The Bees Knees of Plainfield

The 16^th chapter of the Qur’an, named An-Nahl (The Bee) shares one of Allah’s most magnificent creations, a humble insect, the bee.  This chapter is both a literal insight into the purpose and actions of bees and a metaphor to lessons we can apply to ourselves.   The Qur’an teaches us many things in Surah An-Nahl including scientific information about the life of a bee, how they build homes, eat from fruits and produce honey.  The Qur’an expands on the healing properties of honey and the benefits of bees to nature.  Upon reflection, Muslims discover the symbolism of the bee’s social and labor construct.  We can conclude and reflect on this creation as nothing other than one of Allah’s divine miracles.  “If you tried to count Allah’s blessings, you would never be able to number them,” - Qur’an An-Nahl verse 18.

Not only do we have a spiritual connection to bees as Muslims, but we also know that bees play a most crucial role in nature as pollinators, preventing food and plant insecurity.  The impact of the ecosystem of our planet heavily relies on bees.  Without them, our environment will suffer.  Bees are sensitive to environmental changes.  Maintaining environmental welfare that may impact bee populations falls on us all. 

One such family doing their part to support the population and care of the bee and its crucial role in our world is the Khan-Siddiqui family of Plainfield Indiana.  Meet the Khan-Siddiqui family, Shariq Siddiqui, his wife Sobia, four children, one son-in-law, a grandchild and in laws who live just down the street from them.  This family has been very active in the Muslim community in Indiana for many years being especially active in the Islamic Society of Greater Indiana. 

Beekeeping for Shariq Siddiqui, an Indiana resident of over 30 years, is mainly a solo hobby, doing the majority of the work himself with the help of his two sons who step in while Siddiqui travels.  Shariq Siddiqui often travels all over the world training nonprofits practitioners, leaders and volunteers on how to fundraise, manage volunteers and be exceptional leaders. He does this through either one-, two- or three-day professional development courses offered by the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy Muslim Philanthropy Initiative. On his current trip through mostly eastern and southern Africa, Siddique has trained over 80 people in Istanbul, Turkey; over 80 people in Durban, South Africa; over 120 in Johannesburg, South Africa; over 130 in Blantyre, Malawi; over 35 in Kigali, Rwanda and over 80 in Kampala, Uganda. He will also be training people in Zanzibar and Kenya. 

So how does a world traveling philanthropist and trainer become interested in bees? Siddiqui says, “I heard that bees needed homes and that they were dying. My family is very environmentally conscious. Over the past few years, we had started hearing about how the bee population was dwindling and the effect it was having on the environment. As soon as I found out that Indiana allows homeowners to have beehives I looked into what it would take to have them on our property.”

His journey into beekeeping started at the end of the covid restrictions in the year 2021 when Siddiqui’s wife Sobia, a librarian and program facilitator for the Brownsburg Library, found a local beekeeper who agreed to hold a program series on the importance of bees for our health and environment and how to beekeep. Siddiqui says, “That’s when and where I met my current mentor who got me started a few months later.”

 Starting with just 3 hives with bees sourced from local beekeepers, and six chickens, Khan-Siddiqui Farms was born, producing vegetables, honey and eggs.  Today, Khan-Siddiqui farms has grown to 5 beehives yielding approximately 60 pounds of honey per hive and more than doubled the flock chickens.  Caring both for egg layers and some meat chickens, Siddiqui has learned how to raise, feed, and zabiha them through videos and books. “Everything is natural, organic and local. We have a few fruit trees and a fairly large vegetable garden where the bees get their pollen. In the summer we tend to let the weeds grow around the hives and if left long enough some grow very pretty, bright flowers that attract the bees and even hummingbirds.”

Although Siddiqui does most of the work with the bees, the family helps with different roles. When he is traveling, his two sons who are home take care of the chickens and bees. Sobia, and sometimes their youngest son, take charge of selling the honey and whoever is home at the time of the harvest helps with jarring the honey. I asked Siddiqui about the honey harvesting process.  He says “It’s hard work but if you are part of a group or coop it becomes easier, especially if they have the right equipment. There are two parts to a hive. The boxes that the bees live in to store honey and honey supers (smaller hive boxes) that bees store honey in when their own frames are full. There is a queen excluder between these boxes so that the queen bee doesn’t lay eggs there. So, we only have honey in the honey supers. When the time is right (usually July or August in Indiana) you use a fume board or a triangle device to have the bees move out of the honey supers safely. Then when the bees are gone from the honey supers into their boxes you remove the honey supers. You then use a tool to uncap the frames so that honey can be extracted. Frames are placed in a honey extractor that spins so the honey flies out and is poured into a honey collector. There is a filter that filters out any non-honey particles. The honey is then put into buckets until we are ready to pour into jars.”

Siddiqui, a member of the White Lick Beekeeping Association, says his goal with bees is to provide them a safe environment to thrive and pollinate but what he enjoys most about beekeeping is that “Bees are amazing to observe. They are hard workers. The honey is also great. If it was up to me, I wouldn’t sell the honey. But my family and some friends insisted we sell. So my kids came up with the design and logo. When we first started, my youngest was helping a friend sell his honey so it kind of just fell on him. Now he’s too busy, so my wife is the main contact person. We do give some away as gifts to family and friends.”

How can you purchase Khan-Siddiqui local honey?

Khan-Siddiqui Farms sell two sizes of honey, reasonably priced, compared to farmers markets and organic local honey sold at other stores. Pints are sold for $15 and quarts for $25. Usually during Ramadan, they have a sale and if you recycle your empty jar by returning it to them, you’ll get $2 off your next order.

To place an order, text Sobia Khan at (317) 502-7075