The Believer As The Bee: Purity In Word And Deed

The Believer as the Bee: Purity in Word and Deed

As-salāmu ʿalaykum wa-raḥmatu Llāhi wa-barakātuh

In a ḥadīth narrated in Musnad Aḥmad, the Prophet ﷺ takes an oath:

(Musnad Aḥmad)

The Prophet ﷺ takes an oath by the individual in Whose hand his soul resides — that is, he is taking an oath by Allah. The meaning is: "By the One in Whose hand the soul of Muḥammad resides, the example of a believer is like the example of the bee. It eats pure things and it produces pure things. And when it perches on a flower, or a tree, or a fruit, it does not break anything, nor does it cause any corruption."

It takes what it needs and it moves forward.

The Prophetic Method of Teaching Through Examples

The Prophet ﷺ is teaching us by way of an example. This is something that we see in the prophetic revelation, and we see this in the Qur'an as well — that Allah gives us many examples, because when we are given an example, it allows us to understand something.

So when the Prophet ﷺ compares the believer to a bee, there has to be some sort of similarity — وَجْهُ الشَّبَه — there has to be something that connects the two things together. When I say زَيْدٌ كَالأَسَد — "Zayd is like a lion" — that may be because he is very brave on the battlefield. It is not because he has a big beard, or because he looks like a lion. It has to do with an actual shared quality. Zayd and the lion share something in common.

So when Rasulullah ﷺ says a believer is like the bee, there has to be something that is similar. The Prophet ﷺ continues and tells us the similarity: the believer is supposed to be an individual that intakes good, produces good, and wherever this believer may go, he never does any corruption or wrong — he only benefits. A believer is always benefiting. This is what a believer does.

The Virtue of the Bee in the Qur'an

This is also what Allah talks about regarding the bee in the Qur'an — the faḍāʾil, the virtue of the bee:

From the bee itself, so many different types of liquids come out that are beneficial for the believers, beneficial for the people. The example of the bee is therefore a very important example — one that Allah mentioned in the Qur'an, and one that the Prophet ﷺ sets for us, about being ṭayyib.

Pure Words for Pure People

Now this specific example can be taken in many different avenues, many different perspectives. But one perspective is about how we speak. Allah says in the Qur'an:

Ibn ʿAbbās and other commentators of this āyah mentioned that al-ṭayyibāt — pure words, pure kalimāt — are for pure people. And evil words and evil speech are for the evil people.

Our words are a representation of what is within. If within ourselves we are pure, then what we articulate and enunciate and produce and speak about will also be good. But if what is inside is not good, then what comes outside is not going to be good either. It is going to be vulgar, it is going to be vile, it is not going to be beneficial for anybody — it is going to be harmful, it is going to hurt, it is going to cause pain, it is going to be evil.

Our words are a reflection of what is within. That is why Allah tells us:

"Do you not see the example that Allah sets forth of the good word, like a good tree?" Its aṣl — its trunk, its roots — is firmly established in the soil, on the earth. And its branches are far-reaching and very high.

This كَلِمَةٌ طَيِّبَةٌ is referring to the Kalimat al-Tawḥīd — لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ مُحَمَّدٌ رَّسُولُ اللَّهِ. In this example, Allah is comparing the kalimah to the nakhlah, the date palm tree, because it is very firmly rooted and its branches are far-reaching and it is very tall.

So this كَلِمَةٌ طَيِّبَةٌ — if it takes root in a believer, and it is pure and good — then what he produces should also be pure. The كَلِمَةٌ طَيِّبَةٌ is the pure word of tawḥīd; if it is within a believer, then what he produces should also be pure.

A good miʿyār — a good judge and scale — to see if that kalimah is deeply rooted within oneself is to see if one is producing good. And this producing can be through action or through the verbal. And in terms of the verbal producing of good, we can understand it through the opposite.

The Evil of Vile Speech: Lying and Backbiting

What is bad speech? One of the worst sins is to lie. Lying is كَلِمَةٌ خَبِيثَةٌ — vile speech. Backbiting is vile speech.

Such that Allah — again, another example, as we see throughout the Qur'an, where there are multiple examples — compares backbiting to eating the dead flesh, the flesh of your dead brother. A very descriptive example to show us the degeneracy of the act of backbiting.

Backbiting is not something that is good. It is something evil. It is a source of evil speech. And if a person backbites, and if he is habitually engaging in backbiting, that shows that the كَلِمَةٌ طَيِّبَةٌ has not been firmly rooted within one's heart.

The Prophetic Solution: Apartments in Jannah

The Prophet ﷺ has given us solutions. He has told us how we can solve these issues. He says:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhī, Hadith 1984)

Within Jannah, there are these apartments, these abodes — the inside is seen from the outside, and the outside is seen from the inside. A Bedouin stood up and asked: "For whom are these, O Messenger of Allah?" The Prophet ﷺ responded and gave a description of these individuals. These are people who:

• Feed people — أَطْعَمَ الطَّعَامَ
• Purify their speech — أَطَابَ الْكَلَامَ
• Are continuous in their fasting — أَدَامَ الصِّيَامَ
• Pray in the night when people are sleeping — وَصَلَّى لِلَّهِ بِاللَّيْلِ وَالنَّاسُ نِيَامٌ

Four qualities. They feed people — again, giving good, producing, being of benefit. They purify their speech. They continue in their fast. And they pray in the night. Four different avenues, four different aspects. This is what Rasulullah ﷺ is showing us — we have to be cognizant of purifying our speech.

Spreading the Salām

The great Ṣaḥābī ʿAbdullah ibn Salām — a famous companion who was a Jewish rabbi before he accepted Islam — says that one of the first aḥādīth he heard from Rasulullah ﷺ was:

(Sunan Ibn Mājah, Hadith 3251)

Spread the salām. Spread the peace. Spread the taḥiyyah, the greetings of Islam amongst the people. Why? Because that is producing good. That is bringing forth something that is good.

Returning to the Example of the Bee

Coming back to the example from the ḥadīth that I started the khutbah with — Rasulullah ﷺ takes a very firm oath:

(Musnad Aḥmad)

By the One in Whose hand the soul of Muḥammad resides — the example of a believer is like the bee. He intakes good. He produces good. And wherever he goes, he only benefits — he does not cause harm. He does not give taklīf, he does not cause ḥaraj, he does not cause problems for others. He is a person that has good things. This is the example of a believer — this is the example that Rasulullah ﷺ is setting for us.

If we have the كَلِمَةٌ طَيِّبَةٌ — if we have the pure kalimah, pure tawḥīd within our hearts:

Then the natural consequence of this purity that is within us — that we have taken inside of us — is that it will produce good things. It will produce good efforts. It will produce good akhlāq. It will produce good speech. It will protect us from backbiting. It will protect us from lying. It will protect us from cheating. It will protect us from cursing others.

This is the message of this ḥadīth of Rasulullah ﷺ.

Closing Duʿāʾ

We ask Allah to make us amongst those individuals who intake good and produce good. We ask Allah to make us amongst those whose speech is purified, so that we can be amongst those individuals that Allah enters into the highest ranks of Jannah.

وَأَخِرُ دَعْوَانَا الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ

Second Khutbah

All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of all the worlds. Peace and blessings be upon His trustworthy Messenger.

Allah said in His Glorious Book — after seeking refuge with Allah from the accursed Shayṭān — in the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful:

"O Messengers, eat of the good things and do righteous deeds."

And Allah said:

"Do you not see how Allah set forth an example of a good word — like a good tree, whose root is firm and whose branch is in the sky?"

And the Prophet ﷺ said:

(Musnad Aḥmad)

Indeed, Allah has spoken the truth, and the Messenger of Allah has spoken the truth. And we are of those who witness and are grateful.

I seek Allah's forgiveness for myself and for you and for the rest of the Muslims — so seek His forgiveness. Indeed, He is Ever-Forgiving.

O Allah, support Islam and the Muslims. O Allah, help those who help the religion of Muhammad and make us of them. And disgrace those who disgrace the religion of Muhammad and make us not of them. O Allah, grant us the recognition of truth and grant us to follow it. O Allah, show us falsehood as falsehood and grant us to avoid it. O Allah, make us firm upon faith. O Allah, enlighten our hearts with the light of the Qur'an. O Allah, enlighten our hearts with the light of Islam.

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