Page 109 - The Miracle of the Honeybee

Harun Yahya 107

visit flowers to collect both pollen and nectar, but in gathering pollen, they
perform a vital function for the flowers: fertilization. In order to produce
seeds, a flower’s female reproductive organ has to unite with male ga-
metes, enclosed in pollen grains. In other words, a quantity of pollen must
unite with the stigma—the sticky tip of the female organ. Flowers are gen-
erally unable to transport pollen in their male stamens onto their own stig-
mas. The requisite union takes place thanks to insects, thus forming the
seeds that will form new plants and new flowers. 89
As we have seen, there is a very close connection between flowers and
bees. Both have been created by God to complement one another. For ex-
ample, flowers, which need to be fertilized by insects, produce nectar
which will attract insects to them, and it is this which also attracts bees.
Furthermore, flowers also attract insects by means of their scents or bright
colors.
This relationship between bees and flowers is also exceedingly impor-
tant for us humans, because beekeeping is of great importance to agricul-
ture. A great many fruit trees and crops are fertilized by bees to a large
extent. For that reason, some experts regard bees’ contribution in this re-
gard as more important than their production of honey. In the light of this,
the verses in Surat an-Nahl about honeybees immediately come to mind,
in which God reveals the way in which bees eat from all fruits:
Your Lord revealed to the bees: “Build dwellings in the
mountains and the trees, and also in the struc-