The ant

Something happened today that got me thinking. Again. It's becoming a habit maybe; seems like i think a lot lately. I hope it's a good thing InshaAllah.




There has always been many sugar ant nests near the house and garden, and some of them come inside the houses too. I have had a battle with them every spring.This year it hasn't been a big problem alhamdulilah, but sometimes I find a couple of ants in the laundry room, shower room or kitchen.. I have no idea from where they've come or where's their nest, so I have just got rid of the ones that I've seen. I try not to kill them but they have no business to my dinner table..


There's area next to the wall near my laundry room door where the rain doesn't reach and I have put some flower seeds there. Today I went to put some water to those flowers and I saw plenty of ants around one border stone there. I lifted the stone up and saw thousands of ants and their tunnels. I moved all the border stones and found more and more ants. They had a nest under each stone. It's clear that the ants that come in my house are from these nests. Now I'm thinking if I should leave them and just take care of the ones that come inside the house, or should I get rid of the nests. That might keep the ants away from my home for a long time.





I wanted to look up some hadith about killing ants. SubhanaAllah I didn't think what deeper meaning I would find! Sisters, read the hadiths that I found. I don't need to tell you what they mean; it's obvious. Not about ants after all, but about human beings and how we generalize and judge. Us Muslims face that often, especially us who live in the west. Now I'll let the hadiths speak for themselves.


Sahih Muslim: Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: An ant had bitten a Prophet (one amongst the earlier Prophets) and he ordered that the colony of the ants should be burnt. And Allah revealed to him:" Because of an ant's bite you have burnt a community from amongst the communities which sings My glory." (Book #026, Hadith #5567)

Sahih Bukhari: Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah's Apostle said, "Once while a prophet amongst the prophets was taking a rest underneath a tree, an ant bit him. He, therefore, ordered that his luggage be taken away from underneath that tree and then ordered that the dwelling place of the antsshould be set on fire. Allah sent him a revelation:-- "Wouldn't it have been sufficient to burn a single ant? (that bit you): (See Page 162, chapter No. 153). (Book #54, Hadith #536 )