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The bee and a drink of different colours
يَخْرُجُ مِن بُطُونِهَا شَرَابٌ
16:68
وَأَوْحَىٰ رَبُّكَ إِلَى النَّحْلِ أَنِ اتَّخِذِي مِنَ الْجِبَالِ بُيُوتًا
And your Lord inspired the bee: take houses among the mountains.
16:69
ثُمَّ كُلِي مِن كُلِّ الثَّمَرَاتِ فَاسْلُكِي سُبُلَ رَبِّكِ ذُلُلًا ۚ يَخْرُجُ مِن بُطُونِهَا شَرَابٌ مُّخْتَلِفٌ أَلْوَانُهُ فِيهِ شِفَاءٌ لِّلنَّاسِ
Then eat from all the fruits and follow the ways of your Lord, laid easy. There comes forth from their bellies a drink of varying colours in which there is healing for people.
The ayah in tafsir
The bee is addressed in the feminine. It is inspired — wahy of guidance for a creature, not prophethood. Houses in mountains, trees, and what people build. A drink of different colours. Shifa: healing. The fuqaha took honey as a medicine among medicines, not a substitute for every tibb.
What later eyes saw
Worker bees are female. Honey’s colour follows the nectar. It is antimicrobial, used still on wounds, and a food. The bee’s “ways laid easy” are the dances and paths it keeps. The verse’s feminine, the belly, the colours, the healing — all stand.
Where we stop
Honey is not a cure-all. The Prophet ﷺ used it and also used hijamah and the ruqyah of the Quran. Do not sell a bottle with this ayah as a licence.