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08-10-2024
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Scientific topics- Scientific wonders (11): Bees: The Amazing System and Wondrous Production.
   
 
 
In the Name of Allah, The Most Gracious, Most Merciful  
 

Bees: The amazing system and wonderous production:

The bee is considered one of the most amazing creatures in nature. She provides us with the honey which herself makes. Also, she lives in hexagons which she builds.  She chooses the hexagon,

because it leaves no gaps. Well, the square has the same qualities, but the hexagon fits the honey more for storage and weight with its divergent angles, and this is due to Allah's Wisdom, may His Glory be glorified.   

Believe it or not, in order to produce one kilo of honey the bee should fly 400.000 kilometers; as much as revolving 4 times around the earth. Moreover, she should visit about 8 million flowers to produce honey. Allah the Almighty says: 

(The Work of Allah, Who perfected all things, verily! He is Well-Acquainted with what you do.)

[An-Naml, 88]

Allah the Almighty says: 

(And your Lord inspired the bee…)

[An-Nahl, 68]

The bee is inspired in the sense that she accomplishes very complicated tasks instinctively. Hence, the inspiration has nothing to do with the Divine Assignment like man, but rather it is related to the bee's creation. 

When a bee visits a flower it leaves an odor behind to let other bees know that the nectar of a certain flower has been already absorbed saving by that time and effort.    

How are bees guided to flowers?

The delicate question concerning bees is; how is the guided to the flowers? There are bees whose mission is looking for flowers to gather the nectar from, so they fly about 10 kilometers far from their hives.

When they find the nectar, they take a sample and get back with it to the hive to let the expert bees see whether the nectar is good or not. If it is good, they fly to gather the nectar. How can these bees let the other bees in the hive know about the place of the nectar source after traveling for a long distance in the valleys? The answer lies in the dance the bees perform.   

The bees dance to let other bees know about the place of the highly profitable source of nectar, how far they are from the hive and how much the nectar to be collected is. This bee dances like this (as shown in the video) if the distance is with the sun direction. The vertical line is the sun direction, and another bee dances in the reverse direction that is opposite to the sun direction; her head is with direction of the arrow. A third bee may dance to the right of the sun or to the left of it. 

I repeat; a bee may dance with the direction of the sun, while another one may dance with the reverse direction of it and her head is with the direction of the arrow. A third bee may dance making a cross with the direction of the sun, just as it is clarified in the picture. She does a 90 degree dance with the sun, whereas a fourth bee may dance with 45 degrees to the left of the sun. Thus, dance direction specifies the place of the nectar source, how far it is from the hives and the quantity of the nectar to be gathered. Allah the Almighty says: 

(And your Lord inspired the bee…)

[An-Nahl, 68]

The worker bees let the others in the hive know all the information mentioned above through the dance they perform, which is an inspiration from Allah to them. This inspiration as I have said earlier is instinctive.  

One more fact about the bee: she can never fly but to her hive exclusively, and unless she knows the password, she will be killed in the entrance by the guards. The password is changed from time to time. 

Actually the social life in the hive is incredible, and I have just mentioned some information out of million pieces of accurate information about the bees, because we do not have enough time to discuss everything. 

When the bee carries the pollen, she flies about 30 kilometers per hour, and she flies about 60 kilometers per hour when she carries nothing.

Most bees fly tens of kilometers to get to the rich-nectar flowers. 

Ustaz Alaa': 

They go forth hungry in the morning and return with full belly at dusk

Dr. Rateb: 

I would like to talk now about the types of the bees. There are worker bees who do all the hive work, such as cleaning, letting the fresh air come in and dealing with the stranger objects. If a mouse enters into the hive, it will be covered totally with wax as it is canned. The bees embalm it completely. Other worker bees polish the hive after refining it. 

In an experiment, scientists put containers and filled them with sugar, so bees came to them from various areas. They put on the bee who came from (a) area a period, the one who came from (b) area a line and the one who came from (c) area a plus sign. Those bees got back to their hives performing different dances. After a while, the scientists got back to the place of their experiment only to find a huge number of the bees filling the place. 

This is an accurate experiment. After getting back to their hives, the bees perform a dance to specify the source of the nectar, the distance to its place and how much it is. After that, the scientists, returned to the source of nectar (they made) and found the bees there. In fact, Allah, Exalted and Sublime be He, mentioned the bees in the Noble Quran when He says: 

(And your Lord inspired the bee: "Take you habitations…)

[An-Nahl, 68]

Collecting the nectar is the mission of the female bees:

In the Ayah in Arabic, Allah the Almighty uses the feminine pronoun in reference to the female bees, because collecting the nectar is the mission of the female bees. This is a Quranic proof that the female bees are the ones who accomplish the task of collecting the nectar. 

The life of the bees is a wide topic, and it contains many unbelievable facts. Indeed, everything Allah the Almighty creates has two missions; the beneficial mission and the guiding one. The Prophet, peace be upon him, said when he saw the crescent:      

(May this moon be bringing guidance and good)

[Abu Dawood, on the authority of Qatadah] 

The good is the benefits the moon brings in the worldly life and the other mission of the moon is guiding us to our Lord. Thus, everything Allah the Almighty creates has two missions; a guiding mission to Allah, and a beneficial one. Westerners concentrate on the beneficial missions of objects, while the believers make use of both missions; the beneficial and the guiding ones, so to them the life of the bees is a good moral listen to glorify Allah, Exalted and Sublime be He. 

The one who has never tasted honey, but upon reading a book about the way it is made he cries out of fear of and submission to Allah, achieves the purpose of creating the honey. On the other hand, the one who eats honey to the full, but he never ponders over the Greatness of the honey's Creator, stops his mind from making use of the main purpose of creating this honey. Allah the Almighty says:

(And on the earth are signs for those who have Faith with certainty)

[Adh-Dhariyat, 20]

Pondering over the universe is the shortest way to Allah:

I always say: pondering over the creation of the heavens and the earth is the shortest way to get to Allah, and it is the widest gate to approach Him, because it puts us face to face with the Greatness of Allah, Exalted and Sublime be He.  

Ustaz Alaa': 
Whatever we see, has accuracy and perfectness in the way it is designed.

 This world which has no rift is a proof of the Greatness of the Creator, and it manifests the work of a Great Designer Who designed this universe creatively showing that it was not created randomly, nor was it created due to the evolution of two inanimate objects. This universe was created in an organized manner as we discussed in previous episodes. 

Dr. Rateb: 

Allah's Divine Character cannot be seen, but it can be recognized by the mind through the creation of Allah the Almighty.  

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