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29. Surah Al-'Ankabut (The Spider)
Period Uncertain
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
وَقَارُونَ
وَفِرْعَوْنَ
وَهَامَانَ...
29:39. (Remember also) Qarun, Pharaoh, and Haman:
C3461. For Qarun see 28:76-82;
Pharaoh is mentioned frequently in the Quran, but he is mentioned in association with Haman in 28:6;
for their blasphemous arrogance and defiance of Allah see 28:38.
They thought such a lot of themselves, but they came to an evil end.
...وَلَقَدْ جَاءهُم مُّوسَى بِالْبَيِّنَاتِ فَاسْتَكْبَرُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ...
there came to them Moses with Clear Signs, but they behaved with insolence on the earth;
...وَمَا كَانُوا سَابِقِينَ ﴿٣٩﴾
yet they could not overreach (Us).
فَكُلًّا
أَخَذْنَا
بِذَنبِهِ...
29: 40. Each one of them We seized for his crime:
...فَمِنْهُم مَّنْ أَرْسَلْنَا عَلَيْهِ حَاصِبًا...
of them, against some We sent a violent tornado (with showers of stones);
C3462. For hasib (violent tornado with showers of stones), see 17:68; this punishment as inflicted on the Cities of the Plain, of which Lut preached (54:34).
Some Commentators think that this also applied to the 'Ad, but their punishment is described as by a violent and unseasonable cold wind (41:16; 54:19 and 69:6), such as blows in sand-storms in the Ahqaf, the region of shifting sands which was in their territory.
...وَمِنْهُم مَّنْ أَخَذَتْهُ الصَّيْحَةُ...
some were caught by a (mighty) Blast;
C3463. For saihat (Blast) see 11:67 and n. 1561, as also n. 1047 to 7:78 and n. 1996 to 15:73.
This word is used in describing;
- the fate of the Thamud (11:67);
- Madyan (11:94);
- the population to which Lut preached (15:73);
- and the Rocky Tract (Hijr, 15:83), part of the territory of the Thamud;
- also in the Parable of the City to which came three Prophets, who found a single-believer (36:29).
...وَمِنْهُم مَّنْ خَسَفْنَا بِهِ الْأَرْضَ...
some We caused the earth to swallow up;
C3464. This was the fate of Qarun: see 28:81.
...وَمِنْهُم مَّنْ أَغْرَقْنَا...
and some We drowned (in the waters):
C3465. This was the fate of the hosts of Pharaoh and Haman (28:40) as well as the wicked generation of Noah (26:120).
...وَمَا كَانَ اللَّهُ لِيَظْلِمَهُمْ وَلَكِن كَانُوا أَنفُسَهُمْ يَظْلِمُونَ ﴿٤٠﴾
it was not Allah Who injured (or oppressed) them:
they injured (and oppressed) their own souls.
مَثَلُ
الَّذِينَ
اتَّخَذُوا
مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ
أَوْلِيَاء
كَمَثَلِ
الْعَنكَبُوتِ...
29: 41. The parable of those who take protectors other than Allah is that of the Spider,
...اتَّخَذَتْ بَيْتًا...
who builds (to itself) a house;
...وَإِنَّ أَوْهَنَ الْبُيُوتِ ...
but truly the flimsiest of houses
C3466. The Spider's house is one of the wonderful Signs of Allah's creation. It is made up of fine silk threads spun out of silk glands in the spider's body.
There are many kinds of spiders and many kinds of spider's houses. Two main types of houses may be mentioned.
- There is the tubular nest or web, a silk-lined house or burrow with one or two trap-doors. This may be called his residential or family mansion.
- Then there is what is ordinarily called a spider's web, consisting of a central point with radiating threads running in all directions and acting as tie-beams to the quasi-circular concentric threads that form the body of the web. This is his hunting box.
The whole structure exemplifies economy in time, material, and strength. If an insect is caught in the net, the vibration set up in the radiating threads is at once communicated to the spider, who can come and kill his prey.
In case the prey is powerful, the spider is furnished with poison glands with which to kill his prey.
The spider sits either in the centre of the web or hides on the under-side of a leaf or in some crevice, but he always has a single thread connecting him with his web, to keep him in telephonic communication.
The female spider is much bigger than the male, and in Arabic the generic gender of 'Ankabut is feminine.
... لَبَيْتُ الْعَنكَبُوتِ... ...
is the Spider's house,
C3467. Most of the facts in the last note can be read into the Parable. For their thickness the spider's threads are very strong from the point of view of relativity, but in our actual world they are flimsy, especially the threads of the gossamer spider floating in the air.
So is the house and strength of the man who relies on material resources however fine or beautiful relatively; before the eternal Reality they are as nothing.
The spider's most cunning architecture cannot stand against a wave of a man's hand. His poison glands are like the hidden poison in our beautiful worldly plans which may take various shapes but have seeds of death in them.
...لَوْ كَانُوا يَعْلَمُونَ ﴿٤١﴾
if they but knew.
إِنَّ
اللَّهَ يَعْلَمُ
مَا يَدْعُونَ
مِن دُونِهِ
مِن شَيْءٍ...
29: 42. Verily Allah doth know of (everything) whatever that they call upon besides Him:
C3468. The last verse told us that men, out of spiritual ignorance, build their hopes on flimsy unsubstantial things (like the spider's web) which are broken by a thousand chance attacks of wind and weather or the actions of animals or men.
If they cannot fully grasp their own good, they should seek His Light. To Him everything is known,
- men's frailty,
- their false hopes,
- their questionable motives,
the false gods whom they enthrone in their midst, the mischief done by the neglect of Truth, and the way out for those who have entangled themselves in the snares of evil.
...وَهُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الْحَكِيمُ ﴿٤٢﴾
and He is Exalted (in power), Wise.
He is All-Wise and is able to carry out all He wills, and they should turn to Him.
Asad’s Version:
29:39
And [thus, too, did We deal with] Qarun and Pharaoh, arid Haman: 35 to them had come Moses with all evidence of the truth, but they behaved arrogantly on earth [and rejected him]; and withal, they could not escape [Us].
(29:40) For, every one of them did We take to task for his sin: and so, upon some of them We let loose a deadly storm-wind; and some of them were overtaken by a [sudden] blast;" and some of them We caused to be swallowed by the earth; and some of them We caused to drown. And it was not God who wronged them, but it was they who had wronged themselves.
29:41
THE PARABLE of those who take [beings or forces] other than God for their protectors is that of the spider which makes for itself a house: for, behold, the frailest of all houses is the spider's house. Could they but understand this!
(29:42) Verily, God knows whatever it is that men invoke instead of Him 57 for He alone is almighty, truly wise.
[[ Asad’s notes - 35 As regards Qarun, see 28:76 ff. and, in particular, the corresponding note 84; for Haman, note 6 on 28:6. The common denominator between these two and Pharaoh is their false pride (takabbur) and arrogance (istikbar), which cause them to become "archetypes of evil" (cf 28:41 and the corresponding note 40). A similar attitude of mind is said to have been characteristic of the tribes of Ad and Thamud, mentioned in the preceding verse. ]]