Allah describes the evil end and consequence of transgression, envy and injustice
in the story of the two sons of Adam, Habil and Qabil. One of them fought against
the other and killed him out of envy and transgression, because of the bounty that
Allah gave his brother and because the sacrifice that he sincerely offered to Allah
was accepted. The murdered brother earned forgiveness for his sins and was admitted
into Paradise, while the murderer failed and earned a losing deal in both the lives.
Allah said,
﴿وَاتْلُ عَلَيْهِمْ نَبَأَ ابْنَىْ
ءْادَمَ بِالْحَقِّ﴾
(And recite to them the story of the two sons of Adam in truth;) meaning, tell these
envious, unjust people, the brothers of swine and apes from the Jews and their likes
among mankind, the story of the two sons of Adam, Habil and Qabil, as many scholars
among the Salaf and later generations said. Allah's statement,
﴿بِالْحَقِّ﴾
(in truth;) means, clearly and without ambiguity, alteration, confusion, change,
addition or deletion. Allah said in other Ayat,
﴿إِنَّ هَـذَا لَهُوَ الْقَصَصُ الْحَقُّ﴾
(Verily, this is the true narrative ﴿about the story of `Isa﴾,)
﴿نَحْنُ نَقُصُّ عَلَيْكَ نبَأَهُم
بِالْحَقِّ﴾
(We narrate unto you their story with truth, ) and,
﴿ذلِكَ عِيسَى ابْنُ مَرْيَمَ قَوْلَ
الْحَقِّ﴾
(Such is `Isa, son of Maryam. (It is) a statement of truth.) Several scholars among
the Salaf and the later generations said that Allah allowed Adam to marry his daughters
to his sons because of the necessity of such action. They also said that in every
pregnancy, Adam was given a twin, a male and a female, and he used to give the female
of one twin, to the male of the other twin, in marriage. Habil's sister was not
beautiful while Qabil's sister was beautiful, resulting in Qabil wanting her for
himself, instead of his brother. Adam refused unless they both offer a sacrifice,
and he whose sacrifice was accepted, would marry Qabil's sister. Habil's sacrifice
was accepted, while Qabil's sacrifice was rejected, and thus what Allah told us
about them occurred. Ibn Abi Hatim recorded that Ibn `Abbas said -- that during
the time of Adam -- "The woman was not allowed in marriage for her male twin, but
Adam was commanded to marry her to any of her other brothers. In each pregnancy,
Adam was given a twin, a male and a female. A beautiful daughter was once born for
Adam and another one that was not beautiful. So the twin brother of the ugly daughter
said, `Marry your sister to me and I will marry my sister to you.' He said, `No,
for I have more right to my sister.' So they both offered a sacrifice. The sacrifice
of the one who offered the sheep was accepted while the sacrifice of the other ﴿the
twin brother of the beautiful daughter﴾, which consisted of some produce, was not
accepted. So the latter killed his brother.'' This story has a better than good
chain of narration. The statement,
﴿إِنَّمَا يَتَقَبَّلُ اللَّهُ مِنَ
الْمُتَّقِينَ﴾
("Verily, Allah accepts only from those who have Taqwa.) who fear Allah in their
actions. Ibn Abi Hatim recorded that Abu Ad-Darda' said, "If I become certain that
Allah has accepted even one prayer from me, it will be better for me than this life
and all that in it. This is because Allah says,
﴿إِنَّمَا يَتَقَبَّلُ اللَّهُ مِنَ
الْمُتَّقِينَ﴾
(Verily, Allah accepts only from the those who have Taqwa.) The statement,
﴿لَئِن بَسَطتَ إِلَىَّ يَدَكَ لِتَقْتُلَنِى
مَآ أَنَاْ بِبَاسِطٍ يَدِىَ إِلَيْكَ لاًّقْتُلَكَ إِنِّى أَخَافُ اللَّهَ رَبَّ الْعَـلَمِينَ
﴾
("If you do stretch your hand against me to kill me, I shall never stretch my hand
against you to kill you, for I fear Allah; the Lord of all that exists.") Qabil's
brother, the pious man whose sacrifice was accepted because of his piety, said to
his brother, who threatened to kill him without justification,
﴿لَئِن بَسَطتَ إِلَىَّ يَدَكَ لِتَقْتُلَنِى
مَآ أَنَاْ بِبَاسِطٍ يَدِىَ إِلَيْكَ لاًّقْتُلَكَ﴾
(If you do stretch your hand against me to kill me, I shall never stretch my hand
against you to kill you,) I will not commit the same evil act that you threaten
to commit, so that I will not earn the same sin as you,
﴿إِنِّى أَخَافُ اللَّهَ رَبَّ الْعَـلَمِينَ﴾
(for I fear Allah; the Lord of the all that exists.) and, as a result, I will not
commit the error that you threaten to commit. Rather, I will observe patience and
endurance. `Abdullah bin `Amr said, "By Allah! Habil was the stronger of the two
men. But, fear of Allah restricted his hand.'' The Prophet said in a Hadith recorded
in the Two Sahihs,
«إِذَا تَوَاجَهَ الْمُسْلِمَانِ بِسَيْفَيهِمَا
فَالْقَاتِلُ وَالْمَقْتُولُ فِي النَّار»
(When two Muslims fight (meet) each other with their swords, both the murderer as
well as the murdered will go to the Hellfire.) They said, "O Allah's Messenger!
It is all right for the murderer, but what about the victim'' Allah's Messenger
replied,
«إِنَّه كَانَ حَرِيصًا عَلى قَتْلِ
صَاحِبِه»
(He surely had the intention to kill his comrade.) Imam Ahmad recorded that, at
the beginning of the calamity that `Uthman suffered from, Sa`d bin Abi Waqqas said,
"I bear witness that the Messenger of Allah said,
«إِنَّهَا سَتَكُونُ فِتْنَةٌ القَاعِدُ
فِيهَا خَيْرٌ مِنَ الْقَائِمِ، وَالْقَائِمُ خَيْرٌ مِنَ الْمَاشِي، وَالْمَاشِي خَيْرٌ
مِنَ السَّاعِي»
(There will be a Fitnah, and he who sits idle during it is better than he who stands
up, and he who stands up in it is better than he who walks, and he who walks is
better than he who is walking at a fast pace.) When he was asked, `What if someone
enters my home and stretched his hand to kill me' He said,
«كُنْ كَابْنِ آدَم»
(Be just like (the pious) son of Adam.)'' At-Tirmidhi also recorded it this way,
and said, "This Hadith is Hasan, and similar is reported on this subject from Abu
Hurayrah, Khabbab bin Al-Aratt, Abu Bakr, Ibn Mas`ud, Abu Waqid and Abu Musa.''
The Qur'an continues,
﴿إِنِّى أُرِيدُ أَن تَبُوءَ بِإِثْمِى
وَإِثْمِكَ فَتَكُونَ مِنْ أَصْحَـبِ النَّارِ وَذَلِكَ جَزَآءُ الظَّـلِمِينَ ﴾
("Verily, I intend to let you draw my sin on yourself as well as yours, then you
will be one of the dwellers of the Fire, and that is the recompense of the wrongdoers.")
Ibn `Abbas, Mujahid, Ad-Dahhak, As-Suddi and Qatadah said that,
﴿إِنِّى أُرِيدُ أَن تَبُوءَ بِإِثْمِى
وَإِثْمِكَ﴾
("Verily, I intend to let you draw my sin on yourself as well as yours...") means,
the sin of murdering me, in addition to your previous sins. Ibn Jarir recorded this.
Allah's statement,
﴿فَطَوَّعَتْ لَهُ نَفْسُهُ قَتْلَ
أَخِيهِ فَقَتَلَهُ فَأَصْبَحَ مِنَ الْخَـسِرِينَ ﴾
(So the soul of the other encouraged him and made fair-seeming to him the murder
of his brother; he murdered him and became one of the losers.) means, his conscience
encouraged him to kill his brother by making it seem like a sensible thing to do,
so he killed him, even after his brother admonished him. Ibn Jarir said, "When he
wanted to kill his brother, he started to twist his neck. So Shaytan took an animal
and placed its head on a rock, then he took another rock, and similar is reported
on this subject from Abu Hurayrah, Khabbab bin Al-Aratt, Abu Bakr, Ibn Mas`ud, Abu
Waqid and Abu Musa.'' The Qur'an continues,
﴿إِنِّى أُرِيدُ أَن تَبُوءَ بِإِثْمِى
وَإِثْمِكَ فَتَكُونَ مِنْ أَصْحَـبِ النَّارِ وَذَلِكَ جَزَآءُ الظَّـلِمِينَ ﴾
("Verily, I intend to let you draw my sin on yourself as well as yours, then you
will be one of the dwellers of the Fire, and that is the recompense of the wrongdoers.")
Ibn `Abbas, Mujahid, Ad-Dahhak, As-Suddi and Qatadah said that,
﴿إِنِّى أُرِيدُ أَن تَبُوءَ بِإِثْمِى
وَإِثْمِكَ﴾
("Verily, I intend to let you draw my sin on yourself as well as yours...") means,
the sin of murdering me, in addition to your previous sins. Ibn Jarir recorded this.
Allah's statement,
﴿فَطَوَّعَتْ لَهُ نَفْسُهُ قَتْلَ
أَخِيهِ فَقَتَلَهُ فَأَصْبَحَ مِنَ الْخَـسِرِينَ ﴾
(So the soul of the other encouraged him and made fair-seeming to him the murder
of his brother; he murdered him and became one of the losers.) means, his conscience
encouraged him to kill his brother by making it seem like a sensible thing to do,
so he killed him, even after his brother admonished him. Ibn Jarir said, "When he
wanted to kill his brother, he started to twist his neck. So Shaytan took an animal
and placed its head on a rock, then he took another rock, and smashed its head with
it until he killed it while the son of Adam was looking. So he did the same thing
to his brother.'' Ibn Abi Hatim also recorded this. `Abdullah bin Wahb said that
`Abdur-Rahman bin Zayd bin Aslam said that his father said, "Qabil held Habil by
the head to kill him, so Habil laid down for him and Qabil started twisting Habil's
head, not knowing how to kill him. Shaytan came to Qabil and said, `Do you want
to kill him' He said, `Yes.' Shaytan said, `Take that stone and throw it on his
head.' So Qabil took the stone and threw it at his brother's head and smashed his
head. Shaytan then went to Hawwa' in a hurry and said to her, `O Hawwa'! Qabil killed
Habil.' She asked him, `Woe to you! What does `kill' mean' He said, `He will no
longer eat, drink or move.' She said, `And that is death' He said, `Yes it is.'
So she started to weep until Adam came to her while she was weeping and said, `What
is the matter with you' She did not answer him. He asked her two more times, but
she did not answer him. So he said, `You and your daughters will inherit the practice
of weeping, while I and my sons are free of it.''' Ibn Abi Hatim recorded it. Allah's
statement,
﴿فَأَصْبَحَ مِنَ الْخَـسِرِينَ﴾
(And became one of the losers.) in this life and the Hereafter, and which loss is
worse than this Imam Ahmad recorded that `Abdullah bin Mas`ud said that the Messenger
of Allah said,
«لَا تُقْتَلُ نَفْسٌ ظُلْمًا إِلَّا
كَانَ عَلَى ابْنِ آدَمَ الْأَوَّلِ كِفْلٌ مِنْ دَمِهَا،لِأَنَّهُ كَانَ أَوَّلَ مَنْ
سَنَّ الْقَتْل»
(Any soul that is unjustly killed, then the first son of Adam will carry a burden
of its shedding, for he was the first to practice the crime of murder.) The Group,
with the exception of Abu Dawud, also recorded this Hadith. Ibn Jarir recorded that
`Abdullah bin `Amr used to say, "The son of Adam, who killed his brother, will be
the most miserable among men. There is no blood shed on earth since he killed his
brother, until the Day of Resurrection, but he will carry a burden from it, for
he was the first person to establish murder.'' Allah said,
﴿فَبَعَثَ اللَّهُ غُرَاباً يَبْحَثُ
فِى الاٌّرْضِ لِيُرِيَهُ كَيْفَ يُوَارِى سَوْءَةَ أَخِيهِ قَالَ يَـوَيْلَتَا أَعَجَزْتُ
أَنْ أَكُونَ مِثْلَ هَـذَا الْغُرَابِ فَأُوَارِيَ سَوْءَةَ أَخِى فَأَصْبَحَ مِنَ
النَّـدِمِينَ ﴾
(Then Allah sent a crow who scratched the ground to show him how to hide the dead
body of his brother. He (the murderer) said, "Woe to me! Am I not even able to be
as this crow and to hide the dead body of my brother'' Then he became one of those
who regretted.) As-Suddi said that the Companions said, "When his brother died,
Qabil left him on the bare ground and did not know how to bury him. Allah sent two
crows, which fought with each other until one of them killed the other. So it dug
a hole and threw sand over the dead corpse (which it placed in the hole). When Qabil
saw that, he said,
﴿يَـوَيْلَتَا أَعَجَزْتُ أَنْ أَكُونَ
مِثْلَ هَـذَا الْغُرَابِ فَأُوَارِيَ سَوْءَةَ أَخِى﴾
("Woe to me! Am I not even able to be as this crow and to hide the dead body of
my brother'') `Ali bin Abi Talhah reported that Ibn `Abbas said, "A crow came to
the dead corpse of another crow and threw sand over it, until it hid it in the ground.
He who killed his brother said,
﴿يَـوَيْلَتَا أَعَجَزْتُ أَنْ أَكُونَ
مِثْلَ هَـذَا الْغُرَابِ فَأُوَارِيَ سَوْءَةَ أَخِى﴾
(Woe to me! Am I not even able to be as this crow and to hide the dead body of my
brother)'' Al-Hasan Al-Basri commented on the statement,
﴿فَأَصْبَحَ مِنَ النَّـدِمِينَ﴾
(Then he became one of those who regretted.) "Allah made him feel sorrow after the
loss that he earned."
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