[58] On the authority of Muhammad ibn al-Ghurr al-Jawad al-Kufi, from Muhammad ibn Mihran, from Muhammad ibn Sinan—peace be upon him—from al-Mufaddal ibn 'Umar—peace be upon him—who said: "I was one day with the Scholar—may His Might be exalted—beside one of the walls of Kufa, and we were in a house conversing when my gaze fell upon a spider ('Ankabut) that had emerged from beneath his feet. He said to it: "May Allah curse you! Has the time not come for you to return? Stand and kill it, O Mufaddal, for it is al-Humayra 1 !"
He [Mufaddal] said: "I rushed toward it to kill it, but it cried out: 'O Mufaddal, if you kill me, you will have killed seventy souls of your own kind, for it is but one for one!'" I replied: "Be gone, [you despicable thing]! There is no retaliation (Qisas) against the believers, nor is there punishment for them; all reward belongs to the believers." Then I said: {Praise be to Allah, who has removed from us [all] sorrow. Indeed, our Lord is Forgiving and Appreciative} 2 .
The words of the Almighty: {And whoever disbelieves—let not his disbelief grieve you.
To Us is their return, and We will inform them of what they did. Indeed, Allah is Knowing of that within the breasts} 3 .