The Miracle of Honey as an Alternative Medicine

Introduction

Honey is a sweet and viscous fluid produced by honeybees from the nectar of flowers. "The definition of honey stipulates a pure product that does not allow for the addition of any other substance. This includes, but is not limited to, water or other sweeteners," according to the United States National Honey Board 2003 and other nations' food regulations. Honey is significantly sweeter than table sugar and has attractive chemical properties for baking. Honey has a distinctive flavor which leads some people to prefer it over sugar and other sweeteners.

Liquid honey does not spoil. Because of its high sugar concentration, it kills most bacteria by crenation. Natural airborne yeasts cannot become active in it because the moisture content is too low. Natural, raw honey varies from 14% to 18% moisture content. As long as the moisture content remains under 18%, virtually no organism can successfully multiply to significant amounts in honey, though, importantly, enough bacteria survive to make honey dangerous for infants (especially Clostridium botulinum).

The study of pollens and spores in raw honey (melissopalynology) can determine floral sources of honey. Because bees carry an electrostatic charge, and can attract other particles, the same techniques of melissopalynology can be used in area environmental studies of radioactive particles, dust, or particulate pollution.

A main effect of bees collecting nectar to make honey is pollination, which is crucial for flowering plants.

Islam and honey

More than 1400 years ago Allaah and His messenger told us that honey can heal a variety of medical problems.

Allaah Says (what means): "And the Lord inspired the bee, saying: Take your habitations in the mountains and in the trees and in what they erect. Then, eat of all fruits and follow the ways of your Lord made easy (for you)'. There comes forth from their bellies a drink of varying colors wherein is healing for men. Verily in this is indeed a sign for people who think." [Quran 16:68-69]

The Prophet has also told us of the healing found within honey for a variety of medical problems, including stomach ailments. It is reported by Al-Bukhaari that a man came to the Prophet because his brother had a stomach disorder. The Prophet said: "Let him drink honey." The man returned a second time complaining that no improvement happened in his brother’s case, and again the Prophet responded: "Let him drink honey." The man returned again, and said: "I have done that but to no avail." Thereupon the Prophet responded: "Allaah has said the truth, but your brother's stomach has told a lie. Let him drink honey." He drank it and was cured.

It is also reported that the Prophet said: "Make use of the two remedies: honey and the Quran." (At-Tirmithi)

Modern medicine has only recently discovered the fact that honey is a remedy to many diseases. Traditional uses of honey have included honey mixed with lemon for sore throats. Honey coats the throat and reduces throat irritation. Research has already shown that honey blocks the growth of oral bacteria.

Honey has also been used for stomach pains and problems. Modern research shows that honey is effective when used in the treatment of gastric or peptic stomach ulcers. Research has also revealed that honey is effective in the treatment of various wounds and infections because of its antimicrobial (antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal) properties.

Researchers are not absolutely sure why honey heals but they are learning new things about honey everyday. As mentioned in the beginning, honey contains a variety of sugars and minerals. Honey is also considered an antioxidant. This means it allows the blood to circulate better and provide more oxygen to areas of the body such as the brain.

Honey can also be used externally to promote healing when applied to wounds, even postoperative wounds. Honey has also been effective in its use to treat burns. It has even been shown to be low in calories and useful as a sweetener for diabetics, people with heart disease or those overweight.

Although there is healing in honey for a variety of medical disorders, certain precautions should be taken:

1- Children under the age of one year should not be given honey due to the possibility of infant botulism. This type of food poisoning can be deadly, however, it only seems to affect infants under one year of age.

2- If you have any known allergies to specific plants, then you should make sure the honey you are using is not produced from that plant.

3- People with allergies to bee stings should be careful when using other bee-related products such as propolis or royal jelly. However, if these precautions are followed, then honey may, Allaah willing provide healing for you.

Conclusion

Muslims acknowledge and accept that Allaah and His Prophet know better and that our Creator Has revealed the truth. Therefore, we study the research that is available, not to confirm or deny the truth that has been revealed by Allaah and his Prophet but to learn of new ways we can use honey.

The evolutionist’s myth of homology

Structural similarities between different species are called “homology” in biology. Evolutionists try to present those similarities as evidence for evolution.
Darwin thought that creatures with similar (homologue) organs had an evolutionary relation with each other and that these organs must have been inherited from a common ancestor. According to his assumption, both pigeons and eagles had wings; therefore, pigeons, eagles and indeed all other birds with wings were supposed to have evolved from a common ancestor.

Homology is a deceptive argument advanced on the basis of no other evidence than an apparent physical resemblance। This argument has never once been verified by a single concrete discovery in all the years since Darwin’s day. In no layer of the earth has anyone come up with a fossil of the imaginary common ancestor of the creatures with homologue structures. Furthermore, the following issues make it clear that homology provides no evidence that evolution has occurred.

1. One finds homologue organs in creatures of completely different species among which evolutionists have not been able to establish any sort of an evolutionary relationship;


2. The genetic codes of some creatures that have homologue organs are utterly different from one another।


3. The embryological development of homologue organs in different creatures is completely different।

Let us now examine each of these points one by one।

Similar Organs in Entirely Different Living Species

There are a number of homologue organs shared by different species among which evolutionists cannot establish any kind of evolutionary relationship. Wings are an example. In addition to birds, we find wings on bats (which are mammals), on insects and even on some dinosaurs, which are extinct reptiles. Not even evolutionists posit an evolutionary relationship or kinship among those four different classes of animal.
Another striking example is the amazing resemblance and structural similarity observed in the eyes of different creatures. For example, octopus and man are two extremely different species between which no evolutionary relationship is likely even to be proposed, yet the eyes of both are very much alike in terms of their structure and function. Not even evolutionists claim that man and octopus had a common ancestor to account for their similar eyes. These and numerous other examples confirm that the evolutionist claim that “homologue organs prove that living species have evolved from a common ancestor” has no scientific basis.

In fact, homologue organs should be a great embarrassment for evolutionists. The famous evolutionist Frank Salisbury’s confession revealed in his statements on how extremely different species came to have very similar eyes underscores the impasse of homology: “Even something as complex as the eye has appeared several times; for example in the squid, the vertebrates and the arthropods. It’s bad enough accounting for the origin of such things once, but the thought of producing them several times according to the modern synthetic theory makes my head swim.”

The Genetic and Embryological Impasse of Homology

In order for the evolutionist claim concerning “homology” to be taken seriously, similar (homologue) organs in different creatures should also be coded with similar (homologue) DNA codes। However, they are not। In most cases the genetic coding is quite different. Furthermore, similar genetic codes in the DNAs of different creatures are often associated with completely different organs.

Michael Denton, an Australian professor of biochemistry, describes in his book Evolution: A Theory in Crisis, The Genetic Impasse of the Evolutionist Interpretation of Homology: “Homologous structures are often specified by non-homologous genetic systems and the concept of homology can seldom be extended back into embryology.”
Another point is that in order for the homology claim to be considered valid, the embryological development (developmental stages in the egg or mother’s womb) of the species with homologous organs should parallel one another. In fact, the embryological development of such organs is completely different in every living species.

To conclude, we can say that genetic and embryological research has proven that the concept of homology, defined by Darwin as “evidence of the evolution of living things from a common ancestor”, can by no means be regarded as any evidence at all. In this respect, science can be said to have proven the Darwinist thesis false time and time again.