One of the expressive and exciting stories that the Holy Qur’an told us is the story of the two sons of Adam, peace be upon him. This story took place at the beginning of human existence on this earth, and its events ended with the brother killing his brother, out of envy and aggression. The gist of the story God Almighty mentioned the gist of the events of this story in one place in His Noble Book, which is His Almighty saying: {And recite to them the story of the two sons of Adam in truth, when they offered a sacrifice; it was accepted from one of them but was not accepted from the other. He said, "I will surely kill you." He said, "Allah only accepts from those who fear Him. If you should stretch out your hand against me to kill me, I will not stretch out my hand against you to kill you. Indeed, I fear Allah, Lord of the worlds. Indeed, I want you to bear my sin and your sin and be among the companions of the Fire. And that is the recompense of the wrongdoers.} So his soul prompted him to kill his brother, so he killed him and became among the losers. Then Allah sent a raven scratching the ground to show him how to hide the shame of his brother. He said, "Woe to me! Am I unable to be like this raven and hide the shame of my brother?" So he became among the regretful.} (Al-Ma'idah: 27-31). Analysis of the events of the story These verses came after a long discussion about the vices of the people of Moses, peace be upon him, who disobeyed their prophet, refused to obey him, and refused to follow his guidance, and said to him with all impudence and ill-manneredness: {Then go, you and your Lord, and fight. Indeed, we are sitting right here} (Al-Ma'idah: 24). The Qur’an then narrated the story of Cain and Abel, to alleviate the suffering of the Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him, from his people, and to clarify that those who disobeyed their prophets and transgressed against them had followed the path taken by the unjust Cain in his aggression against his oppressed brother Abel. The course of the story indicates that both Cain and Abel offered charity as an act of worship to Allah, the Almighty, so Allah accepted Abel’s charity for his truthfulness and sincerity, and did not accept Cain’s charity. Because of his bad intentions and lack of piety, Cain said - out of envy - to his brother Abel: {I will kill you}, because he accepted your charity and refused to accept mine. Abel's response to his brother was: {Allah only accepts from those who fear Him}. Abel's response to his brother Cain was a response that included advice and guidance; as he explained to him the means that would make his charity acceptable to Allah, which is piety and protecting oneself from everything that Allah, the Almighty, does not approve of. Then Abel - the wise and sincere brother - moved from admonishing his brother to purify his heart from envy, to reminding him of what the bond of brotherhood requires in terms of tolerance, and what the bond of kinship requires in terms of righteousness. He said to his brother: {If you should stretch out your hand against me to kill me, I will not stretch out my hand against you to kill you. Indeed, I fear Allah, the Lord of the worlds}. He informed him that if he attacked him by killing him unjustly and out of envy, he would not respond to him with the same action; Fearing Allah and hating to see Him as a murderer of his brother, as murder is a heinous and heinous crime, especially if it is committed by a brother against his brother! Then Abel moved to another method of admonishing and guiding his brother, as he began to warn him of the bad fate if he proceeded to carry out his dark and reckless act {Indeed, I want you to bear my sin and your sin and be among the companions of the Fire. And that is the recompense of the wrongdoers.} However, Cain did not heed his brother’s advice, and threw it to the wall, then he was carried away by his own desires, and his soul made it seem attractive to him to proceed with that heinous act, so he committed his heinous crime, so he killed his brother out of envy and injustice, so he lost his worldly life and his afterlife, he lost his worldly life because he killed his brother, the closest person to him in blood, and a brother is a support and help to his brother, and he lost his afterlife because he committed one of the most heinous and horrible crimes. However, the murderer Cain was not satisfied with committing that heinous crime, but he left his brother lying in the open, exposed to vermin and beasts, which indicates the cruelty of his heart and the heinousness of his action. However, God Almighty does not forget His righteous servants, for He looks after them with His care and protection, and guards them with His preservation and protection. He sent a crow to dig a hole in the ground to bury that lifeless body that had no power or strength from humans. When Cain - the unjust murderer - saw that scene, his human emotions were stirred, and he began to blame himself for what he had done, and he reproached himself for how this crow - which is one of the most despicable types of birds - could have been more guided than him. So he bit his fingers in regret, and regretted intensely, but it was too late. What can be learned from the story This story includes a number of benefits and lessons: First: This Qur’an is from Allah, the Almighty; because this story, which is so ancient, the Messenger, may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him, did not know about it, but Allah, the Almighty, informed him of its events as He informed him of the events of other stories, as Allah, the Almighty, said: {This is from the news of the unseen which We reveal to you. You did not know it, nor did your people, before this} (Hud: 49), so that rational people may benefit from it and what it contains of guidance and sermons. Second: That fearing Allah and sincerity of intention to Him in word and deed is the basis of acceptance with Him, the Almighty, and Allah, the Almighty, said: {So whoever hopes for the meeting with his Lord - let him do righteous work and not associate in the worship of his Lord anyone} (Al-Kahf: 110), and He also said: {Allah accepts only from those who fear Him} (Al-Ma’idah: 27). Third: People in every time and place include good and righteous people and evil and wicked people, and this is what the noble verse expressed: {Indeed, We showed him the way, be he grateful or ungrateful} (Al-Insan: 3). Abel represents the category of good and righteous people, and Cain represents the category of evil and wicked people. Fourth: When the vice of envy takes hold in the soul and becomes rooted in it, it leads to destruction and makes oppression, aggression, sin and tyranny attractive to it. In this story, we see this meaning completely clear; Cain’s envy of Abel was at the forefront of the reasons that led him to kill him, and this killing by a brother by his brother was the first crime committed on the face of the earth. It was stated in the authentic hadith that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: (No soul is killed unjustly except that the first son of Adam has a share of its blood; because he was the first to establish killing) Agreed upon. Al-Tabari narrated on the authority of Abdullah bin Amr, who said: We find that the son of Adam, the murderer, shares the punishment with the people of Hell in a correct division, and he will receive half of their punishment. Fifth: A person’s regret for the mistakes he has made does not remove the punishment from him, because this regret is a natural thing that happens to many people after they commit evils and sins. As for the regret that removes the punishment from a person before Allah, the Most High, it is that which is followed by sincere and sincere repentance, which makes a person firmly resolve not to return to what Allah has forbidden, now or in the future, and to regret what he has neglected in the side of Allah, and to return rights and injustices to their owners. Comments on the story Some commentaries have included a number of statements related to the events of this story, which should not be relied upon, nor should it be paid attention to. Here they are in their entirety, and a statement of the position on them: First: Some narrations have reported that the two who offered a sacrifice were not Adam's sons from his loins, but rather they were two men from the Children of Israel. This report is not sound, because the apparent meaning of the verse indicates that what is meant are Adam's sons from his loins, as is authenticated in the hadith that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) informed about this murderer who killed his brother: that he was the first to establish killing. The people of news, biography and knowledge have agreed that they were Adam's sons from his loins, and during the time and era of Adam, and that is sufficient as evidence. Second: The commentators mentioned a number of sayings that prompted the sons of Adam to offer that charity to draw closer to Allah Almighty, and whether that was at His request, or on their own initiative, or for a reason other than this and that, all of that is not evidenced by the verse, but rather the most that is in it is that they offered a sacrifice in worship of Allah, and to draw closer to Him. Third: Some commentators narrated that what is meant by His Almighty’s saying: {that you bear my sin} is: my sins that I committed in the past, and what is meant by His saying: {and your sin} is: the sin of killing me. Ibn Kathir said: Many people may imagine this saying, and mention a hadith that has no basis: what the killer left for the one killed of sin. Al-Tabari confirmed that what is meant by His saying: {with my sin} is: with your sin in killing me. And what is meant by His saying: {and your sin} is his sin other than killing him, and that is his disobedience to Allah Almighty in the actions of others. Fourth: The commentators have transmitted several narrations that talk about the method of killing Abel. Some of them mentioned that he was killed with a rock, others mentioned that he was killed with an iron rod, and other things were mentioned. None of these statements are of any use and should not be considered, because the verse is silent about all of that, and it is not its intended purpose, not to mention the weakness of the chain of transmission of most of the narrations mentioned in this regard. Al-Tabari commented on what he transmitted of these statements, saying: The most correct of the statements is to say that Allah Almighty informed us about the killer that he killed his brother, and we do not have any information that would cut off the excuse for the manner in which he killed him. It is possible that his killing was in this way or that, and Allah knows best which way it was. However, there is no doubt about the killing.
