A Decisive Review Contemplating the Nutritional, Prophylactic and Therapeutic Efficacy of Asl (Honey) in the Context of Traditional Prophetic Medicine

Honey is a remarkable viscous liquid, prepared by bees from nectars of various plants. It has occupied a prominent place in traditional medicines throughout history. The ancient Egyptians, Assyrians, Chinese, Greeks and Romans employed honey for different diseases. The Noble Qur’an and many Prophetic narrations refer to honey as a great healer of disease. Allah, Almighty, says (what means): “And your Lord inspired the bee, saying: ‘Take you 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 colour wherein is healing for men. Verily, in this is indeed a sign for people who think.” [Al-Qur’an 16:68-69] OBJECTIVE: To explore the various narrations of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in authentic scriptures about honey and to rule out its efficacy on the basis of scientific studies.
METHODS: Thorough literature review including Ahadith and various scientific studies and several online databases including Web of Science, Science Direct, and PubMed were explored to suffice the objective.

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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The datasets used in this study are openly available at [repository link] and the source code is available on GitHub at [GitHub link].

This work did not receive any external funding.