bee?s body is the abdomen that is made up of segments in the form 
of rings. The abdomen of the bee functions as a chemistry laboratory to produce 
honey. 

The colors of honey vary as stated in the Quran. They change according to the 
climate, season and weather conditions and the sources where nectar is obtained. 
The color of honey ranges from dark brown to green, among which the light yellow 
is preferred. In the honey industry, modern countries with developed techniques 
use a colorimeter to establish the exact description of honey?s color. 

THE HONEY DANCES OF BEES
At the beginning of the verse, reference is made to the collection of nectar. 
The female bees not only produce honey, but also assume the duty of collecting 
the raw material from flowers to be eventually transformed into honey. During 
this process of seeking the nectar, incredible phenomena occur. 

The bee that has located the spot where there is nectar to be collected returns 
to the hive to inform her sisters about the location of flowers. The scout bees 
returning to the hive perform circular dances or tail-wagging movements on the 
comb. These dances indicate not only that the scouts have found nectar or pollen 
and that the other workers should go out and seek it, but they are actually 
performing an amazing charade that conveys precise information to their sisters 
about the direction and the distance of the location of a newfound source. 

Sometimes a normal adult must attend a dance course for six weeks while a bee, 
whose lifetime is but six weeks, is able to perform a dance for communication 
purposes. The bee?s calculation on her way back to the hive is also of great 
interest. The bee makes her calculation according to the position of the sun. 
The sun changes its locality one degree per four minutes. The bee that has 
spotted the location of her food also calculates her return journey as directly 
and correctly as possible in relation to the sun. She performs this without any 
error. All these calculations and harmonious coexistence within the hive cannot 
possibly be explained by pure coincidence or after a six-week-long training. So, 
all these are innate in her as an endowment of the Creator. 

THE HEALING POWER OF HONEY
The verse speaks of the nutritive property of honey, a product of female bees. 
The regenerative property of honey is confirmed by medical authorities. In 
addition to its rich vitamin content, among its components are also such 
minerals such as calcium, potassium, magnesium, sodium, phosphorus as well as 
such metals as copper, iodine, iron, zinc, and hormones. 

Thanks to the easy convertibility of its sugar content, it is easily assimilated. 
Honey facilitates the functioning of the brain, thanks to its other sugars. It 
contributes to the production of blood, to its cleansing and proper circulation. 
Honey provides for the requirement necessary for proper functioning of our 
physiology and also it is used externally in cosmetics and dermatology. 

The fact that honey had healing properties was nothing new for communities all 
over the world. Therefore, I am not claiming that this was not a generally 
acknowledged fact at the time of the descent of the Quran. However there were 
also such superstitious beliefs as the healing effect of a camel?s urine, which 
was later falsely attributed to the Prophet in hadith books. The Quran never 
justifies any of such false ideas offered as elixirs. Had the Quran been a 
product of human imagination, it might also have contained at least a residue of 
such false beliefs. 

The distribution of work of bees in a hive and the multiple tasks performed by 
bees is too complicated to explain within the scope of this book. The 
ventilation of the hive, regulating humidity and temperature, keeping a perfect 
hygienic medium in the hive; guarding the hive, discarding the unwanted foreign 
matter, dead bees, etc., secreting wax, propolis, all are amazing tasks. How can 
a bee, whose lifetime is but six weeks, know and perform such grandiose artistry? 
Without an intelligent Creator the fortuity of all these data is certainly 
unimaginable. Every inquirer into the doings of a bee - to whose properties 
there are references in the Quran - will observe the sublime artistry of God in 
the entity of an insect. 

4- Also in your creation and spreading of the animals are signs for people of 
assured faith. 
45-Kneeling, 4 

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