Bees

Allah has created many things to serve us so we can serve Him alone.

The idol-worshippers are criticized for failing to give thanks for Allah's favours, making idols equal to Allah, denying life after death, and claiming that the Quran was made

up by the Prophet (ﷺ).

Allah could have forced everyone to believe, but He wants people to choose freely.

In the Next Life, everyone will be paid back for their choices.

The wicked challenge Allah in this life, but they will regret it on Judgment Day when it will be too late.

Prophet Ibrahim (A.

S.

) is mentioned at the end of this surah as a role model who was always grateful to Allah.

The Prophet (ﷺ) is instructed to have patience and to invite everyone to the Way of Allah with wisdom and good advice.

As a young student at Al-Azhar, I completed the memorization of the Quran at the age of 12.

Some surahs like Yusuf and Al-Kahf were easy to memorize because they are mainly made up of stories.

Other surahs were a bit more challenging.

Surah 16 was probably the most difficult one for me to memorize.

First, it doesn't have stories.

Second, it seemed to me that every few verses speak about a completely different topic.

A few verses speak about animals, some about revelations, some about bees, and others about clothes, and so on.

To be honest, I didn't know what these topics had in common.

Later, when I grew older and studied tafsir, I had a light bulb moment and everything started to make sense to me.

I realized that this surah has one main topic: Allah's favours upon humanity.

Every few verses cover some of Allah's blessings.

As a matter of fact, this surah mentions more favours than any other surah in the Quran.

This is why it is called the 'Chapter of Blessings.

'

As we mentioned in Surah 31, there are many ways to thank Allah for His favours upon us:

• Reminding ourselves of those blessings, perhaps by writing some of them down.

• Keeping in mind that all these blessings are from Allah (16:53).

• Imagining our lives without some of those blessings (What if I couldn't see or hear?

What if I couldn't talk or walk?

).

• Believing that Allah deserves our thanks and worship.

This is why we say Surah Al-Fatihah at least 17 times every day in our salah, starting with "All praise is for Allah—Lord of the whole universe.

"

• Being grateful in good times and patient in difficult times.

If you thank Allah, He will give you more to be thankful for.

But if you keep whining, He will give you more to whine about (14:7).

• Using our strength to help others, not to abuse them.

Using our tongues to say the truth, not to lie.

Using our knowledge to benefit people, not to trick them.

• Knowing that the One Who gave us these blessings can easily take them away.

If Allah gave them fruits (like grapes), they turned those fruits into alcohol.

If He gave them children, some of them buried their daughters alive.

If He gave them food, they offered it to their idols.

They used their tongues to spread lies about Islam.

They used their authority to abuse Muslims.

If someone is always generous to you and gives you everything you need, will you thank them and obey them if they ask you to do something good?

Of course!

Why do people treat Allah differently, even though He created them and blessed them with health, wealth, children, and resources?

Is it because they don't want to follow rules?

But they follow the rules set by others all the time.

They stop at red lights.

They pay their taxes.

They fasten their seatbelt when the plane takes off.

They open their mouth wide when they go to the dentist.

They fill out a certain application to get a passport.

They stick to the speed limit when they drive.

They wear a mask when required, like they did during the Covid-19 pandemic.

They take off their shoes for airport security.

They follow work guidelines.

They don't smoke at certain places.

Most people follow these rules with no questions asked.

But when their Creator asks them to do or avoid certain things for their own good, they protest and argue, "Why?

We are not slaves!

We are free to do whatever we want.

Nobody can tell us what to do!

"

As we mentioned in Surah 95, even though idol-worship doesn't make any sense, many people have worshipped idols throughout history.

We need to understand that humans are religious by their very nature.

This means that they need to believe in something, whether it makes sense or not.

However, many people don't like religious duties, such as praying, fasting, and paying zakah.

This is why it's very convenient for those people to worship idols, knowing that those statues would never ask them to do anything.

Allah is the only One Who created us and so He alone has the right to be worshipped.

He always criticizes the idol-worshippers, telling them that those useless idols:

• Are lifeless and can't create anything.

They themselves are carved by people.

• Haven't asked anyone to worship them.

They can't even speak.

• Can't hear their prayers or even answer them.

• Can't benefit those who worship them or harm those who don't.

• Can't help their worshippers on Judgment Day.