The inspiration to the bee: its inspiration and the casting into its heart and teaching it in a way that He knows best, which no one can comprehend. Otherwise, its delicacy in its craft, and its subtlety in managing its affairs, and its accuracy in what is suitable for it, are clear signs witnessing that Allah has endowed it with knowledge of that and has made it perceptive, just as He has given intellect to those of understanding. Yahya ibn Wathab read 'to the bee' with two openings. It is masculine like 'date palm', and its feminine form is based on meaning, as it is to take as it is explained, because the inspiration in it has the meaning of saying. It was also read: 'houses' with a kasra on the 'b' due to the 'y'. And 'they raise' was read with a kasra on the 'r' and with a damma: they elevate from the roofs of the houses. It was said: what they build for the bees in the mountains, trees, and houses from the places where they gather honey. The pronoun in 'they raise' refers to the people. If you say: what is the meaning of 'from' in the saying 'take from the mountains houses and from the trees and from what they raise'? Why not say 'in the mountains' and 'in the trees'? I say: it means a partitive meaning, and that their houses should not be built in every mountain and every tree and in everything they raise, nor in every place among them. From all fruits, there is an encompassing of the fruits that the bees gather and are accustomed to eating, meaning build the houses, then eat from every fruit you desire. When you eat it, then follow the paths of your Lord, meaning the ways that He has inspired and made clear to you in the making of honey. Or follow what you have eaten in the paths of your Lord, meaning in His ways by which He transforms by His power the bitter light into honey from within you and the openings of your food. Or if you eat the fruits in the distant places from your houses, then follow back to your houses the paths of your Lord, which are not difficult for you nor will you go astray in them. It has reached me that sometimes the area around them may become barren, so they travel to a distant land in search of sustenance. Or He meant by saying 'then eat' then aim for eating the fruits and follow in seeking them in their places the paths of your Lord, which are made easy, as a plural of 'easy', and it is a state of the paths, because Allah has made them easy for her and has smoothed and facilitated them, as in His saying: 'He is the One who made the earth easy for you.' Or from the pronoun in 'follow', meaning: and you are easy, submissive to what you have been commanded without resisting. Honey is a drink, as it is something that is drunk. Its colors are different: it is white, black, yellow, and red. In it is a healing for people, for it is among the well-known beneficial remedies. There is rarely a mixture of medicines that does not mention honey in it. And it is not intended that it is a cure for every sick person, just as every medicine is likewise.

Its indefinite form is either for the purpose of glorifying the honey that is in it, or because there is some healing in it, and both are possible. And it is reported from the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, that a man came to him and said: My brother is complaining of his stomach. He said: 'Go and give him honey to drink.' So he went and then returned and said: I have given him to drink, but it did not benefit. He said: 'Go and give him honey to drink.' For Allah has spoken the truth, and your brother's stomach has lied. So he gave him honey, and Allah healed him, as if he had been released from a tether. [Agreed upon from the hadith of Abu Sa'id, and Al-Hakim overlooked it and corrected it.] And from Abdullah ibn Mas'ud: Honey is a cure for every disease, and the Qur'an is a cure for what is in the breasts. So you must adhere to the two healings: the Qur'an and honey. [I have not seen it this way. And in Al-Kamil by Ibn Adi from the narration of Ibn Ishaq from Abu Al-Hawwas from Abdullah, who raised it: 'You must adhere to the two healings: honey, which is a cure for every disease, and the Qur'an, which is a cure for what is in the breasts.' He said: No one raised it from Waki' from Al-Thawri except Sufyan ibn Waki'. He said, and it was narrated by Zayd ibn Al-Habab from Al-Thawri also raised with the wording: 'You must adhere to the two healings: honey and the Qur'an.' And Ibn Abi Shaybah from Waki' raised it with the wording: 'Honey is a cure for every disease and the Qur'an is a cure for what is in the breasts.' And from this angle, Al-Hakim and Al-Thalabi also narrated it. Ibn Abi Shaybah said: Abu Muawiyah narrated to us from Al-A'mash from Huyayyah from Al-Aswad from Abdullah who said: 'You must adhere to the two healings: the Qur'an and honey.' ] And among the strange interpretations of the Rawaafid is that the intended meaning of the bee is Ali and his people. And from some of them, it is said that he said at the Mahdi: The bee is only the Banu Hashim, from whose bellies knowledge comes forth. A man said to him: May Allah make your food and drink from what comes forth from their bellies. The Mahdi laughed and mentioned it to Al-Mansur, and they made it a joke among their jokes.