Allah Almighty says in the Holy Quran:
[Do you not see that] your Lord sent His revelation to the honey bee: “Make your hives in mountains, trees and high fences that people build. Then suck juice from fruits of all types and follow the paths evened out by your Lord.” From her belly comes out a fluid of different colors; there is cure in it for people. Surely, there is a great sign in this as well for those who reflect. (Quran 16:68-9)
Regarding this verse of the Quran, the respected teacher Maulana Wahiduddin Khan writes:
There are such extraordinary signs in the life of the honeybee that indicate it is definitely being guided by an external revelation. Without external guidance, the honeybee could not do this on its own. The way a honeybee works includes many such examples. For instance, the beehive. A honeybee constructs each of its hives with utmost precision, adhering to high mathematical laws. Who gave it this mathematical knowledge?
Thousands of bees work in a beehive. Their work is so highly organized that no human factory can compare. Who taught these bees this discipline? When these bees collect nectar from flowers and store it in their hive, they also add a precise amount of a preservative substance that protects the honey from spoiling over a long period. Who taught the bee this art?
The honeybee often travels several kilometers away from its hive to gather honey. In the morning, when it sets out from its hive to collect honey, it sets off in the dark, but in the evening, when it returns from its last trip, it returns in some light. The reason is that its journey in the morning is from darkness towards light, but in the evening, it is from light towards darkness. Therefore, if it sets off in the dark in the morning, it is assured that it will soon become light and the paths will become clearly visible. Conversely, if it returns late in the evening, there is a fear that it will soon become dark and it may lose its way. Who gave it the awareness to differentiate between its first journey in the morning and its last journey in the evening?” (Mutalah-e-Quran 101-102)
Reflecting on the strange case of the creation of honey, it becomes clear that just as there is physical sweetness found in honey, similarly, if a person reflects on honey and countless other creations of God, the result of this contemplation will grant him that rare ‘provision of the Lord’ (Taha 20:131), which has been described in a saying of the Prophet as ‘the sweetness of faith’ (zaiqah al-iman). This refers to the experiential and intuitive experience of faith in Allah on an intellectual and spiritual level, and the most subtle taste of a living and conscious faith, as opposed to a mere formal faith.