In Surah An-Nahl (The Bee, 16:68-69), the Quran declares: "And your Lord inspired the bee: Take for yourself houses in the mountains, in the trees, and in what they build. Then eat from all the fruits and follow the ways of your Lord laid down for you. From their bellies comes forth a drink of varying colors, in which there is healing for people. Indeed in that is a sign for a people who give thought."
The Arabic term used is awha (أوحى), which means "to inspire" or "to reveal." This same term is used in the Quran for divine revelation to the prophets. The Quran thus affirms that the bee receives a form of "inspiration" or instinctive guidance.
The historical context
In the 7th century, no one knew the complexity of bee behavior. Observation of the hive was limited to honey production. Modern science has revealed that bees possess one of the most sophisticated communication systems in the animal kingdom.
The scientific confirmation
In 1973, Austrian ethologist Karl von Frisch received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on the "dance" of bees. He discovered that bees communicate the direction and distance of food sources to each other through a complex dance called the "waggle dance."
- The round dance: indicates a nearby food source (less than 50 meters).
- The waggle dance: indicates a more distant source, with the angle of the dance relative to vertical corresponding to the angle of the source relative to the sun.
- The duration of the dance: encodes the distance of the food source.
This discovery revolutionized our understanding of animal communication. The Quran had already mentioned this divine "inspiration" guiding bees, 1,400 years before von Frisch's discovery.
The feminine gender of bees
The Quran uses the feminine gender to refer to bees ("take for yourself houses," "eat," "follow" — verbs in the feminine form). Modern science has established that worker bees, which build the hives and forage, are all female. Males (drones) participate neither in construction nor in nectar collection. This grammatical precision of the Quran is remarkable.
Honey as healing
The Quran affirms that honey contains "healing for people." Modern research has confirmed the antibacterial, antioxidant, and wound-healing properties of honey. Manuka honey, in particular, is used in hospitals for its powerful antibacterial properties.