How Did Spiders Save the Prophet?
WouterThe story of how the spider saved the prophet is a classic. It has been told in the Islamic, Jewish and Christian traditions. It also has been incorporated into Japanese folktales. The retelling of this classic true story, released in the month of Ramadan, tells the tale from different perspectives.
The story goes that in the time of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), the Quraysh people were chasing him. They were close to his village of Ghar e Soor, where he was hiding with Abu Bakr. They were preparing to attack him. So he decided to hide in a cave.
When the search party of Quraysh arrived at the mouth of the cave, they saw that the entrance had a web. This made the Quraysh people believe that the prophet must have been hiding. They thought that he could not be in the cave without the spider’s web. They waited a few days to enter the cave.
The Quraysh troops were not able to find the nest. When they returned, they found that the doves had nested in the area. The Quraysh soldiers were about to attack the nest.
However, Allah sent an invisible agent to protect the prophet. The spider hid in the acacia tree and woven a web between the tree and the cave. This prevented the soldiers of Abu Jahal from entering the cave.
The holy spider symbolises communion with the natural world. It symbolizes that humans have to live together with animals.
