The strongest view is that His saying, “you derive from it an intoxicant,” has been abrogated. It is narrated from Ibn Abbas that he said: “The intoxicant is [that which has been forbidden] from their fruits, while wholesome provision is that which has been made lawful.” (1)

Abu Ubaydah said: “Sakar means food. One may say, ‘This is sakar for you,’ meaning, food.” (2)

“Surely in this is a sign for people who understand.”

“And your Lord inspired the bee: ‘Make for yourselves dwellings in the mountains, in the trees, and in what people build. (68) Then eat from all the fruits and follow the ways of your Lord, made easy for you.’ From their bellies comes a drink of varying colors, in which there is healing for people. Surely in this is a sign for people who reflect. (69)”

“And your Lord inspired the bee”: that is, He instilled this within it and cast it into its nature, so that it understood it. Bees are the insects that produce honey; the singular is a bee.

“Make for yourselves dwellings in the mountains, in the trees, and in what people build”: that is, what they construct. It is customary for their keepers to build places for them, and the bees take shelter therein. Ibn Zayd said: These are grapevines.

“Then eat from all the fruits”: 201/A the word “all” here does not signify totality, just as Allah Most High says, “She has been given of all things” (al-Naml, 23).

“And follow the ways of your Lord, made easy for you”: It was said that “made easy” describes the paths; that is, they have been made accessible to the bees and easy to traverse.

Mujahid said: No place through which it travels is too rugged for it.

Others said that “made easy” describes the bees themselves; that is, they are obedient and compliant, having been subjected. It is said that their keepers transport them from one place to another, and that they have a leader: when it stops, they stop; and when it moves, they move.

“From their bellies comes a drink”: that is, honey, “of varying colors”—white, red, and yellow. “In which there is healing for people”: that is, in honey. Mujahid said: That is, in the Quran; but the first view is more correct.

Isma'il ibn Abd al-Qahir informed us; Abd al-Ghafir ibn Muhammad narrated to us; Muhammad ibn Isa al-Juludi narrated to us; Ibrahim ibn Muhammad ibn Sufyan narrated to us; Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj narrated to us; Muhammad ibn al-Muthanna narrated to us; Muhammad ibn Ja'far informed us; Shu'bah narrated to us, from Qatadah, from Abu al-Mutawakkil, from Abu Sa'id al-Khudri, who said: A man came to the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace