An-Nahl (The Bee)

66. “And verily there is a lesson laid out for you in the cattle; We give you to drink of what is in their bellies from between the digested food and the blood, pure milk, palatable for the drinkers.”

The Almighty does not only let down water from the clouds which is the source of life, but He also extracts milk which is the source of life out of the insides of the animals as well. The Arabic term /far/ means digested food within the stomach, and the term /‘ibrat/ refers to that which enables one to pass through the stage of ignorance towards cognition.

Although the Arabic term /’An‘am/ is plural, yet the pronoun in the word /butūnihi/ is singular. For, the purpose is every single one of the four-footed animals and not all of them.

Milk is a complete food serving which functions both as water and food while having all nutritional values, thus meeting all bodily needs.

In quotations, we read that milk enhances one’s wisdom, purifies one’s mind, enlightens one’s eyes, reinforces one’s heart, strengthens one’s back and diminishes one’s oblivion.

The four-footed animals are not only the sources of provision for our needs, but also they can serve us as a means for our spiritual development and the growth in our faith.

Can the Lord not bring out and reassemble man out of the earth in the resurrection day, He Who extracts milk out of grass? The Almighty, Who provides us with pure milk from between the digested food and blood of animals, will He not be able to differentiate good deeds from evil ones?

The conversion of grass into milk requires a purification system, disinfecting process, the elimination of detrimental substances, some sweetening processing unites, heating systems, lubricating materials, coloration techniques, and installing of piping systems within the bodies of animals.

How then is it feasible that an oil engineer is required for the refining of oil while refining of milk does not require a creator?

The verse says:

“And verily there is a lesson laid out for you in the cattle…”

Refined and purified human beings are the ones who go through different ups and downs of the stages of life, political issues and ideologies as well as various friends and yet are not affected by them or by their motives.

The verse continues saying:

“…We give you to drink of what is in their bellies from between the digested food and the blood…”

The prime condition for a drink to be agreeable to the taste, is its purification. It is certainly the case with drinkable waters.

The verse says:

“…pure milk, palatable for the drinkers.”

Being agreeable to the taste must be confirmed by all consumers, and not only human beings. Therefore, we note that the verse has not mentioned ‘palatable for you’, but it has remarked:

“palatable for the drinkers.”

In our civilized contemporary world, it is said and heard that some civilized countries dispatch all those materials, the expiry date of which has been passed, to be consumed by displaced people i.e. the refugees etc.

Consumption of milk by man reveals the fact that He Who has created the animal and has provided milk within its bodily built-up, is the One Who has created us and Who has been aware of our needs.

Hadrat-i-Ali (as), addressing the collector of the religious dues, ‘Zakat’, in the 25th letter of Nahj-ul-Balaqah, declares:

When you are being sent for the collection of ‘Zakat’, you must observe certain principles, among which is leaving part of the milk of the animal in its breast so as its offspring might not be left without a proper amount of nourishment.

Do not separate the animal from its offspring; let the tired animals relax for a while along side the way, and finally, do not stop them from grazing and drinking water on the whole.

Beating animals, milking cattle with long nails, exploitation and requiring over-working by animals, and every other kind of oppression towards animals is forbidden.

We understand from the Qur’an that Hadrat-i-Sulayman was compassionate towards animals in spite of all his glory and despite the fact that he had dominated all mankind and the ‘Jinns’ (fairies), he used to touch their neck and feet with his blessed hands.

It says:

“…so he began to slash their legs and necks.”1