Surah An-Nahl 16:66-70 - Quran Translation Commentary

(16:66) And, verily, in the cattle (too) there is a lesson for you.⁹³ We give you to drink⁹⁴ of what is in its bellies,⁹⁵ from between digested fodder⁹⁶ and blood, milk: pure and easy-flowing⁹⁷ for the drinkers.⁹⁸

(16:67) And of the fruits of the palm trees and vines, you extract therefrom strong drink and wholesome food.⁹⁹ Surely, in that is a sign for a people who contemplate.

(16:68) And your Lord inspired the (female) bees¹⁰⁰ that, ‘you take (unto yourselves) houses¹⁰¹ among the mountains, trees, and what they build.¹⁰²

(16:69) Then feed on all manner of fruit¹⁰³ and tread the paths of your Lord made smooth.’¹⁰⁴ There issues forth from its bellies¹⁰⁵ a drink of diverse colors wherein is a relief for the people.¹⁰⁶ Surely, in that is a sign for a people who reflect.¹⁰⁷

(16:70) And Allah created you, then He deals you death; and, among you are some who are returned to the feeble age, so that he might not know anything after having known (much).¹⁰⁸ Surely, Allah is All-knowing, All-powerful.

Commentary

93. The word “`ibrah” has its root in “`abar” which means, to move over, to cross over, etc. The connotation therefore is that “`ibrah” is a movement from ignorance to knowledge, from heedlessness to heedfulness (Alusi).

94. Ibn Jarir points out, with Razi seconding him, the difference between “asqaynakum” (the normal way of putting it) and “nusqikum” which is the occurrence here. In contrast to the former, the latter, has the connotation of permanence: a continued act, a recurring bestowal.

95. Once again, linguistically it is allowed, as Ibn Jarir demonstrates with the help of pre-Islamic poetry, that the pronoun be in singular while the noun is in plural, or noun feminine while its pronoun masculine. (But the latter case is only allowable for non-humans: Razi). Or, perhaps, the allusion by the article “it,” (instead of “their”) is to the “cattle” as a species (Zamakhshari and others).

The meaning, moreover, Ibn Jarir further explains, of the words “mimma fi butunihi” is that, “We give you for drink through those of them that yield milk, since, not every cattle yields milk.” In other words, the translation of the words “mimma fi butunihi,” as, “out of what is in their bellies”, (as in the verbal translation above because of complications in expression), is, according to Ibn Jarir, not very accurate. Differently stated, according to the ancients, “mimma fi butunihi” should be understood to mean, “out of those that (carry milk) in their bellies.”

96. For want of another, more suitable word, the translators have used the word “excretion,” as we shall also employ it or its synonyms in notes that follow. Otherwise, the textual word “farth” is different from “rawth.” The latter is for animal dropping, discharge, faeces, or dung. “Farth” on the other hand, is the material which would have left the animal intestine, but not yet excreted. After excretion, it is not referred to as “farth” anymore, rather, as “rawth.” Many modern commentators seem to have missed the difference, pointed out by the Salaf.

Ibn ‘Abbas described the formation of the three: blood, milk and farth, in the following order: with the fodder entering the animal’s intestine, the first to form is blood, then milk, and then “farth” (which is finally ousted out as “rawth”) - Razi, Qurtubi.

One wonders at Ibn Abbas’ source of the correct statement of this sequence (Au.)>

Imam Razi is not far behind in his concepts. He states that blood enters by many veins into the udders where it is converted into white, wholesome milk.

What does the statement milk “from between excretion and blood” mean? Imam Razi explains that it simply means that of three things involved: the fodder consumed, the blood produced, and, finally, the farth.

To put it briefly from a scientific point of view, once the fodder is consumed and digested, the blood collects and transports the substance so formed to various organs, including to mammary glands. Blood comes into contact with the contents of the intestine, on their walls. Of course, part of the digested food is absorbed by the intestines themselves, but a part is taken to mammary glands where milk is formed.

The interesting point is that the Qur’an used a perfectly scientific term for the digested substance, i.e., farth (from which milk is extracted), and not rawth (animal droppings), which is the waste ejected. Thus, a simple sentence becomes scientific (Au.).

97. Here again, the meaning of the ancients is different from the meaning apparent to today’s reader. Ibn Jarir states that the meaning of “sa’igh” is “pure” and of the whole sentence, “We give you for drink, milk that happens to be ‘pure’ - with no traces of dung or blood in it.”

However, “easy-flowing”, “easy to swallow” are other connotations of the word “sa’iqh” that have been mentioned by several commentators.

Zamakhshari adds: This verse is the basis of some jurists’ opinion that semen is not impure: it has no traces of either blood or urine, just like milk that has no trace of either.

98. That is, it does not choke the drinkers, as food chokes them. It is said that nobody was ever choked on milk (Ibn Jarir). Another possible connotation of the term “sa’igh” is that the glands in the udder that secrete milk, have many other kinds of liquid secretions. But, upon suction by the infant, it is milk alone that secretes out, without any adulteration and hence flowing easily out of the glands (Au.).

99. Ibn ‘Abbas has been reported through a variety of sources, as well as Ibn Jubayr, Mujahid, Hasan and others, that the allusion by “sakar” is to intoxicants that were later declared unlawful, and by “rizqan hasanan” to dates and grapes that remained lawful. In other words, the first part of this Makkan verse was abrogated in Madinah. However, Sha`bi and Mujahid were of the preferable opinion, that by “sakar” the allusion is to “nabidh” (non-intoxicant but a bitter drink) and vinegar, since “intoxicant” is only one of the several connotations of the word “sakar” (Ibn Jarir). Treating, therefore, this verse as not abrogated, scholars like Ibrahim Nakha`i, Imam Tahawi, Sufyan Thawri and others have declared “nabidh” as lawful. The important qualification of such a drink is that it should be non-intoxicant, whether consumed in small or large quantity (Qurtubi).

“Even if we accept the textual word ‘sakar’ as meaning ‘intoxicants,’ writes Mufti Shafi`, the hint that it is disapproved of, and that it will be banned later, is hidden in the adjective ‘good’ added to the noun ‘provision.’ In other words, the verse in discussion becomes the first in a series of steps towards the ultimate ban placed on wine.”

In Yusuf Ali’s words, “If sakar is to be taken in the sense of fermented wine, it would refer to the time before intoxicants were prohibited, for this is a Makkan Sura and the prohibition came in Madinah. In such a case it would imply a subtle disapproval of the use of intoxicants and mark the first of a series of steps that in time culminated in total prohibition.”

That non-intoxicant beer is lawful is proven by the hadith of Muslim which reports that the Prophet’s slave-girl used to leave raisins (dried grapes) into water overnight which the Prophet drank the next morning. When it became stronger by the second or third day, it was thrown away. It is also reported of ‘Umar that he sought the digestion of camel meat with the help of “nabidh.” Another report in Nasa’i, however, states that the “nabidh” that ‘Umar drank was merely water mixed with vinegar (Qurtubi).

100. Razi writes: A simple trigonometric exercise shows that no other shape works better than a hexagon, so far as space economy is concerned. This shape is built effortlessly, neatly, and to great accuracy, by the bees that make thousands of cells in the shape of hexagons in their hive. In contrast, human beings would need the help of several measuring instruments to achieve the same level of accuracy. Obviously the design and the working have been placed in the intuition of these insects, which seems to have been referred to as, literally, revelation to it. Another wonder is that one of them, the largest, performs the functions of a chieftain. It is noted that when the chief gets tired of the hive, it abandons it by flying off and the rest follow him to the new destination. However, when music is played near the hive, it returns to its old hive. These, and many others, are signs of Allah’s instructions embedded into the bee’s mind (Razi).

The Sufis hold, however, that the textual “awha” is in the literal sense of “He revealed” since, in contrast to other class of scholars, they believe that insects are communities and have their own prophets, messages, law, and so forth. (Alusi).

It is of interest to note that even Imam Razi, who is usually quite advanced on the contemporary scientific knowledge, as well as Alusi, employ masculine noun to describe the bee as well as the queen, whereas the Qur’an employs feminine form. But they can be excused. Even Shakespeare used masculine form for the bees. That, except for a couple of drones (which are male), the rest of the thousands in any hive are all females, led by a queen, is a piece of information that only recent research has yielded. Obviously, another proof that the Qur’an could not have been written by Prophet Muhammad (Au.).

101. Majid quotes: “‘The apartments which the bee builds are here called “houses” because of their beautiful workmanship and admirable contrivance which no geometrician can excel’ (Bdh).”

102. That is, what the humans build - a suggestion perhaps that the bees are primarily man friendly, building their hives right in the vision of the humans, in contrast to other insects that conceal their nests (Au.).

103. One of the lexical meanings of “thamar” is “trees” (Alusi).

104. The allusion by the textual “zulal” ([the path) made easy, or smooth), is to the fact that the bee leaves its hive, flies through vast spaces of wilderness, crossing valleys and mountains (in search of flowers), and yet comes back to its hive without losing the way (Ibn Kathir).

105. Imam Razi is of opinion that the bee regurgitates honey from its mouth. On the other hand, Qurtubi is not sure if the honey is regurgitated from the mouth or comes from its rear. He says that the ancient Greeks tried to ascertain by keeping the bees behind a glass, but then it refused to work. Modern research however, confirms that the Qur’an was right in using the term “stomach” (batan, pl. butun). The bee has two stomachs: one for normal food that goes through the intestine and is fully digested, and another, special one, which is like a pouch within the stomach where honey is collected, enzymes added, the flower nectar half digested, and then honey regurgitated into the comb cells for drying and storage.

106. Allah did not say, “al-shifa’” rather, “shifa’un” which implies that it is a cure for some people, for some disorders, and not for all the people, for all kinds of disorders (Ibn Kathir).

It is said that a man went to the Prophet and complained that his brother was suffering from diarrhea. The Prophet told him to administer him honey. The man came back saying it had increased. The Prophet told him to give him some more honey. The man came back to say that his diarrhea had worsened. The Prophet said, “Allah spoke the truth and your brother’s stomach has lied. Give him honey.” The man did it, and the person recovered (Ibn Jarir).

The hadith is in Bukhari and Muslim. And the medical people have explained that perhaps the man had a lump of undigested food in his stomach, which the honey attacked and initially caused increase in diarrhea, but finally cured him of it (Ibn Kathir, Alusi).

Or, perhaps, the Prophet knew by revelation that the man would be cured by honey, otherwise, as we know, Imam Razi and others add, that honey is not good for diarrhea. In fact, its large quantity is known to cause diarrhea.

The Sahihayn also report that the Prophet liked sweets and honey. Bukhari has another hadith which reports him as having said,

إِنْ كَانَ فِي شَيْءٍ مِنْ أَدْوِيَتِكُمْ أَوْ يَكُونُ فِي شَيْءٍ مِنْ أَدْوِيَتِكُمْ خَيْرٌ فَفِي شَرْطَةِ مِحْجَمٍ أَوْ شَرْبَةِ عَسَلٍ أَوْ لَذْعَةٍ بِنَارٍ تُوَافِقُ الدَّاءَ وَمَا أُحِبُّ أَنْ أَكْتَوِيَ

“If there was any (healing) in your medicines any good … then, in cupping, (removal of blood), a honey-drink, and branding with fire (cauterizing) [if they coincide with the disease], but I do not like to be cauterized.” Another report in Ibn Majah, of a good chain of narrators, names the Qur’an and honey as curing agents (Ibn Kathir).

Qurtubi states that there were many of the Salaf who treated themselves with nothing but honey. ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Umar was one of them. He applied honey even to wounds and swellings. And, many of them were cured thereby. So, how to explain when Allah Himself did not mean that honey is a cure for every ailment? The answer is, Qurtubi says, that a strong faith brings results that weak faith does not. (After all, modern medicine is quite aware of placebo effects: Au.). Ibn al-`Arabiyy has said, “He whose faith is weak and whose habits (of mind) overrule religious instructions, will follow the words of medical men.” Nevertheless, for ordinary men, the established fact remains that honey is not a cure for every ailment. Indeed, this is proven by no less than hadith itself. The Prophet said,

لِكُلِّ دَاءٍ دَوَاءٌ ، فَإِذَا أَصَابَ الدَّوَاءُ الدَّاءَ بَرَأَ بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ

“Every ailment has a medicine. So, when the right medicine is administered, the victim is cured by Allah’s will.”

The words of another hadith are:

تَدَاوَوْا فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ لَمْ يَضَعْ دَاءً إِلاَّ وَضَعَ لَهُ دَوَاءً غَيْرَ وَاحِدٍ : الْهَرَمُ

“People. Use medicine. Allah did not place a disease but also placed its medicine, except for one disease: old-age.”

The above hadith is in Abu Da’ud, Tirmidhi and others, which Tirmidhi declared trustworthy (Au.).

There are several other ahadith that speak of this or that thing of the Prophet’s contemporary world as holding cure for the diseases of his time. In short, the Prophet spoke of things other than honey as curing agents. Indeed, Ibn ‘Umar himself used to give medicinal potions to his children when unwell, cauterized himself when struck by facial paralysis and blew charms on his ailing children.

Commentary from Qurtubi ends here.

The rest of the world too, ancient or modern, has not missed the point on the usefulness of honey. Majid quotes and comments: “‘To the ancients honey was of very great importance as an article of diet ... It was valued by them also for its medicinal virtues’ (Ebr. XI, p. 716). ‘Pliny gives a long list of bodily disorders for which it was believed to be an efficacious remedy. The Greeks regarded a diet in which honey was the chief element as especially efficacious in securing longevity’ (ERE, VI, p. 770).’ And to come from the ancients to the modern: ‘Vienna Dr. N. Zaiss, a leading physician here, says honey is the best healer of wounds and superior to all ointments. He has treated several thousand cases with honey, and has not had a single failure. It soothes pain, hastens healing, and acts as an antiseptic. It is also highly effective with burns and carbuncles’ (The Sunday Express, London 28th April, 1935).”

On the lighter side, it is reported that one of the Shi`ah said to caliph Mahdi (d. 775 A.C.) that by the term “bee” the allusion is to Banu Hashim, from whose stomachs issues forth (“honey”, that is), knowledge. One of the exasperated courtiers quipped to a general laughter, “May Allah feed you on what issues forth from their stomachs” (Zamakhshari, Qurtubi).

107. Apparently, there has not been “fruitful” reflection on the bee for, as Majid comments: “The bee, said Virgil, has in it something of the Divine nature; it was the sacred symbol of Ephesus, and was considered a type of goddess. ‘The priests of Ephesus Arteris were called “king bees”; the princesses of Develer, Prosperine, and the Great Mother were known as “bees” ... In European folklore the bee is everywhere sacrosanct.’ (ERE, I, p. 504).”

The Bee

While on the topic, we might as well say a few things about bees and their life.

A bee can be of any size between the tiny 2 mm long one, to the 20 mm giant bee. There are some 20,000 species of them. Although there are exceptions, the bee is primarily a social insect. That is, it leads its life as a community, rather than individuals. Sometimes they can number a million in a single comb but a normal colony may consist of 40-60,000 bees. And they are highly organized. They are led by a queen, the largest of them. Every comb has a single queen. The queen’s function is no more than to lay eggs. She lives for about five years, mates only once in her lifetime and can lay as many as a million eggs. She lays as many as 2,000 eggs a day, about one every 43 seconds.

The queen, however, is discreet about the gender and caste of her offspring. After mating, which happens in flight, (preceded by release of a smelly substance that attracts the drones), she keeps the sperm in a sack where the liquid can remain alive and viable in a fluid medium for several years. During the process of laying eggs, the queen determines the sex of the offspring. If she decides on a male (drone), she does not fertilize the egg. But, if she intends a worker bee, she fertilizes it with the sperm in store as the egg passes down the oviduct. She lays eggs one in a cell. Thereafter, the worker bees take charge of the cell and the developing young in it.

The queen, who lives in special apartments, identifies herself in a hive by releasing what is called as the “queen substance.” This secretion is passed along by certain workers in minute portions to all hive inmates. This secretion gives every hive its identity by giving it a specific smell. Further, it inhibits ovary development in the young larvae. But when the queen gets old, or sick, or flies out for good, then in consequence the substance is no longer produced and substitute queens are immediately bred from the young larvae. If two or more queens emerge from the larvae, they will fight it out among themselves. These queen bees have a special curved sting which they use to kill each other. The one that manages to survive after the general fight, takes charge.

The queen normally leaves the hive when it gets overcrowded. When she goes, she takes half of the worker bees with her. To make the task easier, all the departing workers are provided with honey as they move out. The old hive is relinquished to a newly hatched queen. Initially, the swarm moving out may crowd around a branch while the scouts search for a site for a new hive. When the scouts have located a suitable site, they come back and perform their dance to indicate the distance and direction of the site it has found to other scouts. The scouts then investigate one another’s sites. At a signal, the entire swarm travels to whichever site seems best. The queen follows.

A colony consists mostly of female workers. Males are few and hang around doing nothing more than being fed by others. They do not have a long tongue like the female bees have and so cannot feed on flowers by themselves. Therefore, they depend on the female bees to feed them. Their only job is to mate with the queen when the time comes. Nonetheless, they might never mate with the queen in their hive. With the release of the pheromone by a queen bee, of any hive, they fly out hoping to mate. In autumn, when food becomes scarce, female bees stop feeding the drones and drive them out of the hive to die. Female worker bees attends to all tasks. That involves nest building (with the help of wax that they themselves secrete), feeding and brooding the young - from the time the egg is deposited into a cell to the day they emerge as adults. The feeding is done with a special substance produced by the bee called the royal jelly.

From the day of deposit, until after 21 days, when the young finally emerges, the egg goes through various stages of larva and pupa. A specific area is allotted in the hive and cells are marked where the eggs are deposited and bred. However, in autumn, when the young have emerged, the same cells are cleaned and used for storing honey.

The defense of the nest is also the job of female bee. And, of course, it is they who gather nectar and process it to make honey. They also attend to keeping the hive clean and tidy, and, on warm or cold days maintain a certain temperature. For example, on a hot day they might bring in drops of water, sprinkle all over the hive and fan across the place to keep it cool. Whatever the outside temperature, hive temperature is precisely regulated, otherwise the eggs would be lost. The female bee also act as guards at the entrances, identifying each bee with the help of a chemical that exudes a certain kind of odor, and let in only those that belong to the hive. Finally, they attend to the repair of the hive. For example, if cracks appear (because of weight), the bees produce a special glue (bee glue) with which they fill the crack.

The division of labor between the female bees themselves is also done in a highly organized manner. Their age plays a fundamental role in what tasks will be assigned to them. The tasks match physiological changes in the bee’s body, as they grow after emergence from the larvae.

Capable of seeing blue, yellow and ultraviolet rays, the bee can fly out to long distances in search of food, at an average speed of 20-25 km/hour. She can fly forward, sideways, backward and hover over a flower while it collects nectar. Her sorties can take her as much as 10 km from the hive. She uses perhaps both the sun and the earth’s gravitational force to determine her way up and back. Once a source of food is discovered, the scout-bee returns to the hive, loaded with the nectar, and passes the information about the source, the distance, the quantity and quality, with the help of the famous “bee dance.” The figure she makes during the dance, the direction she takes in the hive, the manner in which she wags her tail, and the sound she emits during it, communicate information to others about the new source. The others do not wander around as they leave the nest. They fly straightaway in the direction of the new source. While they collect the nectar, they also gather pollen in pollen sacks attached to their hind legs and deposit them into other flowers. They are thus the most important pollinating agent for the plants. The pollen is also consumed by the bees and is an important source of fats, proteins, vitamins etc. The nectar brought in is regurgitated and handed over to other bees, or deposited into a cell. The worker bees then add some enzymes to it to convert it into honey. The cell is left open for the water to escape, and the residue becomes thick honey. The cell is then sealed.

Honey consists almost entirely of sugars, but it also contains a number of minerals, B-complex vitamins, and amino acids.

Honey is easily assimilated in the human body because it has been predigested: bees temporarily store the nectar in a special part of their stomachs, where it is partially digested. The bees’ digestive fluids contain enzymes that transform the nectar into honey. Bees later regurgitate the honey into the cells of their honeycomb, where the honey dries and thickens. To produce about 1 pound (0.5 kilogram) of honey requires 25,000 trips between the hive and flowers. In its whole lifetime, a little less than a year, a bee collects about 45 gm of honey. A pound of honey contains the essence of about 2 million flowers.

Finally, a bee performance! This writer was shown a couple of combs taken out recently from a bee farm in Saudi Arabia and preserved in the refrigerator. They were preserved because when honey was removed, everyone was amazed to see that the bees had carved the word Allah in Arabic. The letters were about 8 cm long, 1 cm wide and 5 mm deep. And, the script was so clear that a child would not have any difficulty in reading it as ‘Allah.’ Apart from the fact that the farm owner happened to be an extremely religious person, to an engineer’s eye it was apparent that, given the extreme brittleness of wax, it would have been impossible for any hand to achieve the engraving so absolutely neatly. In fact, slight touch with the finger was distorting the wax. How could any human have done it by hand or machine? (Au.).

108. Hence the Prophetic supplication as recorded in Bukhari:

اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنْ الْبُخْلِ وَالْكَسَلِ وَأَرْذَلِ الْعُمُرِ وَعَذَابِ الْقَبْرِ وَفِتْنَةِ الدَّجَّالِ وَفِتْنَةِ الْمَحْيَا وَالْمَمَاتِ

“O Allah, I seek Your refuge from miserliness, dormancy, extreme old age, senility, punishment in the grave, tribulation at the hands of Dajjal and trials of life and death” (Ibn Kathir).

In any case, Zamakhshari, Razi, Qurtubi and others point out that extreme senility does not seem to strike Muslim scholars.

From another angle, loss of memory in old age is something inscrutable. Scientifically, there is no reason for it. The data is there in the mind, but man is unable to recall it at will, and remembers when reminded. There is no explanation for this except that Allah has willed it that way (Au.).

As usual with a few universal phenomenon, science has no satisfactory explanation for old age. Writes a scientist: “Old-age is a disease of universal incidence. Nothing can stop the creeping enfeeblement, the increasing brittleness of the bones, the weakening of the muscles, the stiffening of the joints, the slowing of reflexes, the dimming of sight, the declining agility of the mind. The rate at which this happens is somewhat slower in some people than in others - but, fast or slow, the process is inexorable.”

Further down, “What is old-age anyway? So far there are only speculations. Some have suggested that the body’s resistance to infections slowly decreases with age .. Others speculate that clinkers of one kind or another accumulate in the cells .. These supposed side products of normal cellular reactions, which the cell can neither destroy nor get rid of, slowly build up in the cell as the years pass, until they eventually interfere with the cells metabolism so seriously that it ceases to function. When enough cells are put out of action, so the theory goes, the body dies” (Issac Asimov, New Guide to Science, Penguin pub., 1987, p. 693).

Although hectic research is going on in several biological fields, they all concentrate on delaying the ageing process and not on stopping it altogether. The most optimist is quite pessimistic about avoiding old-age altogether. However, there has been some noticeable progress in postponing old age. Although, people seem to be living longer in modern times, nobody knows for sure why. Another scientist writes, “Inspite of the tremendous progress by researchers studying cultured cells, free radicals, longevity determining genes and other promising avenues, the aging process in humans is still largely a black box” (Rick L. Rusting, Why Do We Age?, Scientific American, December 1992, p. 95).