Repeat After Me....

I will post regularly. I will post regularly. I will post regularly. I will post regularly.I will post regularly. I will post regularly.I will post regularly. I will post regularly.I will post regularly. I will post regularly.I will post regularly. I will post regularly.I will post regularly. I will post regularly.I will post regularly. I will post regularly.I will post regularly. I will post regularly.I will post regularly. I will post regularly.I will post regularly. I will post regularly.I will post regularly. I will post regularly.I will post regularly. I will post regularly.I will post regularly. I will post regularly.I will post regularly. I will post regularly.I will post regularly. I will post regularly.I will post regularly. I will post regularly.I will post regularly. I will post regularly.I will post regularly. I will post regularly.

Killing Black Pepper

When I got home yesterday ready to pass the 30 minutes or so before iftar in some ibadat I was greeted by the sight of an army of ants hostily taking over my kitchen. They were marching (really like soldiers in formation!) from somewhere around the kitchen window down the floor around the trash can where a renegade piece of lettuce that was lying from trying to save itself from the fate of the trash can. However, I am sure it wasn't pleased that it was now COVERED in a shiny, wriggling mass of ants.

Now I had no option, I couldn't pick each one up gently and carry him outside, remembering all the while the story of Prophet Sulaiman, alayhee salaam. So I just picked up the pretty turquise colored aerosol can of Raid and shot them all. I don't know what is in this stuff, but they don't even wriggle, just freeze and die. At least, that's what I hope happens. I hope for our benefit, the Raid people didn't just put an ingrediant that freezes them while they die slowly and painfully. I felt bad, really. But what can a sister do? I am not cruel, I didn't torture them.

Then I started wondering about the extreme PETA people - the ones who seem more intent on saving animals then humans and eating basically nuts and berries. Are there homes crawling with creepy crawlies? Do they not kill pests? I would like someone to answer that!

Here, at least, is the fiqh answer. Okay, feel better now.

The Farsi word for ants is mur-chah. Murch is actually pepper, and the name obviously stems from the fact that little ants, red or black, look like pepper (crushed ground, of course). And I have to say, when they were all dead (or stunned for all we know) from the Raid they did bear an uncanny resemblence to cracked black pepper. When you think of it like that, it doesn't feel as bad.

Someone should tell the PETA folks.