Creatures · a Light

The frailest of houses is the house of the spider

Surah al-Ankabut compares taking protectors other than God to a spider taking a house, and says the frailest of houses is the spider's house. Spider silk is not frail. Weight for weight, dragline silk has a tensile strength in the range of steel, and it absorbs far more energy before breaking, which is why materials scientists have spent decades trying to make it in factories. The verse does not say the thread is weak. It says the house is, and it is: an orb web keeps out no rain, no wind and no cold, is torn by a passing bird, and is usually eaten and rebuilt by its owner within a day. The comparison is about shelter, not tensile strength.

Surah al-Ankabut 29:41

Source · Qur'an 29:41