ALLAH is the One Who is All-Powerful, All-Mighty

Al-Ankabut: 41

PROTECTORS OTHER THAN ALLAH TAALA ARE AS WEAK AS SPIDER’S WEB

بسم اللہ الرحمن الرحیم

“The parable of those who take protectors other than ALLAH TAALA is that of a spider who builds for itself a dwelling, and surely, the weakest of all dwellings is the dwelling of a spider, if they but knew it.” [Al-Qur”an… Surah Ankabut 29: 41]

In Arabic a spider is called ‘Ankabut’ and it is the name of chapter 29 of the Quran.

Here are some interesting facts about spiders and its web:

• Spiders have been on the planet for around 350,00 years.

• There are at least 37,000 known species of spiders in the world.

• Spiders are invertebrates, arthropods and ARACHNIDS.

• The English word spider comes from the German word meaning spinner.

• Spiders have 2 body parts, a cephalothorax and abdomen.

• Spiders have 8 legs attached to the cephalothorax.

• Most spiders have poor eyesight even with 8 eyes. Some spiders may only have 2,4, or 6 eyes.

• All spiders are predators.

• All spiders make silk, but not all spiders make webs. Some silk is sticky, some is dry. Silk is made in the abdomen and squirted from the spinnerets. Spiders have six spinnerets. Some spiders can make seven different kinds of silk.

• Silk is liquid until it hits the air and then it hardens.

• A spider does not chew its food. It bites its prey and the venom injected into the prey paralyzes or kills it prey. The digestive effect of the venom turns the tissue of the prey into a liquid which is then sucked up into the spider’s stomach. Spiders are able to turn insects into a kind of soup as they are only able to eat liquids.

• Spider legs are covered with hairs that serve as sense organs. The hairs pick up vibrations and smells from the air. Spiders have at least 2 claws at the end of each leg. These claws allow them to climb glass. Web builders have 3 tiny claws at the end of each leg and they hang onto their web with the middle claw.

• Jumping spiders have the best eyesight of all spiders. They can see 4-12 inches away. Most web-building spiders have poor eyesight and rely on web vibrations.

• Web weaving spiders use webs to trap insects. The shape of the web varies with species. Some build orb webs, funnel, sheet, dome, mesh or tangle types of web. Some spiders do not make webs.

• Some orb weaving spiders put a special design in the center of the web, with a thicker silk. This is called a stabilimentum. It gives off ultra-violet rays which attract insects, allow birds to see the web and often hides the spider in the middle of the web.

• Baby spiders are called spiderlings. They break out of the egg case using an egg tooth on the pedipalp. There may be 500 spiderlings in an egg case. They remain in or around the egg case until they have molted one time. Some spiderlings will prey upon others in the egg case.

• Enemies of spiders are: humans, weather, frogs, toads, lizards, birds, shrews, hunting beetles, ants, centipedes, parasitic flies, wasps, fungus and other spiders.

• Cobwebs have been used for dressing wounds. It seems to have an anticoagulant in the silk.

• Wandering spiders trail a safety line behind them as they travel and anchor it down periodically. When they return they recycle the silk by eating the safety line. This helps them produce more silk.

The fundamental principle of Islam is ‘Tawheed ‘, which means oneness of ALLAH TAALA. To associate any partner with Him, and calling upon anything else other than Him is its opposite and is called ‘shirk’.

Shirk with ALLAH TAALA can be classified in three categories:

1. To believe that others share His Lordship.

2. Giving Him the attributes of His creation, or giving creation His attributes or names.

3. Worshipping anything other than Him.

ALLAH TAALA is the One and only and He is far above the shirk that anyone may do.

ALLAH IS THE PROTECTOR

The Quran itself explains the attributes of ALLAH TAALA at many places, which tell us that with Him rest all the supreme power and He shares it with no one. ALLAH TAALA is the Creator of everything and only He is the Protector, Cherisher and Sustainer of His creation. In an awesome Ayah of the Quran we get a beautiful introduction about our Lord :

“ALLAH! There is no God but Him; The Living, The Eternal. He neither slumbers nor sleeps. To Him belongs all that is in the Heavens and the Earth. Who can intercede with Him without His permission? He knows what is before them and what is behind them. They cannot gain excess to anything out of His knowledge except what He pleases. His Throne is more vast than the heavens and the earth, and guarding these both does not fatigue Him. He is Exalted, the Supreme.” [Ayat-ul-Kursi …..2: 255]

The One who possesses the ultimate control over everything can only be the best protector, and ALLAH is He, and He is the One who is more near than the jugular vein of his slave and He listens and answers the suppliants when they call on Him.

“It is ALLAH Who is the custodian of everything” [11: 12] “Indeed my Rabb is watching over everything.” [11: 57] “ALLAH is the one Who has power over everything.” [18: 45]

“O mankind it is you who stand in need of ALLAH TAALA, and it is ALLAH TAALA Who is free of all wants, Worthy of all praise.” [35: 15]

We are all in need of ALLAH’s protection not only in this world but in the Hereafter too, then it is in our own favor that we get hold of a strong and reliable support. ALLAH says: “He who surrenders himself to ALLAH TAALA and leads a righteous life has indeed grasped the most trustworthy hand-hold; as the ultimate disposal of affairs rests with ALLAH TAALA.” [31: 22]

Anything else that is called upon besides ALLAH TAALA is very very weak like a spider’s web, which has no firm grounding and is destroyed easily.

ALLAH TAALA says: “O mankind! Here is an example for you, so listen to it carefully. Those deities whom you call besides ALLAH TAALA, cannot create a single fly, even if they combined all their forces, rather, if a fly snatches away anything from them, they cannot even get it back; HOW FEEBLE MINDED ARE THE SUPPLIANTS AND HOW POWERLESS ARE THOSE WHOM THEY SUPPLICATE! They do not render to ALLAH TAALA the homage due to Him; in fact ALLAH TAALA is the One Who is All-Powerful, All-Mighty.” [22: 73-74]

allah