Arachnophobes need not apply

THE Torah records that, before he ascended the throne of Judah, the young slingshot hero David incurred the wrath of King Saul and was obliged to flee, hiding from soldiers in a cave. A spider wove a conspicuous and timely web across the entrance and his pursuers passed on, assuming that no one would be beyond the intact structure. Islamic tradition, meanwhile, tells how the prophet Muhammad, avoiding ambush by Quraysh soldiers on a Hijra journey from Mecca to Medina, hid in the Cave of Thawr. Allah commanded a spider to weave a web across the entrance and these soldiers likewise concluded that no one would be hiding beyond it. Strange coincidence or common mythical source? In any event, two major faiths shoulder to shoulder in the same region had cause, it would seem, to regard spiders with significant respect.

‘Two major faiths had cause, it would