This calligram explores the role of the bee in the Quran. The 16th chapter is titled The Bee, and it says that God inspired the bee. Bees are God’s miracles – their function and behavior is an example of the presence of God. For instance, the “waggle dance” that bees do to communicate the whereabouts of pollen to other bees is fascinating. Not only does it convey the bearing, allowing an angle to be read and calculated by other bees, but the amount of time the bee spends “waggling” is proportional to the distance to the pollen. The beehive, a neat, orderly tessellation found in nature, and honey, a sweet drink that varies in colors, are also extraordinary. In the Quran, these aspects of bees are considered divine, inspired by God, and a sign of God’s presence. 

In my calligram, I tried to represent this in multiple ways. The honeycomb represents the neat, orderly tessellation that is found in nature. I tried to blend the “Allah” Arabic script into the beehive, so as to represent the way signs of Allah can be found in bees / beehives. I wrote it in a dark color, similar to the edges of a beehive, to blend it in, but I didn’t make it completely blend in with the beehive. I wanted the “Allah” script to be visible if you were looking for it - the same way that you can find signs of God in nature and in bees if you look for it. I also drew a bee in the last “h,” to represent a dancing bee. 

**Fun fact: Bees have either 16 pairs of chromosomes (Queen/workers, female) or 16 single chromosomes (drones, male), and The Bee is the 16th chapter in the Quran!