Friday, January 11, 2008

The Pigeon, The Spider and The Cave

There once was a cave named Thawra. She was small, dark and cozy. Very few creatures knew about her so she remained isolated. One day, a pigeon flew over Thawra in search for a place to build her nest. "What a nice place to have my babies," she thought. As Pigeon flew away to gather twigs for her nest, a spider who was searching for food happened to come across Thawra. It was really hot that day, so she decided to take a rest in Thawra.

When Pigeon returned she found Spider. "Excuse me Mrs. Spider, this cave belongs to me. I found it first and would like to build my nest here," the pigeon said. The spider did not want to leave the nice cool cave, "I'm sorry, Mrs Pigeon, but I was here first, so you will have to build you nest elsewhere." The pigeon and the spider began to argue.

The arguing woke up Thawra. "Why are you arguing," she asked yawning. "Well, it's like this Ms. Thawra," Mrs. Spider began, " Mrs. Pigeon wants to throw me out in the heat even though I was here first." "But I found this cozy cave first," protested Mrs. Pigeon, "she can rest under any old rock, but I need more room."

Thawra the cave thought for a moment, "why don't you share my cave," she suggested. "Share?" they replied. "haven't you heard about the Pigeon and the spider who worked together to save the life of the Prophet (saw) when he migrated to Medinah?" Thawra asked. "No," they answered, "please tell us."

"Well it all happened a long time ago. The Prophet (saw) and his best friend Abu Bakr As Saddiq (ra) were secretly leaving Mecca. The Quraish were very angry that the muslims had found a city that welcomed Islam. So they decided to kill the Messenger (saw) before he left. But Allah(swt) saved the Messenger (saw) by making the Meccans fall asleep outside his (saw) very door as he (saw) left his home.

It did not take long before the Meccans woke up and found the Messenger (saw) gone. They searched the desert for the Messenger (saw) and his best friend. But the Messenger (saw) and Abu Bakr (ra) found me first. They hid in me. The Meccans had just arrived and was going to search me when Allah (swt) sent a Pigeon and a spider to save the Messenger (saw) and Abu Bakr (ra)."

"How did they save them," asked Mrs Spider. "Well, the spider spun a web at my entrance, while the pigeon built her nest next to it. The Meccans thought that if the Messenger (saw) had entered, he would have scared away the pigeon and broken the spider's web. So they left and the Messenger (saw) and Abu Bakr (ra) were saved!

So you see, you can share my cave, just like the pigeon and the spider." "You are right," said Mrs. Pigeon, "we can share your cave Ms. Thawra." "Yes, and we are sorry for disturbing you Ms. Thawra," added Mrs Spider. "It's okay," yawned Thawra as they all settled for a nice cool nap.

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