Surah Al-Ankaboot

Al-Ankaboot (The Spider) is the 29th surah of the Quran. A Meccan surah of 69 verses, it spans the twentieth and twenty-first juz and is counted 85th in the traditional order of revelation, among the last surahs revealed in Mecca. Its central theme is trial: faith is tested, as it was for the prophets before, and those who persevere are promised guidance.

Name and context

The name comes from the parable of verse 41: those who take protectors other than God are like the spider that builds itself a house, "and the frailest of houses is the spider's house". The surah opens with the letters Alif-Lam-Mim, like the three that follow it. It addresses believers persecuted in Mecca; some scholars hold that its opening verses, which mention the hypocrites (29:11), were revealed in Medina.

Verse 8 enjoins kindness to parents but forbids obeying them if they push one to associate partners with God. According to Sahih Muslim, it concerns Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas, whose mother refused to eat or drink until he renounced Islam.

Themes

• Trial (29:1–13). "Do people think they will be left to say 'We believe' and not be tested?" (29:2). Some waver as soon as they are harmed, and the disbelievers offer to carry the sins of those who follow them (29:12).
• The prophets before (29:14–40). Noah stays among his people for 950 years; Abraham is saved from the fire, and Lot believes in him; Shu'ayb is sent to Madyan; then come 'Ad and Thamud, Qarun, Pharaoh and Haman. Each of those who denied is seized for his sin: by a storm of stones, the blast, the earth swallowing him, or drowning (29:40).
• Revelation and prayer (29:41–55). After the spider parable, the Prophet is told to recite the Book and establish prayer, for "prayer restrains from indecency and wrongdoing, and the remembrance of God is greater" (29:45). The People of the Book are to be engaged only in the best manner (29:46), and the Prophet had neither read nor written any scripture before (29:48).
• Emigration and trust (29:56–69). "My earth is spacious" (29:56) invites the persecuted to emigrate; "every soul shall taste death" (29:57), and God provides for creatures that carry no provision (29:60). This worldly life is "diversion and play" while the Hereafter is the true life (29:64).

The surah ends with a promise: "Those who strive for Us, We will surely guide them to Our ways" (29:69). It is followed in the Mushaf by Ar-Room, which is counted just before it in the order of revelation, and the story of Abraham is told in more detail in Al-Anbiya and As-Saaffat.