Earth & Life
Life, Health & Medicine
Life from water, the female worker bee and healing honey, milk from between digested food and blood, the “lying sinful” forelock, plants in pairs, and the Prophet’s teaching on cures, hygiene and quarantine. Biology and medicine beside the Qur’an and Hadith.
“We made every living thing from water”
اَوَلَمْ يَرَ الَّذِيْنَ كَفَرُوْٓا اَنَّ السَّمٰوٰتِ وَالْاَرْضَ كَانَتَا رَتْقًا فَفَتَقْنٰهُمَاؕ وَجَعَلْنَا مِنَ الْمَا࢜ءِ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ حَيٍّؕ اَفَلَا يُو͏ٔ͏ْمِنُوْنَ ٣٠
Did the disbelievers not perceive that the heavens and the earth were closed up (as one piece), We henceforth opened (i.e. parted) them, and We made every living thing from water. So, will they not believe?
وَاللّٰهُ خَلَقَ كُلَّ دَا࢜بَّةٍ مِّنْ مَّا࢜ءٍۚ فَمِنْهُمْ مَّنْ يَّمْشِيْ عَلٰي بَطْنِهٖۚ وَمِنْهُمْ مَّنْ يَّمْشِيْ عَلٰي رِجْلَيْنِۚ وَمِنْهُمْ مَّنْ يَّمْشِيْ عَلٰٓي اَرْبَعٍؕ يَخْلُقُ اللّٰهُ مَا يَشَا࢜ءُؕ اِنَّ اللّٰهَ عَلٰي كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيْرٌ ٤٥
And Allah created every (living) creature that walks on the earth from water. So, amongst them is the one that walks upon its belly, and amongst them is the one that walks upon two legs, and amongst them is the one that walks upon four legs; Allah creates whatever He wills. Indeed, Allah is Able to do all things.
What the words say
Every living thing is made “from water”. 24:45 applies this to every (living) creature, whether it walks upon its belly, upon two legs or upon four.
What science says
- Water makes up about 70% of the mass of a typical cell and about 60% of an adult human body.
- All known life depends on liquid water as the medium for its chemistry: dissolving nutrients, carrying signals, folding proteins.
- Most scientists think life on Earth began in water. The search for life elsewhere is guided by the rule “follow the water”.
How close is the match?
The plain meaning is correct. Ancient thinkers such as Thales had also regarded water as fundamental, so the idea was not unheard of, but the Qur’an states it clearly and universally for all living things. Consistent with established science.
The bee, her paths, and honey “in which is healing for the people”
وَاَوْحٰي رَبُّكَ اِلَي النَّحْلِ اَنِ اتَّخِذِيْ مِنَ الْجِبَالِ بُيُوْتًا وَّمِنَ الشَّجَرِ وَمِمَّا يَعْرِشُوْنَۙ ٦٨ ثُمَّ كُلِيْ مِنْ كُلِّ الثَّمَرٰتِ فَاسْلُكِيْ سُبُلَ رَبِّكِ ذُلُلًاؕ يَخْرُجُ مِنْۢ بُطُوْنِهَا شَرَابٌ مُّخْتَلِفٌ اَلْوَانُهٗ فِيْهِ شِفَا࢜ءٌ لِّلنَّاسِؕ اِنَّ فِيْ ذٰلِكَ لَاٰيَةً لِّقَوْمٍ يَّتَفَكَّرُوْنَ ٦٩
68And your Lord inspired the bee; that 'Make homes in the mountains, and in the trees and in the rooftops.' 69'Then, eat from all kinds of fruits, and walk the ways of your Lord which are soft and easy for you.' From their bellies comes a drink of various colours in which is healing for the people; indeed, in this is a sign to those who ponder.
What the words say
God “inspired the bee” to make homes, eat from all kinds of fruits, and “walk the ways of your Lord which are soft and easy for you” (subul rabbiki dhululā). “From their bellies comes a drink of various colours in which is healing for the people”. All the verbs addressed to the bee are grammatically feminine: ittakhidhī, kulī, fa-slukī.
What science says
- The workers are female. The bees that build comb, forage for nectar and make honey are all females. Male drones do none of this.
- Paths. Foragers navigate by the Sun and by landmarks, and tell their sisters the direction and distance of flowers with the “waggle dance”, decoded by Karl von Frisch (Nobel Prize, 1973).
- From their bellies. Nectar is carried in the bee’s honey stomach, processed with enzymes, and then regurgitated and evaporated into honey.
- Varying colours. Honey ranges from almost clear to dark brown depending on the flowers.
- Healing. Honey is antibacterial because of its high sugar concentration, its acidity and the hydrogen peroxide it produces. Some honeys, such as manuka, have additional active compounds. Medical-grade honey dressings are approved and used for wounds and burns.
How close is the match?
The description is accurate throughout. One honest caveat: in Arabic the collective noun naḥl (bees) is grammatically feminine anyway, so the feminine verbs may be simple grammar. It remains a happy fit. The verse says “in which is healing”, not that honey cures everything. We grade it consistent with established science.
“Pure milk from between dung and blood”
وَاِنَّ لَكُمْ فِي الْاَنْعَامِ لَعِبْرَةًؕ نُسْقِيْكُمْ مِّمَّا فِيْ بُطُوْنِهٖ مِنْۢ بَيْنِ فَرْثٍ وَّدَمٍ لَّبَنًا خَالِصًا سَا࢜ىِٕغًا لِّلشّٰرِبِيْنَ ٦٦
And there is indeed place for you to ponder in (the example of) the cattle. We provide you to drink from what is in their bellies; pure milk from between dung and blood, which is soothing to swallow for the drinkers.
The verse says God gives us to drink from what is in the bellies of cattle: “pure milk from between dung and blood, which is soothing to swallow for the drinkers”. The word translated “dung” is farth, the digested contents of the gut.
That is the physiology of lactation in one line. Digested food in the gut is absorbed into the bloodstream, and the blood carries nutrients to the mammary glands. There, specialised cells build milk: its fats, proteins and sugar, lactose. A great deal of blood must flow through a cow’s udder, commonly estimated at several hundred litres, to produce a single litre of milk. The milk is clean and nourishing despite coming from between waste and blood. Consistent with established science.
“What kind of forelock! A lying sinful one”
كَلَّا لَىِٕنْ لَّمْ يَنْتَهِۙ لَنَسْفَعًاۢ بِالنَّاصِيَةِۙ ١٥ نَاصِيَةٍ كَاذِبَةٍ خَاطِي͏ٔ͏َةٍۚ ١٦
15Yes, certainly! If he does not abstain, We will definitely drag him by seizing the forelock hairs (of his). 16What kind of forelock! A lying sinful one.
What the words say
نَاصِيَة nāṣiyah is the forelock, the hair and front of the head. To seize someone by the forelock was an Arabic idiom for having complete control over them and humbling them (compare 11:56, “there is no one that walks whose forelock is not in His Grip of power”). Here the forelock itself is called “a lying sinful one”.
What science says
Directly behind the forehead lies the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain most involved in planning, decision-making, self-control and moral judgement. Brain-imaging studies of deliberate lying consistently show heightened activity in prefrontal regions.
How close is the match?
It is striking that the verse attributes lying and sin to the front of the head, where the brain’s decision-making centre is. The classical meaning is idiomatic, and brain function is distributed, so we grade it a possible reading.
Skin and the sensation of pain
اِنَّ الَّذِيْنَ كَفَرُوْا بِاٰيٰتِنَا سَوْفَ نُصْلِيْهِمْ نَارًاؕ كُلَّمَا نَضِجَتْ جُلُوْدُهُمْ بَدَّلْنٰهُمْ جُلُوْدًا غَيْرَهَا لِيَذُوْقُوا الْعَذَابَؕ اِنَّ اللّٰهَ كَانَ عَزِيْزًا حَكِيْمًا ٥٦
We shall soon put those who disbelieved in Our verses into the Fire; whenever their skins are cooked (i.e. fully burnt), other than these (skins) We shall change them for new skins; that they may (endlessly) taste the punishment. Indeed, Allah is Almighty, All-Wise.
Describing the punishment of the Hereafter, the verse says that whenever skins are burnt through they are changed “for new skins; that they may (endlessly) taste the punishment”, linking the skin to the experience of pain.
Many pain receptors (nociceptors) lie in the skin. Severe, full-thickness burns destroy those nerve endings, which is why the centre of such a burn can be numb even though the injury is grave. The verse concerns the unseen world, but its link between intact skin and the ability to feel is physiologically sound. We grade it a possible reading.
Plants in pairs
وَهُوَ الَّذِيْ مَدَّ الْاَرْضَ وَجَعَلَ فِيْهَا رَوَاسِيَ وَاَنْهٰرًاؕ وَمِنْ كُلِّ الثَّمَرٰتِ جَعَلَ فِيْهَا زَوْجَيْنِ اثْنَيْنِ يُغْشِي الَّيْلَ النَّهَارَؕ اِنَّ فِيْ ذٰلِكَ لَاٰيٰتٍ لِّقَوْمٍ يَّتَفَكَّرُوْنَ ٣
And it is He Who spread out the earth and made (mountains as) anchors and rivers therein. And made in the earth all kinds of fruits in pairs. He covers the night with the day; indeed, in this are signs for the people who ponder.
ؗ الَّذِيْ جَعَلَ لَكُمُ الْاَرْضَ مَهْدًا وَّسَلَكَ لَكُمْ فِيْهَا سُبُلًا وَّاَنْزَلَ مِنَ السَّمَا࢜ءِ مَا࢜ءًؕ فَاَخْرَجْنَا بِهٖٓ اَزْوَاجًا مِّنْ نَّبَاتٍ شَتّٰي ٥٣
The One Who has made the earth a bed for you, and kept active paths for you therein and sent down water from the sky; so, with it We brought forth various pairs of vegetation.
The Qur’an says God “made in the earth all kinds of fruits in pairs” and sent down rain to bring forth “various pairs of vegetation”. The Arabs knew the date palm has male and female trees, and they pollinated it by hand. The general fact that plants reproduce sexually, with male stamens producing pollen and female pistils bearing ovules that become seeds and fruit, was demonstrated experimentally in Europe by Rudolf Camerarius in 1694. Many flowers hold both sexes in a single blossom, and some species have separate male and female plants. Consistent with established science.
More signs in living things
“Nations like you” (6:38)
Every creature on the earth and every bird that flies on its wings forms umam, “nations like you”. Ethology finds rich social life across the animal world: division of labour in insect colonies, cooperation and mourning in elephants, signature whistles, a kind of name, in dolphins.
The ant’s warning (27:18)
An ant exclaims, “O ants, enter your homes”. Real ants raise the alarm with chemical signals (alarm pheromones), and some species also communicate by sound. Sulaymān’s understanding of her speech is a miracle, belonging to the unseen.
Held aloft (67:19)
Birds spread and fold their wings, and “no one except the Most Gracious holds them up”. Aerodynamics explains the mechanism, lift from moving air over shaped wings. For believers the mechanism is the means by which God holds them. See causes and the One behind them.
What the fly takes (22:73)
“If a fly snatches away something from them, they cannot even recover that from it.” Many flies digest food outside their bodies, pouring saliva onto it and sucking it up already chemically changed. The verse’s point is the helplessness of idols, and the biological detail is a possible reading.
Medicine: “There is a remedy for every malady”
Two authentic hadith state that God has not created any disease without also creating its cure, and that when the right remedy meets the disease, it heals by God’s permission. Muslim physicians took this as a mandate to search for cures. It helped drive centuries of medical research, from al-Rāzī’s clinical observations to Ibn Sīnā’s Canon of Medicine. See Muslim Scientists.
The same outlook sits behind the hadith of the camel: “Tie it and rely (upon Allah)”. Seeking treatment is part of trusting God, not opposed to it.
Quarantine, fourteen centuries ago
The Prophet ﷺ told people not to enter a land where plague has broken out, and not to flee from one where they already are. That is the core of modern outbreak control: stop the disease being carried into new areas and keep exposed people from spreading it. During the COVID-19 pandemic this hadith was widely quoted, by Muslims and non-Muslims alike, as early public-health wisdom.
Hygiene and moderation
Islamic practice builds hygiene into daily life. Ritual washing before each prayer, cleaning the teeth with the siwāk, and cleanliness as “half of faith” all fit well with modern understanding of infection. The Qur’an says “eat and drink, and do not cross the limit” (7:31), and the Prophet ﷺ advised filling the stomach no more than a third with food.
Black seed: a note of care
An authentic hadith says there is healing in black seed (Nigella sativa) “for all diseases except death”. Classical scholars discussed whether “all diseases” is a general expression with a more specific intended meaning. Modern laboratory and clinical studies of its compounds, especially thymoquinone, report some promising results, but most are small or early-stage. Faithful use of the hadith does not mean replacing proven medical treatment.