and spoke:
"You're right, Aisha," it said. "I am a porcu-
pine and I could have hurt you with my spikes
even without wanting to."
"There's a porcupine here!" exclaimed Aisha
happily. "Why is your body covered with sharp
spikes like that?"
"Allah gave me these spikes to protect myself from
my enemies" explained the porcupine. "When I'm in
danger I roll up like a ball and the spikes protect me."
"I know some animals go to sleep during the winter. Do
you?" she asked her new friend.
The porcupine nodded. "I can't say I like cold weather
very much. As soon as the winter temperature drops
below 55 degrees Fahrenheit (13 degrees Celsius) I go to
sleep. Almighty Allah keeps me asleep throughout the win-
ter and wakes me up when spring comes. It would be im-
possible for me to think for myself that winter conditions
would be so severe that it would be better for me to sleep
for a while to stay alive. The Qur'an says this: 'Among
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