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INTRODUCTION: THE LIFE OF HONEYBEES
And they have other uses for them, and drinks. So will
they not be thankful? (Surah Ya Sin: 73)
Civil wars, slaughter, problems within families, people who kill without
a qualm, children living on the streets, people freezing to death from
a lack of shelter, murderers no older than children, youth gangs, civic
and political corruption . . .
When one thinks about these social problems, which have become part and
parcel of today's daily life, the same imperfection can be seen at the
root of them all. This same common imperfection also underlies such corrupt
moral values as injustice, fraud, hypocrisy and ruthlessness that cause
these problems to emerge.
This grave imperfection is that people fail to think-and thus, fail to
see the truth. For such people, all that matters is their own interests,
their own lives. They are unconcerned by what goes on around them. At
the same time, what limited topics they do think about, again center upon
themselves. For that reason, they live within the confines of their own
rights and wrongs. They regard living the course of their daily lives
as sufficient, never sparing a thought for vital issues such as the reason
for their presence in this world.
They never consider the features of the living things around them, or
how it is that these have emerged so flawlessly and in such variety. They
are therefore unaware that all these things-their own bodies, the equilibrium
in the heavens, in short, everything and anything-are created by God.
They are unable to properly appreciate Him, the Creator of the entire
universe, and His infinite might. They never become aware of the reason
for their own creation and the fact that they owe responsibilities to
God. The fact is, however, that a great many verses in the Qur'an emphasize
the importance of thinking and the fact that only thoughtful people will
heed advice.
Verses refer to people who think and thus achieve awareness of the might
of God:
In the creation of the heavens and the Earth, and the alternation of
night and day, there are signs for people with intelligence: those who
remember God, standing, sitting and lying on their sides, and reflect
on the creation of the heavens and the Earth: "Our Lord, You have not
created this for nothing. Glory be to You! So safeguard us from the punishment
of the Fire." (Surah Al 'Imran: 190-191)
The aim of this book is to overcome this mental idleness by presenting
yet another of God's miracles of creation. In addition, the honeybee is
one of the creatures to which the Qur'an draws our attention. In Surat
an-Nahl, God reveals that bees act in the light of His inspiration:
Your Lord revealed to the bees: "Build dwellings in the mountains and
the trees, and also in the structures which men erect. Then eat from every
kind of fruit and travel the paths of your Lord, which have been made
easy for you to follow." From inside them comes a drink of varying colors,
containing healing for humanity. There is certainly a sign in that for
people who reflect. (Surat an-Nahl: 68-69)
These verses emphasize bees' making their own homes, taking nourishment
from every kind of flower and producing honey. As you'll see in the following
chapters, all such activities in the hive are performed by workers. A
hive contains worker bees, a queen bee, and male bees (or drones). Workers
carry out almost all the tasks in the hive. In addition, the queen has
the extremely important function of ensuring the hive's continuation.
The sole function of the males in the hive is to fertilize their queen.
They carry out this task within their short life spans, and then die.
In addition to examining these features of bees, this book also considers
many other matters, such as how tens of thousands of bees are able to
live together in the hive with no difficulty, how they follow directions,
and how they produce honey. With verses from the Qur'an, we shall once
again be seeing that there is no arbitrary and random "struggle for survival"
either in nature or in the lives of bees, contrary to what the theory
of evolution would have us believe.
Intelligent Design, in other words Creation
In order to create, God has no need to design
It's important that the word "design" be properly understood. That God
has created a flawless design does not mean that He first made a plan
and then followed it. God, the Lord of the Earth and the heavens, needs
no "designs" in order to create. God is exalted above all such deficiencies.
His planning and creation take place at the same instant.
Whenever God wills a thing to come about, it is enough for Him just to
say, "Be!"
As we are told in the verses of the Qur'an:
His command when He desires a thing is just to say to it, "Be!" and it
is. (Surah Ya Sin: 82)
[God is] the Originator of the heavens and Earth. When He decides on
something, He just says to it, "Be!" and it is. (Surat al-Baqara: 117)
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