The Quran and the Spiders

Sunday, 07 June 2009 00:35 -

Allah, the Almighty, said: (The parable of those who take protectors other than
Allah is that of the spider, who builds (to itself) a house; but truly the flimsiest of
houses is the spider's house;- if they but knew) (Surat Al-Ankabot: 41).

From these verses, the following universal signs can be detected:

(1)Confirmation of the fact that the spider's house is the flimsiest house, whether
physically or spiritually. This has been proven by the late studies in zoology.

Following are some of the expositors' statements to explain the

previous verses:

* In abbreviation, Ibn Kathir (May Allah bless his soul)

mentioned: “This is an example given by Allah, the Almighty, of
the idolaters who revere gods besides Allah. The idolaters hope
that those gods will assist them, provide for them, and they turn
to them in times of hardship. In this regard, they are like the
spider’s house, in its weakness and frailty, because by clinging
to these gods they are like a person who holds on to a spider's
web and does not gain any benefit from that. Had they known
this, they would not have taken protectors other than Allah. This
is unlike the Muslim believer, whose heart is devoted to Allah
and, in addition, does well in following Allah's decrees. The
Muslim has grasped the most trustworthy handle, the one that

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never breaks because of its strength and stability…”

* In Tafsir Al-Jalalain “Al-Jalalain Interpretation” (may

Allah bless their souls), which was investigated and
commented on by Sheikh Mohamed Kan’an (May Allah
bestow good on him), the following was stated: (The
parable of those who take protectors other than Allah):
idols which they hope will benefit them (is that of the
spider, who builds (to itself) a house) in order to lodge in
it. (The flimsiest) the weakest (of houses is the spider's
house) that does not protect from heat nor cold. The
same thing applies to idols which do no good to their
worshippers. (If they but knew), they would not have
worshipped those idols.

* In Safwat Al-Bayan Lem’any Al-Quran, the following

was stated: (The parable of those who take protectors
other than Allah…), meaning that the parable of those
who worship idols and depend on them, as well as, hope
for benefit and meditation of those idols, is that of the
spider which builds itself a weak house by its spinning.
This house does not protect the spider from the hot or

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cold weather, nor does it protect from the rain or in times

of danger.

* The authors of Al-Montakhab fey Tafsir Al-Quran

Al-Karim (may Allah bestow good on them) stated the
following:

The talkers of vanities, who follow others than Allah, are

similar, in their weakness, frailty, and dependence on
others, to the spider which builds itself a house to protect
itself. The spider’s house is the flimsiest of houses and
farthest from being suitable for protection. If those talkers
of vanities were people of knowledge and intelligence,
they would not have done that.

The Spider from a Scientific Perspective

The spider is an animal of phylum Arthropoda, classified

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in Class Arachnida, which combines Order Araneida

along with other orders including scorpions and mites.

The spider’s body is divided into a prosoma where

the head is connected to the breast and an
undivided opisthosoma which includes the
abdomen. The prosoma carries four pairs of legs,
two pairs of feelers, and two chelicerae which
resemble a pair of pincers or claws that contain the
poison glands. The prosoma is separated from the
opisthosoma by a thin waist.

An anatomical photograph of silk-making glands

The spider has simple eyes whose number might be

eight or less. It is a predator of insects and has a
thick skin covered with hair which is shed around 7
to 8 times until it reaches maturity. Zoologists today
know more than thirty thousand types of spiders

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which vary in sizes (from less than a millimeter to

ninety millimeters), shapes and colors. Most spiders
live in the wild, mostly alone except at times of
mating and egg hatching. The spiders’ environment
extends from sea level to heights of five thousand
meters. The spider has three pairs of prominent
moving protrusions in the lower abdomen. These
protrusions have tiny holes from which the fluid
used to make the threads for its house comes out;
therefore, they are known as the spinners. This fluid
which comes out from a number of special glands to
outside the spider's body, through the rear spinners,
dries as soon as it is subjected to air. When it dries,
various threads are produced which differ in types,
length, and strength according to the difference in
the producing glands.

A photograph of the spider's threads being

produced from the silk glands as if it were a
thread factory

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The spider might stay in its house, where it

practices all life's activities, or it might have a
nest or a hideout other than the house, which is
connected to the house by a thread known as
the trap thread. The spider escapes to this
hideout at times of danger.

The Scientific Indications of the Holy Script

First: Referring to the spider in the singular

form:

In Lissan Al-Arab, under the subject

(ankab), it was mentioned that the
(ankaboot “spider”) is an animal which
weaves in the air, and on the mouth of the

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well, a flimsy thin web. It is a feminine word,

and may have been mentioned in poetry.
The spider’s house is called (al-akdaba).
Al-Feraa said: the spider is feminine, and
some Arabs may mention it. The plural form
is (al-ankabotat), (al-anakeb), and
(al-anakeeb). In Yemen’s language, it is
(aknabaah), as well as, (ankbaa) and
(ankabowah). Sibawayh mentioned
(ankabaa) while giving evidence on the
addition of ta'a in (ankaboot), so he does
not know if it is singular or plural. Ibn
Al-A'rabey said" (al-ankab) is for the
masculine, and (al-ankaba) is for the
feminine. It was said that (al-ankab) is the
spider’s classification. Al-Ankaboot maybe
masculine or feminine. Al-Moubarid said:
al-ankaboot is feminine and can be used for
the masculine.

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Most likely, the term (al-ankaboot) is for the

feminine singular, the plural of which is
(al-anakeb).

Naming the noble surat with the singular

form (Al-Ankaboot “The Spider") indicates
the solitary life of this animal, except at
times of mating and egg hatching. This can
be compared to the two surats Al-Nahel
(The Bees) and Al-Namel (The Ants), where
the names are plural since these insects
live in groups.

 
Second: In His saying: (Builds to itself a
house):

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In this noble quranic verse, there is a

clear indication that the female spider is
the one mainly undertaking the building
of the house. Consequently, building the
spider's house is a mission shouldered
by the female spiders. It is the female
which has in its body the glands for
secretion of the silk material from which
the spider’s house is woven. Sometimes,
the male spider might take part in
helping with the building, repairing or
expanding. However, the process of
building is mainly feminine. It is here
where we find the scientific miracle in
Allah's (the Almighty) saying: builds to
itself a house.

Third: In the Almighty's saying: (the

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flimsiest of houses is the spider's

house…)

This miraculous quranic script indicates

a number of important facts, some of
which are:

(1) Physical weakness:The spider’s

house, from the physical point of view, is
the weakest house of all, because it is
made out of a number of very delicate
silk threads. These threads are
interwoven, leaving large separating
spaces at most times. Therefore, they do
not protect from the heat of the sun, or
the extreme cold. These threads do not

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form adequate shade, nor protect from

the rain, storming winds, or the dangers
of attackers. This is despite the
miraculous building of this house.

(2) The weakness is in the spider’s

house and not the threads;for the
Almighty says (the flimsiest of houses).
This is a clear indication  that the
weakness and frailty are within the
spider's house and not the spider's
threads. This is a very precise indication.
The threads of the spider's house are
made of very delicate silk. The thickness
of one thread is usually one million of the
squared inch, or one part of four
thousand parts of the thickness of the
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ordinary human hair. Despite its

delicacy, it is the strongest biological
substance known to mankind so far. The
silk threads which make up the spider’s
web are considered stronger than steel,
and their strength is surpassed only by
the melted quartz. The thin thread
stretches to five times its length before it
is cut. Therefore, the scientists call it
“biological steel”
or “bio-steel”. It is twenty times stronger
than the ordinary metal steel. Its
tolerance measures 300,000 pound for
the square inch. Hypothetically speaking,
should there be a thick rope of the
spider’s threads, in the size of the
thumb, it can easily carry a "jumbo" jet.

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(3) Spiritual weakness:The spider’s

house, spiritually speaking, is the
flimsiest of all houses, because it is
deprived of all love and kindness, which
are the pillars of any happy home. The
female, in some types of spiders, kills
the male as soon as the fertilization
takes place. Being larger in size and
more violent, the female kills the male
and eats its body. In some cases, the
female eats its youngsters mercilessly.
In some types, the female dies after
fertilizing its eggs, which are usually
fostered in a silk bag. When the eggs
hatch, spiderlings come out to find
themselves in a very crowded place
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inside the eggs bag. The siblings then

start to fight for food,
space or both. The brother kills its
brother and sister, and the sister kills its
sister and brother, until the fight ends
with a few spiderlings remaining. These
spiderlings shed their skin and tear the
eggs bag to come out one after the other
with unhappy memories. They all then
spread in the surrounding environment.
Each female starts to build its house. On
the road to achieve this goal, some of
the spiderlings die, whereas those who
survive repeat the same tragedy. This
makes the spider’s house the most
violent and ruthless house, lacking all
forms of kinship. Hence, Allah the
Almighty sets it as a parable in its
weakness and frailty because it lacks the
simplest form of kindness between the
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husband and wife, the mother and her

children, the brother and his siblings,
and the sister and her siblings.

Fourth: In His saying: (If they but knew):

These facts were unknown to any

human at the time of revelation, and for
long centuries thereafter. They have
been discovered after extensive studies
of the behavior of the spider by hundreds
of scientists, for tens of years, until they
were realized in the last decades of the
twentieth century. That is why our God
(Exalted be He) ended the noble verse
with His saying (if they but knew).

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Consequently, the quranic description of

the spider’s house as being the flimsiest
of all houses; this description which was
revealed to an illiterate prophet (PBUH)
in a nation with a majority of illiterates,
fourteen hundred years ago, is
considered a scientific achievement
which no sensible person would imagine
a source for other than Allah the Creator.
Allah is the one who revealed the noble
quran with His knowledge to the final
Prophet and Messenger. It is Allah who
protected the quran in the same
language in which it was revealed (the
Arabic language) for fourteen or more
centuries. Allah will continue to protect
the quran until He inherits earth and
those who live on it. The quran will
remain as evidence on all people till the

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Day of Judgment. The truth within quran

will stand witness to the holy quran being
the words of Allah, the Creator. It will
also stand witness to the prophet hood
and message bestowed on the Final
Prophet and Messenger to whom the
quran was revealed (PBUH). The
Prophet has delivered the message, fulfil
led the trust, advised the nation, and
struggled in the cause of Allah until his
final days. We ask you Allah, the
Almighty, to reward him, our Prophet,
with the best of the rewards given to a
prophet for his works with his ummah,
and the best of rewards given to a
messenger for the fine fulfillment of his
mission. We pray to Allah to bestow on
our prophet
 

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the right of intercession and superiority

and send him (on the Day of Judgment)
to the highest standing (in Paradise)
which He promised him, for Allah does
not break His promises. We end our
supplication by praising Allah, and
praying to Him to bestow peace and
blessing on our Prophet Mohamed, his
family, companions and whoever follows
his way till the Day of Judgment.

Some Hidden Quranic Signs:

A- The house of the spideris not merely

its dwelling place. Being the sticky net it
is, it constitutes a trap for flying insects

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such as flies and others. These insects

are a prey on which the spider feeds.
Similarly, those idolaters who revere
gods besides Allah, and call people to
those revered gods, are in fact calling
them to an artful trap which leads them
to their death and destruction in this life
and the afterlife. Allah, the Almighty,
said: (Allah forgiveth not that partners
should be set up with Him; but He
forgiveth anything else, to whom He
pleaseth; to set up partners with Allah is
to devise a sin Most heinous indeed.)
(Surat Al- Nesaa: 48)

B- Warning against those withcorrupt

invocations who revere others besides
Allah, whether money or whim. This
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warning is issued through indicating their

hidden strings with which they hunt their
victims. These strings can be money,
sex, power, or any other hidden string
which destroys the victim once it is
trapped.

Source:    Research paper by Dr.

Zaghloul Al-Naggar, published in
Al-Ahram newspaper, issue number
(42749). Modified and added to by Feras
Nour Al-Hak.

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