notifications_active Weekly Meshkat-e Noor Session: Thursdays at 20:30 at Haj Reza Mosque
Dear teacher, honeybees work among flowers, and the fruit of their labor is honey, in which God has placed healing. Surely, then, there must also be particular guidance for those who raise bees. Many beekeepers complain that their bees die despite the care they give them. What should beekeepers keep in mind so that their efforts bear fruit and their bees do not perish? Please advise us on this matter.
To make their efforts fruitful and prevent their bees from dying, beekeepers should observe spiritual guidance as well as proper beekeeping practices. This guidance includes respecting the bees’ rights, remembering that God watches over the relationship between beekeeper and bee, not taking the bees’ food, maintaining hygiene, treating bees with respect as creatures beloved by God, praying for them, and giving thanks to their Creator.
In addition to observing the technical principles of beekeeping, the following spiritual recommendations can prove fruitful:
- Bees have rights in relation to the beekeeper, and these must be fully respected.
- The beekeeper should remember that the Creator of all existence is the trustee, witness and judge between the bees and himself.
- The beekeeper should not take from the bees the honey they need for food.
- The beekeeper must not wrong the bees by taking their honey and feeding them artificial food instead.
- The beekeeper should remember that he owns neither the bees nor the flowers; the bees’ honey is a divine gift.
- By observing hygiene and cleanliness, the beekeeper should help keep the bees clean.
- The beekeeper should remember that the bee is a creature beloved of God and a bearer of inspired revelation, and should treat it with respect.
- The beekeeper should pray for the bees and thank and praise the God of the bees.
- Among the bees and in their domain, the beekeeper should softly recite invocations and verses concerning bees, as well as special prayers.
- The beekeeper should observe the rights laid down by Islamic law when making use of honey.
- The beekeeper should care for and appreciate flowers, gardens and nature, and fulfil at least his basic duties by tending them well.
- Bee-like conduct towards the Imam and the community should yield material and spiritual nectar.
- And so on…