Jamming With Ants

Foremost, no, the ants I am referring to are not Adam and The Ants, but those tiny 6legged insects which can be found in almost every corner of a house...except those houses which have been fumigated.

When I reached home late this afternoon, my nose picked up a rather disturbing smell coming from one of my neighbour's house. I quickly close my nose for apart from not liking the smell, I also think it can be harmful to one's health - my neighbour was spraying one of those canned pesticides to rid a small army of ants feasting on some organic matter. In the past, I too would have done the same but refrain from it now after learning a few things.

Ants are wonderful creatures actually. They live in colonies and each ant within the colony have specific duties of their own. Some are foragers, some soldiers, some feeders, and yet some...well, whatever. In general, some ant behaviorist have even likened them to nature's thrash collectors. No, really.

Ants and many other creatures which we normally treat as pests, are actually doing the cleaning job for us, literally carting away the litter we may have dropped, denying germs or bacterias the chance to bloom and infect humans in one way or another. OK, do so maggots. But, after reading a hadith about ants, I have tried my best not to harm any. There are however, times which I, through the involuntary movement or reaction of my hands, fail to remember the hadith as below:

Hadis riwayat Abu Hurairah ra.:
Dari Rasulullah saw. bahwa seekor seekor semut pernah menggigit salah seorang nabi. Nabi tersebut lalu memerintahkan untuk mendatangi sarang semut dan membakarnya. Tetapi kemudian Allah menurunkan wahyu kepadanya: Apakah hanya karena seekor semut menggigitmu lantas kamu membinasakan satu umat yang selalu bertasbih

Nombor hadis dalam kitab Sahih Muslim [Bahasa Arab saja]: 4157

Like earlier just now, emak and I was enjoying this bar of Hershey's which I had just bought. Off course, when one eats chocolate bars, small crumbs are bound to fall out of one's notice. One, would only become aware of it when one see a small army of ants crowding the table. First thought and reaction: Get the pesticides! But, that would only be contrary to what I'm beginning to learn; had I been more careful when eating chocolates, the ants would not have come. So, next when I do see an army of ants, I'm going to sing this song to them.

Unless, off course, they happen to be an army of African Killer Ants. Hmm...are there any such things?