16.Sura al-Nahl

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

وَإِنَّ لَكُمْ فِي الأَنْعَامِ لَعِبْرَةً...   

16: 66.  And verily in cattle (too) will ye find an instructive Sign.

C2093. The spiritual sustenance which Allah gives is typified by the wonderful ways of sustenance in the physical world, which figure forth Allah's providence and loving care for His creation. And the wonderful transformations in the physical world, which all tend to the benefit of man, are also Signs of His supreme wisdom.

In the previous verse rain was mentioned, which gives new life to dead nature. In this and the following two verses our attention is drawn to milk, the products of the date and the vine, and honey.

... نُّسْقِيكُم مِّمَّا فِي بُطُونِهِ ...

From what is within their bodies,

C2094. Their; in the Arabic, it is "its", in the singular number, for two reasons:

-        cattle is the generic plural, and may be treated as a singular noun;

-        the instructive Sign is in cattle collectively, but the milk is the product of each single individual.

... مِن بَيْنِ فَرْثٍ وَدَمٍ لَّبَنًا خَالِصًا... 

between excretions and blood, We produce, for your drink, milk, pure

C2095. Milk is a secretion in the female body, like other secretions, but more specialized.

Is it not wonderful that the same food, eaten by males and females, produces in the latter, when they have young, the wholesome and complete food, known as milk?

Then, when cattle are tamed and specially bred for milk, the supply of milk is vastly greater than is necessary for their young and lasts for a longer time than during the period they give suck to their young.

And it is a wholesome and agreeable diet for man. It is pure, as typified by its whiteness. Yet it is a secretion like other secretions, between the excretions which the body rejects as worthless and the precious blood-stream which circulates within the body and is the symbol of life itself to the animal which produces it.

... سَآئِغًا لِلشَّارِبِينَ ﴿٦٦﴾

and agreeable to those who drink it.

Other versions:

16: 66 [an-Nahl, Mecca 70]

Yusuf Ali And verily in cattle (too) will ye find an instructive Sign. From what is within their bodies between excretions and blood We produce for your drink milk pure and agreeable to those who drink it.

Pickthall And lo! in the cattle there is a lesson for you. We give you to drink of that which is in their bellies, from betwixt the refuse and the blood, pure milk palatable to the drinkers.

Yuksel For you there is a lesson in the livestock; We give you to drink from what is in its stomachs between the digested food and the blood, a pure milk which is relieving for the drinkers.

Transliteration Wa inna lakum fil an'a_mi la'ibrah(tan), nusqikum mimma_ fi butu_nihi mim baini farsiw wa damil labanan kha_lisan sa_'igal lisy sya_ribin(a).